How the film "Road House" was filmed: 17 interesting facts about the film (14 photos)

An old-school action movie about the fact that goodness must come with fists!





1. The idea to write the script for the future film "Road House" was born to screenwriter David Lee Henry after he visited a bar in one of the small towns in Georgia. And by the way, the name of the main character (Dalton) was also taken from there. True, in reality that was the name of one of the visitors of that very bar.

2. Patrick Swayze agreed to the role of Dalton because he wanted to get rid of the role of the hero-lover, which stuck to him after the film “Dirty Dancing”.



But the filmmakers cleverly trolled the actor by coming up with the slogan: “The dancing is over. Now everything will be dirty.”

3. Kelly Lynch was not the first actress to be cast in the role of Dr. Elizabeth Clay. This role was originally intended for Annette Bening. But there was no chemistry between her and Patrick Swayze, so her services had to be refused.





And when Kelly Lynch received the script, she didn’t understand anything at all, so she didn’t even want to take on the role. And she didn’t even know who Patrick Swayze was. But producer Joel Silver was able to persuade her.

As a result, in order to better get used to the role of Dr. Clay, Kelly Lynch began visiting hospitals to observe the real work of doctors. The actress even learned how to apply stitches, but in the end she didn’t have to do this in the film, which greatly upset the actress.



4. The main thing in the film "Road House" is, of course, the fights. And the most interesting thing is that professional stuntmen were not involved in filming the battle scenes. All the fight scenes were performed by the actors themselves, including Patrick Swayze. Especially for this purpose, kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez was invited to the shooting, who trained the actors.



Benny Urquidez

Urquidez really liked how quickly Patrick Swayze picked things up on the fly and how well they applied the skills they learned during filming. He even suggested that Patrick take up kickboxing seriously.

5. In addition to the action scenes, Patrick Swayze performed even the most difficult stunts himself. For example, he himself volunteered to jump onto the roof of a truck from a height of 6 meters. And this is taking into account the fact that he had an injured knee. In general, Patrick’s tenacity and endurance were enviable.

6. The filming took place in California, and in a real bar. But the building itself, which we see in the frame, was just a decoration.



7. In order to play in the film Road House, Patrick Swayze had to give up the role of Cash in Andrei Konchalovsky's film Tango and Cash. It was quite difficult, because Swayze could play alongside Sylvester Stallone himself.

8. During the filming of the film, Patrick Swayze had two broken ribs. It happened completely by accident. Actor Marshall Teague, who played Jimmy, mistook the log for a prop and hit Swayze in the chest with all his might.



Due to his injury, Swayze had to withdraw from filming Predator 2, where he was to play the lead role. In the end, the role went to Danny Glover.

9. The filming of the film was accompanied by some problems. And these problems were created by Patrick Swayze fans who found ways to break into the set to take a photo with the main character of their favorite "Dirty Dancing" and get his autograph.



However, Swayze himself was always happy to devote time to his fans and never drove them away.

10. One of the actresses, who played a cameo role as a waitress, stared at Patrick Swayze so much that she accidentally knocked over the tray with drinks on it.

11. Many fans (especially female fans) simply adored Patrick Swayze's hair in this film. But according to the actor, he simply couldn’t stand this hairstyle, and even called it his curse. This was mainly due to the fact that during filming a huge amount of hairspray was applied to his hair.



12. Despite the fact that the film is not romantic, there is one very intimate moment between the main characters. However, the act itself was not shown. Moreover, Patrick Swayze carefully thought through this scene together with his wife.

By the way, in this scene the poor actress had to put a pad on her back, since the wall against which Swayze was leaning had sharp edges, which caused discomfort and even pain.



Kelly Lynch

According to the actress, she was wildly infuriated by Bill Murray, who knew both her and her husband well. Every time Murray saw this scene on TV, he called Kelly's husband and told him that his wife was currently cheating on him with Patrick Swayze. This terribly infuriated Kelly Lynch herself.

13. After filming and final editing, the film turned out to be incredibly long, since its duration was 3 hours. Therefore, we had to cut out more than an hour of materials.



According to actor Sam Elliott, who played Wade, the scene where Dalton forced the men to train in tutus was cut from the film.

14. With a budget of 15 million dollars, the film grossed 30 million, which is essentially a zero result. Also, the film was nominated for “Golden Raspberry” in as many as 4 categories. True, he did not take any of these nominations.



But despite the small box office, controversial critics and Golden Raspberry nominations, the film was able to become a real hit, which the audience loved so much.

15. Because of the film Road House, Patrick Swayze almost lost his leading role in the film Phantom. The fact is that the director of “Ghost” was advised to play the main role by Swayze, and was also recommended to watch him in the film “Road House”.



When Jerry Zucker watched this film, he flatly refused to cast Patrick as Sam Wheat, because he decided that a man waving his fists could not play a dramatic character. But Patrick was so persistent that he was able to convince Zucker that he was suitable for the role. He even cried during filming, which melted the director’s heart.

16. In 2024, a remake of the film “Road House” was released, where the main role was played by actor Jake Gyllenhaal. The famous Irish fighter Conor McGregor also appeared in this film. True, this remake did not make much of an impression on critics and viewers.



17. We translated this film as “House by the Road”, which corresponds to the original (Road House). But the expression "Road House" itself specifically means a roadside diner.