R O A D H O U S E

Road House was directed by Rowdy Herrington, shown here with Patrick Swayze and Red West. Here is how an early script version described the character of "Dalton":

Dalton has a degree in psychology from NYU. He drives a new Mercedes. His enire worldly goods fit easily into the trunk. He carries his x-rays and medical records with him. He keeps in superb condition a body that has been shot an stabbed and had more than 30 bones broken and has been screwed back together by an impressive array of stainless steel screws. He has already worked in almost half the States of the Union. He makes a lot of mone. He is the best there is at what he does. He is a bouncer.

When we first see "Dalton", it's at the Band Stand and clearly he's the man in charge. The script describes Dalton's first moments this way:

He leans into his customary shadow near the bar. He ain't heavy. Sneakers, jeans, loose-fitting shirt. Nothing happens in here he doesn't see, or sense, or anticipate...

---

Dalton's Lament
by Mare Brown

Dalton was a guy without any friends,
He rode into Jasper in his "cool" gray "Benz"
He came to be a "Cooler" at The Double Deuce
Where the men were "stupid" and the women were "loose"
There was blood on the floor nearly every single night.
Your in the right place if you want to start a fight!

The very first day, he came to have his say....
"Listen up...everyone..Its my way or the Highway !"
He told them to be nice, and when to not be nice
And his eyes were blue and heart,...deep and cold as ice.

This cooler made his mark and everyone could see
The Double Deuce was SOMEPLACE that a civil guy could be.

Enter...Brad Wesley , The Jasper county thug.
Mean and bad and dirty as a junkyard dug er dog!!
He drove through the town like he owned everything
and his thugs were like puppets dangling on a string!

"Kill" and "Maim" and "Burn" and smile he would say!!!
And on top of that he also made them pay.

Down at the hospital, getting all stitched up....
Dalton meets the Doc and he slobbers like a pup!
"So your the guy who's cleaning out the Double Deuce Saloon!
And do you think your going to do it by yourself aloon?"

"Ill stitch you up and fix you up and clean out all the dirt"
and Dalton smiles and says.... NO SHOT !!!....PAIN DONT HURT!!!

And now into Jasper town another Cooler shows!
And he is Wade Garrett and all the world knows....
Wade is number one and Daltons number two...s!!
and both of them intend to disinfect the Double Deuce (it rhimes no?)

Thus the war begins and Dalton has no choice.....
He has to RIP THE THROAT OUT of BIG JIM who LOST HIS VOICE!

Wade joins the fight and this cool noble stud
Gets knifed and thrown upon the bar to die in his own blood.

Dalton is obsessed with hate and goes for one and all!
and Brad and thugs are headed FAST for ....ONE LAST CALL!!

One by one they hit the dirt and Brad is only able....
to finally be the decoration ...on a coffee table.

Dalton jumps into the lake ......with Doc...and ALL IS GREAT
And the moral of the story is ...Be Cool and find your Mate!

---

"Dalton" has his beauty sleep interrupted by an unexpected morning visit from Carrie Ann, played by the talented Kathleen Wilhoit

Though the final version of "Road House" focused on Dalton's relationship with "Dr. Elizabeth Clay", played by Kelly Lynch, earlier versions of the script offered another possibility. While "Doc" was a part of the storyline, she was not Dalton's true love. Here is how the early script described the entrance of whom was originally intended to be Dalton's true love:

DALTON

observes Steve and the woman inthe washroom...and then Hank head for the front door with uncharacteristic haste...

AN EXCEPTIONALLY LOVELY WOMAN

has just entered. Although casually dressed, she has a look too smart and assured for these surroudings. She smiles easily, a very together lady, not one you lose a few hours with, but one you lose your heart to. Her name is ZEE.
(a bit later after some stuff happens ... this is there first moment together)
OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

She's waiting. She frowns at the stitches beneath his jawline...

ZEE
You must be the new marshal in town.

DALTON
And you must've caught the last flight.

ZEE
I'm a desperate woman.

DALTON
Dangerous maybe, desperate never.

He draws her to him. They kiss, lovers who have been in love a good long time and know without doubt it's going to be the two for them for life. It's all we need to know.

He looks at her figure...

DALTON
I'm glad you brought all your stuff.

She laughs....

In this very early script version, Dalton has a number of friends, all in the biz or "married" to those in it. When things are bad at the Double Deuce, he puts a call into Jack the Bear. In the final version, Jack and Wade were merged in many ways into the one Wade character. Wade is described as a fortyish guy who has definitely been in the biz a long time. Wade is married to a gal named Callie who wants him to retire, but Wade keeps hanging on... "just one more" bar to clean up. While Jack shows up, Zee goes off to get Wade and Callie. While she is gone, Dalton meets Doc (pretty much the same as in the actual movie). There's also another gal named Ginger who wants to be part of it and convinces Dalton to train her.

Thus, midway in the script we have Wade and Callie established as a married couple with Wade definitely in his final days as a cooler. He recognizes that he isn't trained for anything else and talks about Dalton's education. Wade says, "I only went to school to eat my lunch". Wade has accepted a job, though, but Zee and Callie both realize that Dalton knows more about this particular job than he is letting on. Meanwhile, Ginger continues her training, and Dalton continues to clean up the Double Deuce. Jack the bear has already set the rules and brought the bouncers together, telling them that the bad guys are going to be after Dalton, and they have to protect him. Dalton and Doc have had the "wall" experience while Zee was out of town, but Dalton and Zee are "the couple". The script notes at different times as they are cozy together dialogue such as "we've never made love on a roof" followed by the notation "they will". They tease each other with comments like "have you met anybody special". "Maybe."

The early script has always fascinated me. In fact, I prefer it over the final version and have always wondered how the film would have been perceived if filmed with the Zee character. Sam Elliot who played "Wade Garrett" once noted in an interview that the original cut of "Road House" was 3 1/2 hours and that most of what was cut were his scenes and again I wonder if any of the original zest and flavor of the script was lost with the cuts. Here's more of the original:

INT. DOUBLE DEUCE

Dalton's working. The replacement band is a decent bar band, but not up to the standards of Cody's. Zee sits at a table, listening to them and sipping a White Cadillac. She wears a small button that says 64 cents.

Doc comes in. Hank is on the door. He doesn't know what to do with her. Ginger looks at him, cringes.

Dalton goes over. She takes his hand. He poses a question. She is momentarily perplexed, uncertain, then answers in the affirmative. He takes her to Zee's table...

HANK, GINGER
They exchange glances. Are you seein' what I'm seein'?

ZEE'S TABLE
Dalton has made the introductions and left. Zee is smiling and friendly, not a trace of animosity....

ZEE
Don't be uncomfortable. Dalton talked about you.

Although unable to conceal her surprise, Doc does begin to regain her composure...

DOC
I suppose I shouldn't be surprisd. He talked about you, too.

ZEE
He likes you a lot.

DOC
He loves you. (beat) Aren't you jealous?

ZEE
I'm flattered. He told me about you, remember?

DOC
Thanks, but ...do you date too?

ZEE
Not very often. Probably the same as he does. I know it's all a little unusual, if you subscribe to convention, but we don't, and we think of it more as special than unusual.

Doc likes her. She indicates the 64 cents button...

DOC
Uh ... could I ask you...?

ZEE
For every dollar a man earns, women earn sixty-four cents.

ZEE'S TABLE (later)
Now Doc has a White Cadillac...

DOC
He wants to marry you, Zee. Why don't you?

ZEE
I'll marry him when he's finished doing this, and if he still wants me.

DOC
Why not now?

ZEE
We did live together for a while. I couldn't handle it. Six nights a week until three or four a.m., wondering if he's coming home or if some hospital is going to call. Or some coroner. He got death threats. He was followed. (beat) No, I've watched him do it for too many years, and the more I watch it the more it scares me.

DOC
Have you considered giving him an ultimatum?

ZEE
I don't want him badly enough for that.

Doc isn't sure she understands. Zee checks her watch, rises...

ZEE
Sorry, I have a late flight to catch.

A bit later there's a cute little scene where Dalton takes Zee to the airport and Zee says about Doc, "she is special" and Dalton responds "not special enough".

Moving on in the early script, the job Wade mentioned while visiting with Dalton at the Double Deuce, was in Brownsville at a place called the Lady Gay. Dalton knew more than he was saying when the topic first came up, but exactly what wasn't known at the time. Cody and his band also got a job working at the bar.

Zee returns one night with the news Wade is dead, and they immediately drive to Brownsville where they learn that Wade was essentially set up, given the job so that someone Wade had once tossed out of a bar could get even. After talking with Cody and some others, Dalton and Zee have a conversation in the car.

ZEE
What did you know about The Lady Gay that you wouldn't tell us?

DALTON
I'd heard it had a whole crew of bone breakers...And I did tell Wade.

ZEE
He knew you were considered to be better than him now, knew you were being paid more. He felt he had to keep proving himself.

DALTON
Zee, if I'd asked him to pass on this one, he'd have only wanted it worse.

She knows it's true, and feels his anguish. She takes his hand in hers.

The script continues with the aftermath of Wade's death. After Callie, Zee and Dalton have Wade buried, Dalton wants revenge, but promises Zee he won't kill the man who was responsible for Wade's death. He goes to the Lady Gay to check it out, and ends up in a fight, and gets severely beaten. Zee saves him by using, of all things, a rubber gun to hold off the goons who rule the Lady Gay. It's not until she calls him "Dalton" in a motion to move towards the car, that they realize whom they were fighting with.

Later, at the hospital, Dalton is playing and does the "we've never made love in a hospital" bit, but Zee isn't feeling playful. Dalton acknowledges he isn't through in Brownsville, but reiterates his promise not to kill. As Dalton sleeps, Zee makes several phone calls, to Jack the bear and other allies, and they all converge in Brownsville to help. Dalton isn't happy about this at first. Then again, he tends to lose a lot of arguments with Zee. After Wade's funeral, he wanted her to go with Cody and Callie to another location, but she refused.

At the Lady Gay, Dalton, Jack the bear and others enter and eventually get in a bad fight. They are outnumbered, but they are better fighters. Though the police are called, they are slow to respond. This is intentional because they know that the folks at the Lady Gay are on the evil side, and the local sheriff, Virgil, is happy as punch to have Dalton help him clean up the place some. When all is said and done, Dalton and his peers have won the battle, and Wade's murderer is "convinced" to confess. The script closes as follows:

INT. MERCEDES (MOVING) DAY

We are close on the speedometer, it steady at 55mph.

We OPEN SHOT to show Zee behind the wheel. Dalton is beside her. They're leaving Texas. Law abiding. And boring.
She looks at him. He looks at her...
ZEE
We have this problem.
He reaches for the radar detectors...
EXT MERCEDES
She boots it up to 100. Racing through life.
It should be noted that when Dalton is first shown heading for the Double Deuce, a big deal is made of his hooking up his radar detectors and driving at 110, so this is a return to that feeling and closes the script with a bang.