I'll be fair here, this is just a time passer. I enjoyed it more, when I first saw it back in 85. It's when I first watched Willem Dafoe who's become my favorite actor, but later I realized he was in Streets Of Fire as the lead thug. Now I remember. His performance was done with a intensity of evil when looking back on "Street's" that I really haven't watched since I first saw it in 84. With this one, that wouldn't have a chance at the cinema, he plays a retired rockin' roll singer Johnny Hart who has his reasons, for getting out. Standing in the middle of the road, just like John "Hitcher" Ryder, he's nearly run down by college guy, Reinhold, who's trying to outrun these local thugs, lead by a bad boy Hoot, (Alan Autry) who shoots out his radiator. He's met by drifter Dafoe, who when asked his reasons for standing in the middle of the road, he just answers with a brief smile. For Reinhold this is only the start of conflict, between him and the thugs, who reappear at this Roadhouse that functions at a bar, diner etc. Things escalate into more serious problems for them, when the local car wrecker, who caught Reinhold and Dafoe using one of their cars as a place of sleep, is burnt to death in his shed. All fingers point guiltily to Reinhold, as if he's responsible for the whole catastrophe, where Dafoe and him, plus their girlfriends (who are sisters), were using the shed to rebuild one of the cars for the big town race. Granted, this is the most exciting part of the movie, Hoot resorting to dirty play, before and during the race. Alan Autry gives probably the best performance of the film, and sexy Kate Vernon is good as Reinhold's girl. Dafoe sings a rock song in this too, where he met upon by an old buddy, though I doubt it's really him. In between these two things we have a stick fight between Dafoe and Autry which was pretty cool, where the old lady running the place intervenes with her gun, before they tear up the establishment. So Dafoe redeems himself with this song, that I wish I could get a hold on, plus the one at the start. Roadhouse 66 has a nice ending too, where we don't really know if hoot dies. The movie's no real feat, with no real potency, but still it's a good yarn, but movie wise, fair.
Review of Roadhouse 66
