Roadhouse 66 *** (1984, Willem Dafoe, Judge Reinhold, Kaaren Lee, Kate Vernon, Stephen Elliott, Alan Autry) – Classic Movie Review 13,761

Ex-rock and roll star Willem Dafoe and yuppie Judge Reinhold team up to sort out Arizona thugs, in the 1984 American road movie drama film Roadhouse 66.

Director John Mark Robinson’s 1984 American road movie drama film Roadhouse 66, a thriller with action, comedy and romance, stars Willem Dafoe and Judge Reinhold, with Kaaren Lee, Kate Vernon, Stephen Elliott, and Alan Autry.

Bejeaned tough guy Johnny Harte (Willem Dafoe) and bespectacled New York yuppie Beckman Hallsgood Jr (Judge Reinhold) come up against a gang of rednecks who get their kicks terrorising people on Route 66, in this rough-hewn but lively actioner, set mainly around a roadside bar in Arizona.

Beckman is on his way in a ’55 Thunderbird to California for a business meeting when he runs into trouble with Hoot (Alan Autry) and his hoodlums in Kingman, Arizona, who shoot at his car and try to run him off the road. He hooks up with hitchhiking former rock and roll musician Johnny, who is also passing through town, and they try to set things right there, determined to teach the thugs a lesson, entering a big car race from Kingman to Oatman, Arizona, and back.

Director Robinson and writers Galen Lee (story and screenplay) and George Simpson are not afraid to show the unattractive face of small-minded, small-town America, and the location work gives a convincing idea of Arizona life as the film is set entirely in Kingman, Arizona, and Oatman, Arizona, on the historic US Route 66. But the film’s excitements, like the bar brawl and car chase finale, are standard action fare.

However, Dafoe and Reinhold make the most of their well-delineated odd couple relationship, and the film keeps up a good level of interest and involvement. It is arguably only Eighties video fodder, but actually a little bit better than that, thanks to Dafoe, Reinhold and the Arizona locations.

Historic downtown Kingman, Arizona, where the car race begins is the same location where Jean-Claude Van Damme’s 1992 Universal Soldier was filmed.

Release date: 8 April 1984.

Running time: 90 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,761

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