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Patrick Swayze and Kelly Lynch in Road House (1989)

Patrick Swayze: James Dalton

Road House

Patrick Swayze credited as playing...

James Dalton

Photos64

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Quotes39

  • Dalton: I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice.
  • Steve: Being called a cocksucker isn't personal?
  • Dalton: No. It's two nouns combined to elicit a prescribed response.
  • Steve: What if somebody calls my mama a whore?
  • Dalton: Is she?
  • Dalton: All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice.
  • Dalton: Take the biggest guy in the world, shatter his knee and he'll drop like a stone.
  • Dalton: Nobody ever wins a fight.
  • Emmett: It ain't the money ya understand, but if I don't charge ya somethin' the Presbyterians around here are likely to pray for my ruination. How does a hundred dollars a month strike ya?
  • Dalton: Fine.
  • Emmett: Can ya afford that much?
  • Dalton: If it keeps you in the good graces of the church.
  • Emmett: Ain't it peculiar how money seems to do that very thing?
  • Dalton: Sorry, we're closed.
  • Ketchum: Then what are all these people doing here?
  • Dalton: Drinking and having a good time.
  • Ketchum: That's why we're here.
  • Dalton: You're too stupid to have a good time.
  • Wade Garrett: What's the matter? Still living in the past, aren't ya? We're a long way from Memphis.
  • Dalton: Memphis has nothing to do with it.
  • Wade Garrett: BULLSHIT. That dog won't hunt. I can't believe you're still draggin' that shit around with ya. It seems to me, you'd be a little more... philosophical about it. AND CUT IT THE FUCK LOOSE. You know, that fucking cu-... that *girl* never told you she was married. DID SHE? And when a man sticks a gun in yer face, you got two choices; you can die or you can KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER.
  • Doc: Do you always carry your medical record around with you?
  • Dalton: Saves time.
  • Morgan: What am I supposed to do?
  • Dalton: There's always barber college.
  • Dalton: People who really want to have a good time won't come to a slaughterhouse. And we've got entirely too many troublemakers here. Too many 40-year-old adolescents, felons, power drinkers and trustees of modern chemistry.
  • Doc: Your file says you've got a degree from NYU. What in?
  • Dalton: Philosophy.
  • Doc: Any particular discipline?
  • Dalton: No. Not really. Man's search for faith. That sort of shit.
  • Doc: Come up with any answers?
  • Dalton: Not too many.
  • Doc: How's a guy like you end up a bouncer?
  • Dalton: Just lucky I guess.
  • Doc: Do you enjoy pain?
  • Dalton: Pain don't hurt.
  • Doc: Most of my patients would disagree with you.
  • Doc: Is this the part where you tell me what a great guy your friend is?
  • Wade Garrett: Not hardly. This is the part where I tell you I want you for myself.
  • Doc: [laughs]
  • Dalton: Oh, yo. Whatever he's saying, you can be fairly sure it's a lie.
  • Wade Garrett: [giving Dalton a look and her a longer look] Don't bet on it.
  • [Dalton walks in on Steve having sex with a girl in the supply closet]
  • Dalton: Yo, Steve! You're history.
  • Steve: But I'm on my break!
  • Dalton: Stay on it.
  • Steve: Ah, shit!
  • Frank Tilghman: I need the best.
  • Dalton: Wade Garrett's the best
  • Frank Tilghman: Wade Garrett's getting old.
  • Dalton: He's still the best!
  • Red Webster: How long are you gonna be in town?
  • Dalton: Not very long.
  • Red Webster: That's what I said 25 years ago.
  • Dalton: Really? What happened?
  • Red Webster: I got married to an ugly woman. Don't ever do that. It just takes the energy right out of you. She left me, though. Found somebody even uglier than she was. That's life. Who can explain it?
  • Dalton: If somebody gets in your face and calls you a cocksucker, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal.
  • Dalton: My way... or the highway.
  • Morgan: You know, I heard you had balls big enough to come in a dump truck, but you don't look like much to me.
  • Dalton: Opinions vary.

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