Remember Walking Tall? In this quintessential kick-butt movie, Sheriff Buford Pusser was out to rout the villains in a small Southern town.

Now there is Patrick Swayze, known for his sleek muscles, pelvic movements and bedside manner in Dirty Dancing, who is trying to rout the villains in a small Midwestern town. Road House showcases Swayze as a bouncer with principles, a martial-arts version of Rambo whose cardinal rule in handling jerks is "be nice."

It's a silly movie that unravels quickly toward the end. In fact, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense from start to finish. There is also way too much violence and not enough sex to satisfy filmgoers, who expect Swayze to build on his Dirty Dancing momentum.

As Dalton, he's so cool that when he gets stabbed in the arm, he stitches up the wound himself rather than bother with medical treatment. He's so smart that he doesn't take commercial aircraft -- instead, he drives to new places in a Mercedes. He's so irresistible that a female doctor who resembles a California beach bunny abandons instinct and reason to pursue a doomed relationship with him.

For $5,000 up front and $500 a night, he agrees to help the owner of the Double Deuce Club in rural Missouri eliminate the beer-swilling, bone-crushing vermin from his establishment. Dalton's legend precedes him. One employee of the club almost drools in admiration as he says, "He ripped a guy's throat out!"

But Dalton faces a formidable enemy in Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), the town boss, who is shadowed by creepy-looking thugs for bodyguards. Wesley doesn't want Dalton messing with the order of things, such as firing his nitwit nephew for stealing from the till. But with the force of moral right on his side, Dalton persists, even after matters get messy.

When Wesley gets mad, he blows up an auto parts store, has his boys careen through an automobile showroom in four-wheel-drive vehicles, and explodes the home of a peaceable old farmer. After a seemingly infinite display of murder and mayhem, there's a wan attempt at injecting touches of humor into the year's most violent movie so far.

Can Swayze sustain a lead role? Yes. Can he sustain Road House? No.

ROAD HOUSE

A bouncer is hired to clean up a nightclub outside Kansas City, Mo.

Credits: With Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Kelly Lynch. Directed by Rowdy Herrington. Written by David Lee Henry and Hilary Henkin.

Violence, nudity, sex, coarse language, obscenity.