For all the endless "show don't tell" discourse/advice I see on here, no one ever talks about the masterclass that is the elegant af screenplay for the immortal 1989 Patrick Swayze classic film ROAD HOUSE and I for one will no longer stand for this. A thread.

In ROAD HOUSE, Sam Elliott plays grizzled, legendary bar bouncer Wade Garrett with nuclear levels of dad-who-f*cks energy AND a subtly pronounced limp. You see it come through in his striding definitely-cribbing-John-Wayne gait.

Garrett’s limp is probably MOST pronounced in the scene where a sweaty, shirtless Swayze climbs a knotted rope hung in a barn using only his bare hands to reach the barn's loft (this is all true) and Garrett is forced to use a ladder to follow him.

The barn loft is also where Dalton and Garrett share an uber moment of man-feels in which Dalton tries to punch Garrett and Garrett intercepts his fist without blinking or changing his expression because he is 1980's masculinity coalesced into sentient leather.

After which Garrett bids Dalton an emotional farewell with the parting and important to this thread line of, "I'll tell you something else. You taught me as much as I *ever* taught you."

ANYWAY. Wade Garrett’s limp is NEVER directly referenced in the film, not once in dialogue in any way, nor is it ever explained how his character acquired that limp. HOWEVER…