Jake's Roadhouse: Anthony Bagarozzi Serving Us Hemingway
This took me a while to write because I had a belief about this film that didn’t come into fruition until I’d seen it at least a dozen times - Bagarozzi studies literature. For this film, he went full Hemingway. On the first couple of viewings, the thought came up, but then I would be distracted by Jake and it would pass. Let’s take a deep dive into film.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952)
When we meet Dalton he’s picking up fights. No one wants to fight him so he collects his money and goes along his way. The beat up car, the indifference to having been stabbed, it’s akin to the man trying to catch that massive fish in the ocean. The invitation to Key West by Frankie sets up the Hemingway path. He’s going to Florida and he looks like he has nothing to lose. (Spoiler alert: We know how this ended for Hemingway, so it adds layers to Dalton’s journey).
After he decides not to use an oncoming train as a shotgun, we next see beautiful Key West in all its glory. He gets dropped off at a bus station and we’re led to believe that maybe things could work out here for him.
Across the River and into the Trees (1950)
His first steps in Key West and he meets Charlie, the daughter of the local bookstore owner. She hands him a book about Glass Key that is similar to the above Hemingway title and like a narrator, she sets our hero off on his path. I think Bagarozzi added this literary connection as a nod to his influences. Our MMA lead likes books, visits his local bookstore every day, and uses their computer. It’s more of a library, but I understand that to keep the story succinct, they made the local library a bookstore.
Islands in the Stream (1970)
The second act is a movie montage of the above book where the protagonist has boat dreams and works his way through all of his demons. The song played is “Keep on Smilin’” by Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & The Zydeco Twisters. The hero makes it to the beach, he works through it, and then he defeats the bad guys in the end.
This is one of my favorite scenes in film. He’s working out to a fun, upbeat Cajun song while he stares out Key West. The viewer sees a beautiful man working out on the beach and finding himself. The protagonist is trying to find the will to live past the fact that he killed his opponent in the ring. It’s a lot of heavy stuff wrapped up In this beautiful package of a music montage scene and I’m here for it.
They just greenlit a sequel and I hope he’s still in a beautiful locale similar to this film. Dalton is a charismatic character. The atmosphere is perfect and the action combined with the subtle hints at the depth of the characters makes this film a cult classic. I’m sorry, I like it better than the original.