Bill Murray Has A Creepy Connection To A Classic ’80s Action Movie

This is weird.

By Michileen Martin | Published

bill murray

No–you can check every face and scrutinize every turned back or extra in profile, and you will never spot Bill Murray in 1989’s Road House. That, of course, is because Bill Murray does not appear in Road House. We’re not sure what Murray was up to when Patrick Swayze’s classic barroom brawl action extravaganza was being filmed in Calfiornia in 1988; possibly working on that year’s holiday comedy Scrooged, and very likely in the midst of negotiations for the following year’s Ghostbusters II. Regardless, the comedy star has a somewhat disturbing connection with the film and it has to do with one of the film’s lead actors and a few decades worth of prank phone calls.

In a 2012 interview with The AV Club, Kelly Lynch–who plays the sexy Doc in Road House— revealed that for years, Bill Murray and his “idiot brothers” have been prank calling her husband, writer/producer Mitch Glazer, every time they watch Road House. Lynch said once the movie reaches her sex scene with Swayze, Murray or one of his brothers will call Glazer, pretend to be someone else, and warn him that his wife is having sex with Patrick Swayze. Lynch told The AV Club:

“Every time Road House is on and [Bill Murray] or one of his idiot brothers are watching TV—and they’re always watching TV—one of them calls my husband and says… ‘Kelly’s having sex with Patrick Swayze right now. They’re doing it. He’s throwing her against the rocks.’ … Mitch was just walking out the door to the set, and he said that Bill once called him from Russia.” 

Kelly Lynch in The AV Club

When asked to clarify which of Bill Murray’s siblings were calling her husband during the Road House sex scene, Lynch answered, “All of them! Joel has called; Brian Doyle has called. They will all call! Any and all of them!” She added that the Murrays were so dedicated to the pranks that the brothers would even rewatch the film during back-to-back marathons. “And God help me when AMC’s doing their Road House marathon, because I know the phone is just going to keep ringing,” Lynch said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 2 or 3 in morning. ‘Hi, Kelly’s having sex with Patrick Swayze right now…'”

Patrick Swayze and Kelly Lynch in Road House (1989)

By the way, if you’re thinking that we only have one side of the story here, don’t worry — Bill Murray has confirmed his creepy Road House pranks. As reported by The Daily Beast, the Lost in Translation star bragged about it in a 2015 episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Murray accompanied the late host to a South Carolina restaurant and seemed absolutely tickled when Bourdain brought up the subject of Road House. “I’ve never seen anyone enjoy Road House more than I do,” Murray said. He went on to confirm almost everything Lynch had already said, adding that he’s been doing it for “the past 25 years” and often “in the middle of the night.” The only part he left out was his brothers getting in on the action. You can see a clip from the conversation below.

In case you’re wondering exactly how Bill Murray knows Mitch Glazer; they’ve collaborated on different projects since the seventies. Glazer was a producer on 2003’s Lost in Translation and 2020’s On the Rocks; and was a screenwriter for the 1979 parody Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, Scrooged, 2010’s Passion Play, 2015’s Rock the Kasbah, and that same year’s Netflix Christmas special A Very Murray Christmas.

News has recently surfaced that Jake Gyllenhaal is remaking Road House, and we certainly have concerns for the cast, crew, and cast/crew’s family members involved in the project. Should any of them have any kind of relationships with Bill Murray and/or his brothers, we certainly hope for the sake of their mental health and sleep schedule that before the Road House remake hits theaters, they block the entire Murray clan’s numbers.