Crossroads is a 1986 American music-drama film inspired by the story and legend of blues musician Robert Leroy Johnson, directed by Walter Hill and screenplay written by John Fusco, starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Steve Vai as "Jack Butler" and Robert Judd as Legba "Scratch".
Plot[]
| Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film. |
Gifted guitarist 17 year-old Eugene Martone (Ralph Macchio) studies classical music at the Juilliard School for Performing Arts in New York and has a fascination in blues music, researching old newspaper clips and reading stories of legend Robert Johnson in seeking Robert's lost song.
Eugene finds out that one of Johnson's old friends Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) is situated in a nearby nursing home not too far from him, Eugene gets a part-time job at the nursing home as a janitor to collect more information about Willie Brown, but the elderly man refuses to reveal his identity and denies that he is Willie Brown. Willie overhears Eugene playing blues one day and admits that he is the real Willie Brown, but scolds Eugene for playing with "no soul". Willie tells Eugene that he know Robert's famous "lost song" and will teach him it as long as he breaks him out of the nursing home and helps him find his way to Mississippi for some "unfinished business", Eugene of course agrees in order to get the song and they start heading south.
With only $40 dollars in their pocket, they realize that they ran into a money problem and can't buy bus tickets to get there entirely, so they end up hitch-hiking all the way from Memphis to Mississippi in order to get where they want to go. Both Eugene and Willie go from road to road and travel a little around the towns they are situated in until they move by transportation. On one road that they are walking on, Willie notices a train pass by, and begins to play the harmonic in an attempt to make the train talk. Eugene does the same and plays some blues, but Willie once again scolds him and says that he'll "never get the lost song if he can't make the train talk". In a joke, Eugene says that he will just do the same thing Willie did and strike up a deal with the devil, Willie slaps him mid-sentence and tells him to never say that again.
Later on, Willie has unlocked a memory and imagines himself standing in the middle of the street as his younger self, as a little girl in a wagon says "what you waiting for, four eyes?" and is shown signing his name on a contract from the deal that he made with the devil. They are show inside a market and Eugene asks if he is okay because of Willie's petrified look, he says that he's okay and that they have to get moving, but Eugene wants to hang for a bit, Willie tells Eugene to use the payphone to call his mom and get in touch with her, but Eugene tells him that she's in Europe and that no one is going to notice that he's gone and that it's none of his business. Willie scolds Eugene for having such a beat-up guitar, and that he probably only bought it because it looked all "beat-up", they go to a pawn shop to seek a better guitar, and finds a Fender Telecaster, and the owner offers to sell him the guitar and a pignose amplifier, and claims that he will be a "walking concert", the owner said if they can get $400, the whole thing is theirs. Eugene shows Willie the watch and offers to trade it to the owner in exchange for the guitar and the amplifier. While they are appraising the watch, Eugene tries on a hat and says all he needs is a Mississippi string-tie and he's ready to roll, Willie says "he needs a lot more than that".
Eugene and Willie are walking in the rain into a nearby house, expecting nobody to be in it, while an undressed Frances (Jami Gertz) is seen putting on a shirt, turns around and sees them standing at the doorway, and pulls out a knife, she says that she will stab them if they get any closer, but Willie says that this isn't the first time this has happened to him, and unarms her quickly by distracting her with his talk, and that she should be ashamed of herself for pulling a knife on an old man. She leaves to go put her pants on and goes into a car and says that they'll be taking them to the next town over and from there they'll go their separate ways. They go to a bar and Willies is playing on the harmonica, when the owner of the bar pulls up to the bar and asks them what they're doing, and insult both Eugene and Willie to get off their property or he'll go into his office and get a .357 Magnum.
Frances tries and successfully seduces the owner and he tells her to take her clothes off and goes to take a quick shower all in a plan to steal his wallet and steal his car. Eugene tries and unsuccessfully attacks him but Willie comes out with a gun and threatens that he'll give the walls a new paint job. They take his wallet and steal his car as a deal to not kill him, so now they have access to transportation but have to be careful because they are driving a stolen Cadillac. They go and lie low in a shack for the rest of the night, and Willie heads to bed while Eugene and Frances stay awake, both of them start arguing that Willie is lying and claiming he's not a bluesman and he tricked a gullible kid into getting him out of a nursing home. Officers track down the stolen car and search the barn to see if anyone is there, the officer finds the moneyclip and says that they're going to leave them in the hands of Sheriff Tilford. All 3 of them are taken in a police car but are taken out and uncuffed and set free because he's in a good mood, but Frances complains that the officer took her money and claims there was no money stolen.
They venture out again and head to a bar, where Eugene is starting to think Frances was right, and that the real Willie Brown isn't probably in another 1000 miles or is buried in an unmarked grave and that he's full of shit that used him to get out of the nursing home. Back in the bar, Eugene asks for a shot, but the bartender asks if he has any ID, Eugene says no, but the bartender gives him the shot because one won't hurt him, but he has no way to pay, so he asks if he can play some guitar to pay for it. Frances gets into an argument with a man that she tried to dance with to manipulate again, and Frances tells Eugene to show the gun that he has, the bartender pulls out a shotgun and tells Eugene to hand the piece over, and tells Frances to return the wallet that she stole because he has a family to take care of. Frances returns it and the bartender tells both of them that they have some growing up to do, and tells them to leave. Meanwhile, Willie is in the other bar and is performing on the stage, while Eugene and Frances walk in and Willie says to let them on stage, and they both start performing, Willie plays the harmonica and sings while Eugene plays on the Telecaster. After the barrelhouse, Eugene claims that he's a bluesman, and Willie calls bullshit and says there's only one bluesman tonight, him.
Willie heads to bed, but is awoken by a nightmare that he had a s a consequence for selling his soul to the devil, Scratch's assistant is seen walking through the hallway saying "Hellhounds on your trail". When he is awoken, he spots Frances leaving to head back on her journey to LA, and tells him to tell Lightning Boy she'll miss him. Before she leaves, Willie gives her a $100 bill and tells her not to get with any motel men anymore, and to take care of herself. Eugene starts questioning Willie and asks where Frances went, he goes outside to look for her, but she had already left. He comes back inside, drenched by the rain outside and says that he'll miss Frances, while they both have a drink. Willie comes clean and tells Eugene that there is no 30th song and that he lied to him, saying that 29 was enough, and that Robert would tell him that he has to do it himself, he just wanted to leave the nursing home so badly, from this news, Eugene is even more devastated, and plays more on the guitar.
Willie and Eugene are then seen walking up to a house, a young lady opens the door and offers them glasses of water and asks for a real special place, a crossroads, the young lady looks terrified while he's trying to get an answer from her. It then cuts to a car pulling up to a 4-way road, the crossroads, and leave Willie and Eugene alone there. A car then pulls up, a man that looks like Scratch's assistant (Joe Morton), and a woman that says the same thing the young girl on the wagon said to Willie. He offers both Willie and Eugene a ride, and Willie asks where Legba is, the man says he changed his name to scratch, and then offers a ride again, and says he doesn't want to ride with a smart-ass or his bitch either, and the man drives off calling Willie and old man. Scratch shows up and introduces himself to Willie again, and Willie tells him the deal is off, but the contract is still signed saying the deal is still on. He then offers Eugene a deal with a man named Jack Butler (Steve Vai). Willie jumps in and says that if he loses, he gets him, but Scratch laughs and says he already got him, and Eugene offers himself, and Willie tells him not to do it, but he accepts anyway.
It then cuts to Jack playing the guitar and a woman dancing with him, the same woman from the car, and a group of men start singing, Willie and Eugene show up to the place, Willie has a mojo hand, and says that he's giving him all that he has, and to do his magic upstage to be able to succeed. Eugene then goes up to the stage, saying that Willie Brown sent him, and from there the duel between Eugene and Jack begins. Eugene and Jack seem to be going at equal paces and can both play the same things, but as time goes on, it gets more intense and they go harder and tension between them builds up. Willie begins playing the harmonica with them in the microphone and the woman begins dancing again while they start going at faster paces. Eventually Eugene cannot keep up with Jack anymore, and Willie thinks that they lost and unfortunately has Eugene's soul too. Eugene then begins playing one of Niccolò Paganini's pieces of music, Caprice 5, and everyone seems impressed by the ability of him doing so at the speed and not messing up, Jack tries to repeat what he did, but messes up constantly and messes up badly at the end, pulling on the guitar strings harder and cannot play the last part, and falls down to the floor, he gets back up, and drops his guitar and walks out. Willie and Eugene both start playing harmonica and guitar, Scratch also tears up the contract and resume playing. After the performance ends, Eugene and Willie once again start walking, and Willie says that he is sick of Mississippi and wants to move to Chicago, and Eugene volunteers to with him, but then says that once they go to Chicago and they leave that he's on his own. Before the movie cuts to the credits, Willie says he's tired of walking and wants to go to Chicago with style, by flying on an airplane.
Cast[]
- Ralph Macchio as Eugene Martone "Lightning Boy"
- Joe Seneca as Willie Brown "Blind Dog"
- Jami Gertz as Francis
- Joe Morton as Scratch's Assistant
- Steve Vai as Jack Butler
- Robert Judd as Legba "Scratch"
- Al Fann as Pawnbroker
- John Hancock as Sheriff Tilford
- Dennis Lipscomb as Lloyd
- Harry Carey Jr. as Bartender
Production[]
The script was written by John Fusco, which is also known for his work for Young Guns & Young Guns II, who was still a student at NYU, he wrote the script as his Master's Thesis and was his 2nd screenplay so far. Fusco was a big fan of the blues and the screenplay was heavily influenced by his love for it, and was a blues singer and musician. He way heavily inspired by Robert Johnson's legend story of how he sold his soul to the devil to play the blues. His idea for the screenplay came from an old African-American that had been admitted to a rest home that his girlfriend had been. he had gotten in touch with him and this had inspired him to make the screenplay of Crossroads, the screenplay had been reviewed and later been sold to Columbia Pictures for $250,000 with help from producer Mark Farliner. During the production of this movie, Robert Johnson had also been introduced to the R&R Hall of Fame in January of 1986, which was a major coincidence to Fusco.
Reception[]
Box Office[]
Crossroads released on March 14, 1986 and made $2,071,680 on its domestic opening. The movie went on to be screened in 982 theaters across the US and grossed a total of $5,839,031 worldwide.
Critical Reception[]
Farliner stated the marketing of this image was challenging. Saying that he was one of the first to make an effort to sell the story. He was aware of how difficult it was to sell it to people because of lack of interest to some. He said that it might be a timeless crossover film, but a poor campaign might quickly cost the chance. He believed Columbia had a top-notch marketing staff and appreciated the $6 million the studio had invested in its debut.
Ry Cooder has a different story, stating that the movie did not do well, stating that it "went down the tubes", grossing 5.8 million worldwide.
As of now, it has a 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes ranging from 16 total critic reviews, and has a 55% on metacritic, along with a 7.1/10 on IMDb, meaning that the movie was quite interesting and enjoyable to many people.
Crossroads has received 1 nomination for Ry Cooder for Best Original Music Score from the Ghent International Film Festival in 1986.