Michael_Elliott Crossroads (1986) *** (out of 4)Eugene Martone (Ralph Macchio) is a young man from Long Island who loves the Blues and the legend of Robert Johnson. He tracks down Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) who was the last person alive to play with Johnson in hopes that he will turn over a lost song that the Blues legend recorded. Soon the two are on a road trip to Mississippi where Eugene wants to become a Blues legend himself while Willie has an old score to settle.Walter Hill's CROSSROADS is a love letter to Blues musicians of the past and there's no question that it does a great job at paying respect to them. The film was released to some great reviews but it really didn't catch on at the box office but over the years it has gained a strong cult following and it certainly deserves that. The love letter to the Blues is obvious but there's also a nice road picture here as well as one excellent performance.What I enjoyed most about Hill's film is that the director perfectly nails the Southern locations and I thought he did a marvelous job at making you feel as if you were watching a true myth come to life. There are scenes at the Crossroads where the Blues magicians sell their soul in order to play and I thought these scenes were highly effective and one wishes that an entire movie would be made of this and Johnson. Another major plus is that the music itself is extremely good and there's no question that it pulls you into the picture.Macchio was riding the success of THE KARATE KID and for the most part I thought he was good in the film. I'm not quite sure I believed him as a great musician but I thought he was fine playing the know-it-all from Long Island. Jami Gertz is very good in her role as a woman the two run into on the road and Joe Mortan is also good in his few scenes. There's also Harry Carey, Jr. in a small role as a bartender.With all of that being said, CROSSROADS work so well because of Joe Seneca. He delivers the performance of a career here and I must say that he easily steals the picture. The actor really is believable in the role and there's not a second that he's on screen that you don't feel as if you're watching a real Blues legend. I will say that the ending didn't really work too well with me but that's just a minor issue. Other than that this Walter Hill film packs a nice little punch and is certainly entertaining.

Christian I love the Blues. It's been with me since I was 12. And although I have broadened my musical horizon considerably over the past decades, it still is the Blues, be it electric or acoustic, that sounds like "Home" to me. From what I have seen and heard in Walter Hill's movies - "The Wanderers", "Streets of Fire", "48 Hours" are the ones that immediately spring to mind - I believe he loves the same kind of music that I love. I bought the "Crossroads" soundtrack LP right after I saw the movie back in the Eighties. I must have listened to the title track a hundred times, trying to figure out and then playing to Ry Cooder's fantastically grooving riff.I hated the movie, though. I recently saw it again and I still don't like it. I feel, Hill did the Blues a disservice.Sure enough, the movie obviously was made with the best intentions. Not only does it celebrate the Blues and especially Mississippi Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson. It also makes the case for cultural open mindedness by demonstrating the virtues of stylistic cross-pollination: Juilliard School needs to understand that the Blues is as valuable as Mozart, and our "hero" wins the final guitar battle by applying his extraordinary classical chops.So, I can sympathize with the message Walter Hill sends here. And the story is kept on an acceptable level of suspense: Will our hero become friends with Willie Brown, the old blues harmonica player who supposedly performed with Robert Johnson way back when? Will he find Johnson's 30th song? In the end, will he save his soul?Still, the movie made me cringe. There are two main reasons: leading actor Ralph Macchio, and the story's ridiculous climax. Macchio seemingly cannot shake off the feeling he is being watched. The camera makes him feel awkward. In my eyes, he never loses his self-consciousness. Yes, his role does require a certain amount of insecurity and goofiness - but being insecure actor is not the same as being able to convincingly incorporate it in the role you are playing.Worse, still, is the duel of the guitars at the end, which will decide our hero's fate. Two guitar players take turns at shredding, like boxers exchanging blows - and at the end there is an unquestionable winner, because one guy wasn't able to play some high notes and bend his e-string high enough? Give me a break. At the climax of the story we are presented with a ridiculous caricature of musicianship. Which in my mind is the direct opposite of what Hill wanted to achieve.

simona gianotti Having just come back from a road trip in the Southern US, the first cinematographic need was for some movie set in those fascinating Mississippi landscapes, and "Crossroads" was one of them. The first opening blues notes make you enter the mood of a lazy, sweet, melancholy, sun-beaten land where people can still today feel till the utmost the pleasure of a music that gets under your skin and makes you shiver. It's the story of a young white boy dreaming of becoming a great blues guitarist, looking for a lost song by Robert Johnson, one of the greatest blues men, ever. The boy knows that the still living harmonica player Willie Brown was a partner of the legendary blues musician Robert Johnson, manages to find him in a nursing home and makes a deal with the old man. He'll help him come back a crossroads where he had once signed a pact with the devil to become a great musician, if the old man teaches him the lost Johnson song. It's a movie about the need to go that land, to the Mississippi delta, to see, feel the places where blues had its origins. It's also the story of an odd friendship between two generations, two worlds, but united by the same passionate longing for a music, a mood that only that music can fully express. And indeed the good soundtrack, makes a difference, sly and pleasant to be listened. Willie once tells the boy the meaning of blues and says: "The blues ain't nothing' but a good man feelin' bad, thinking' 'bout the woman he once was with". Maybe...But if you have a chance, go to Clarksdale (MS) where three crossed guitars at a crossroads, mark where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to play his own blues, and don't miss some live blues at Red's, not far from that same crossroads: you will taste some amazing live blues music, enjoy the company of hearty people, and experience some real South.

flubbered In the 70's and 80's i seen most of Ralph Macchio's films,i loved them all. I remember Crossroads like it was made just a few years ago,i seen Crossroads in 1986. This was one of Ralph Macchio's best films i thought the story line and music were brilliant. I have seen Crossroads to buy on Amazon and i have decided to buy it, have a night in and remember my teens. Ralph Macchio is a great actor and for me,growing up in the 70's and 80's was the best years of my life,the music the films and actors like Ralph Macchio made it all worth while. Ralph Macchio plays a brilliant part in Crossroads,watching him find himself and where he wants to go and what he wants to do with his life are all part of watching this film. His relationship between Ralph and Joe really comes through in this film and the more times you see Crossroads the more you get to like it. I have never seen another film like this since watching Crossroads. Films like this just aren't made anymore and actors like Ralph Macchio are very very rare.