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(More customer reviews)CROSSROADS (Walter Hill's Blues film, NOT Britney Spears' self-indulgent 2002 fluff) is a terrific introduction to a uniquely American musical genre, with a remarkable cast and a dead-on southern 'atmosphere'. It has always astonished me that when released, critics were unable to look past Ralph Macchio's previous film work, and accept this gem on it's own merits, but it's subsequent status as a cult classic is certainly well-deserved, with films such as the Coens' O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? utilizing the Robert Johnson subplot and borrowing many of CROSSROAD's visual elements. Perhaps the film, with a magnificent Ry Cooder score, was just too far ahead of it's time, a strange criticism to apply to a Blues movie!
The tale involves young Long Island guitar prodigy Eugene 'Lightning Boy' Martone (Macchio), a rebel at the Julliard School with his passion for the Blues ("Primitive music," one professor sneers), on a quest to recover legendary guitarist Johnson's fabled "30th Song" of 1938. His research leads him to a NYC nursing home, where fabled harmonica player Willie Brown (the late actor/singer/songwriter Joe Seneca), a friend and collaborator of Johnson's, is confined. Promising to 'give' the song to the youngster if he can be "busted out" and returned to his Mississippi home, the pair are soon on a cross-country odyssey, with Martone learning about discrimination, the darker side of humanity, and love's loss (through a brief encounter with Jami Gertz, who was never lovelier), providing him with the core of sadness Brown says is essential to truly play the Blues.
The climax of the film is legendary; arriving home, Brown, who had 'sold his soul' to the Devil at the 'Crossroads' as a young man (just as his friend, Johnson, had), attempts to get 'Scratch' (skeletal Robert Judd) to tear up the contract. The Devil informs him that he will, only if Martone can defeat his Champion in a 'Guitar Duel'. If the youngster loses, his soul, as well as Brown's, will be lost, forever. Martone rashly agrees ("I don't believe any of this s*** anyway!"), and he and Brown find themselves in a broken-down church converted into a dance hall, with demons and lost souls cavorting to the rock strains of insanely talented Jack Butler (Frank Zappa guitarist/composer Steve Vai). With only his love of the Blues, Julliard training, and Brown's 'ju-ju' to aid him, the humbled Martone must play for far more than his life, in a 'Duel' (with the amazing Vai actually playing both guitar parts) that is so fabulous that it is unbelievable that it was NOT included in the soundtrack album of the film!
Walter Hill was no stranger to music-themed fantasies (he also directed another 'ahead of it's time' cult film, STREETS OF FIRE), and with CROSSROADS, he took a simple storyline, and turned it into an unforgettable musical cinematic experience.
That the film is FINALLY on DVD is a MAJOR cause for celebration...now, let's hope an expanded "Special Edition" with added bonus features, will follow!
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Crossroads (1986)CROSSROADS - DVD Movie
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