Crossroads

Director: Walter Hill

Year: 1986

Language: English

Length: 1 hour 38 minutes (98 minutes)

Staring: (main cast) Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Robert Judd, Steve Vai (Musicians) Ry Cooder, Sonny Terry, William Kanengiser, Steve Vai

Plot: [stolen from love film] Eugene Martone (Ralph Macchio), is a rebellious young classical guitarist who would rather play the Blues. Whilst searching for a lost song by Blues legend Robert Johnson, he meets Blues legend Willie Brown (Joe Seneca), in an old peoples home. Willie says he will give Eugene the lost song Blues song if he springs him from the retirement home and takes him back to his real home in the Mississippi Delta. It is while there that Willie attempts to win his soul back from the devil, having sold it - to be a blues legend - as a young man at a crossroads, in the same way Robert Johnson had before him. The devil says he will return his soul, but only if Eugene can beat his champion in a guitar-playing competition. But if he loses, both Willie's and Eugene's souls will be forfeit...

Review: It was strange to watch it and not instantly think about how dated the film was, it really worked still even even in this day and age. The karate kid really can act like he's playing the guitar, I'll give him that and man Ry Cooder is just a sensational guitarist... Fuck. The best part of the whole film is at the start where the kid breaks out the old guy from the hospital, I don't know why, but seeing an old man run is just sensational. The end with the guitar battle is just so frigging awesome! There has never been, nor will there ever be, another battle like that on tv or in film. Fact.

The middle bit gets a bit wishy-washy and drags its feet a bit and you kind of seriously hate the girl because she's kind of a total asshole, but then the film picks it self right back up and storms ahead with the story line.

The filming of this is just beautiful, especially for its time, with the extraordinary scenery and the tinting of sepia tones to the flashbacks is just astounding. I recommend this film to anyone a fan of the style of music and a film heavily weighed by the impacts of race, but overall its not that great of film to just watch on a whim otherwise.

Quotes: 'Willie Brown: It's amazing how much has changed and still managed to stay the same.'
'Willie Brown: You want me to say that you're as good as Samual Johnson, but kid, you ain't got shit on him.'

Overall Rating: 4/5