Review: Crossroads (1986)

Ralph Macchio plays a classical guitar student from Long Island, studying at Julliard. His passion, however, is the blues, which earns him the ire of his teacher (played by Allan Arbus from “Coffy”, of all people). Macchio tracks down whom he believes to be blues legend Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) in a retirement home. He’s hoping to get the old man to tell him about the rumoured long-lost thirteenth song by the even more legendary Robert Johnson. Willie (an old associate of Johnson’s) tells the kid he’ll tell him everything he knows about playing the song, if he’ll bust him out of the old folks home first. And away to Mississippi they go, running into a young runaway girl (Jami Gertz) along the way. Meanwhile, Willie is haunted by old memories about a regretful deal he made with The Devil at the crossroads years ago. Robert Judd and Joe Morton turn up as ‘ol Scratch and his sleazy assistant, whilst Harry Carey Jr. plays a heat-packing bartender, and Steve Vai has a show-stopping guest cameo as a preening rock guitarist at the climax. Tim Russ appears in flashbacks/visions as Robert Johnson himself.

 

It’s a tad simplistic to label this “The Blues Kid”, but this 1986 film does follow a slightly similar trajectory to Ralph Macchio’s biggest hit “The Karate Kid”, which may be hard to remove yourself from. Yet again he’s a young student (this time of the guitar, not karate) being mentored by a wise old veteran, and both films result in a contest/tournament of some sort. However, as much as “The Karate Kid” is the vastly superior film of the two, this kinder, gentler than usual effort from Walter Hill (otherwise known for tough films like “Hard Times”, “The Warriors” and “Extreme Prejudice”) has its merits and deserves to be thought of as its own unique film.

 

As scripted by John Fusco (“Young Guns”, “Young Guns II”, “The Forbidden Kingdom”), it’s also a more fantastical/mystical story than “The Karate Kid”, though not quite in the comic book sense of Hill’s earlier “Streets of Fire”. Invoking the name of blues legend Robert Johnson in its plot, the film’s mythology will be familiar to anyone who has heard The Charlie Daniels Band classic ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’, and the song of the film’s title (played early on in the film) also factors into things. That tale and the idea of locating Johnson’s rumoured thirteenth song that was never recorded, forms the backbone of the film. Otherwise, it’s essentially a road movie cum mentor-student flick, but when you combine the mythology with the plot you get a pretty unique, rather nostalgic film.

 

Ralph Macchio, now somewhat of a forgotten actor (though I did enjoy his casting as author Joseph Stefano in “Hitchcock”) of the ‘Brat Pack’ generation, is a good choice for the lead here. Other actors of his generation would’ve seemed a bit too ‘preppy’ for the role of a young wannabe bluesman. If you’re gonna have the wise old bluesman taking on a younger apprentice, best make sure the actor cast in the latter role has a bit of a streetwise, working class quality to him. Macchio (who is a better actor than a lot of his contemporaries I could name) has that, as well as a Sal Mineo/Monty Clift sensitivity to him as well. It’s an interesting thing this film brings up about whether a young upstart Long Island white kid from the Julliard School of Music can truly make it as a blues musician. I mean, Eric Clapton is English, yet no one’s gonna question his blues cred, surely. But is Clapton better than the African-American bluesmen that inspired him? Some maybe. The fact that the film even posits this question is enough to cover for the fact that yes, by the end of the film the kid’s probably gonna end up proving himself. I’m surely not spoiling anything for anyone who has ever seen a movie before in their life.

 

Make no mistake, however, the film isn’t lacking in grit or blues-steeped authenticity/affection. I mean, one of the leads admits to having killed a man, for cryin’ out loud, you can’t get much darker than that. The casting of Joe Seneca as Willie Brown is crucial here, and he delivers even more impressively than Macchio. He was formerly a singer and songwriter, and brings to the film the kind of authenticity you just can’t fake. He might not be Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, or even Eric Clapton, but you immediately accept him in the role of the aging bluesman. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two characters in that they are both irritable, and are using each other for their own agenda. They are not cute and cuddly lead characters. I said that Seneca brought an authenticity that’s hard to fake, and the film also features legendary western actor Harry Carey Jr. stealing his one and only scene as the bartender who lets Macchio have a ‘snort’, packs a shotgun and breaks up a potential fight. One of the greats of all-time, folks. He brings a lot of movie history with him, it’s not just heat he’s packin’, it’s also authenticity and history.

 

I’m not sure the more fable-like parts of the film really gel with the rest of the film, tonally, but that’s not to say that there’s anything inauthentic or uninteresting about the fantasy-ish elements on their own (The use of sepia tone for the ‘flashbacks’ is certainly interesting, if a bit pretentious). The late Robert Judd is creepy as hell as ‘ol Scratch and it’s a shame that he died before the film was released. He had never acted before, and seemed quite promising to me. You’ll definitely remember him, and a young Joe Morton is also enjoyable as his number two. The thing most people remember about the film, though, is the awesome supernaturally-tinged ‘battle of the bands’-style finale featuring legendary guitarist Steve Vai. Vai steals the finale with an hilariously preening, ridiculously noodling, Eddie Van Halen-esque display of ‘cock rock’ hard rock axe-shredding. Hard rock/metal is a good choice for the ‘Devil’s music’ here when you think about the reputation of such music (Music I’m definitely a fan of, by the way, although not so much Vai specifically). Vai is a supreme shredder, and I just hope his theatrics here are intentionally over-the-top because he is very, very funny. Which brings me to the music score and soundtrack by Vai and Hill regular Ry Cooder (“The Long Riders”, “Streets of Fire”), which is outstanding. Yes, Macchio (or Cooder and Vai, who play for him) does seem to favour Flamenco-esque inflections to his playing that aren’t strictly blues-oriented, but goddamn the music is awesome. I mean, there’s way more blues in this film than “Blues Brothers 2000”, that’s for damn sure. Also awesome is the shot composition and cinematography by John Bailey (“American Gigolo”, “Light of Day”), paying particular attention to roads as kind of visual motif tying into the title and plot.

 

The film has some grit to it that I appreciated. It’s not sanitised or Disney-esque at all. Yes, it’s a lot lighter than most of Hill’s films, but there’s a bit of darkness here around the edges. One of the supporting characters is essentially Satan, for starters. Somewhat out of place then, is actress Jami Gertz. Never much of a talent, really, she’s supposedly playing a streetwise young runaway here. Unfortunately, Gertz looks too much like a rich girl princess from LA to convince as a hobo (despite apparently being from Chicago), though she sure looks hot not wearing any pants in her first scene. I would’ve cast someone like Mary Stuart Masterson, Lisa Bonet, or Linda Fiorentino, if the latter weren’t perhaps too old at the time (Then again, Macchio played 1984’s oldest teen in “The Karate Kid”, didn’t he?). It’s a shame, because Gertz and the too rushed romance is the one phony element in an otherwise authentic film.

 

Yes, it might’ve been an even better film if made by an African-American filmmaker and with a young African-American lead, but it works pretty well as is because Hill and composer Ry Cooder clearly have a love and affection for the blues. Check it out, especially if you’re a blues fan or a Steve Vai fan.

 

Rating: B-