Crossroads
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Movie Reviews of Crossroads
Movie Review: Devil at the Crossroads
Summary: 5 Stars
Crossroads have long held a special significance in occult lore. They are places where there's no North or South, no East or West. They are stillpoints in the fabric of time where "things happen." Things usually associated with the darkside of the spiritual spectrum. In otherwords, places to encounter the Devil.
Just such a crossroads happens to be the ultimate destination of Eugene Martone (Ralph Macchio) a young and gifted classical guitarist attending the Julliard School of the Arts. Though classically trained, Eugene is obsessed with the music of the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. He is also quite familiar with the superstitious beliefs associated with the engimatic Johnson. Some say he sold his soul to the Devil at some unspecified Mississippi crossroads in return for musical talent. Eugene dismisses such tales as nothing more than urban legend. However one tale he doesn't dismiss is the belief that Robert Johnson had one more song that was never recorded. Eugene is determined to find that lost song.
In hopes of locating it Eugene enlists the help of Willie Brown (Joe Seneca), an old blues musician and probably the last living friend of Robert Johnson. Willie, now confined to a convalescent home in New York, promises to lead Eugene to the missing song if he helps him escape from the home and accompanies him back to Mississippi. Sneaking away at the first opportunity they spend the few dollars they have between them for tickets on a southbound bus. Thus the adventure begins.
As they walk and hitchhike their way across the rural southern landscape, Willie begins to teach Eugene the essentials that must be experienced firsthand by anyone aspiring to be a true bluesman, such as; the hardships of life on the road and the loss of first love (love interest played by Jami Gertz). However the most important lesson turns out to be one Eugene would have never suspected. It's the truth concerning the crossroads. The story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil at the crossroads turns out to be fact, not fiction. It also turns out to be true for poor old Willie Brown.
The real reason for Willie's desire to return to Mississippi is to attempt to win back his soul before it's too late. A feat that can only be accomplished with the help of Eugene and his guitar. Now Eugene must defeat the Devil's chosen guitarist Jack Butler (Steve Vai) in a musical challenge, or Willie and Eugene's souls will be lost forever.
This is one of those movies you can watch over and over again. Ralph Macchio gives a strong performance but the real stars are Joe Seneca and Steve Vai. The final competition between Macchio and Vai still gives me goosebumps everytime I watch it!
Movie Review: FINALLY it's on DVD!!
Summary: 5 Stars
A DVD release of this movie was long overdue. Having seen it again today on TMC, I decided to look for it on here one more time.
This movie is phenomenal! Anyone who considers themselves a true fan of music will love this movie. It has such a fine selection of music that it won't matter if you consider yourself to be a true fan of the blues or not. There's enough reviews on here to know the basic premise of the film so I won't get carried away with the details, but it simply explores the legend of the Crossroads and blues great Robert Johnson.
I remember it being shown in my 8th grade music class because it's such an entertaining history lesson of american music. To have a movie about one genre of music captivate an entire room of diverse teenagers amazes me still. Especially in a public school like the one I went to (movie time meant nap time or screw-off time). One just needs to look at how many of today's major acts list Robert Johnson as one of their main influences to understand the significance of the music, and this movie explores the legends and the music with equal vigor, succeeding handily on both ends.
While Macchio isn't always 100% believable as 'Lightning' (mostly due to his Karate Kid fame), he puts on a fair performance overall. I disagree with most critics who say he ruins the film however. Joe Seneca puts on a stellar performance as Willie Brown. While he is hard-nosed, he is also a teacher of sorts, and a very talented harmonica player. This movie can create a tough choice of what to pick up first, the guitar or the harmonica.
To end, this is simply one of 'those' movies. The kind that never received critical acclaim, yet achieved cult status because of the depth and quality it truly contains. It's amazing how many people don't 'get' this movie. Like I said before tho, any true fan of music would love this movie.
Oh yea, I also think Britney Spears should be sued (or worse) for contaminating the name of this movie with her waste of film that showcased her overall lack of talent (she can dance, but that's about it).
Movie Review: This movie has a great story, an incredible soundtrack and great characters
Summary: 5 Stars
In the 1980s there was a great blues music revival, much like the sixties, except the young musicians who created it were more knowledgeable and better educated than the generation before; probably because they were the children of that generation and were standing on their shoulders.
Some of this revival took place in cinema with movies "The Blues Brothers", "The Commitments" and this one.
These movies actually helped the entertainment mainstream find it's way to great black artists like B. B. King, John Lee Hooker and many others who never had more than cult followings previous to this.
Many sixties blues fans never knew where the Crossroads was or the significance of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited", the legend of Robert Johnson, the fabulous musical history of Clarksdale Mississippi or Highway 49.
This film explores those modern American legends as the historical (there really was such a person who was a noted bluesman) yet fictional (this story is fiction) character Willie Brown, played by Joe Seneca; takes a Juilliard of music student on a tour of the Mississippi delta on a quest to redeem his soul from the devil by a guitar duel to the eternal death with Jack Butler (played by Steve Vai).
The strongest point in this film is the music itself; the soundtrack by Ry Cooder and including his incredible jam with the great Steve Vai.
If you're white and a blues fan, this movie is a fantastical microcosm of the aforementioned white blues revivals. If you're black and a blues fan, it's a slice of Black Americana being discovered by the mainstream and you can probably enjoy it tongue in cheek if you're a hardcore music fan.
I loved it.
Movie Review: Got to pay your dues, if you're going to play the blues
Summary: 5 Stars
Eugene "Lightning Boy" Martone (Macchio) is a classical music prodigy, an early admission to Julliard, who's fascinated with the blues. Research tells him he's found Willie Brown/Blind Dog Fulton (Joe Seneca) who was one of Robert Johnson's last companions--who may well know Johnson's missing 30th song.
If he thinks he can just ask for that song, Eugene's got it wrong. Willie Brown wants him to break him out of the hospital he's been incarcerated in and take him to Mississippi. Once he's there and got his business done, Brown will teach him that song.
Eugene learns first-hand just what a bluesman's life is like. Eugene's money won't take them any further than Memphis, so they have to hitch the rest of the way. On the road, they meet Francis, (Jami Gertz) a 15 year old who's running away from an abusive stepfather and is going to get a dance gig in LA.
On the way, the trio run into everything from crooked cops to a prostitution peddler. They earn their way to Mississippi busking.
What Eugene gets to deal with is poverty, cold, love, abandonment....all the things that give birth to the blues.
"Crossroads" is a great piece of Southern fiction based on a long-told story. The film's just in general well done and the scoring is par excellence. Ry Cooder really does know the blues.
Movie Review: Two words -- STEVE VAI!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie shortly after it was released on VHS with a guitar-playing buddy of mine whom we'd nicknamed "Eddie" after Edward Van Halen. When this movie came out, Steve Vai was the guitar player in David Lee Roth's band. The plot was interesting enough, but it was the head-cutting duel at the end of the movie that was the coup de grace, the piece de resistance, and so on and so forth. Vai even looked devilish! I bought the soundtrack album and was disappointed that it only had the Ry Cooder blues stuff on it, and none of the Cooder-Vai and Vai-Vai duel. If anyone's interested, the duel and another duel that didn't make it to the movie is available on Vai's "Elusive Light & Sound Vol. 1" CD, along with some stuff he did from "Bill & Ted" and "Encino Man" and some other movies. This movie will always have a special place for me because I first watched it with a bunch of good friends during a tough time in my life. Yes, maybe some people will find fault with the plot, maybe some of the blues purists didn't like the Vai classical-metal parts of the duel, and some may just not like Ralph Macchio, but this is one of those movies that, for me, transcends all those factors and will always be a favorite. I've just about worn out a VHS copy and plan to pick up a DVD soon. And I just got the aforementioned Vai CD last week and am rapidly wearing out tracks 4-8.