Crossroads 1986
- Director: Walter Hill
- Based on the novel: no
- Cast: Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Robert Judd, Steve Vai
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- Ralph Macchio – My Cousin Vinnie
- Joe Seneca – Malcolm X, Mississippi Masala, Mo’ Better Blues, Silverado, Kramer vs Kramer
- Jami Gertz – Twister
- Joe Morton – Night Listener, The X Files, The Astronaut’s
Wife, Homicide Life on the Streets, Speed, Terminator 2, MASH
- Steve Vai – in concert at Gröna Lund in Stockholm
- Why? The music
- Seen: twice before, now 7 June 2019
Young Eugene (Macchio) is a bluesman
wannabe. He’s classically trained at Juilliard but his hero is Robert Johnson.
He smart talks his way into the grudging company of Willie Brown (Seneca), an
aging, ailing bitter harmonica virtuoso.
They start on the unlikely odyssey of
searching for Robert Johnson’s missing 30th song, this young white
boy from Long Island and the old black man from the Delta.
The legend of Robert Johnson and his deal
at the crossroads with the devil is interwoven into the story of Eugene and
Blind Willie, who had made his own deal at the crossroads with the devil.
Eugene is an arrogant, cocky, naïve,
gullible, pampered rich boy. Willie has known poverty, bullying, prison.
They happen upon the young streetwise
runaway with an attitude, Frances (Gertz). The unlikely duo becomes an unlikely
trio.
Eugene learns about racism, sexual
exploitation, theft, nasty cops and survival on the road.
The story and characters are fun, but
it’s awfully macho. The film’s real strength, not unexpectedly, is the music.
4*
of 5
Never heard of this one. Looks interesting. Walter Hill is one of my B-movie idols. "48 Hrs." remains one of my greatest favourites of all time, "The Driver" is still pretty cool, and I am a big fan of "The Getaway" - not the 1972 original with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, however, but the 1994 remake with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger (to my mind a solid improvement, including Hill's original screenplay). Curious to see Steve Vai in this movie. Now that's a guy who knows what to do with a guitar. Saw him in concert in Sofia couple of centuries ago. Unforgettable. Don't listen much to him these days, but "For the Love of God" and "Tender Surrender" remain two of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.
ReplyDeleteDidn't realise Hill had done '48 hours' (which I liked the first time but not the second time). The others I haven't seen. Steve Vai is fun in this film but of course he doesn't win the battle because he's not the hero of the tale.
ReplyDeleteFinally got to see it. Charming but disappointing fairy tale, none too well-told and with symbolism much too crude. There's a much better movie lurking beneath, but it never really comes to the surface. Walter Hill should have revised the script; he almost certainly would have improved it. Joe Seneca's carries the movie with a fine bravura performance. Macchio can't really keep up. What Gertz is doing in the picture at all I haven't the least idea. The music was certainly nice, but Steve Vai didn't fit in at all. Whatever he plays, it's nothing like the blues from the Delta. That he loses the duel is the most improbable moment in a movie that is improbable by definition.
ReplyDeleteHurrah! Cosmic balance is restored. We disagree again! Although not completely. I agree that Seneca gives an excellent performance and that Macchio can't keep up (though he is skillfully annoying and cute). I agree that Gertz is just added for unneccesary romantic interest or something and that Vai is out of place. In fact I agree with almost everything except that you don't like it and I do. So it's all OK then!
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