Product Description

A young musical prodigy studying at New York City's Juiliard School becomes obsessed with the music of the Mississippi delta, the blues. Intent on discovering fame and fortune as a blues guitar player, he seeks out the legendary bluesman, Willie Brown.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1811 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-08-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
The legend of Mississippi blues master Robert Johnson has served as a fountainhead for generations of blues and rock musicians, as well as a powerful fable for the dark, often violent mysteries of delta blues. Johnson's mythic deal with the Devil, in exchange for his extraordinary musical gifts, has become a fixture in blues lore and an example of the enduring pull of superstitions that can be traced back to Mother Africa and Yoruba deities. Producer-director Walter Hill (The Long Riders, Streets of Fire) sought to put this uniquely American mystery on film, but when he was unable to secure a script devoted directly to Johnson himself, Hill bravely decided to proceed with a more oblique, allegorical story that retold the Satanic bargain through a fictionalized drama set in the present day. In this 1986 feature, the hero is Eugene, a classically trained guitar virtuoso pulled toward the earthier powers of blues. When he stumbles across a lost blues legend, Willie Brown (a real blues figure and Johnson peer known for his partnerships with Charley Patton and Son House, among others), Eugene begins an odyssey back to the delta country and the crossroads of the title, where both Willie and Johnson had traded their souls for blues power, to help the surviving bluesman renegotiate terms.

An opening sequence, shot in sepia-toned black and white, dramatizes Johnson's own supernatural encounter, as well as one of the bluesman's historic Texas recording sessions, and Hill's visuals combine with frequent collaborator Ry Cooder's reliably authentic slide guitar to offer a promising glimpse of cinematic conjury. Even the satanic villain--a grinning huckster named Scratch--honors the trickster figure familiar to African American superstitions, rather than a generic devil. Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) is likewise a convincing link to the blues past, but Hill's central casting choice--Ralph (The Karate Kid) Macchio--sacrifices all for marquee value, a Hobson's choice that casts a shadow of unintended parody across the film. Macchio's earlier character, not Scratch, haunts this film, and even a nifty duel between Eugene, his slashing fretwork supplied off-camera by Cooder, and Scratch's ax-wielding henchman, heavy metal virtuoso, and one-time Frank Zappa protégé Steve Vai, can't safely rescue the film. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, Atmospheric Blues Fantasy!
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!

An Inspiration
The film "Crossroads" was a major influence on me. Of course we all heard rock music based on blues music but this was my introduction to searching back and finding the roots of music. I also began to play guitar after seeing the film, it is a most inspiring movie. I disagree with the Amazon/Matlin reviews that pan the movie due to Ralph Macchio (who i feel played a fine role) or the plot (its obvious Matlin isnt even aware of the actual Robert Johnson)

I anxiously await a DVD release, my VHS is so worn....

Devil at the Crossroads
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!