Crossroads is a
1986-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle*Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
cult filmA cult film is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
starring
Ralph MacchioRalph George Macchio is an American actor of Italian ancestry. His most notable role was as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series.Born in Huntington, Long Island, New York, Macchio attended Half Hollow Hills High School West....
, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson.
The film was directed by Walter Hill and featured an original score featuring
Ry CooderRyland "Ry" Peter Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer.He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in blues-rock, roots music from his native North America, and, more recently, for his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries...
and
Steve VaiSteven "Steve" Siro Vai is an Italian American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, producer, beekeeper, and actor. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa's backing band starting in 1980...
. Vai also appears in the film as the devil's guitar player in the climactic guitar duel.
Plot summary
Eugene Martone (
MacchioRalph George Macchio is an American actor of Italian ancestry. His most notable role was as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series.Born in Huntington, Long Island, New York, Macchio attended Half Hollow Hills High School West....
) has a fascination for the
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
while he studies
classical guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
at the
Juilliard SchoolThe Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory...
for Performing Arts in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. Researching blues and guitar music brings famed Robert Johnson's mythically creative acclaim to his attention; especially intriguing are the legends surrounding exactly how Johnson became so talented, as well as a famed "missing song" that was lost, supposedly evermore, to the world.
In his quest to find this song, he discovers old newspaper archive clippings revealing that Johnson's longtime friend, musician Willie Brown, is alive and incarcerated in a nearby minimum security hospital. Eugene goes to see him. After Willie denies several times that he is
that Willie Brown, he finally admits his identity after hearing Eugene play some blues (though Willie notes that Eugene "plays with no soul"). Willie then says he knows the missing Robert Johnson tune in question but refuses to give it to Eugene unless the boy busts him out of the facility and gets him to
MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
, where he has unfinished business to settle. Eugene agrees and they head south, but the boy soon realizes that Willie is constantly running minor scams such as claiming that he has more money than he actually has in order to cover their bus tickets. With no money, they end up “hoboing” from Memphis to rural Mississippi.
During their quest, Eugene and Willie experience the blues legacy of Robert Johnson first-hand, taking part in an impromptu jam session at a roadhouse (or "
juke jointJuke joint is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly...
" as "Blind Dog" Willie puts it), where Eugene gets the nickname of "Lightning" because of his musical skill. Eugene is deeply impressed and his feelings of the authenticity of Willie being an old bluesman takes firm hold in his mind. A romantic interest surfaces in the guise of a hitchhiker, Frances (
Jami GertzJami Beth Gertz is an American actress. Gertz is known for her early roles in the films The Lost Boys, Quicksilver, Less Than Zero, the 1980s TV series Square Pegs with Sarah Jessica Parker, 1996's Twister, as well as for her role as Judy Miller in the CBS sitcom Still Standing with Mark...
), who follows them. She and Eugene end up sharing a tender moment in a hayloft. She soon thereafter becomes miffed at the mission at hand and abandons the two men, leaving Eugene saddened, but now with a true feeling for the blues, as he plays on an old
Fender TelecasterThe Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
guitar and a
PignosePignose-Gorilla, commonly known as Pignose, is a manufacturer of portable, battery-powered guitar amplifiers, as well as other musical-gear such as A.C.-powered practice amps and guitars.-Legendary 7-100:...
.
They ultimately reach their location in Mississippi: a rural crossroads in the middle of nowhere, where Willie reveals several secrets. There is no missing Johnson song for Eugene to learn, but Willie tells the boy that he has proven himself far beyond what learning any blues song could ever teach him. Willie also hints that his musical ability (specifically, the harmonica) and the musical ability of Robert Johnson came about because of deals with the devil made at this very location. The Devil himself (nicknamed "
ScratchOld Scratch or Mr. Scratch is a folk name for the devilish character in the local legends of New England and pre-Civil War America. The character is exemplified in the short stories "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet...
") shows up and says that the contract for Willie's soul is still valid, even if Willie is ultimately unsatisfied with how his life turned out.
Eugene, somewhat skeptical of the whole exchange and situation, steps into the conversation to help Willie. The Devil offers a challenge: If Eugene can come to a special concert and win a head-cutting guitar duel against his ringer guitarist (Steve Vai in the role of "Jack Butler"), then Willie gets his soul back. If Eugene loses, then Eugene's soul is now forfeit. Still skeptical of everything, Eugene unwisely agrees to the deal, despite Willie's protests. Willie and Eugene are transported to a music hall, where metal-blues guitar master Jack Butler, who also sold his soul for musical ability, is wowing the crowd with his prowess.
Eugene and Jack Butler begin their blistering guitar duel, and Eugene is eventually able to win the battle by falling back on his classical training and performing music that his opponent cannot match. Willie's soul is free, and he and Eugene are transported back to Mississippi, where they start walking again, uncertain of the life ahead of them.
Music and Guitar Duel
- Most of the battle is played by Vai, except for Eugene's blues parts at the beginning of the duel which are played by Ry Cooder and can be heard on Vai's album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1
The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1 is a 2002 album that groups all the songs that Steve Vai made for movies, TV shows and the like.-Track listing:All songs written by Steve Vai, except where noted.# "Celluloid Heroes" # "Love Blood"...
.
- Macchio's fingering on the guitar was a studied acting job in itself because he didn't know how to play guitar prior to taking on the part of a guitarist. He received intensive training from classical guitarist William Kanengiser of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet consists of John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Matthew Greif . They are known for using nylon string guitars to imitate a variety of instruments and effects....
and Blues guitar Master Arlen RothArlen Roth is an American guitarist. His first solo album won the Montreaux Critics' Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1978. He was Guitar Player magazine's top columnist from 1982 to 1992...
to approximate playing realistically enough to hide that fact respectably well.
- William Kanengiser can be heard playing his version of Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca (Turkish March) in the beginning of the movie.
- Musician Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
has stated that Crossroads is one of his favorite movies.
- The classical-influenced piece played by Eugene during the climactic scene is based on the Fifth Caprice by Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His caprice in A minor, Op. 1 No...
, a musician who also was rumored to have sold his soul.
- There was no classical guitar program at the Juilliard School during the creation of the movie, but the school has since added one.
- The guitar used by Jack Butler (Steve Vai) is a Charvel San Dimas.
- The guitar amplifier used by Jack Butler (Steve Vai) is a Carvin X100B.
- The guitar used by Macchio is a Fender Telecaster.
- The battery-powered guitar amplifier used by Macchio is Pignose Legendary 7-100.
- The Notes and tab for all songs from the movie can be found in the Elusive Light and Sound Volume One book.
- In the beginning of the guitar duel, Butler (Steve Vai
Steven "Steve" Siro Vai is an Italian American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, producer, beekeeper, and actor. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa's backing band starting in 1980...
) plays a riff that he later borrowed for his song "Bad Horsie" from his 1995 album Alien Love SecretsAlien Love Secrets is an EP made by Steve Vai in 1995. It was written as a stripped-down guitar, bass and drums record with minimal keyboards...
.
- Ry Cooder plays Macchio's guitar part throughout the movie.
Reviews
The film was generally well reviewed by critics and has a 79% certified "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1004995-crossroads/ Roger Ebert, in particular, praised the film's acting and music.
PG-13/REVIEWS/603140301/1023
External links
- Crossroads - Arlen Roth
Arlen Roth is an American guitarist. His first solo album won the Montreaux Critics' Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1978. He was Guitar Player magazine's top columnist from 1982 to 1992...
's page about the shooting of the film