Crossroads delivers an old fashioned piece of classical storytelling, about even older stuff, and added to that it's also a film that in itself has aged very favorably. For one thing, the blues is as obscure, and the mythology of it as unspoiled and seductive, now as it was then. But it's also a kind of forgotten film that one therefore can see today in a kind of piece and quiet. To me it became a fairly nostalgic experience. It reminded me of how much heart the American films of the 80's had, when they were at their best. At the time, it looked like the great American cinema had died to pave the way for the soulless blockbuster and to an extent that was indeed true. But there was also a great sense of joy to the best of these films, they were designed to have a broad appeal but they still managed to be personal. They told stories about young people that were emotional, even intimate at times, but always with a sense of authenticity. They weren't deliberately clever, but they didn't shy away from the darker realities of the world. Neither did they deny positivism and traditional values. Right and wrong. Good and evil. Family. Love. Fight for your passions. These were films with big hearts.
Ralph Macchio's entire presence embodies this era, I think. Severely typecast in Crossroads, a film he starred in between the first and second of the Karate Kid movies, he does another bright, talented but inexperienced teenager, in a coming-of-age story where he is to learn the true nature of himself, his talent and the life that talent will require.
What makes Crossroads special though is that it's not a film about karate, it's a film about something as under-represented in film as blues. Macchio is a kid playing classical guitar at Julliard in New York, but in secret he's in love with the scratchy Mississippi tunes coming from Richard Johnson. He tracks down an old harmonica playing fox from these days, an 80 year old "blues man" called Willie Fox who laughs him in the face when he shows up with his guitar saying he's born and raised at Long Island. Willie's got a point though, and he knows a heluvalot more about the blues than Macchio's kid (who's name is Eugene, but quickly changes it to 'Lightning Boy'). This kid's got a good heart - as did Billy in Gremlins and Marty in Back to the Future and Macchio in The Karate Kid for that matter - but he's in love with his own illusions and has no concept of what it means to hitch hike hobo style 200 miles on Highway 61, or do some rough business to find money, or to make a deal with the devil, or to have a cutting head-duel with one of his disciples. Willy's first task is for him to arrange a great escape from the nursing home Willy's in. "What, are you trying to get me arrested". Such a city boy mentality!
After escaping the nursing home they hit the road deeper down a mythological landscape of blues, looking for "the last song" that Richard Johnson supposedly once wrote. Most of this follows a very traditional wandering-man/roadmovie storyline. They pick up a runaway girl (Jami Gertz), meet some shabby hotel men, crooked cops, they get in arguments with each other, they make up, they make out, as they get closer to the there's some unexpected and intriguingly, supernatural Faustian themes and finally a showdown ending with a kind of real, authentic Guitar Hero duel featuring real life rock hero Steve Vai.
This is a film I felt very strongly at home with. Yes it does cover familiar grounds, but it's passionately drenched in the world of the kind of music that I love and, much like Macchio's character, have been dreaming as a far away myth when I was younger. Also, directed by the good and professional Walter Hill it's the kind of well made film that you cannot take for granted these, or any, days. It's a great 80's movie, less flashy than the Spielberg-Lucas-Zemeckis productions and more culturally ambitious and serious minded. Indeed, it's even rated R. That's certainly part of it's charm. It once again reminds me of the feeling that the good films of this decade were made in a kind of honesty. The invention of PG-13 changed all that. Not immediately, but gradually it became a marketing goal rather than just a matter of causality. Crossroads was Rated R, because the kids use some four letter words and there's alcohol, some violence, real emotions, nothing upsetting but, basically, as real as the story requires to be. This is simply not a censored down depiction of reality. It's kind of a breath of fresh air to see it, despite the bittersweet notion that an R rating wouldn't be considered had it been released today. It would have been a movie about the blues without any soul.
Ralph Macchio's entire presence embodies this era, I think. Severely typecast in Crossroads, a film he starred in between the first and second of the Karate Kid movies, he does another bright, talented but inexperienced teenager, in a coming-of-age story where he is to learn the true nature of himself, his talent and the life that talent will require.
What makes Crossroads special though is that it's not a film about karate, it's a film about something as under-represented in film as blues. Macchio is a kid playing classical guitar at Julliard in New York, but in secret he's in love with the scratchy Mississippi tunes coming from Richard Johnson. He tracks down an old harmonica playing fox from these days, an 80 year old "blues man" called Willie Fox who laughs him in the face when he shows up with his guitar saying he's born and raised at Long Island. Willie's got a point though, and he knows a heluvalot more about the blues than Macchio's kid (who's name is Eugene, but quickly changes it to 'Lightning Boy'). This kid's got a good heart - as did Billy in Gremlins and Marty in Back to the Future and Macchio in The Karate Kid for that matter - but he's in love with his own illusions and has no concept of what it means to hitch hike hobo style 200 miles on Highway 61, or do some rough business to find money, or to make a deal with the devil, or to have a cutting head-duel with one of his disciples. Willy's first task is for him to arrange a great escape from the nursing home Willy's in. "What, are you trying to get me arrested". Such a city boy mentality!
After escaping the nursing home they hit the road deeper down a mythological landscape of blues, looking for "the last song" that Richard Johnson supposedly once wrote. Most of this follows a very traditional wandering-man/roadmovie storyline. They pick up a runaway girl (Jami Gertz), meet some shabby hotel men, crooked cops, they get in arguments with each other, they make up, they make out, as they get closer to the there's some unexpected and intriguingly, supernatural Faustian themes and finally a showdown ending with a kind of real, authentic Guitar Hero duel featuring real life rock hero Steve Vai.
This is a film I felt very strongly at home with. Yes it does cover familiar grounds, but it's passionately drenched in the world of the kind of music that I love and, much like Macchio's character, have been dreaming as a far away myth when I was younger. Also, directed by the good and professional Walter Hill it's the kind of well made film that you cannot take for granted these, or any, days. It's a great 80's movie, less flashy than the Spielberg-Lucas-Zemeckis productions and more culturally ambitious and serious minded. Indeed, it's even rated R. That's certainly part of it's charm. It once again reminds me of the feeling that the good films of this decade were made in a kind of honesty. The invention of PG-13 changed all that. Not immediately, but gradually it became a marketing goal rather than just a matter of causality. Crossroads was Rated R, because the kids use some four letter words and there's alcohol, some violence, real emotions, nothing upsetting but, basically, as real as the story requires to be. This is simply not a censored down depiction of reality. It's kind of a breath of fresh air to see it, despite the bittersweet notion that an R rating wouldn't be considered had it been released today. It would have been a movie about the blues without any soul.