CROSSROADS. Directed by Walter Hill; written by John Fusco; produced by Mark Carliner for Columbia. Starring Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca. Rated R.
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Is the blues a state of mind, attainable only by certain racial and socio-economic types? Or is it just another kind of music, the techniques for which can be mastered by anyone, even a white boy from Long Island who goes to Julliard?
The first half of Crossroads poses these perhaps less than burning questions. Then it gives a fairly predictable answer in the second half. But it does so in an interesting way. It's hard to know just how to recommend this unusual movie. It is good enough to recommend, but probably not to all audiences.
If you like blues guitar music, then by all means see Crossroads. The music, by Ry Cooder, is superb. And if you like Karate Kid Macchio, you'll enjoy it, too. (Although he's never been as good again as he was in the first of those movies.)
But its story is only slightly plausible for most of the movie. Then, at the end, it really gets bizarre. To avoid giving away any surprises, let me just say that you'll never see another fantasy movie that looks so little like one. It's definitely different.
Eugene (Macchio) is a guitar prodigy who studies the classics (as in Mozart) but who longs to play the blues. The character is both similar to and different from Daniel in The Karate Kid. Macchio teams up with an old master in Crossroads, too.
But Eugene is a little pushy and arrogant, not quite so "nice." He acts, in fact, very much like a spoiled kid who's always being told he's a genius. But Macchio is an enormously appealing actor. He has a knack for taking the edge off obnoxious behavior with a little show of vulnerability or a self mocking aside. Eugene is quite likeable as a result.
His mentor is Willy (Seneca, who also wrote some of the music heard in Crossroads). This old bluesman is a gem of a character brought to life with a first-class performance. Sly, crochety, demanding but supportive, he keeps Eugene hopping and both the boy and the audience guessing throughout the movie.
Does he really know the "lost" blues song written by his friend Robert Johnson, but never recorded? (Johnson was a real blues artist, by the way, and wrote "Crossroads"—I checked the credits on my old "Best of Cream" album to be sure.) Does Willy really have a piece of land in Mississippi, or is he just leading Eugene on a wild goose chase? And why does he need to find that particular crossroads so badly?
Eugene and Willy are joined eventually by runaway Frances (Jami Gertz). Her performance is fine, with a good combination of brass and naivete. But the character has an artificial air about her, as if she's just in the movie to provide certain experiences for Eugene. And to keep the story of two musicians on the road from getting too dull.
By the movie's end, indeed, the action is anything but dull. However, we're not very well prepared for the outlandish climax. It's an uncomfortable feeling to watch a movie for an hour or so and believe it to be one thing. And then to find out near the end it's something else entirely.
March 26, 1986