Director- Walter Hill
Starring- Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz
Classical guitar prodigy and aspiring blues musician Eugene (Macchio) discovers that Willie Brown (Seneca), a blues legend and friend to the (in)famous Robert Johnson is holed up in a hospital nearby. Eugene finds him and manages to smuggle him out of the hospital so they can find the "Crossroads" where he and Johnson both made their deals to become famous, and Eugene can learn of Johnson's "final song", which was never recorded and which Willie supposedly knows. Along the way, they trade out Eugene's guitar for a Fender Telecaster & pignose amp, Eugene learns to play with a slide, they cross paths with teenaged drifter Frances (Gertz), Eugene falls in love & gets his heart broken, and finds the real meaning behind blues.
There is tons of great guitar playing, some great interaction between Eugene and Willie (especially in tense moments, like when he accuses Willie of being a fake), and an unlikely-but fun scene in which Willie saves Eugene's bacon by getting him to play on stage in a bar full of black people in a heavily segregated part of town.
In the end, they make their destination, and Willie meets up with the "grandson" of his dealmaker. H invites Willie to a contest, which Eugene accepts in his stead, and we're treated to a real guitar duel between Eugene and "Jack Butler" (Steve Vai). The contest is incredible, and Eugene finds he must employ his classical training to help get an edge on Butler.
I had a little theory that Willie Brown is the Devil himself in this movie, shaking hands with Eugene at the end and promising to make him a great blues musician. It would have been a pretty good punchline, but I don't think the theory holds much weight. Just a fun thought.
Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies.
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