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CROSSROADS
n Walter Hill’s Crossroads, two musicians
take to the road in the deep South on a quest:
Eugene (Ralph Macchio), a you tig man hop
ing to gain fame by rediscovering a fabled\
but long-lost, Robert Johnson blues song and Willie
(Joe Seneca), an old man willing to surrender his
soul to the devil in order to become a legendary'
blues figure.
Together they flee the old man's dingy
llarlfin rest home, crisscrossing the lican
ot the Mississippi delta Their destination
Is a crossing, where two dusiy, sunbaked
roads meet, for a strange encounter under
an old gnarled tree
Along the road, they are joined by a
teenage runaway (Jami Gen/.) on a quest
of her own.
filmed mostly in ihe cradle of the
blues Greenville, Mississippi and the
surrounding Delta towns just oil U S
Highway 61 Crossroads is alxml the re
lationship Ix-iween Kugcne and Willie,
who share a love of blues music, and the
meanings <»l their evocative tunes
Directed by Walter Mill, famous for
such bullet paced movies as -t<s firs and
Streets of l ire, Crossrtxitis explores a fa
miliar theme, that of dream seekers who
end up luullng themselves
"It's really a sweet story about three
people, two ol whom are learning front
each other on their journey through the
Mississippi delta and its music," says
Macchio, the Karate Kill turned young
guitar prodigy.
In this movie, he plays Eugene Mar
tone, one of Juilliard's most gifted stti
dents, who hopes to launch his own blues
career hy springing upon the world a
missing Johnson tune
lie searches out Willie Brown (Joe
Seneca), the only living link to that blues
giant, and together they head down
South Willie shows the ambitious white
lx>y that the only wav to master the feel of
blues is to live like a bluesman
"This is what it was like," the 24 year
old teen idol says, "Waking up in the
morning and not knowing where your
meals are coming from and where your
family's gi ling and what's happening with
your life and then drinking Jack Daniels
for lunch "
Kven though Seneca has never re
ceived any formal training in blues, he
contends that there is a blues world in
him, because of his experiences.
"I've observed and lived with blues
people I think there are people who are
aware of their roots and pay attention to
them They will know that (inherently)
they belong to the blues group.” Seneca
says with conviction
Without such intimate contact, a musi
cian can never become a true to his heart
bluesman He's got to have more feeling
for the music," says Seneca, who played
an honest doctor in The Vcniu t and has
gained critical acclaim from a host of
stage roles on Broadway
A catalyst of the movie is Francis, a I"
year old gutsy and vibrant runaway,
played by Jamie t'.ertz who recently
starred in Quicksilver She sparks F.u
gene's drive to succeed and brings out his
vulnerability as well
The heavily roots influenced music of
i'mssnmtls soundtrack was produced by
celebrated slide guitarist Rv Cooder.
C.ooder stresses that blues music has a
sound to which almost everyone can re
late The fundamental qualities of the
music, he said, are its simplicity and abili
ly to make people feel good
Although Director Hill and his stars are
coy on the subject of how the hint's |our
ney concludes, it is evident that Eugene,
the white guitarist with a fervent desire to
play the greatest blues ever, adds much
more to his life than a mere song
Cmssroridswill he released nationwide
by Columbia Pictures on March 21 ♦