Crossroads
Crossroads is a 1986 American musical drama film, inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson. It is directed by Walter Hill from a screenplay by John Fusco, and stars Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz. It features an original score by Ry Cooder featuring classical guitar by William Kanengiser and harmonica by Sonny Terry. Steve Vai appears in the film as the devil's virtuosic guitar player in the climactic guitar duel.
Plot
17-year-old Eugene Martone has a fascination for blues music while studying classical guitar at the Juilliard School in New York City. 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 – most notably the one claiming he "sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads", as well as a famed "missing song" that was lost, supposedly evermore, to the world.
More details
| author | Walter Hill |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | New York |
| director | Walter Hill |
| editor | Freeman A. Davies |
| genre | drama |
| keywords | abusive stepfather attempted murder blue blues music claim classical guitar deal with the devil devil elderly man fender telecaster flee guitar battle hear hobo jam session joke jook joint juilliard school juke joint learn legba lightning missing son mojo bag mojo hand muddy waters music hall new york city newspaper clipping old scratch papa legba pignose robert johnson run scratch slide slide guitar train understand unfinished walk willie brown |
| musicBy | Ry Cooder |
| producer | Mark Carliner |
| publisher | Columbia Pictures |
| theme | coming-of-age musical musical drama road movie |