To start off with this is not the Brittney Spears Crossroads as you might remember, but instead a movie featuring Ralph Macchio that you might not even know about. When guitarist Eugene Martone meets up with Willie Brown, a failed blues musician, he embarks on a journey that will test not only his musical skills, but also his loyalty to a man that eventually becomes one of his best friends. His love for the music becomes the only thing that saves both of them and eventually impresses the individual that holds both his and Willie’s fate in his hands. It’s the kind of movie you might never have watched since it looked like another 80’s flop, but in truth it looks pretty good.
Not seeing Ralph Macchio as an Outsider or the Karate Kid is kind of weird.
10. Ralph Macchio plays all his own pieces except for the last one.
To be more accurate he plays the riffs that Steve Vai and Ry Cooder play note for note. On the last one he has help though since his fingers aren’t landing in the right spots to be authentic.
9. The Fender Telecaster was easy to find in the 80’s.
Apparently thanks to its design you could walk for long distances, keep it outside, and it would still work beautifully. It was a very well constructed guitar.
8. Keith Richards was the original choice for Jack Butler.
There might have been scheduling issues or Keith could have just said no since he seems kind of particular about what he wants to do at any given time.
7. There were initially two endings that were shot.
There was the ending that made it into the film and an ending in which Willie died. The test audiences liked the original ending better.
6. The guitar battle was originally 15 minutes long.
They had to cut it down quite a bit so as to keep the audience interested and keep the emotion of the battle high enough that it would still be felt.
5. This script was written as a master’s thesis.
It was submitted as an assignment and actually won a FOCUS award as well, which stands for Films of College and University Students.
4. Ry Cooder thought the film went down the tubes.
It might have seemed like a weak premise and plot to some people but in truth this plot was kind of interesting. It could have used a few tweaks maybe but overall it seemed pretty cool.
3. Steve Vai used some of the riffs from this film on one of his albums.
The album he used them on was Alien Love Secrets and it was released in 1995.
2. This screenplay was written while the writer was still a student.
He was eventually paid a quarter million for the screenplay. Not bad for something that started out as an assignment.
1. The creator of the film had been interested in blues music for a long time.
He’d been into blues music for a while but was cautioned to rest his vocals for a bit.
It seems like a sound enough movie.
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