Loved this movie. There’s something Bubba Ho-Tep -ish about it, though it never quite goes as supernatural as some of its plot synopses suggest. The movie picks up the legend that blues man Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil (funny I was just reminded of this story a week or so ago on Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Hour” show), and embellishes it – Johnson’s friend, harmonica player Willie Brown, also made a similar pact at the eponymous crossroads. Ralph Macchio plays a Juilliard student from Long Island who busts Brown out of his secure nursing home, hoping in return to learn the lost 30th song by Johnson. Brown has other things on his mind … like telling the Devil’s henchman that his deal is off – and the whole thing ends with a guitar duel in hell. I don’t often try to put plot summaries into my reviews, but that one felt worth including, lol

The movie is essentially a road movie with great, great music and a supernatural element which, should you choose, you could almost not even notice. As with Bubba Ho-Tep, there are some fairly profound comments on age, but also here on growing up. There are a lot of surprises – twists on clichéd scenes and characters. This is probably one of the best movies of the 1980s.

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