The film Crossroads (1986) can be attributed not only to the blues genre, but also to the western, because at the end there is one of the most epic scenes in the history of musical films – a guitar duel. The Crossroads script by John Fusco (in 30+ years he will write The Highwaymen) is inspired by the legend of Robert Johnson. The soundtrack featured Ry Cooder, Arlen Roth, Steve Vai, Terry Evans, Otis Taylor, and Sonny Terry (harmonica). Initially, the duel was supposed to be blues on slide guitars, Jack Butler was played by Ry Cooder himself, but this scene didn’t work out.
Rai Cooder
“When I read the script, it was terrible. I couldn’t seriously take it for granted that a guy from Juilliard Music school would become a blues guitarist and be able to stand up to the Devil himself, it’s just ridiculous. But when I thought, well, maybe if he first knew life from books, and then tried everything for real, then this could be a good story. Both the blues and the journey can be the backdrop for his growing up. And they don’t make blues movies every day.
This is the music of the surrounding world, regional music that corresponds to the lifestyle of the people here, what they do every day, what they eat, and this is its eternal quality, no matter if it’s day or night.
…When this scene was shot (with Steve Vai), everything was pretty hysterical, it scared me how he was shaking his guitar and tremolo handle, right in front of your face. But it was definitely a highlight.”
02 Ry Cooder – Down In Mississippi (4:26)
03 Ry Cooder – Cotton Needs Pickin’ (2:59)
04 Ry Cooder – Viola Lee Blues (3:12)
05 Ry Cooder – See You In Hell, Blind Boy (2:11)
06 Ry Cooder – Nitty Gritty Mississippi (2:58)
07 Ry Cooder – He Made A Woman Out Of Me (4:13)
08 Ry Cooder – Feelin’ Bad Blues (4:17)
09 Ry Cooder – Somebody’s Callin’ My Name (1:46)
10 Ry Cooder – Willie Brown Blues (3:46)
11 Ry Cooder – Walkin’ Away Blues (3:38)
12 Steve Vai – Head-Cuttin’ Duel + Eugene’s Trick Bag (3:43)
13 Steve Vai – Eugene’s Trick Bag (1:16)
Download or listen online to the soundtrack of OST Crossroads (Ry Cooder) + Head-cuttin’ Guitar Duel + Eugene’s Trick Bag (Steve Vai) (mp3, 101 MB)
Arlen Roth
In early 1984, director Walter Hill called guitarist Arlen Roth (who had previously worked on the music for the movie The Blues Brothers) and told him about the new film Crossroads, which he was shooting with Ralph Macchio in the title role. They wanted Ralph to be a truly convincing guitarist, so Ry Cooder, the film’s musical director, told Walter Hill, “Arlen was the one who had to teach him, as well as come up with the parts that he would portray on guitar throughout the film.” Further direct speech from Arlen Roth himself.:
Anyway, almost immediately I started coming to Ralph’s house on Long Island 4 days a week. And I worked with him for 2 hours a day! (His karate coach from the movie “Karate Kid 2” came after). This went on for about two months, during which time I taught him electro and acoustic blues, fingerstyle, slide guitar and even classical guitar! His whole room was filled with my guitars! Ralph and I became very close, and we had fun. What a great student he was! Of course, he only needed to learn how to “imitate” the game in the movie. Although he was determined to play the guitar, he soon realized that it was too difficult a task for him to complete in such a short time. We were working with the script, which, of course, was constantly changing along the way, and I wanted to make sure that he had enough guitar skills so that I could create compositions for the film in which he would look believable. This turned out to be invaluable, as Walter Hill often ordered music “out of nowhere” for certain scenes, which I had to compose and play right on the spot; sometimes right in the middle of the peace and quiet of fields or swamps in the Mississippi Delta!
After two weeks of initial recording of several tracks in Los Angeles, along with Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner and Jimmy Dickenson, I went on 6 weeks of location shooting in Mississippi… One of the most amazing moments of my life! Shooting in a “real” setting like the Mississippi Delta is simply second to none when it comes to giving the film real authenticity, and it really brought us all together. A truly unforgettable experience that will stay with us forever. Actors Joe Morton, Joe Seneca, Jamie Hertz, Ralph, the film crew, other musicians such as Juke Logan (a harmonica teacher), and I got incredibly close and had a great time! It was so much fun hanging out in Mississippi, going to old pawnshops, looking for cool guitars (many of which I used when recording music for the movie), eating barbecue and so on!
The real shocks for me were the moments when Walter Hill suddenly stood up and said: “Arlen, you direct this scene; you know a lot more about what’s going on than I do!!” And of course, I sat in the director’s chair, sometimes right in the middle of a cotton field in Mississippi, and started directing! My God, when the whole crew suddenly switches over and starts looking at you as a director, it’s a feeling I’ll never forget! It’s a great experience, and I’m grateful to Walter Hill for this opportunity.
One evening in Greenville, Mississippi, I decided to go and sit at the local juke joint. It seemed like I was the first white person to play there in a long time. Ralph wanted to join in and was so amazed to see me jumping on stage that he wanted the same scene in the movie, which of course happened! It was as if the REAL experience of being in the country of delta blues penetrated into the very essence of the film, making it even more realistic. The band I played with was called Frank Frost and the Wonders, and there was Sonny Thomas, and when Rye heard them, he insisted that we use them in the movie for these scenes! We even had impromptu jam sessions during filming and played together for hours! What a time it was! They actually recreated a bar for filming in Hollywood. So much so that Frost came in and ordered a beer, forgetting that he was now on an artificial film set in Los Angeles!
After many weeks of wonderful time in Mississippi, we had to return to Los Angeles. We continued shooting on sets designed to preserve the sequence of the scenes we shot on location in Mississippi.Including the ending with Steve Vai, which was quite controversial.
Keith Richards, Frank Zappa and Stevie Ray Vaughan were initially considered for this role in guitar duel, but eventually, as the producers wanted to capitalize on the “guitar shredding” boom of the mid-eighties, Steve Vai was approved, who quickly stepped into the role, even writing additional music for the film, including “Eugene’s Trick Bag”, an updated classic play at the climax of the film. (Ed. – It was Vai who actually played this song, and it is largely based on Niccolo Paganini’s Caprice No. 5, which was even related to this story, since, according to the myth, like Robert Johnson, Paganini also sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical skills.)
Steve Vai – Eugene’s Trick Bag (Niccolo Paganini – Caprice #5)
Since I was also the musical consultant for the film as a whole, I was strongly opposed to Vai’s participation in that scene. We had already recorded the original final “duel”, and it was a much more “scriptable” slide guitar duel between myself and Rai Cooder. You can imagine how cool THAT sounded!!
Ry Cooder & Arlen Roth – Original Slide-Guitar Duel (Crossroads)
It was a blues movie, not heavy metal, and I was furious that the producers and directors of the movie had succumbed to this mid-80s heavy metal nonsense about shredding and “hairy” bands. They’d say to me, “Arlen, but it’s 1985!” and I’d say, “Yes, and you’re modernizing the movie instead of making it timeless.” Don’t get me wrong.: Steve Vai and I became lifelong friends through working together on this film, and we had so much fun that we were often kicked off the set for giggling too much! I just wanted the film to retain the authenticity it so badly needs. Walter Hill wanted the ending to be more like a “boxing match,” as he put it, so I think it was a bluesy version of “Karate Kid,” starring Ralph Macchio!!! All this disappointed Cooder quite a lot, because it was he who was supposed to star in the role that Wai eventually played. Initially, the scene began with Vai dealing with Shaggy Otis (a virtuoso guitarist and the son of famous Los Angeles bluesman Johnny Otis), but after many days of filming, it was cut from the film because it was considered politically incorrect for a white guy to defeat a black one. Hey, I thought he was the devil!!! All in all, it was sad, because it would have revived Shaggy’s career.
Meanwhile, strange things started happening in the Crossroads world… They still haven’t signed my contract, even though I’ve been working on the project for five months. I wrote music and played it, expecting to be featured in the credits. I was kicked out of recording studios when I should have been there working on guitar parts for Ralph. Everything became strange and mysterious, and it seemed like they were trying to hide something from me. When the film finally came out, I, as the author and performer, was not listed there, as promised, and it was very disappointing. Nevertheless, I got a lot of experience, a lot of attention, and Vai always mentioned in his interviews that I was the one who wrote the guitar parts for most of the film. Bill Kanegaiser played classical music throughout the film, and by the final duel, we were ALL involved in that music! Ray, Steve, Bill, and I were all playing our guitar solos! I still have the guitar from the movie, as well as a lot of other special things they made for me, like a special Crossroads belt and so on. It was an amazing adventure, and despite some downsides, like this setup in the credits, it was a personal and creative experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Steve Vai
Steve Vai recalled his participation in the film as a turning point in his career, he had previously recorded the album Flex-Able and was known as a rising star, a new virtuoso. Ry Cooder called him into the movie and it was completely unclear how everything was supposed to look in the finale. The script says that Jack Butler is playing and his guitar “sounds like a freight train.” And Steve Vai agreed, saying, I know how to do it, I’ll play you some ruined riffs.
Epic guitar duel video from the movie Crossroads:
And Butler was supposed to be a blues guitarist, so he had to lose because Eugene started mixing classical music that he didn’t know. And Wai himself played this quick theme, upon hearing which, his character played. And shooting this final scene of the guitar duel took about 12-14 days, 18 hours daily. Somewhere in Burbank, this devil’s church was built. And Jack Butler lost to Eugene Marton. And it just seems like it’s easy to show your defeat by playing a piece badly, which you can actually play from start to finish even in your sleep, but if you try to play badly, it’s immediately visible, and it looks fake. And the most interesting thing is that a month after the end of filming, the director called Steve Vai and said that in that scene it was not obvious that you had lost, to which Vai objected, because everyone said that it was clear, but Hill disagreed and they re-made this church, gathered all the actors again and the film crew and the last episode were reshot.
And here’s how Eugene Marton’s guitar would sound in the hands of Ralph Macchio in a guitar duel if it were really connected (by BradleyHallGuitar):
Eugene defeats Butler with his telecaster, but Jackson Superstrat’s red guitar made a much bigger impression on the teenagers of that time – and he deliberately put more expression into his character.
Vai also appreciated Arlen Roth’s great work on the film and always talked in interviews about the fact that he recorded a lot of slide guitar for the film, and unfortunately that his contribution was not mentioned.
Steve Vai commented on working with Rai Cooder in the studio:
“Before that, I had heard of Paradise. I liked his down-to-earthness, his raw sound, and there was always a space around everything he did. And he always had his own sound. When I joined his studio, I learned a lot. Because this guy is just doing his thing. He doesn’t say, “Okay, let’s do a second take.” You do, and that’s it. And the funny thing is, of course, I had a completely different approach. I’m all about electronics, distortion and all that. I had my pedal board there, and I set up a delay of, like, 250 milliseconds. And Paradise is like, “What is this?” He sat down, listened, and then he started tapping his foot and playing with a delay, even though he had never done anything like this before. And I looked at him and was amazed at how beautiful and musical it was, and how he instantly learned how to play with delay and create just great music. And when he worked like that, it was fantastic. Yes, that was one of the best memories I got from Crossroads.”
John Fusco wrote this script as a student’s graduation thesis, based on his own experiences as a bluesman and the stories he learned while traveling through the Mississippi Delta. Fulton’s “Blind Dog,” Willie Brown, had a real-life prototype that also played the harmonica.Fusco won the FOCUS Award for the screenplay, and then Columbia Pictures bought the text.
The ending should generally be that Willy Brown gets into a greyhound and dies on the road. But Walter Hill’s father died shortly before filming and it was very difficult for him to shoot, so he made a different ending, which the screenwriter did not approve of – the original script was more a life drama than a metaphysical parable, depicting things more literary and lyrical. The real duel was supposed to take place in an abandoned railroad depot in Clarksdale, and represent an underground blues guitar fight. And the viewer was supposed to decide for himself whether the Devil was here or not.
“Today, the film has already earned a cult status among musicians, and many have told me about it themselves. That’s why I’ve come to terms with this ending of the movie, but somewhere deep inside, it still hurts me… And the impact that the film had on a new generation of blues and rock musicians is a reward in itself. Nothing makes me happier.”
