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.

Fusco was a traveling blues musician prior to attending New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he wrote Crossroads as an assignment in a master class led by Waldo Salt and Ring Lardner Jr.

[1] 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.

Willie then says he knows the missing Robert Johnson tune in question but refuses to give it to Eugene unless the boy breaks him out of the facility and gets him to Mississippi, where he has unfinished business to settle.

Using money they collected at the jook joint, Willie helps Eugene buy a portable Pignose amplifier, and a Fender Telecaster.

They reach a deserted crossroads in rural Mississippi, where Willie reveals his secret: his ability on the harmonica came about because of a deal with the Devil, which he made at this very location.

The Devil offers a challenge: if Eugene can come to a special concert and win a guitar battle against his ringer guitarist, then Willie gets his soul back.

Eventually, Eugene falls back on his classical training, playing a fast and difficult piece that Butler cannot match.

Dejected, Butler drops his guitar and strides off, and the Devil tears up Willie's contract, freeing the bluesman's soul.

Willie and Eugene are transported back to Mississippi, where they start walking again, deciding to head to Chicago to play together.

Coincidentally, Johnson was inducted to the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1986, while the film was in production.

She has to put Macchio through the experience of falling in love, and then she has to leave him, to strengthen his character for the movie's final showdown.

"I think the blues still speaks to kids today", said Ry Cooder, who performed the music with Steve Vai and Arlen Roth.

[10] Director Walter Hill's father had died shortly before production commenced, and he found filming this scene difficult, so he also shot a happier ending.

[14] Macchio initially hoped to be able to play some of the music on screen himself, but came to realize that the difficult pieces the professional guitarists were preparing would be beyond him.

[14] Director Walter Hill decided to replace Cooder and produce a harder "boxing match" style battle, with Keith Richards, Frank Zappa, and Stevie Ray Vaughan considered for the part of Butler.

[15] He settled on Alcatrazz player Steve Vai, hoping that the fashionable shred guitar style would increase the film's appeal to a wider audience.

[15] Cooder was disappointed; he and Roth felt the use of a contemporary musical style was not in keeping with the movie's blues theme, and would badly date the film later.

[17] The guitar was Vai's own and, as Butler drops it heavily to the floor, the production team hastily constructed mock-up instruments for the shot.

The album does not feature Eugene's classical playing (which was performed by William Kanengiser) nor the final duel with Jack Butler.