On B List of Movie Reviews

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Back Roads (1981)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 11/25

11/25: Back Roads is a romantic comedy film?

Uh...no. It's more of a drama on the road that's a hybrid of It Happened One Night, Scarecrow, and Fat City. Hollywood had been doing that plenty of times during the 70's with some success, but when it got to the next decade, the theme became old hat. Regardless, John A. Alonzo's photography looks well done.

Sally Field isn't believable as a $20 hooker and has no clue how to be spontaneous. There's only one good scene, and it's when Tommy Lee Jones got on the train and then dropped her in a large puddle, hence the movie poster. What about the rest of the film? It's just forced acting on Sally Field's part.

Is Tommy Lee Jones any better? He's okay, but this is the kind of work that's meant for either Al Pacino or Jack Nicholson. Therefore, the filmmakers went for the poor man's. The other two wouldn't have done it for such a mediocre script. Worse, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field have no chemistry. They didn't get along off the set anyway. Would the show have improved if Burt Reynolds replaced the actor to revive the magic of Smokey and the Bandit? Probably not.

I am not sure if the second half is meant to be Los Angeles or thereabouts. Either way, the location is all wrong in the west. There's a shot of the bridge that's actually Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge which leads to South Padre Island, Texas. Just after that is on the other side: Port Isabel. The rest of the film is clearly Brownsville and somewhere in between on State Highways 100 and 48.

All in all, Back Roads doesn't work.

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