I have a soft spot in my heart for road movies that feature lovable losers surviving in the midst of the odds stacked against them. Or perhaps I find this subject matter a guilty pleasure. This genre of drama has been done before and Back Roads wasn't the last movie to do this, although most of them are buddy movies where we have two unlikely male protagonists: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Scarecrow, etc. Some films may have segments of this plot within their stories, but Back Roads is pretty much entirely set where our two main characters, Amy (a cheap hooker) and Elmore (A lowlife ex-prize fighter) are out on a lamb trying to make their way to California. Back Roads offers something more special than the usual buddy film for we are treated to the possibility of romance and a deep look into humanity.
Whether you like this movie or not depends entirely on how much sympathy and love you can afford to our main characters. If there is anyone to ever be able to pull off this genteel and earnest feat, it would be Sally field. Yes, Sally Field had the girlish charm with her doll-like big eyes, her tiny figure and endearing pout. She is a hooker with a heart of gold who for some reason has fallen on the fringes of society due to unhealthy and bad life decisions. There was a time in Hollywood when a hooker's character was treated with much more scorn and shame. But at this time in cinema, the early 1980's, Hollywood cast a more fair light on these subjects while treating them with pity and more likability. It's true that prostitutes and low lives are more charming on screen than in real life and we accept this by our own consent. Strangely and perhaps intentionally, Back Roads was marketed as a screwball romantic comedy. What those few viewers saw on screen was a bit more sad and serious with some dark comedy intertwined. Tommie Lee Jones does well and the chemistry between him and Sally is correct. As much as they bicker, make up, break apart and get back together, it all seems so right if not predictable. We root for them. They are not the winners of society, but they win our hearts.
The montage of Amy traveling alone on foot, on buses or hitching rides is accompanied by the melancholy ballad as we see our forlorn heroine looking defeated, blue and lonely. The director allows us to peer into her lonely and desperate soul. Tommie Lee is nothing more than a hapless bum who loses his job, but still has a chance to make a quick buck in a low stakes boxing ring. Sometimes love happens in the worst of circumstances and forces people to address what matters most whether it's from inner desperation or just the innate need for a partner. This is a humble tale of two drifters, who, through their personal journey, learn about love and the need for friendship.
Some people may be turned off by the grubby lifestyle and the sleazy misadventures these two go through. We are treated to the seediness of the redneck south with all of its cheap diners, truck stops, motels and how it looks from a low-budget traveler's perspective. There is also some corny dialogue; "I've seen some squirrel's in my time, but you are at the top of the tree", exclaims Amy when she expresses her disapproval of Elmore's uncouth character. Typical dialogue of this era seems outdated, but it doesn't detract from the overall theme.
The one downfall to this movie is that they couldn't construct a good ending, because the story doesn't really promise that these characters are going to strike it rich once they reach California. The movie simply ends as they stand there hitchhiking while making a poetic statement of how they accept themselves and their love for each other. What matters is not the outcome of their journey, but how they arrive at a personal state of self-acceptance. Movies like Back Roads endear us to the down and out losers. Their ill-fated lives are a not treated as a result of their ignoble character, but rather as a byproduct of their vulnerability and weaknesses.
