Un duo d'enfer!

Director Martin Ritt reteamed with his "Norma Rae" star Sally Field for this curiously thin road movie that appears to have been inspired by '40s comedies, although nobody at the time was clamoring for an R-rated Preston Sturges. Field retains her appeal in a role that I'm not sure was meant to be likable or not. She's a hustler-with-a-heart-of-gold down South who dreams of being a manicurist; Tommy Lee Jones is the ex-fighter who heads with her out West for a brand new start. They fight, they make up, they swat bugs, they hitch rides, they fight some more. Ritt obviously wanted to give brand new Oscar winner Sally Field the kind of star build-up she nearly had in the Burt Reynolds pictures from the previous decade, but he needed a judicious editor to shape the scenes of comedy and sentimental drama. He also has a problem transitioning from one tone to the next: there's a rousing bit with Jones scoring in the boxing ring, but the joyous mood is then immediately undercut by too-real violence involving a sadistic madam (a genuinely chilling Miriam Colon). Ritt blamed the poor box office returns on his star-leads, who reportedly did not get along. True enough, simply casting nice-girl Field as a streetwalker is little more than a stunt without strong material to back her up. Field does get a subplot trying to establish contact with a child she gave up for adoption, but it leads nowhere--just like the majority of the dead-end "Back Roads". ** from ****

Amy Post (Sally Field) is a low rent prostitute in Alabama. She gets caught up with jobless drifter ex-boxer customer Elmore Pratt (Tommy Lee Jones) as they go off on a rambling road trip.

Norma Rae director Martin Ritt reunites with Sally Field. I think it's intended as a grimy tough rom-com. Whether it's the script or the much rumored bad relationship between Field and Jones, the couple is plagued with bitter anger and the chemistry is never good. The movie is filmed in a low rent 70s style Grime-o-Vision. It works sometimes like playing pinball in a roadside bar but mostly it looks like a poorly made indie. In the end, the relationship never blossoms as it's suppose to. Sally Field does have a good breakdown, but Tommy Lee Jones have the acting range of a grumpy old man.

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.

This movie was an upside down love story of two people who were unlikely to end up together. It was great to watch because you know what's going to happen in the end, but you want to see how they get there. The one problem I had with this movie was Sally Field playing a prostitute. It just didn't seem believable to me. Sally Field looks to innocent and sweet to play a character like this. Tommy Lee Jones, on the other hand is just great. He plays the part of a drifter that moves from town to town and does almost everything to survive, but also maintains a good heart towards this woman(Sally Field)that wants nothing to do with him. If you are going to watch it, watch it for Tommy Lee Jones. One other thing, they should of chosen more than just one song for the movie. The theme song plays about 3 or 4 times throughout the movie. This is one movie that I would love to see remade. It's a timeless movie.

This little film has hooker Sally Field and drifter Tommy Lee Jones hitting the road together when Jones ruins Field's chances for, ahem, gainful employment in the one-horse Southern town where she lives after he decks a cop who tries to bust her. Along the way the two encounter various predicaments and characters, as well as revealing parts of their pasts. Fascinating study that gives two people on the fringe of society faces and intriguing stories. Keep an eye peeled for Nell Carter as a pistol-packin' waitress. Not a bad way to pass the time.