Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		1.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Back Roads Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf April 24, 2016

When director Martin Ritt and actress Sally Field collaborated in 1979, the result was “Norma Rae,” a penetrating drama about one woman’s personal awakening. When Ritt and Field reteamed in 1981, the result was “Back Roads,” which effectively ruined all the goodwill “Rae” created, tarnishing the production’s post-Oscar-winning glow. While Ritt’s helmed his share of disappointments, nothing has been quite as misguided as “Back Roads,” which does everything wrong in terms of thespian charm and narrative momentum, striving to generate romantic comedy butterflies with a sobering story of failure. Perhaps enamored with the potential to mount a road movie featuring two busted-but-not-broken characters striving to share their hearts of gold with each other, Ritt loses touch with the essentials of personality, conflict, and storytelling, unable to guide the effort as stars Field and Tommy Lee Jones share what’s politely called “negative chemistry,” visibly looking like they’d rather be anywhere else but in this film. It’s difficult to blame them.

Working the hard streets of Mobile, Alabama, Amy (Sally Field) is a prostitute trying to sustain a meager existence, living with a heavy sense of guilt after putting her son up for adoption years ago, remaining in his life from a distance, confusing the situation. Turning tricks on a daily basis, Amy encounters an unusually eager customer in Elmore (Tommy Lee Jones). A thief, con man, and ex-boxer, Elmore doesn’t have money to cover his intimate time with Amy, but he’s fallen in love, trying to keep the working girl as close as possible. After punching a cop interfering with his wooing effort, Elmore and Amy hit the road to avoid arrest, with grand plans to travel to Los Angeles and restart their ruined lives. However, the road proves to be grueling, challenging the pair with theft, bad weather, and creepy drivers, eventually ending up at a Texas border town where their old habits aren’t welcome. Left to face the cold reality of their future, Amy and Elmore work to better themselves in the middle of nowhere, finding a tentative personal connection.

“Back Roads” tries to turn misery into comedy. It’s a difficult mission of tonality for any filmmaker, but Ritt is determined to create a feature that handles grim realities with a light touch, trying to find the merriment of prostitution, self-destruction, and habitual irresponsibility. Screenwriter Gary DeVore does his duty as he bends the opposites attract formula, with Amy and Elmore’s meet cute in her well-worn bed, where post-coital breathlessness is broken by a confession of destitution, though Elmore doesn’t have any intention of leaving Amy’s side. In 2016, we call this “stalking,” but in “Back Roads,” it’s a recipe for romantic commitment, soon sending the bickering couple out into the world in search of a ride to bring them to California, where hope for a fresh start is waiting for them.

“Back Road” follows formula, observing Amy and Elmore deal with the slow walk west (depending on “wit and grit”), periodically broken up by sympathetic drivers, including a racist family that steals Amy’s wallet, and there’s a navy man in Mason (David Keith), who’s smitten with the hooker, bringing her to a county fair to enjoy each other while Elmore, the compulsive gambler, hangs back, trying to come up with new moneymaking schemes. While it may sound lighthearted, Mason’s introduction to the film brings additional darkness, finding other officers eventually trying to crowd him out, working up the nerve to gang-rape Amy and steal her money. So much for gentleness.

For “Back Roads” to be successful, one has to believe that Amy and Elmore are kindred spirits waiting for an opening in the clouds to come together as romantic partners. It’s no secret that Fields and Jones hated each other during production, and this disdain is palpable on screen, finding Amy and Elmore sharing a level of warmth typically found between warring world leaders. There’s no heat, no joy here to savor, finding Ritt paralyzed, unable to do much of anything with the material, which hinges on the lead characters joining forces to combat the pressures of their hardscrabble existence. Fields is at least semi-animated, clinging to Amy’s inherent sadness with life choices, keeping the woman’s frustration with her disappointing life on view in interesting ways. Jones is Jones, motor-mouthed and southern, mentally checking out once Elmore is supposed to win over Amy with his unique take on daily survival, which includes lying, cheating, and stealing. Anything but honest work.

Back Roads Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1080i, 2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation is a soupy mess emerging from an ancient scan. Detail is non-existent, providing a noisy look at frame particulars, with softness dominating the viewing experience. Texture has been wiped away, leaving even close-ups disappointing, while distances are difficult to survey. Colors aren't completely blown out, but they have no real presence, looking lethargic, even when dealing with exaggerated hues. Delineation is largely solid. Source is riddled with speckling and minor scratches.

Back Roads Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix doesn't offer much in the way of force for this often intimate drama, leaving the bulk of the listening event to charged banter between Field and Jones. Dialogue exchanges aren't ideally clear, but they work, managing accents and tempers without surging into painful extremes. Scoring is supportive, but also a little blunted, never intruding on the performances. Atmospherics are generally helpful, filling out scenes that take place in rural America, handling crowd encounters well.

Back Roads Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this disc.

Back Roads Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Once what little here passes for a story reaches Texas, "Back Roads" dramatically parks, enduring hackneyed encounters with a local pimp (Miriam Colon) and a redemptive arc for Elmore involving a boxing match that's never earned, with Ritt forcing the characters into strange positions of vulnerability and heroism as the picture stumbles around blindly, feeling for a conclusion, doing whatever it can to make sure the viewer walks away on a high note. While the rest of the feature is content to sample depressive extremes, the conclusion insists on hope, making "Back Roads" confusing, with Ritt surviving the effort instead of guiding it. It's amazing to watch how misguided the film is at times, rarely showing narrative drive, lingering on dull behaviors and contrivances, with the sharing of broken hearts meant to endear the pair to the audience. Outside of Fields and her post-Oscar confidence in an unadventurous role, there's little here that manages to capture the imagination or warm the heart. It's just going through the motions, hoping, praying that something in the mix might find mass appeal, helping to rescue the rest of this mess.