Back Roads

R 5.6
1981 1 hr 34 min Comedy , Romance

A prostitute and a drifter find themselves bound together as they make their way through the rural South, doing what they have to do to survive.

  • Cast:
    Sally Field , Tommy Lee Jones , David Keith , M. Emmet Walsh , Michael V. Gazzo , Nell Carter , Royce D. Applegate

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Reviews

Steineded
1981/03/13

How sad is this?

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Spoonatects
1981/03/14

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

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Tayloriona
1981/03/15

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Derrick Gibbons
1981/03/16

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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tbills2
1981/03/17

I love Sally Field. She is real sexy in Back Roads. Her and Tommy Lee Jones share great chemistry together, they just may not have known it yet themselves. I remember that Field and Jones had on the set issues, probably because Tommy Lee was trying to come on to Sally off the set. Can't blame him. She's Gidget, The Flying Nun, and she's playing a hooker! More like though, she's Sally Field and she's smoking hot. Somebody cool her off. Sally Field always plays the kind of girl you can take home to momma. And it don't seem much different for her here in Back Roads. Listen boy, she ain't a whore, she is a hustler! This all might be just a fantasy in my head, but Tommy Lee Jones felt obligated to apologize to Sally years later for something he did while filming this with Sally. Probably a good thing, too. Here's a theory. Maybe all Tommy Lee Jones wanted at the time was a sweet girl like Sally, and perhaps all Sally Field ever wanted was a wild heart like Tommy, but neither one had the know-how to admit to it. Just a theory. Back Roads is so under appreciated and over analyzed. Just enjoy it. It takes place in the South and it's really down country home living and back road loving. Tommy Lee Jones and Sally field make a great couple on screen. That much is clear. I love these two guys. Jones is a pistol and Field is a firecracker. I'm deeply in love with them both, but mostly Sally. Yea, mostly Sally. Back Roads' theme song, 'Ask Me No Questions (I'll Tell You No Lies)', is a beautiful song and it fits the movie like a glove. Sally wears such pretty hair-dos. Sally Field is so damn purty, like you wouldn't believe. I love Back Roads. It's damn good.

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angelsunchained
1981/03/18

Overlooked early 1980s film. The movie is a depressing look at two seedy characters trying to make it through life. The acting is solid and both Fields and Jones look the part of someone living on the edges of society. Jones is a two-bit club boxer with a reputation for losing. He comes across in a less then positive light, yet down deep, there's a heart of gold. Fields as a street hustler looks beat-up in this film. He rarely cracks a smile, and it's one of here meaty roles. However, the film is a somewhat depressing look at life, at least from the standpoint of street people. It's a fairly entertaining movie and if you're a fan of either Sally Fields or Tommy Lee Jones, then Back Roads is a film to see.

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windsors_angel
1981/03/19

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.

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moonspinner55
1981/03/20

There's nothing more exciting than seeing a slick Hollywood player like Sally Field getting down-and-dirty like she does in "Back Roads". At one point, she and her two male pals (Tommy Lee Jones and David Keith) are at a county fair and have no money. No problem! Sally fixes her hair and says to the guys, "Don't wait up." She knows how to make money (with her body) and nonchalantly sets out to do it. She's proving nothing to no one--it's second-nature to her--and when Keith calls her a 'whore' she tells him, "A whore is a sixteen-year-old with a bad reputation. I...am...a...hustler!" There are many moments to cherish in this rough jewel: Field standing outside the school where the little boy she gave up for adoption attends, running into his angry mother; Field writing a letter to the same child, telling him how sorry she is; Jones and Field getting off their bus after a fight and going their separate ways, each trudging down two dusty streets. It's a top-notch road comedy with Field and Jones overcoming the obvious sentimentality of the overall conception and making a memorable duo. *** from ****

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