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.

Despite the presence of two Oscar-winning actors in its cast, "Back Roads" has been forgotten for the most part. Seeing it, it becomes clear why it hasn't built a cult. I won't say that it's a terrible movie - there are a few good things about it. It's nice for a change to see a major Hollywood studio movie that is fairly downbeat in nature. Also, the acting by both Jones and Field is pretty good - in fact, while watching the movie, I never thought I was watching two movie stars, but instead watching two characters. But their characters aren't that interesting. We don't learn much about them, and their frequent bickering becomes ultimately tiring. Also, when the movie ends, it ends at a point where it seems unfinished. It's like the director said, "We've got a 90 minute running time, so let's call it a day." Only worth watching if you want to see why the CBS network wasn't very successful in making theatrical movies.

Hi. Long time ago I was on a Swedish ship, a general cargo ship on a trip from England to Brownsville, Texas. It was a bad ship, and it ended in a one-way ticket back to Sweden, paid by the Swedish embassy, but, however, there were some Mexican hookers visiting our ship every day during our stay, very friendly and "speakable", but one day when they came aboard one of them shouted "I'm a movie star", and she explained that she had a part in a film called "Crossroads" (later I found out that it was called Back Roads), featuring Sally Field. As the years went by I looked for this film but never found it, until today(!) 14th March 2007, when they showed it on cable television...fantastic! After all, she wasn't lying! A little story on the first day of spring here in Sweden. Yours Rune Carlsson

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.