Crossroads (1986)
Joe Seneca: Willie Brown
Photos
Quotes
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Willie Brown : The blues ain't nothin' but a good man feelin' bad, thinkin' 'bout the woman he once was with.
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Eugene Martone : You know Willie, I came down here to learn a lost song, not to get slapped in the face by an 80-year-old man! I find out I gotta become "King of the Hobos" I can go broke...
Willie Brown : [interrupting him angrily] I'm sorry your life turned out so 'HARD', Eugene! But I got my own business to tend to down here, and I don't mean for you to slow me down.
Eugene Martone : Business? What business?
Willie Brown : Personal business. And given your attitude, you got no reason to know what.
Eugene Martone : My attitude? What the hell's the matter with MY attitude, I have a great attitude!
Willie Brown : You got your mind made up about how everything works. How you gonna learn anything new when you KNOW everything already?
[picks up Eugene's old, scratched acoustic guitar]
Willie Brown : Look at this old guitar here you been squeakin' on. I bet you saw this thing in a music store and bought it just because you thought it was beat up! Well you got it all wrong. Muddy Waters invented electricity.
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Willie Brown : Meet Blind Dog Fulton. The one and only Willie Brown. You have found your man.
Eugene Martone : Aw, this GREAT, this is great! Listen, I know I'm not Robert Johnson, I...
Willie Brown : [interrupting] No, you AIN'T. You ain't even the beginning of a pimple on the "Late Great" Robert Johnson's ass! You might have a little bit of lightning in you, but you're missing everything else.
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Willie Brown : Why do you want to know about all that stuff?
Eugene Martone : I'm a blues man.
Willie Brown : A blues man?
[starts laughing]
Willie Brown : Where you from, boy?
Eugene Martone : Well, I was born in Long Island.
Willie Brown : Oh, Long Island aww shit, this is rich! Long Island: the famous 'breeding ground' for blues men!
[laughing almost hysterically]
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Willie Brown : OK, Mr. Janitor Man. What you want? I ain't made no mess.
Eugene Martone : Willie Brown?
Willie Brown : That's my name.
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Willie Brown : What time he coming around?
Scratch's Assistant : [faux confused] What time who coming around?
Willie Brown : You don't be fooling with me. I'm talking about Legba.
Scratch's Assistant : [laughs] Legba? Where you been at, slick? He done changed his name to Scratch.
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Willie Brown : Where I come from, you don't blow no harp, you don't get no pussy.
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Willie Brown : Lots of towns... Lots of songs... Lots of women... Good times... Bad times... Only thing I wanted anyone to say is... 'He could really play... He was good'.
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Willie Brown : Oh, shit. Here we go, a little soul from the golden ghetto.
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Willie Brown : You can't get enough mileage living at home with your Momma' wiping your butt.
Willie Brown : Where do you live?
Eugene Martone : It's a school dormitory.
Willie Brown : [sarcastically] Ooh, school dormitory. Oh, times is hard. Times is hard!
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Eugene Martone : Hey Willie, look at this hat. All I need is a Mississippi string tie and I'm ready to roll!
Willie Brown : Yeah, you need a lot more than THAT.
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Willie Brown : They find out I can walk, they take away my Pontiac!
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Frances : Blind Dog and Lightning Boy? Who the hell are you guys supposed to be?
Eugene Martone : We're bluesmen...
Willie Brown : *I'm* the bluesman, he's from Long Island!
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Eugene Martone : What are you doing?
Willie Brown : I'm changin' my tie, and I could use some help.
Eugene Martone : [hastily changing Willie's tie] I oughtta choke ya.
Willie Brown : [brandishing his fist] You do and you get knocked on your ass.
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Eugene Martone : I'm a blues man!
Willie Brown : Blues man shit.
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Willie Brown : Oh, so the famous long island blues man come back for another visit, huh?
Eugene Martone : I have something that I think you'll be interested in.
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Willie Brown : Is somebody saying he ain't been believing when I've been speaking?
Eugene Martone : That's right, Willie, I'm saying you're full of shit! You know something, everytime you mention Fulton's Point, nobody's ever even heard of the godamned place! And I'm starting to think you're just a con-man who used me just to get your ass out of a nursing home!
[Willie and Eugene start to walk away from each other on opposite sides of the road]
Frances : Where are you going?
Willie Brown : Look, you smart-assed kids, you don't need me! I do my business on this side of the road, and you white folks do your business on that side; that's the way they get things done in Mississippi!
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Eugene Martone : Look Willie, cut the shit, all right? Now, I'm serious about this song!
Willie Brown : The only shit to cut around here is you. Now I had it in me that you was another 'Lightning Boy', but you just a chicken-ass.
[stands up]
Willie Brown : Chicken-ass, chicken shit!
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Eugene Martone : Willie, here's something from the Delta, tell me this isn't Son House.
[plays a flawless blues riff in key of E]
Willie Brown : Sounds like bird shit.
