Back Roads is a 1981 American romantic comedy film starring Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. It is directed by Martin Ritt. It got middling reviews and grossed $11 million at the box office.
Amy Post (played by Field) is a $20-a-trick hooker in Mobile, Alabama. One night she entertains Elmore Pratt (Jones), an ex-boxer who has just been fired from his job at a car wash. He cannot pay her for services rendered.
Pratt punches a plainclothes police officer. He and the prostitute hit the road together, intending to head for California, bickering along the way.
It has been reported that Field and Jones disliked one another intensely. Director Ritt reportedly said later that he regretted not being able to make this film work, blaming its failure on both the script and the stars' inability to get along.
Nevertheless, in his March 13, 1981 New York Times review, critic Vincent Canby wrote that there "seems to be a real rapport" between the two actors. Canby described the film as "extremely appealing and occasionally gutsy and very funny."
Other reviewers were less kind. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars on a scale of four, although he did comment that Field
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