Title: Streets of Fire (1984)
Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis,
Amy Madigan, Bill Paxton
Review:
Streets of Fire isn’t all that different from director
Walter Hill’s The Warriors (1979), it’s an alternate world created by the
filmmakers, the rules created by the screenwriter, the director and the actors.
In The Warriors, Walter Hill mixed fantasy and reality into a world all its
own. The first time I saw The Warriors, it struck me as strange because I asked
myself, “who the hell dresses up like clown baseball players?” To me, that wasn’t
real, gang members wouldn’t be caught dead in that attire, but then I realized,
this is an exaggerated representation of reality. It was Walter Hill’s way of
addressing his frustrations and thoughts on the whole gang scene that was
destroying the lives of young people during the 60’s and 70’s. And so, if we
take The Warriors as an exaggeration of reality, a comic book like fantasy
world if you will, then it works. You just gotta let yourself go and dive deep
into this cinematic world, suspend your disbelief and just go with it. The same
can be said of Streets of Fire, it’s a world into itself, the characters and
situations depicted here are not meant to be taken as “reality” but a mere exaggeration
of it, a Rock and Roll Fable that takes place in “Another Time, Another Place”.
This is a world where cops allow street gangs to fight, a
world in which a biker gang can walk into a rock and roll concert, kidnap the
lead singer and terrorize concert goers in all sorts of violent ways. And they
can get away with it just fine! This is the premise of Streets of Fire, a film
in which we have two gangs of young kids that for whatever the reason hate each
other. Willem Defoe and his gang of bikers, who all dress like they belonged in
The Village People, kidnap Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) right smack in the middle of
her concert and it’s up to Tom Cody (Michael Pare) to rescue her from the
clutches of Rave Shaddock (Willem Dafoe) and his gang. The plot is that simple,
but we need to keep in mind that Streets of Fire is the classic example of
style over substance and I mean that in a good way! Streets of Fire is meant to
be enjoyed from a purely visceral point of view, the film is clearly aimed to
pleasure our senses and our instinct rather than our minds. Not that it’s a
stupid movie; it’s just that its emphasis lies in sensory input because it’s a film
about passion and violence, and getting things done. This is a film about
action, not about talking. The sensory input comes in the form of enhanced
colors, and the awesome Rock and Roll soundtrack, speaking of the soundtrack,
this is part of the reason why I say that this is a film that creates its own
rules because the film seems to take place during the 50’s but some of the
music is very 80’s. I mean, some of the songs were written by the great Jim
Steinman (from Meatloaf) and what’s more 80’s than his style of operatic rock
and roll?
In a way, the whole story behind Streets of Fire reminds me
of Homer’s The Iliad, in which a whole war is sparked by the abduction of a
woman, Helen of Troy. In Streets of Fire everything starts because Rave
Shaddock and his hoodlums abduct Ellen Aim, now that I think about it, Helena
sounds a lot like Ellen, maybe the
similarities between Streets of Fire and The Iliad aren’t that far off, it
looks to me as if the writers were partially inspired by ancient epic poem. And
yeah, there’s some epicness to this film, there’s this really cool seen in
which Tom starts shooting with a modified shotgun at all the bikers motorcycles
and the motorcycles start blowing up in balls of flames! Awesome scene! The
ending is this clash between two gangs, the evil bikers vs. Tom Cody and his
friends, and the battle is like a battle between two rock and roll gods, they
even battle with freaking metal hammers! I was like what? Metal hammers? Who
thought that up?
The cast is excellent, Michael Pare is great as Tom Cody, he's the
guy you don’t want to get mixed up with, he’s a loner, a rebel.
Ellen the up and coming rock star, is his old flame; he broke up with her
because he doesn’t consider himself the kind of guy who would tag along with
her carrying her guitars. Nope, he’s too much of a loner for that. He talks
very little, broods a lot and wears a trench coat. He’s a war hero that steals
cars, fights for the love of his life, fires shotguns, fights with hammers, and
rides motorcycles! This is the ultimate tough guy. Like Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985) or Jack
Burton in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Tom Cody is too much of a rebel
to get tied down by a relationship. But he doesn’t mind a night of passion! Michael
Pare’s career was starting to take off, he was apparently going to be the
next big thing in Hollywood, unfortunately he filmed another Rock and Roll
themed film called Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and then he went and filmed Streets
of Fire and they both tanked at the box office! Yet, the cinematic gods have smiled upon him! This double death at the box office didn’t kill his career completely, he’s
continued his career making b-movies and even one or two studio films. And then there's Diane
Lane, wow, she really portrayed a girl worth dying for! Every time she was
singing on stage, I was transfixed by her persona, totally captivated. Seeing
her on this movie is totally worth the price of admission. Rick Moranis is on
this film as well, if you can believe it he plays Diane Lane’s agent/fiancée,
and some feel he was miscast in the role. I have to admit he does stick out
like a sore thumb amongst all the tough guys and gals. Super sexy Diane Lane
with a nerdy dude like Moranis? I didn’t buy it, but whatever, it’s a minor
flaw in the movie, plus Moranis is always entertaining.
One of the most interesting characters in the film was a
girl named McCoy (Amy Madigan) a tomboy who has as much attitude as everyone
else on the film. Willem Defoe is a cartoon of a villain, even his facial
expressions are exaggerated emotions, he wears this leather bound attire that’s
straight of an S&M magazine or something. My only gripe with the film is the
motivations for kidnapping Ellen were not fleshed out , Raven Shaddock says
that he’s kidnapped her simply to have his way with her for a couple of weeks,
and that’s it. Is that enough to warrant an all out destructive war between two
factions? Apparently it is. If a woman is good enough to start a war in The Iliad,
then I guess it’s good enough of a reason in Streets of Fire as well and like I
said earlier, she is to die for in this movie.
When it was released, Streets of Fire failed horribly at the
box office. It didn’t manage to make its money back, so the sequels that were planned for Tom Cody were never made, still, when you watch it, look out for that open ending, they kind of hint at the idea of future films. But as it often happens
with cool movies that pass unnoticed in theaters, audiences eventually discover them and so the film has
garnered its cult following. Streets of Fire was a good Joel Silver production
and you can tell a lot of work went into creating this world, which is why I
recommend it, it’s a film that deserves to be seen. Walter Hill wanted to make
a film that had all the things he considered cool when he was a kid. Cool cars,
rock and roll, kisses in the rain, motorcycles, shotguns…basically, it’s an
explosion of coolness tinged with a bit of nostalgia coming straight from
Walter Hill’s memory banks. Closing statements: I highly
recommend this overlooked Rock and Roll Fable; it is a film that aims to remind
us what it means to be young and alive, gotta love it for that!
