Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Weird, unique, thrilling, rock opera adventure., August 14, 2002
This film bombed with reviewers and at the box office when it came out -- but I loved it! And its soundtrack remains one of my favorite lps/CDs.It's a weird tale of a biker gang leader (William DaFoe) who kidnaps a rock singer (Diane Lane). Her nebbish manager (Rick Moranis) hires her ex-soldier/ex-boyfired (Michael Pare) to rescue her. He hires a sidekick, ex-soldier Amy Madigan. What makes this film so weird is -- you wonder WHEN it's taking place. It's full of anachronisms. The art direction looks 1950s (the malt shop, some of the costumes, the old police squad cars, the teletype). Yet you have female soldiers, and an integrated police force. And the biker gang leader looks like he's dressed for an S&M leather party, in a black leather farmer's overall bid. Very strange. The dialog is also strange. Very stylized -- to the point of parody. Women are "skirts." Everyone's sarcastic, snarling zingers at each other. Even the bit players. The film feels like everyone in town, from street punks to cops to young girls, is a badass with a bad attitude. And half the zingers seem to end in fights. Very very strange. The subtitle is: A Rock & Roll Fable -- whatever that means. Don't try to understand this film. Just let it wash over you. You're in a strange netherworld. Accept it, and you'll enjoy the ride. Especially if you like the music... Some of the music written by Jim Steinman -- if you thrill to the bombastic sounds of Bonnie Tyler and Meat Love, you'll love this soundtrack. There's also a song written by Stevie Nicks, sung by Marylin Martin -- who sounds exactly like Stevie Nicks. The sort of bizarre film where many will gawk and wonder: What were they thinking? Others will emrace it with the love that cult films attract. I did.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I LOVE THIS FILM TOO MUCH!, June 19, 2000
I first saw this movie during my formative teen years, and it has affected my sense of style and taste in music and movies ever since. Though I would not go overboard in saying that it is a "very good" movie, but it is a "great" movie.
It has been said that this is the '50's movie set in the '80's Walter Hill always wanted to make, and he succeeds in catching that feeling. The people are clad in '50's garb, the cars are glorious pieces of Detroit steel or Studebakers, the biker gang lives the dream of Link Wray's music and the threat of Brando's "Wild Ones," the music is at times fast and urgent, like youth racing to an exciting finish, or moody and atmospheric, catching tension, sorrow, and romance. The production value is first-rate, every rain puddle in place, glorious neon colors, and a literally "ripping" scene disolve.
Hill has created a complete world here. The story takes place in a city that is so huge a wanderer (such as Amy Madigan's or Michael Pare's characters) can pass through a "district" the way an old west drifter would pass through a town (not the only similarity to westerns this movie has). One can drive all night, passing through several of these districts, each with their own distinctive character, without finding the end of it. There is a run-down residential area, a nightlife strip, a spooky industrial area, even a southern style district with racist cops! The character of these districts is expressed everywhere, from the production design to the music to the costumes, so you can really catch the flavor of it. I felt that the costumes especially should be commended (hello, academy), not only because they were well produced and looked good, but also each costume expressed the character of the people wearing them and the district they resided in.
The main action of the movie follows the pattern of a less serious version of "The Warriors": our heroes must find their way home against great odds. They must take trains, steal cars, fight cops, and hide from their pursuers. Instead of the run-down griminess of a city on the edge of collapse, however, there is the sense of urgent vibrancy of a thriving culture.
Loving this movie so much, I have accumulated way too much trivia about it. The name of the biker bar, "Torchies" is used in "48 hrs" "The Driver," and "Brewster's Millions." The stripper in the bar is played by Jennifer Beales' double from "Flashdance." She was also in a rock video in the early '80's. The racist cop from the Ardmore is the Action News reporter from "Brewster's..." The train conductor was the DJ in "The Warriors." Robert Townsend can be seen as one of the doo-wop combo, but does not have a single line, unless you count him lip-psynching the songs. They used such light-sensitive film in making the movie that some of the neon was too bright and they had to paint it in.
The music, as has been said before, is great. Ry Cooder (a frequent Hill colaborator) does all the incidental music covering such works as "Get out of Denver" and "Rumble," as well as creating some original pieces. It's a shame none of it wound up on the soundtrack album. The Blasters hit their high-water mark of mainstream popularity with their performance at Torchies (this was my first exposure to them and they have been my favorite band ever since). The Jim Steinman anthems, though not his best, are very appropriate for the theme of misspent youth that the movie has. I don't understand what The Fixx was doing on the closing credits, but it's a good song.
About the acting: it seems acting skills are in inverse proportion to matinee-idol attractiveness, but that's OK, because the beautifully attractive leads don't have to do much (and Diane Lane is more beautiful here than in any other movie before or since). The less attractive secondaries get the good banter , and the stoic cop and the evil villain play their roles to the hilt.
Sure the plot is predictable, corny, even. So is the dialogue. That's part of what makes it so cool! Corniness comes from tradition and universality, so what makes it distinctive is the style, and what style! And its worth noting that the final showdown is one of the most exciting fights in cinema, and has a unique and thrilling esthetic.
So pop a brew, pour that tequila, get some chips & salsa, cuddle with your honey, and crank up your stereo big-screen TV (hopefully you've got a widescreen version too). This is fun, thrilling, and great, and if you're not smooching by the end, get another honey!
Just a thought about the DVD version vs. the VHS version...
In most instances, a DVD version of a movie is superior to the VHS version. The picture is sharper, the colors more bright, clear, and subtle, the sound better, and it is available in widescreen. All these things are true about the Streets of Fire DVD, however...
This movie is not a subtle film. It's aesthetic choices are bold and strong, not subtle or deep. In the VHS version, where the main color on the screen is red, it totally bleeds RED. Where it is blue, and is a bold and dominant BLUE, etc. On DVD these effects are lost as the sharpness of the medium brings out the subtleties of the colors. A shot that was dominantly blue is now a suble mix of greens and blues, and is weaker for it.
Also, that old VHS had a trailer for "Conan the Destroyer," one of the least subtle movies of all time.Seeing that before hearing that Ry Cooder riff really put me in that mid-'80's action movie mood!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
soldier boy saves queen of the hop from leader of the pack, December 26, 2003
"streets of fire",ive gathered was intended to be part of a trilogy by director walter hill[director of 'the warriors'],but poor box office sales,nixed that idea.
i saw the movie at a local cinema in my hometown in 1984 and less than two weeks later it was gone replaced by some'john hughes' schmaltz or someother dreck of that kind of 'teen 80's' ilk.
i thought 'streets of fire' was fantastic,an utterly compelling 'juvinile delinquint film noir western',complete with ravaging biker gangs,sultry rock'n'roll singers,surly hot rod gangs,poutng tuff chicks,glowering bad boys,swithblade knives,black leather jackets,tuff words in tense situations,street brawls with sledge hammers,chopped lowered hotrods,do-wop groups,sexy fishnet wearing strippers,sax honking rock'a'billy bands,burning motorcycles,gun totin' bad ass dames,you name it...this movie has it all.
amid flashing neon,wet city streets,screaming subways,foggy back alleys,menacing bikers,pseudo-tuff punk hotrodders,rough guys with big guns; the story unfolds with a local female rock'n'roll singing legand,ellen aim,played by diane lane,being kidnapped by raven shaddock,played by willem dafoe and his motorcycle gang'the bombers',and of course her ex-boyfriend is none other than tom cody,played by michael pare,local ex-bad boy turned sodier,who comes home thanks to his sister vera,played by deborah van valkenberg,and takes up the task of rescuing ellen aim from 'the bombers' clutches,with the help of a tuff chick mechanic played by amy madigan.
the movie has great sets,has a time period that may be the 50's and it may be the future and it may be another place all together,some of the sets look like chicago,while others look like brooklyn new york,it has a great dirty biker bar named 'torchie's',where 'the blasters' play rousing classics like 'one bad stud',while dancer marin jahin[jennifer beals body double in 'flashdance']shakes her stuff on the stage in front of the band.
the movie was lost in its original run in the theatres,but did well on cable later in the decade and has finally garnered quite a cult following and its rightly deserved; this movie is great fun,as well as a visually stunning masterpiece.
any fan of 'walter hill' or 'the warriors' or stylized 50's like biker hotrod delinquint badboy/bad girl movies or even anyone who just like a little rock'n'roll with there fables,should like this great flick.
so,to all you greasers out there,enjoy this true original ode to a great genre of film making.
plus,the soundtrack is really cool as well,two blasters songs,,two jim stienem songs,a great ry cooder score,diane lane lipsynching in tight dresses to meatloaf sounding songs...its all
pretty cool.
so,i hope you dig it,i know i did,i own 2 copies of the video,2 copies of the soundtrack and i cant wait to get the dvd.
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