Streets of Fire- A Discussion

I think it's just us. For me, Streets is the ultimate '80s movie. But do you have the same problem I do, where you can't tell the difference between "Tonight" and "Nowhere Fast"? I start humming one and before I know it I've switched to the other.

I think I read somewhere that the film was recut for a PG. Apparently, in the original, Paré kills Dafoe in the hammer fight. I bet there was more to Marine Jahan's striptease too.

I've always wanted to watch this one. Supposedly it was very influential in Japan. In the 1985 anime film Megazone 23 the heroes can be seen going on a date to watch Streets of Fire.

Also it has Dafoe.

Diane Lane at her hottest, even if she was lip-syncing. Great soundtrack, fun movie. Michael Pare's shining hour, for what that's worth.

Not Eddie and the Cruisers?

Fuck Eddie and the Cruisers!

THAT gets a sequel, but Big Trouble in Litttle China does not. Makes sense.

It took a tremendous amount of alcohol to erradicate the memory of sitting in a theater and viewing the mindless drivel that is "Street's of Fire". What little I can recall, is horrendously bad acting meets a limp wristed musical "Bronx Warriors - 1999".

Avoid at all costs, lest ye be damned for all eternity.

Awesome flick. Great Ry Cooder soundtrack.

i love it. always have...bad acting, awkward direction and all. the music is great. it's such a fun, cool , and truly unique film that it deserves to have a place in film history...even if that place is the bargrain bin Walmart.

This was in heavy rotation on HBO when I was a kid and we'd watch it every time. It's a very unique world, even if the story is pretty standard. And the soundtrack is absolute aces, from the Blasters to the typical Steinman sturm-und-drang.

To be fair it's not much of a sequel, as it looks like it cost about $200.

I'm nuts for this movie. And it is worth repeating: this is the sexiest Dianne Lane has ever looked in a movie; yes, she's obviously lip-synching to the songs, but that doesn't stop her during her musical numbers from doing an amazing job of radiating raw sex appeal. This one also has one of my all time favorite theatrical film posters.

They were named the Sorels in the film, and were played by Stoney Jackson, Grand L Bush, Robert Townsend, and Mykelti Williamson.

But the song was written and performed by the late Dan Hartman.

Walter Hill is a genius - to me, Streets of Fire is almost a companion piece to The Warriors, or at least the next illogical step. It takes the Disney-fied version of rough urban streets (thanks to Devin for that description of The Warriors) and leaves all fucking semblance of reality behind.

It's a more stylized, improbable take on events in an area that could conceivably be just up the road from Coney and street gangs running around in baseball unis with painted faces.

And while it is highly flawed - most of the actors don't really "get" the dialogue (I thought Amy Madigan was a complete distraction) - it's still entertaining with a fun soundtrack for all that.

Good summary. I just watched this for the first time in probably over a decade a few months ago, and, while the visual iconic appeal is undeniable, and the songs are catchy, the dialogue is really atrocious and not at all helped by the poor deliveries. It's a shame, since the idea is great. I can see why 13-year-old me really liked it, but I was cringing a little during my last viewing.

And, yeah... Pare was definitely better in Eddie and the Cruisers, probably a better 'rock'n'roll fable,' in retrospect. Like Hill's films of the time (though to a lesser degree), Eddie and the Cruisers plays a little fast and loose with reality to construct an iconic story. To place such an obviously Springsteenian-sounding artist in 1963 is sort of genius, since, influences being what they are, it's nearly possible that such a singer/songwriter could have existed in that era. And if one did, he would have been a huge deal, since, while the influences were available, no one had combined them in such a way until that point. And then to tweak him by giving him a sort of Doors/Syd Barrett kind of mythology - pretty fucking brilliant. Also, to bring it back to Streets of Fire, I surprisingly have to give Cafferty the advantage over Steinman for enduring, memorable songs, even if every goddamn one is a Springsteen steal.

People are too hung up on realism these days. I wish there were movies with gang members on roller skates, toughs kidnapping Diane Lane mid-song, and overly-prescient, mythological 70s style bar band rock in 1963.

I liked this movie when I was 13. It blew my mind to see Rick Moranis playing against type. I'm reluctant to revisit, though. Especially after what Dave said. Still, Willem Defoe in black rubber overalls is hard to resist...

Digging this thread up from the grave - I just saw this for the first time last night.

First things first: Diane Lane was so 80's hot. And that's rare for me, because I think most people looked god-awful in the 80's. Don't know why, but something about her in this movie just caught my attention and wouldn't let go. Would have totally ridden her like a fine motorcycle.

Sledgehammer fight wasn't quite as epic as I had made it up to be in my own head, but Dafoe was pretty hilarious as the villain. I loved his first reveal in the crowd at the concert.. he's got such off-beat features that he just worked wonderfully for the movie. And dear God.. black rubber overalls.

Pare was pretty decent as young-Rocky. Got a good laugh out of his first fight with the butterfly knife guy.. *slap* wanna try that again? *slap slap* It was nice to see another (too rare) movie where the hero doesn't really give a shit about hooking up with the girl at the end, he's just doing what he needs to do. Also a rare treat - hero punching out his love interest. Amazing.

Lastly, the music was great.. I particularly fell in love with the opening song "Nowhere Fast". Pretty damn catchy, I must say.

This movie certainly isn't without it's flaws (Amy Madigan, ugh), but over-all I pretty much had a blast catching up on this one. Thanks to all who recommended I queue this one up in the chat.

I'm probably one of the bigger Walter Hill admierers here at CHUD, and yet I've never dared to watch this movie. Maybe its the completely goofy-sounding premise. Maybe its because it was the movie that started Hill's Hollywood decline.

Maybe because Universal did their best to make a super-hit out of FIRE, and in fact upsurped the advertizing budget of several small pictures of theirs at the time.

Like REPO MAN. I mean, maybe FIRE is cool or good and all, but REPO MAN fucking got radiated in theatres. A damn shame really.

That said, seeing a movie where the villain isn't killed but beaten into a coma.....that sounds promising.

Eh, if you can buy into The Warriors, you can probably buy into Streets of Fire.

I actually just watched this for the first times today and now im truly confused by the love this flick gets because it is really awful. Horrible characters, bad acting and worst of all no action. I mean this film was clearly just supposed to be an empty shell adventure film and theres no action. Every is running around with guns yet no one gets shot. Explosions going off everywhere but no one gets killed. The only credit I can give it is the end fight scene and an ending where the guy doesn't get the girl, which is something you don't normally see.

It's weird because I always heard this flick compared to the warriors which I loved. The only things these films have in common is that they share a very similar universe, a universe I like. However this just wasn't as fun and didn't have that gritty edge that the warriors had.

A wonderful slip of a movie.

I need to see more Walter Hill. I had a great time revisiting this movie, which just pulsates with energy. I loved how intertwined the music was, the imagery, the so-cool milieu, the off-kilter nature of everything in it, even the almost nonsensical staccato dialogue. A lot of which (well outside of the dialogue, though you can argue its dialogue is equally artificial) smacks a lot of what Tarantino has done.

one of the so very bad its looped itself back into awesometown type of movies.

stilted and over the top dialogue, crazy 'magic fingers' song/dance scenarios, and a severly addictivie opening track.

plus Rick Moranis plays a 'hardassed' (lol) agent, and Sledgehammer fight at the end. what more could you want? oh yea, a double bill with the Warriors. perfect

Poor Amy Madigan. For what it's worth, I liked you in this movie.

I can't believe the Glee folks haven't leaped on "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" yet.

This is probably in my top five favorite movies of all time. I'm actually surprised this hasn't been snapped up as a remake.

Ratty, I agree, but I say go one step further. Do a Streets of Fire themed episode. Quinn as Diane Lane, Rachel as McCoy, Finn as Tom Cody, Kurt as Raven Shaddock, Matthew Morrison as Billy Fish (although that would be kind of creepy, so maybe Artie.) They've done Madonna and 'Total Eclipse,' I demand an All Steinman Extravaganza.

On second thought, I take that back, because I doubt Glee's ability to nail the orchestrations, which are part of why Steinman's stuff is ridiculous and awesome. It's bombastic, not overproduced and autotuned within an inch of its life.

Get your topical zeitgeist show away from my Streets of Fire!

Just kidding, I haven't seen an episode yet. Another thing, I love how confident this movie was. How fast the premise of story was set up and how quickly it gets to the interesting meat. And how simple it was. It's just about a seasoned gunslinger who stumbles onto a 80s/50s mash-up musical scene. Hey, maybe Cody is supposed to represent Frank Sinatra?

Part of that has to do with the fact the movie's so short. Also, Tom Cody is obviously a Springsteen-esque protagonist, not Sinatra.

I am another Streets of Fire lover. The criticism of the dialogue is legit and some of the deliveries are certainly cringe inducing. But that only offsets the awesomeness of every other element.

 

Diane Lane is so amazingly beautiful and exudes so much emotion on stage that the movie is worth it for just for her lyp sinc. The way that red dress exposes her back and shifts on her hips during 'tonight' still makes me crazy.

 

William Dafoe, rubber pants pulled up to his nipples with the greasiest pompadour you ever saw. The fact that Dafoe can sell this ridiculous villain is sublime.

 

 

This movie had so many great parts, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton, Stephen Lawson all do a fine job in this.

 

Three great songs, 'nowhere fast' 'tonight is what it means to be young' and 'I can dream about you'.

 

 

I think Walter Hill was a damn genius. He had vision and the skills to implement it. That's why his films hold up over time, you can always sit down and watch them because they exist in a universe all their own.

 

I think the reason this movie failed at the box office is that it engendered such a WTF? reaction. We were in the midst of the 80's action hey dey, and this movie has 3 fucking song performances? Even the action scenes were generally filmed as cut aways from other performances (much of this film plays like a stringing together of music videos). The mix of grit and 50's nostalgia threw people off as well. People like their nostalgia bright and clean (marty mcfly and all that), instead this was grimy and weird.  Amy Madigans character was an anomoly as well. An unsexy, possibly lesbian sidekick in an 80's action movie? But it is those kind of choices that make the movie endure for me.

The fact that much of the movie is made up of Pare and Madigan exchanging stilted dialogue gave the critics an easy out when it came time to evaluate this weird concoction.

 

The music was also out there for the 80's. The blues and rockabilly stuff was very much a niche at that time, tonight and nowhere did sound too much alike. Only I can dream about you with its motown ripoff was easily accessible. But the uncomfortable reality of have black guys lipsyncing to a white guy singing a song that rips off motown can evern dampen the enjoyment of that fine song.

 

So all in all, I can understand both the love and hate for this movie,  I unapologetically come down on the side of love. There are enough elements of greatness that it becomes endlessly rewatchable...and for me this is a film that improves on each viewing. But the criticisms of this film are valid, if you dont get swept up in it, you will sit there staring at your screen thinking, 'what on earth was (inset name) thinking when they recomended this mess?"

 

just have to add some love for this movie....and pimp the Blasters and Marine Jahan !! a bit more.

I can't believe that In addition to all the minor 'stars' that appeared in this movie, no one has mentioned Lee Ving, singer from the classic punk band "FEAR" :-)

 

interesting/useless trivia - Marine Jahan was the dancer/body double for J Beals in 'Flashdance'

 

 

 

 

I saw an interview with her, and she seems to be a pretty cool person - when they asked her about not getting credited for her dancing in Flashdance and the resulting "scandal" she basically replied that if they HAD properly credited her, no one would know who she was - the hullabaloo over Beals not doing her own dancing was good publicity for Jahan.