Streets of Fire (1984).
I have always loved the poster for Streets of Fire, and had previously thought about watching it, but for some reason just never pulled the trigger. I didn’t know anything about it - in fact, the one thing I thought I knew about it turned out to be incorrect in that I always thought that the film was a musical. If I realized that Walter Hill, director of such classics like The Warriors, The Driver, and 48 Hours wrote and directed this, I probably would have watched it sooner. This one was Force Fed to me by Pete Abeyta, Patreon List Nerd and co-host of the Middle Class Film Class Podcast, so I found a copy and tossed it in without looking up anything about it.
Walter Hill’s inspiration for 1984’s Streets of Fire came out of his desire to make what he thought was a perfect film when he was a teenager and put in all of the things that he thought were "great then and which I still have great affection for: custom cars, kissing in the rain, neon, trains in the night, high-speed pursuit, rumbles, rock stars, motorcycles, jokes in tough situations, leather jackets and questions of honor". He and his frequent collaborator Larry Gross used these elements to craft a self-proclaimed “rock and roll fable” that exists in three distinct subgenres - a rescue mission, a Judgement Night-style “make your way through a dangerous city” getaway, and finally a final showdown that felt like the climax of Three O’Clock High or almost any classic “meet me in the town square for a duel” western. At it’s heart, this film is a Western, one that swaps the hot desert sun for neon and horses for Studebakers. It’s Walter Hill’s take on John Ford’s 1956 film The Searchers.
The story sees a veteran named Tom Cody who comes back to his hometown at the request of his older sister. The town has gone to shit, being run into the ground by a biker gang known as the Bombers. At the start of the film, they ride into town and kidnap the singer of a popular pop band called Ellen Aim and the Attackers. Tom, who used to date Ellen, accepts a contract from her current boyfriend and manager to get her back. Tom also brings along McCoy, a soldier who he meets at a bar to add extra fire power to the gang. The leader of the Bombers, Raven, takes exception to Tom’s presence in town, leading to an inevitable showdown that would certainly give Thor a boner. The film takes place in a world that mashes the fifties with the eighties, greaser bikers and neon lit power pop, for a truly unique and alien setting.
Hill got a stacked cast for the film. Michael Paré, who’s probably best known for his role as Eddie in 1983’s Eddie and the Cruisers, plays Tom. He sounds like he’s doing his best Sylvester Stallone impression and is the blandest part of the film. He does, however, know what he’s doing with a rifle. Diane Lane, who I’ve had a crush on since 2005’s Unfaithful, plays the singer Ellen Aim. She’s not given a whole lot to do in the film but I enjoyed her presence, she looked amazing and really confident playing the part of a rock star who owned the stage. Rick Moranis, dressed like a ventriloquist dummy, plays her boyfriend and manager, in a supremely douchey role that’s about as far removed from his wholesome persona as it gets. The unmistakable Amy Madigan plays Tom’s sidekick, a wisecracking firecracker who always seems to have a quick line for any situation, even if they don’t make sense. Willem Dafoe chews the screen as the main villain and he looks fantastic dressed in both head to toe leather and some kind of weird vinyl overall jumpsuit thing with no shirt underneath. Other notable supporting cast members include Bill Paxton playing a fifties version of his character who would get mopped up by the Terminator later this same year, Mykelti Williamson in a blink and you’ll miss it cameo as part of an African American music group, Ed Begley Jr., or as I like to refer to him, Arrested Development’s Stan Sitwell popping out of the dark for a two minute cameo, and the voice of Tommy Pickles in a small role as Ellen’s friend.
I didn’t like Streets of Fire, but I admire the balls to make a film like this. It took a big swing and tried to do something different. But with all of the neon, the music (which I’ll get to in a second), and the interesting characters, including biker gangs reminiscent of those that populated Coney Island in Hill’s The Warriors just five years prior, the movie still felt kind of bland. The world the film is set in - one completely detached from reality - felt like it had so much potential, but never actually felt lived in to me. The promise of Chicago by way of Gotham before any of the Bruce Wayne rogue’s gallery moved in was, unfortunately, unrealized. This film was created right as MTV was cresting, a year in which television and music would change forever, and Streets of Fire doesn’t seem to catch that lightning in a bottle. In fact, it’s decidedly unsexy, which it could have reveled in for some extra zing. The thing I really did love about this film was the music. I’ve seen some reviews refer to this film as a “rock opera”, and I’m not buying that, but the music that we get is amazing. Ry Cooder, a frequent Hill collaborator, did the score, and most of the rock and roll songs straight up rip. The opening number, Nowhere Fast, is a clear standout, and I instantly recognized Tonight Is What It Means to be Young from its sample in The Game’s 2011 song “The City”. When the film was over, I quickly added a few tracks to my Apple Music account.
Hill’s postmodern cinematic stew was a big, expensive swing that ultimately didn’t work for me. It also didn’t seem to work for many others in 1984, as the film was considered a box office bomb and critics were unkind. Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote, “Part of the trouble lies with the screenplay by Mr. Hill and Larry Gross; even if you don't mind its misogyny (''Listen, skirt, let me make it simple for you - take a hike!''), the whole thing is problematically crude.” While the weak script and negative reviews could have been responsible for it’s financial hardship, the fact that it came out during the beginning of a summer filled with fantastic four corner films definitely didn’t help. The week of it’s release, it had Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III, Sixteen Candles, Footloose, Splash, Firestarter, and This Is Spinal Tap to deal with. Just one week later, Ghostbusters and Gremlins hit theaters on the same fucking day, and two weeks later it was out of theaters when The Karate Kid rolled into town. It felt doomed from the start.
Okay, final thoughts. While I’m not confident in recommending Streets of Fire as a knockout hit, I do feel comfortable recommending it to people who want to see Walter Hill at his most experimental, because clearly the tanking of this film curbed that big swing style going forward. The film admirably tries to do something different - perhaps with a stronger pen game and a more lived-in world, Streets of Fire could have been something truly magical. As it is, the film starts with a dynamite scene that the rest of the flick can’t live up to.
The Shout Select Blu-ray is certainly the best this film has ever looked. Sourced from a new 2K transfer, it boasts two feature length documentaries, one called Shotguns and Six Strings which mixes making-of featurette stuff with interviews, and Rumble on the Lot, which has some of the actors and directors giving interviews revisiting their time on set.
