In addition, there weren't a lot of potential birthdays to tie into past articles, so I couldn't even find something to just post on the fly in the meantime.
However, that may change soon, as I found a new website that not only features birthdays, but also days celebrities passed away and a "this day in film history" feature, which should offer up more opportunities to tie into old articles as well.
Thanks for your patience in this matter. Also, know that it hasn't gone unnoticed that my horror and cult-themed articles tend to do the best, in terms of overall views. Expect to see more of those moving forward, for sure!
Now, without further ado...
Originally released in the summer of 1984- the same year Prince's feature film debut Purple Rain ruled the box office- Streets of Fire was somewhat unfairly maligned by critics, and tanked big-time at the box office, despite the high level of talent involved.
At the time, writer-director Walter Hill was riding high on the massive success of the Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte vehicle, 48 Hours, one of the top-10-grossing films of 1982. Critically adored and a commercial success, it gave Hill and producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon carte blanche to do whatever they wanted, and what they chose to do was Streets of Fire, a so-called "rock 'n' roll fable."
The idea was to capitalize on both teen films, then-hot because of the likes of John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club); and musicals, also-hot, in light of the enormous success of Flashdance the previous year. The bulk of the cast was under 30, including star Diane Lane, who was merely 18 at the time.
Hill originally envisioned someone older in Lane's role, but her level of commitment was such that he gave her the role anyway and simply aged her up on screen by dressing her in a more mature way to make it more believable that she would be around the same age as leading man Michael Paré, who was seven years older.
Of course, if you know your cult films, then you already know that Lane was no stranger to playing a rock star on the big screen, having done so in the criminally underrated Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, which I hope to review here before too long.
However, Lane's voice wasn't strong enough as a singer, necessitating several "ringers" to be brought in to substitute, which she later lip-synched to on set. Co-star Paré was no stranger to this, either, it's worth mentioning, having also done so in the cult hit Eddie & The Cruisers the previous year- though he didn't have to "sing" for this film.
If a lot of the music has a familiar ring to it, there's a reason for that. A good portion of it was produced by none other than Jimmy Iovine, who recruited some of his own talented roster of artists to contribute.
None other than Stevie Nicks wrote "Sorcerer," in fact, a song which dates back to her pre-Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham-Nicks days. She would later re-record the song herself for official release with Sheryl Crow on the album Trouble in Shangri-La.
Meanwhile, "Never Be You" was written by Tom Petty and Benmont Tench, of his backing band, The Heartbreakers. Finally, "Nowhere Fast" and "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young"- both credited to Fire, Inc.- were written by Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler mastermind Jim Steinman.
Despite all this talent involved, interestingly, the film's biggest hit was by a relative unknown (to modern audiences, at least), Dan Hartman, entitled "I Can Dream About You." Hartman at that point was best-known for writing "Free Ride" by the Edgar Winter Group, before going disco with the smash hits "Instant Replay" and "Relight My Fire."
He would later find even bigger success writing and producing songs for the likes of James Brown (the even-bigger hit, "Living in America" from Rocky IV), Tina Turner, Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker and Paul Young.
Oddly, once again, the film chose to replace Hartman's vocals with singer Winston Ford's- though his vocals were then lip-synched on-screen by actor Stoney Jackson! (The 80's were a confusing time.) Fortunately for Hartman, the soundtrack version was his own, and became a Top 10 hit that summer- a bigger hit than the movie, in fact.
Rounding out the soundtrack are two songs by the retro-rock act The Blasters, who initially turned down an appearance in Hill's 48 Hours, but reconsidered after that film's success and landed a bit in this film, performing their original "Blue Shadows" and a cover of Leiber-Stoller's "One Bad Stud."
Originally, the titular song, "Streets of Fire," by Bruce Springsteen, for which it was named, was intended to close out the film, but reportedly Springsteen balked when he heard the filmmakers intended to- you guessed it- have someone else cover the song, which seems sort of silly. Why not just go with the original?
Instead, an original song by, of all bands, The Fixx, "Deeper and Deeper" was used. Initially a B-side to their single, "Are We Ourselves?", the song proved a sleeper hit for the band, outperforming the A-side in terms of radio airplay. An extended version of the song can be found on the CD release of the band's album Reach the Beach, as well as on many of their various greatest hits collections.
It's a great song, but it doesn't exactly fit the vibe of the movie, and as a direct result, feels like the last-minute tack-on that it is, unfortunately. Pity, as the rest of the soundtrack is pretty great, and establishes its own distinct vibe. Indeed, for many, it's the soundtrack that's the most memorable thing about the film.
I should also note the excellent score by Hill's then-go-to composer Ry Cooder, which, sadly, has never been released in any format, save his lone contribution to the soundtrack, "Hold That Snake."
It's too bad, as Cooder's work here is just great, holding its own with his other scores of the time, which notably include the Mick Jagger vehicle Performance; Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas (which musician Dave Grohl has cited as one of his all-time favorite albums) and Crossroads (the 1986 version, not to be confused with the movie with Britney Spears).
Getting back to the cast, in addition to Lane (then coming off the star-making, back-to-back S.E. Hinton-based young adult novel adaptations of The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola) and Paré (who got the role after Tom Cruise had to opt out over a prior commitment, winning it over the likes of Patrick Swayze and Eric Roberts), the film is filled with other soon-to-be big named up-and-coming stars.
As Lane's character Ellen Aim's manager/boyfriend, there's Rick Moranis, then best-known for the variety show, SCTV (sort of Canada's answer to SNL). Later that same year, he would fare decidedly better with the massively successful Ghostbusters and its sequel.
He would then go on to appear in the hits Little Shop of Horrors (another musical), Mel Brooks' sci-fi spoof Spaceballs, and the sci-fi family film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and various sequels to that film. Reportedly, his on-screen persona wasn't far from his real-life one, as he and Paré didn't get along at all.
As the leader of the motorcycle gang that kidnaps Ellen- onstage during a performance, no less! (someone needs better security, to be sure)- there's a young Willem Dafoe, in his second major role following bit parts in the major bomb Heaven's Gate and the excellent vampire flick The Hunger (featuring rocker David Bowie).
Interestingly, his first big role was also as a rebel biker type in The Loveless, a film co-written and co-directed by Kathryn Bigelow (who would go on to make film history as the first female director to win the Oscar with The Hurt Locker).
Dafoe would, of course, go on to much success, particularly in villainous roles in movies like David Lynch's excellent Wild at Heart, Shadow of the Vampire, To Live and Die in L.A., Spider-Man and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. More recently, he received an Oscar nomination for an atypical turn in the indie flick The Florida Project.
Arguably the best role in the film was originally written with a man in mind- that of McCoy, a fellow former soldier pal of Paré's character, Tom Cody. But when actress Amy Madigan, who was there to read for the role of Cody's sister, suggested that it be a woman instead, Hill took her up on it and cast Madigan in the part with only minimal changes.
Somewhat ironically, this has led many to speculate that the character was intended to be a lesbian, even though she mentions an ex-flame that was a male in the film. Still, many thought that this was merely a "cover story" to hide her "real" identity. Intentional or not, I like the theory, and either way, it's a great character.
Madigan went on to huge success in many Oscar-nominated films like Places of the Heart, Twice in a Lifetime, Field of Dreams, Pollock (with husband Ed Harris, who also produced and directed) and Gone Baby Gone, as well as crowd-pleasers like Uncle Buck.
Even the supporting roles in this one are filled with some familiar faces. For instance, as members of the Sorels, the doo-wop group featured in the film, there's Mykelti Williamson, who would go on to appear as "Bubba" in Forest Gump and in lots of TV, including Hill Street Blues, Boomtown, CSI: NY and Justified; as well as then-future producer/director Robert Townsend, of Hollywood Shuffle, Eddie Murphy's Raw and the classic The Five Heartbeats, which also revolves around an African-American doo-wop group.
Cropping up as a bartender is Bill Paxton, who, after a bit part in James Cameron's classic The Terminator, would go on to hit it big the following year with supporting roles in Cameron's Aliens and John Hughes' Weird Science. Paxton later became of of Hollywood's most respected character actors, both in movies and TV, notably in Tombstone, Apollo 13, Twister, Titanic and HBO's Big Love.
Look quick for Ed Begley, Jr. (Arrested Development, Better Call Saul) as a street informant, and comedian Kathy Griffin as a concertgoer. Plus, if Dafoe's character Raven's right-hand man looks familiar, you must be a punk rock fan- that's none other than Fear lead singer, Lee Ving. He also cropped up in Flashdance, Fame and Clue, among other films.
Worth a mention are Richard Lawson, as the police chief, who was in the classic Poltergeist (as one of the parapsychologists), as well as genre faves like Scream Blacula Scream, Sugar Hill, Audrey Rose and TV's V miniseries; and Rick Rossovich, as his right-hand officer, also from The Terminator, plus Top Gun, Roxanne, Navy Seals and TV's ER.
Then there's the adorable Elizabeth Daily (aka E.G. Daily), of Valley Girl, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Loverboy and Dutch, plus countless voice-over work, notably as Tommy Pickles on Rugrats and Bubbles on The Powerpuff Girls, as well as the voice of Babe, the pig, in several movies.
TBH, the first time I saw this, I wasn't a huge fan, partially because I've never been crazy about musicals, but as I've gotten older, I've gotten a little more tolerant of them, especially those from the 80's, the era in which I was a kid.
Mainly I just don't like the ones in which people just burst into song out of nowhere, but here, it happens organically, as in they're performing on-stage or in music videos or the like, so it's much more tolerable. Also, the music just so happens to be pretty good, which doesn't hurt.
While the acting can be a bit over-baked at times- a matter not helped by the would-be Noir-speak of the script, to be sure- it's undeniably fun to see a bunch of soon-to-be stars in their early years, and Lane looks amazing, making you wish she'd done more glamorous roles like this one.
You might also want to check out Francis Ford Coppola's underrated The Cotton Club, from the same year. While it revolves around the jazz era, Lane is suitably glam in that one as well. It was recently re-released in an extended cut (aka The Cotton Club Encore) that is well-worth seeing, even if you've already seen the film before.
Also worth a mention is the look of Streets of Fire, which, in spite of its seeming to be set in the past (apparently Chicago in the 50's, though the film itself refers to it only as "another time, another place"), practically screams the 80's at times. Initially shot in Chicago itself, the production was moved to L.A. because of inclement weather causing it to get behind schedule.
Once in L.A., the production designers set about recreating Chicago on the Universal Studios back-lot at great expense, ballooning the cost of the film. Not helping was the fact that the film was mostly set at night, which required a massive tarp to be made to cover the entirety of the set in order to shoot day-for-night, which cost some $1.2 million!
Cinematographer Andrew Laszlo also did the honors for Hill's cult classic The Warriors, which shares some similarities with this film- both revolve around street gangs, and feature actress Deborah Van Valkenburgh (also of the TV sitcom "Too Close for Comfort," with Ted "Caddyshack" Knight).
Other films of note he shot are the underrated horror flick The Funhouse (from Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper), First Blood (aka the first "Rambo" film), Poltergeist II and Star Trek V and TV's Shogun miniseries. Streets of Fire has a very distinct Blade Runner vibe, which probably wasn't by accident, though the subject matter is obviously worlds away.
I also love the final showdown between Tom Cody and Raven, in which they go at each other with sledgehammers. Reportedly, it took nearly four weeks to shoot!
Originally, Cody was meant to kill Raven with a knife, but wanting to earn a PG rating so that teens could see the film, Hill changed his mind and toned things down, letting Raven emerge alive at the end of the fight. Also, the movie was intended to be the first in a trilogy of films, so Hill wanted his villain to live to fight another day in the sequels.
Interestingly, in my research, I discovered that one of those films was indeed eventually made, albeit not by Hill. 2008's Road to Hell, directed by Albert Pyun (of The Sword and the Sorcerer and Cyborg fame) also features Paré as Cody, as well as Valkenburgh as his sister, with songs by a returning Jim Steinman and The Roxy Gunn Project.
Singer Gunn also takes over Lane's role as Ellen Aim, this time doing her own singing. I haven't seen it yet, but I will try and seek it out and review here ASAP, assuming I can find it, as I'm genuinely curious about it.
While it might be a bit of a stretch to call Streets of Fire a "classic," per se, it certainly fits the bill as a cult classic, at the very least, and if you're a fan of any of the aforementioned actors or musicians, you'll definitely want to see it. Likewise, if you dug The Warriors and can deal with some light singing, you should like this as well.
At just over an hour and a half, it zips by, never really stopping to catch its breath, which I really liked. Too many movies these days are overlong, so it was refreshing to see one that knew exactly when to say when and not overstay its welcome.
It's also worth mentioning that, while the film was roundly panned in its day, it has been reassessed since, and you'll find mostly glowing reviews, especially on IMDB, though it fares only so-so on Rotten Tomatoes. But trust me, the people who love this movie, REALLY love it. Maybe you will too. (The film is readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray.)
Check it out! 👍😍
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