Saturday, December 3, 2011

1984 - STREETS OF FIRE, a rock and roll fable.

The writer/director Walter Hill shoved everything he thought was cool about 50's films into this film.  Streets of Fire has evil bike gangs, greasers and a cool score by Ry Cooder. 


Diane Lane is supposed to be some tough singer chick maybe a Joan Jett type but she's just a Southern California girl playing dress up.  Michael Pare's a tough solider of fortune but he couldn't pass muster in the West Side Story Jets.  Rick Moranis is the fast talking producer but he's not even up to the standard of one of his SCTV characters.

This cast of relatively unknown actors was a big fail.  Lane's an actor who has never been able to get her career to take off.   She's had a lot of opportunity in films like A Little Romance, The Cotton Club and The Outsiders but she's never made a strong enough impression in any of them.  Pare's the same deal, a pretty boy who never took off in films.  Moranis just goes to show that sketch comedians should probably stick with small comedy parts. 


The other problem with this film is the story.  Streets of Fire is a rehash of Hill's earlier film The Warriors and that film was a little weak on plot,  this one has the same problem.   Hill was good at creating the mood and the atmosphere of the film but couldn't get an interesting plot hook for the film. 


What this film has going for it is very impressive photography, it looks very good and has great atmosphere.  Hill was always a very strong director, he knows how to direct action scenes and knock them out of the park.

The failure of Streets of Fire is the story and the cast.  Audiences looking for a commercial entertainment weren't interested in a stylized tribute to the 1950's even with atmospheric photography and great action scenes.  There wasn't a single character in the film to get interested in.

93 minutes.

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