Blueghost I'm sorry, but films in the 1980s were pure entertainment. And by and large they were better than some of the offerings in the 70s, and certainly better than the films of the late 90s up to this day."Streets of Fire" is one of those "serious" films that you don't take too seriously. Like the copy says, it's a rock and roll fantasy. You'll go into this film and wonder where civilization went, and why the story and things in general unfold the way they do.And that's your first mistake. You're just supposed to go along with it for the pure adventure. And that's what this film is, an adventure.The cast is actually quite perfect for this, and it was cool seeing a YouTube clip and spotting Robert Townsend as one of the backup singers before he became a director in his own right.The music is a kind of 80s take on traditional 1950s rock and roll, but with some modern and electronic flares.The characters are from central casting, but work. The scenes are right out of Hollywood screen writing 101, but I think I remember my friend quoting director Walter Hill who said he wanted to put every movie cliché into this film. In an era of commercial film making when everyone was trying to top the other guy, when films like "The Right Stuff", "The Empire Strikes Back", and in particular for the year this film came out, "The Terminator", "Sixteen Candles" and "Ghostbusters" and others as the decade rolled on, it became harder and harder for film makers to top one another. But top they did, and Walter Hill really made a fine effort in showing what else could be done with commercial feature film making.And it works. One scene rolls into another, and we're taken on an adventure that's familiar in terms of general theme, but has an added twist of a place far away and unknown in spite of being tragically familiar all at once. When you make a movie, you have to have fun doing it so the audience can have fun. It's grueling work, but you do it because you want to please the people who are counting on you to tell a rocking tale. And that's what "Streets of Fire" does in spades. It's the kind of film that many a 1950's director, were they alive, would have liked to have made. It's that kind of movie. It's pure 80s.Enjoy.

katrinwolf This is probably going to be the least useful review ever, but I'm still going to try. I saw this film about a year ago, during one of the "watch random unknown things" marathon, expecting nothing from it. And when it was over, my reaction could be summed up in "okay, not bad but nothing special, next one". I moved on, being 100% sure that I'll forget about this film in a few days. Yet, after some time, bits of it started returning to me. Again and again and again. Things I didn't think I would care to remember just dropped by my thoughts by themselves without any effort. Then I would start listening to the soundtrack. Then I would look up the names of the characters I couldn't recall. Then I would look at the poster and add it to the list of ones I'd like to put on my wall some day. Then I would look up some scenes. Then... then. Now it's been a year, and I'm re-watching this film, as I rarely do. This little film I was sure I wouldn't remember the day after. I should probably blame the ending. Yeah, I probably should. Beginning with the soundtrack. Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young, written at the very last moment. The song my mind tried to connect with Steinman the first time I heard it and failed to do so. Leading to the moment when, upon watching Dance of the Vampires the musical, I was the only person in the crowd nearly falling out of my seat upon recognition of the song, once again used as the most suitable closing theme. This alone could elevate even the most clichéd ending in existence. Which wasn't the case here. While I'm almost sure there have been similar ones in (probably better) films I've never seen, even aside from Casablanca, an ending in a campy action flick where the guy voluntarily DOESN'T get a girl? Now that's something you don't see every day. And that's the type of thing that gets me, too. That line, "Yeah, she needs me, but she loves you...?" One can feel how much it is placed here as a part of the machine, you see how it's supposed to affect you, you see how it's supposed to work. Usually this lack of subtlety, of "movie magic" covering the mechanisms behind it, leads to the whole thing not working. I thought it wouldn't work. Yet it worked. And that's the case with many things in this film. Blunt and simple. The guy's cool? Well, give him a badass car and a long coat. That guy wants a girl? He'll kidnap her. The bad guy? Let's make him Willem Dafoe in black leather dungarees (haha, oh man, I'm still not over that. I really didn't need to see Willem Dafoe in leather dungarees) They're having a badass fight? Well, guns or fists are for pussies, let's use sledgehammers! Basically a collection of tropes and symbols, if you retell it, it really starts sounding like a modern-day myth or legend. Or a fable, if you please. And if you look at it like that, it works. Do I recommend seeing it? I don't know. I mean, I still cannot fully explain why these little parts of this film keep casually slipping into my head, as there're films that I love that don't do that at all. All I can say is, I don't mind them doing that. And watching it again, I can honestly say I enjoy Streets of Fire. And you might enjoy it, too.

zardoz-13 "Extreme Prejudice" director Walter Hill's "Streets of Fire," with Michael Paré, Diane Lane, and Willem Dafoe, ranks as one of those obscure urban adventure epics that nobody appreciated when it was released in 1984. Most critics hated it, and the film coined only about half of its reported $14.5 million budget. Admittedly, it seems like a goulash of genres, ranging from musicals to actioneers to neo-noir thrillers, and comedy, that flies all over the place like buckshot without wearing out its welcome. Happily, Will and co-scenarist Larry Gross swirl these elements so that they all come together beautifully in a neat little actioneer. The bloodless action takes place in what appears to be the 1950s in an anonymous city that resembles Chicago considering that the skyline is dominated by elevated railways. The characters dress as if they are from the 1950s, and the cars look like they hail from the same era. Composer Ry Cooder's soundtrack and the various top-40 songs used in it are ideal for the action. The concert scenes are incredibly charismatic, and Diane Lane behaves like a genuine rock star. The beautifully lensed action follows the formula of a myth about heroes who embark on a journey of hardship to a faraway destination to save an imprisoned damsel-in-distress from a slimy, pugnacious villain. What sets this movie apart from most is its reluctance to wallow in bloodshed and death. If you watch closely nobody bites the dust, and there isn't a lot of gritty action. The climactic, close-quarters combat scene between Mind you, the settings and the heroes and villains all look rugged and dirty, but "Streets of Fire" doesn't turn into a high-octane opus. Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe of "Platoon") and his gang of obnoxious motorcycle maniacs nick-named 'the Bombers' kidnap popular singer Ellen Aim (Diane Lane of "Unfaithful") during a concert and haul her off to a remote location where Shaddock wants to play house with her. Reva Cody (Deborah Van Valkenburgh of "The Warriors") watches the gang drag Ellen off stage during a concert, and she contacts her brother Tom Cody (Michael Paré of "Eddie and the Cruisers") who used to date her and asks him to rescue her. "Look, Tom, you were always real close with Ellen," Reva reminds him. "She wasn't like all those tramps you used to run around with." Meantime, Aim's manager/boyfriend Billy Fish (Rick Moranis of "Ghostbusters") reluctantly agrees to hire Tom for $10-thousand. As it happens, Tom decides to bring along a gruff Army mechanic McCoy (Amy Madigan of "Field of Dreams") to act as his back-up. He met her during a brief bar fight when she slugged the barkeep from trying to run her off. McCoy is a tough looking gal who knows how to handle firearms. "I need the job. I'm plenty good enough and I ain't gonna let you down," she assures Tom. No sooner do all three meet than brusque Billy Fish looks with utter contempt at her, and she whittles him down to size with sarcasm. "You know, it's hard to figure out what's more pathetic, the way you talk or the way you dress." Neither of them back off throughout this tightly forged rock'n roll fable. Cody, Fish, and McCoy enter a murky place called 'The Battery' where low-lifers and perverts hang out, guzzle liquor, and raise hell. They learn from a shadowy denizen of the area, Ben Gunn (Ed Begley Jr. of "Cat People"), where Raven has holed up with Ellen. Cody starts blasting away at bikers as they careen around the Battery while McCoy keeps several of them distracted long enough for Cody to snatch Ellen. Raven confronts Cody as Ellen and he are about to depart. "Looks like I finally ran into someone that likes to play as rough as I do," Raven observes and then vows to come after Cody. "I'll be coming for her, and I'll be coming for you too." Tom is terribly impressed with Raven's threat. Says Tom, "Sure, you will, and I'll be waiting." Unable to use the convertible that Cody had commandeered earlier from a bunch of snotty-nosed kids at Reva's dinner, they appropriate a bus belonging to an African-American singing group the Sorels. Eventually, Raven and Cody square off in a daylight brawl wielding fireman axes. Predictably, Tom defeat Raven. Ellen is pleased that Tom rescued her, but these two—no matter how much they loved each other before—cannot walk off hand-in-hand. Tom explains, "Look, I know you're gonna be going places with your singing and stuff, but then I'm not the kind of guy to be carrying your guitars around for you. But if you ever need me for something, I'll be there." They walk away from each in a bittersweet finale.Reportedly, Hill had planned to develop a franchise from "Streets of Fire," but the box office failure of the film sealed its doom. Nevertheless, I love this film, have seen it many times, and think the soundtrack is fabulous. The dialogue is very hop, too. Nobody gives a bad performance. Michael Paré is ideal as the wandering soldier, and Diane Lane looks like a real heartbreaker. Amy Madigan is superb as the gun-toting mechanic. Of course, Willem Dafoe makes a terrific villain. "Streets of Fire" is an incendiary actioneer with loads of atmosphere and catchy dialogue.

thesar-2 Wait, was that the future? Or the past? Or the Café 50s even Elijah Wood wouldn't play baby games in?Admittedly, in this terrible movie, I loved the music! I know, sooo 80s, but sometimes didn't sound like it. Or maybe I'm just an old-timer. Eh, it was good music in a bad film.At the four-way intersection of Streets of Fire are the four worst aspects of this "movie:" bad acting, horrifying script, shoddy editing and laughable scene transitions. In the middle of the intersection are the WTF moments, like the male/female go-go dancer, the "Oh, I guess they blew a tire" missing scene or the sucker punch to safety. The only pedestrian is the one that creepily stares at his ex on stage for an incredibly long time.Actually, though I just ruined a part of the "climax," that's a common theme during this: so many very long segments that either made zero sense or should've been cut all together. One of the funniest was the over long rescue of the princess chapter that ends with the "good" guys getting away…for-evah…always worrying about being followed. In normal movies, or I guess in life, yeah they would be easily followed. Nope. Some rogue ex-military dude is hired to save his thankless ex from unmotivated non-gay, gay kidnappers in leather chaps. When he does save the soulless singer ex-girlfriend, the Queen B(iker) merely threatens to come get him, but I guess in a civilized way? He/she needn't worry about the round-the-clock, 2-person police force that wouldn't know the law if it were written on the cue cards they obviously used.There's barely a character to cling to, or anyone with an ounce of charisma sans the non-lesbian, lesbian McCoy. She's pretty badass. Everyone else was there for a paycheck. Lucky for them, most of their careers weren't affected by this rubbish. I am divided if I should recommend this. On the positive, (again) the music's great and there are so many outrageous scenes that it almost qualifies this as a So-Bad-It's-Good flick. But, flipping the coin, it's a lazy "action" movie that has no clue what decade it's in and feels like a 2-hour film with a half-hour of crucial plot points cut out.I know! Just YouTube (or buy, you cheap bastard) the soundtrack. You'll hear all the good songs without the crap these filmmakers put in-between the music.***Final thoughts: I only watched this for that great How Did This Get Made? podcast where they talk about bad movies usually for about as long as the movie itself. I don't think I ever even heard of this movie and spent most of the movie staring at the singer of the story, Ellen Aim(less) and trying to picture the Diane Lane I know of from more modern and better films, like Under the Tuscan Sun and Man of Steel. Weird to see her not at all looking like her.