Review of Streets of Fire (1984) by Trev B — 10 Aug 2009

If somebody's made a movie that rocks harder, I haven't found it yet. Walter Hill gets more done in ninety-three minutes here than most directors do in two and half hours.

This picture is like every archetypal rock and roll image come to roaring, screaming life. If the streets weren't already on fire (you should pardon the pun), they'd all be named Thunder Road. Every scene is filled with literal smoke, lightning, and heavy metal thunder. We're in the grittiest hybrid 1950s/'80s vision of New York I've ever seen. Every car looks like an electric shaver. Everybody talks like...like if Mark Millar were writing a Mickey Spillane pastiche - everyone, bar none, is a snarling bad mother with a whole lot of bad attitude. We've got a band called "Ellen Aim and the Attackers" as the centerpiece. We have another band called "The Blasters". Another band, "The Sorels". All get a chance to sing their heads off with some of the most bombastic rock you've ever heard. If they were real, I would go to their shows. Hill throws it back to 1979's "The Warriors" with gangs like "The Bombers" and "The Roadmasters.".

Buckets of action - flying fists, exploding vehicles, screeching tires, surging flames, roaring bikes, tinkling shell casings, and to top it all off, a SLEDGEHAMMER DUEL. Yeah, you heard me. We even get time to fit in a gritty, dark rock and roll take on true love.

Acting is great - for the type of film. This is important, as I think playing to what the script is trying to do is a vastly underrated talent - and this cast delivers in spades. Leads Paré, Madigan, and Dafoe are particularly good, but not a one of the cast lets you down. Dafoe was even scarier when he was young, and I don't think I've ever seen a tougher girl than Amy Madigan. Hill regulars Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Lynne Thigpen are back, if in a limited capacity. Diane Lane is finer (so fine) here than in any other picture I've seen her in.

The music's a bigger character than any of the cast, and is every bit their equal. Of particular power are the tracks performed by Ellen Aim and the Attackers, "Nowhere Fast" and "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young". But everything's good - and the songwriters that turned in work are crazy - Bob Seger? Stevie Nicks? Holy crap! Lead composer Ry Cooder turns up the juice with most of the big tracks.

I've run out of stuff to say. This movie rules. Hard. Me like. A lot.