Streets of Fire (1984) Starring Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe & Lee Ving Written by Larry Gross & Walter Hill Directed by Walter Hill

Watching movies on channel 20 got me through my teen years. On Saturdays from 2:00 'til 6:00 they showed 'Thriller Double Feature', which was nothing but serial killers and Euro horror. After that it was a mish-mash of sex and violence; usually a low-budget action movie or a chopsocky flick starring Bruce Li or some other random kung-fu master. These were required viewing because guns and kung-fu kicked ass (both literally and figuratively) and because every once in a while a set of real life, naked boobs would show up. Yes, bottom of the barrel UHF stations ruled in the 80s. Actually, pretty much everything in the 80s ruled.

Set in an otherworld 1950s (similar to the creator's otherworld 1970s in The Warriors) Streets of Fire truly is a rock & roll fable, evidenced not only by its tagline but by its tone, style and attitude. Rock starlet and oh so hot babe Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is doing a benefit show in her hometown when she is kidnapped by a motorcycle gang called The Bombers, led by the overwhelmingly creepy Raven (Willem Dafoe). When the local police prove incapable of rescuing her, Ellen's boyfriend/manager Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) hires her soldier ex-boyfriend, Tom Cody (Michael Paré) to rescue her. Gunfights and gang fights ensue, and a piece of cinematic history is made.

The baby of Walter Hill, Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver and Larry Gross, Streets of Fire was to be the ultimate movie, a combination of rock & roll, motorcycles, fast cars, tough men, comedy, romance and questions of honor. Coming off of the minor cult hit of The Warriors and the mega-hit of 48 Hrs., this was to be the third movie, and the next hit they would create together. Sadly, it was not to be. It was a financial disaster, recouping only $8 million of its $14.5 million budget, and it was almost universally panned by critics. It was however, a production masterpiece. Externals were shot in Chicago, Los Angeles, a factory in Wilmington, California and a monster set constructed on the Universal back lot. A replica of the Chicago's elevated trains, the set was covered by a 273,000 square foot tarp to simulate night time.

What made the movie was the cast. Starring a group of unknowns and newcomers, each player couldn't have fit their part better. Diane Lane and Michael Paré are completely believable as the rock starlet and dangerous ex-boyfriend, and while she might have been a bit young for the role, she and Paré made a credible couple. Of course their main problem would be the math; she was eighteen when the movie was made, Paré was twenty-five. If you follow the storyline, everything is happening after he is released from the Army. Since the minimum term of enlistment for the Army is eight years, this means he was seventeen when they broke-up and she was ten. Hubba hubba! Anyway, rounding out the cast you had Rick Moranis, surprisingly real in one of his only serious roles as her slimy boyfriend and manager, Amy Madigan (best known of John Candy's marriage minded girlfriend in Uncle Buck) as Paré's ass-kicking sidekick, Bill Paxton playing...well...Bill Paxton, and Elizabeth Daily (the slutty Loryn from Valley Girl) as a street urchin who latches onto the group. Ironically, Daily is actually four years older than Lane. One other cast member that demands mention is the stripper at Torchy's, the bar the bikers hang out at (which appears with the same name in both 48 Hrs., and The Driver, another Walter Hill movie). For a long time I wasn't sure if the dancer was a guy or a girl. I have since learned that she, Marine Jahan, is actually an accomplished dancer and was Jennifer Beal's body and dance double in Flashdance. This came as a great relief to me as I found the whole scene very confusing and conflicting (in an 'in my pants' sort of way) during my teenage years.

For me though, the two highlights of the cast (besides Diane Lane of course) were Willem Defoe and Lee Ving, playing gang leader Raven and his second in command, Greer, respectively. Oh, Willem Defoe, could you be any creepier? No, he couldn't. Honestly, if he was any creepier his body would have imploded and created a creepy black hole of cosmic proportions that emptied to a universe where creepy was the norm and non-creepy people were shunned by society. I'm not kidding, it's a scientific fact. I think Newton had a theory about it. And for those of you who don't know who Lee Ving is, besides playing Angela's boyfriend on Who's the Boss and Mr. Boddy in Clue, he was the lead singer of one of the best, most over-looked, and one of my personal favorite punk rock bands of all time, Fear. Go out and buy Fear's 'The Record' and listen to it ten times in a row. You'll thank me for it. He sings just like he yells in the movie.

Speaking of music, you can't talk about Streets of Fire without talking about the music; it is a "rock & roll fable" after all. The music is the heart of Streets of Fire; it opens with an anthem, closes with an anthem and like a Twinkie is completely filled with goodness. The cinematic score, the bluesy guitar that fills the non-music scenes, was composed and played by Ry Cooder. Cooder not only supplied the music for Ralph Macchio's vastly underrated Crossroads and a shitload of other movies, but has recorded and played with the likes of the Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker and Duane Eddy. All the music for the bar scenes is supplied by The Blasters, a band most people have never heard of, but should have. Go out and pick up either of their first two albums; if you don't like them, you probably won't like this movie.

Lastly, and deserving of their own paragraph are the aforementioned anthems that open and close the movie; Nowhere Fast and Tonight Is What it Means To Be Young. Written by Jim Steinman, writer of Paradise By The Dashboard Lights (quite possibly the greatest song ever written) and Total Eclipse Of The Heart (quite possibly the other greatest song ever written) and Meatloaf's personal song writer. These songs are gems that bookend the movie into the greatness that it is, of course I'm being biased because in my eyes Jim Steinman can do no wrong. Originally the film's creators planned on using a Bruce Springsteen song as the title track, and while I personally love the Boss and consider him one of the greatest American songwriters of all time, I don't think it would have worked. The Springsteen song is awesome, but it definitely has a darker, more depressing tone to it, while Steinman's masterpiece is an anthem that fits what the movie is about perfectly.

So yeah, I love this movie. This isn't so much a review as a love letter. To me, this is just about as entertaining as a movie can be. Sure, it's a bit heavy-handed, and some might complain that it's overly macho and misogynistic, but it's supposed to be, it's the cinematic version of rock & roll, it's a rock & roll fable. Name me one great rock song that isn't at least a little macho and misogynistic. You can't, and you know why? Because that's what rock & roll is.