subject: Streets Of Fire Is A Movie Worth A Shot [print this page] Walter Hill directed Streets of Fire as an attempt at making what he believed would've been the absolute best movie ever when he was a teen. He wrote the script by simply writing a checklist of things he loved as a kid, and making sure that the script included everything on the list. We'd put it on any top movie downloads list of great eighties flicks.
The film follows a discharged soldier, Tom Cody, as he returns to town to save his old flame, pop star Ellen Aim, from Raven, the local biker gang leader. The movie blends fifties and eighties aesthetics into an all new fantasy environment, with dreamlike cinematography showing a lot of rainy streets, neon lights and classic cars.
Something that really helps to define the movie is the music. Again, it blends the style of the fifties with the eighties, so you have those great old Doo Wop dance rock songs treated with a layer of synth rock and roll and dramatic female vocals. Ellen Aim's band, The Attackers, features prominently in the film. One of these songs, I Can Dream About You, actually climbed up pretty high on the charts.
The story is pretty traditional, standard stuff, but because of the feel, the sound of the movie, this old story of kidnapping and rescue is elevated to the level of Rock and Roll Fairy Tale.
Walter Hill has remained one of the great directors of the last few decades, but rarely gets the respect he really deserves as such. He continues to knock it out of the park with more recent films like Undisputed, and earns acclaim with each new film, but is rarely mentioned alongside Scorsese or Brian dePalma, which is truly a shame, as he's certainly one of the most entertaining directors alive.
Besides the rock and roll, the film also has a score written by blues legend Ry Cooder. The earthy, bluesy feel of his slide guitar offers a contrast to the glossy feel of the rest of the soundtrack, and drives home the "down to earthness" of Tom Cody, the character most frequently accompanied by Cooder's guitar score.
Streets of Fire makes an excellent double feature with The Warriors. Both take place in fantasy environments based on the "rough streets" setting, with street gangs, Rock and Roll, rainy streets and rumbles. The difference between the two films is that, while Streets of Fire takes that concept in a glitzy, colorful direction, The Warriors goes in more of a gritty, tough direction. You could also check out Rumble Fish if you want to check out one more movie with a great, weird style and a dreamlike setting.
The movie was original intended to be the first in a trilogy, but, unfortunately, the film didn't perform at the box office quite as well as expected, so the sequels, The Far City and The Return of Tom Cody, never got funding. Luckily, the film has become a cult legend over time, so it has, of course, earned the respect it deserves as an all time action movie classic and one of the best films made in the nineteen eighties, but it's unfortunate that that didn't happen back when fans could've gotten a sequel out of the deal.
