Streets Of Fire [DVD] [1984]

There are quite a few moments of (unintentional) quite juvenile humour, mainly because of the costumes worn by the villians but if you can viiew the film without taking it too seriously then this only adds to it. The violence levels are quite high but it is very much comic-book violence and compared to modern films is a lot less graituitous.
The characters are pretty much a bunch of stereotypes but there isn't much room for their development so knowing about them from the stereotypes helps you know who to support - and the male lead is a bit of alright too. It contains an early role for Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters, Honey I Shrunk The Kids) and it's good to see him in a less-than wholesome part.
Overall this film has an energy than can carry you all the way through it and an easy, fairy-tale like story that you can give yourself to without much thought. Approach it wanting to be entertained by some perfect 80's B-movie and you will love it, I promise!

Jim Steinman bookends "Streets of Fire" with a couple of his operatic rock epics that make it clear he does not need Meatloaf or even Bonnie Tyler to make his songs sound great (Laurie Sargent and Holly Sherwood get the honors respectively) and director William Hill tries to get us from the big opening to the grand finale by telling a story about a guy trying to get his girl back with a little help from his friends. Ry Cooder provides the rock pulse in the middle aided and abetted by the Beaters and their raucous "One Bad Stud." There is no doubt that the soundtrack fuels this 1984 rock & roll fable that has achieved cult status with its fans, of whom I would clearly be one.

This is a biker movie where Fifties sensibilities are dressed up with a touch of haute couture, Studebakers are the king of the road, the elevated train tracks dominate the city streets, and do-wop groups do the Moonwalk. Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) and the Attackers are doing a big concert back home when the Bombers show up and kidnap the singer at the order of their leader, Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe). So Reva (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) who runs the local diner wires her kid brother, Tom Cody (Michael Paré), an ex-solider and Ellen's ex-flame to come home and put things to rights. He walks into the diner and the arrival of a gang of young punks gives him an immediate opportunity to demonstrate that even though he has skinny arms Tom can take care of business (plus he is way cool, as demonstrated by his giving the first punk a second opportunity to try and get his switchblade act together). He also gets a nice fire engine red convertible in return.

Of course, not even Tom Cody can take the Bombers on all by himself, so along for the fun is McCoy (Amy Madigan), another ex-soldier who gets to do the driving and Billy Fish (Rick Moranis), who is not only Ellen's manager but her (for lack of a better word) current boyfriend. Billy has a mouth on him and while Tom never slaps him down McCoy has some fun egging him on about Tom being Ellen's old flame. But getting Ellen out of the Battery is only part of the job, because Tom has to get her back home and you know there is going to be a show down between Raven and Tom (but you probably be surprised by Raven's choice of weapons).

The movie is something of a let down after the credits end, especially since the film editors do some nice wipes and freeze frames that make for a memorable title credits. That comes back for the bit set to Steve Nick's "Sorcerer" (also sung by Sargent), but the opening number "Goin' Nowhere Fast" gets you hooked and it is not until "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" at the end that there is that much energy on the screen. I suppose it would have been exhausting to have twice as many Steinman numbers in this film, but this is a musical where the performer needs to be on stage to sing, which is underscored by the music video on the television sets in the bar that allows Ellen to sing a third song.

There is also a problem because the chemistry between Tom and Ellen is pretty sedate. I know what I see in Ellen Aim because I had a crush on Diane Lane when she was in "A Little Romance" and in this film she is grown up enough from being on the cover of "Time" that such thoughts are no longer bad things (By the time she was nominated for an Oscar for "Unfaithful" she could not be more grown up as far as I am concerned, although her Stella in the Baldwin-Lange version of "Streetcar" was pretty good too). But whatever Tom say in Ellen is pretty much buried in the past. Her emotional high point is when she runs to him in the pouring rain, while his is the long last look he gives her at the end. As Ellen sings in "Sorcerer," they are just a "man and woman on a star street in the middle of a snow dream" (go ahead, try and prove something that metaphorical does not hold true).

Still it proves impossible for me not to just go along for the ride. After all, a boy can be the next best thing to an angel and Ellen might not be an angle but at least she's a girl and I've got a dream that when the darkness is over they'll be lyin' in the rings of the sun, but these lovers are star crossed not star kissed. But, hey, it's all we've really got tonight and when I start treating Steinman's overblown lyrics like a Shakespearean sonnet you know I have no choice in the end but to round up on this one even though the DVD does not include the memorable music videos that were released separately on video way back when.

Let the revels begins
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desparate and the brokenhearted
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it, it's gone
Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic of love
No matter what it seems
Tonight is what it means to be young