Film-Buff Movie Reviews
Film-Buff Movie Reviews


STREETS OF FIRE (1984) ***1/2

As cheesy as this movie is, it's high "camp" and still a lot of fun. The story and the acting are both mediocre, but the action and fight sequences are pretty cool with some original twists. It's also neat to see actors like Diane Lane, Bill Paxton, Rick Moranis, Willem Dafoe, to name a few, in some of their earliest roles.

The story takes place in "Another place, and another time..." Singer Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped by a biker gang during a concert in her hometown. Her old boy friend, Tom Cody (Michael Paré) is summoned home to rescue her. Tom is a no-nonsense, tough-guy who is still very much the rebel he was when he left town. He is joined by the ambiguously gay mercenary McCoy (Amy Madigan) to head to The Battery where the Bombers are keeping Ellen. The sets, cars, costumes and original soundtrack by roots musician/bluesman Ry Cooder want to look and sound like it's the 50s, but the bad colour combinations, and some of the original songs (some written by songwriter Jim Steinman, famous for writing songs for Meatloaf, Celine Dion, Bonnie Tyler), scream the 80s; but that's all part of it's campiness.

By far, Rick Moranis steals the show as the wise-cracking ultra-cynical manager Billy Fish. It must be great to have all the intentionally funny lines ... everything he says is gold! This film is definitely not to be taken seriously, in the least, it's just a silly little "Rock & Roll Fable".

IMDb - Streets of Fire