MovieChat Forums > Streets of Fire (1984) Discussion > Memories of Streets of Fire

Memories of Streets of Fire

posted 9 years ago by frabma
3 replies | jump to latest

Streets of fire: 30 years after..

Well, i received a present recently, the blueray edition of Streets of Fire. I saw it at the cinemas in 1984, and it was totally forgotten on my mind , so i was curious about it.

But go back 30 years ago, based in Europe and a member of the rockabilly revival craze storming Europa then, for me and my friends the film was terrific, a mix of the 50´s and the 80´s, just like we were then, 80´s youth with a taste for 50´s music and looks. i remember we went 4 times to the cinema to watch the film, also that a group of friends customized their leather jackets just like the gang storming Reva´s bar, or people took nicknames like "raven", yes we were 14 years old...

This weekend watching it again, and (i thought) as a totally different person..i surprised myself enjoying the film like 30 years ago. Come on ! The looks, the music, the lovely Diane Lane, the fights, man it rocks me again. Can you beleave that i watched 3 times the film during the weekend? Also i found my old vinyl with the songs of the film and it´s again one of my favorites !

I read the other posts..and i think someone is right, this film is more deep than you can imagine.

A shame that there were no a follow up...

Brilliant !

[–] whoyaaah 9 years ago

I just watched it again for the first time since it was released, I had forgotten most all of it, except that I knew I liked it. It was great to see again, and now I want to buy a copy for my guy... I don't think he's ever seen it.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

... this film is more deep than you can imagine.

I still can't quite work out how such an original and terrifically directed film was such a critical and commercial flop. Nevertheless it proved to have a life beyond death at the box office and fully deserves it's cult and influential status.🐭

[–] grendelkhan 9 years ago

Uh, I can. I went to see it in the theater, on the strength of the videos playing on MTV and the trailer. It was the first time I actually contemplated walking out on a movie. It wasn't that the movie was terrible; just that I found Michael Pare so bland and boring as a lead. Everybody else was great. I wasn't wild about the artificiality of everything, either. it looked like it was shot entirely on a studio lot, and not in a good way.

I saw bits of it on tv, years later, and thought maybe I had been a bit harsh, or just not old enough to fully appreciate the film (I was 17, when it was in theaters). However, Pare was still just as bad. I kind of got the film more; but felt it needed a different lead actor; one with more charisma and a better range. I have trouble coming up with an actor of that era who would have been right. Val Kilmer would have the right tone; but, I can't buy him as a tough soldier. Kurt Russell, if he had been a few years younger, would have been good. Tough to remember who was of the right age, when this was made. You needed someone who could go from humorous to deadly in a sentence, like Mel Gibson (who wouldn't have been as physically imposing). Patrick Swayze might have pulled it off, though he didn't seem that world weary, then.

The soundtrack really elevates the film, though, and I always loved it.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!