{"id":6277,"date":"2009-02-27T16:55:25","date_gmt":"2009-02-27T23:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6277"},"modified":"2021-01-29T23:25:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T06:25:02","slug":"streets-of-fire-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6277","title":{"rendered":"Streets of Fire (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It looks like I finally found someone who likes to play as rough as I do.&#8221;<\/strong> <\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-67009\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster-179x270.jpg 179w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Streets-Fire-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped by the ruthless leader (Willem Dafoe) of a motorcycle gang, her ex-boyfriend (Michael Pare) and a female soldier (Amy Madigan) are hired to rescue her.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Diane Lane Films<\/li>\n<li>Gangs<\/li>\n<li>Kidnapping<\/li>\n<li>Motorcyclists<\/li>\n<li>Rock &#8216;n Roll<\/li>\n<li>Singers<\/li>\n<li>Walter Hill Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary is accurate but overly generous in his review of Walter Hill&#8217;s stylized rock-n-roll thriller-cum-western, which he argues is &#8220;a bit better than its reputation&#8221;. He notes that the film&#8217;s &#8220;unique look&#8221; (&#8220;part futuristic, part fiftyish, part Hollywood soundstage&#8221;), &#8220;exciting action sequences&#8221;, and &#8220;pounding rock score&#8221; (by Ry Cooder and others) compensate somewhat for its &#8220;familiar plot and intentionally skimpy dialogue&#8221; &#8212; but the film as a whole becomes increasingly tiresome after the initial excitement of its opening kidnapping sequence. Action-star Michael Pare couldn&#8217;t be more uncharismatic in the lead role, and Diane Lane &#8212; who does little more than &#8220;lip synch her songs&#8221; &#8212; is sadly miscast; one could care less about the cliched &#8220;romance&#8221; between them, complete with dramatic professions of love in a downpour. Meanwhile, creepy Dafoe &#8212; reminiscent of his later role as Max Schreck in <em>Shadow of the Vampire<\/em> (2000) &#8212; is the most compelling character in the film, but is given far too little screentime or narrative complexity. It&#8217;s no surprise this one became a &#8220;financial and critical bomb&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slick, colorful cinematography and art direction<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/streets-fire-cinematography.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/streets-fire-cinematography.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"312\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6280\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Willem Dafoe as Raven<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/streets-fire-defoe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/streets-fire-defoe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"312\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6281\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ry Cooder et al.&#8217;s score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; despite its small cult following, this one can easily be skipped. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0088194\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1984\/06\/01\/movies\/screen-streets-of-fire.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/streets-of-fire-1984\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.badmovies.org\/movies\/streetsfire\/\">BadMovies.org Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/streets-of-fire\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It looks like I finally found someone who likes to play as rough as I do.&#8221; Synopsis: When rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped by the ruthless leader (Willem Dafoe) of a motorcycle gang, her ex-boyfriend (Michael Pare) and a female soldier (Amy Madigan) are hired to rescue her. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Diane Lane Films Gangs Kidnapping Motorcyclists Rock &#8216;n Roll Singers Walter Hill Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Peary is accurate but overly generous in&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6277\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67011,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277\/revisions\/67011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}