Screened at Luna Cinemas Leederville as part of the Trash Classics season programmed by VHS Tracking.
My brother attended the Streets Of Fire (1984) screening because of its trailer: “If the movie is anything like that, it’ll be great!” After the movie, my brother said, “It was good, but it’s like these old movies always run out of budget…“ Referring to Michael Pare as the hero Tom Cody, “And the guy doing the John Wayne impression, it’s like we get it…” For a movie to truly be a cult movie, I think it needs to be imperfect. That there needs to be something missing or something wrong with it. If it had all the elements, and if it was perfect, then it would’ve been a hit, right? Before and after Streets Of Fire, I spoke to people who had seen it at a very young age and thought it was great. A perfect movie. Maybe it’s all about when you see it.
Director Walter Hill was going for a comic book movie, one that would be aimed at teenagers and seemed to be borne from Hill’s own obsessions as a teenager in the 1950s. If you’re at that 1980s comic book age and there’s this Star Wars type adventure but completely separate from science-fiction or mediaeval fantasy, “another time, another place”, mashing up different genres from classic western to neo-noir and finally motorcycle gang movies. Streets Of Fire is at its greatest in the opening sequence which hits the ground running with a hard-charging Ellen Aim and the Attackers concert sequence set to ‘Nowhere Fast,’ matching the bombast of songwriter Jim Steinman’s overblown “rock n roll dreams come true” iconography. Right up to the end of the credits, after Cody’s introduction slapping down a gang of teenage hoods. The lighting of neon scenes and wet streets in the night, and the splash panel scene transitions.
The second act is where the film eases off the pedal and slows down. There is a stop and start pace as the characters switch cars and journey back home after Ellen’s rescue from the Bombers motorcycle hideout. The main engine the movie runs on are our heroes making fun of Rick Moranis’ character, a stand-in the capitalistic producer figure and also a total nerd. Then again, I am a sucker for nocturnal odysseys, and when the motley crew of heroes has to bolt from the shadows of the street to an elevated train platform for salvation, echoing a similar scene in Hill’s The Warriors, I was in heaven!
I keep wondering if the film would’ve been better or more complete with another action sequence included, or a more charismatic star in the lead role of Tom Cody. I like Michael Pare, but he and the character lose their shine around the midway point, the stoic drifter begins to feel like a complete jerk, cold-cocking his sweetheart to keep her out of danger and not even apologising for it afterwards! All the characters are archetypes, and the dialogue is a tough front. There’s no depth to the dialogue or the character relationships. The only depth comes in, alongside listening to the soundtrack songs over and over again, in the closing ballad, ‘Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young,’ another Steinman composition, a finale that provides the sweeping romantic feeling that may not be present between the separated lovers.
The cinema audience was a great crowd, particularly the boisterous applause for whenever Willem Dafoe showed up as Raven, the vinyl leather clad biker villain, providing flair with every saunter and every sneer.
VHS Tracking 