Streets of Fire
Count me among the many who can't understand why 1984's STREETS OF FIRE wasn't a hit. It's far from a perfect film, yet my rewatch earlier this year revealed something that looked better than ever. Has "aged well". No one before or since has fashioned such a creature - a tough talking, violent, musical, decade melding good time. It's pretty safe to say that this was co-writer/director Walter Hill's last great movie, ending a strong run that began in 1975. It may well also be his most stylish. The setting is a gritty urban scape that seems to be caught between the 1950s and '80s, beautifully shot by Director of Photography Andrew Laszlo. The clothes, the cars, and the dialogue reek of Eisenhower era America while the music is decidedly more modern. Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) and the Attackers have returned home for a show. For some reason, a gang of biker punks led by Raven (Willem Defoe) decide to kidnap her, right onstage. These opening scen
