Episode 127.5 - Minisode 127.5

[BertramCooper 122]

This movie needed about five more cheesy-ass Steinman power ballads to be even remotely enjoyable.

[BertramCooper 122]

Hahaha, Ebert actually gave this thing three stars.

 

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/streets-of-fire-1984

 

Mainly because he really likes Studebakers.

[WayneMiller 37]

When I saw the tweet about The Apple, I thought the other one had to be "Phantom Of The Paradise".....

[BertramCooper 122]

I love how Tom Cody's posse just kept getting bigger and bigger — so they had to upgrade their mode of transportation just to fit them all.

 

Car < Bus < Public Transportation ('cause how the fuck else you gonna move all these fucking people)

[Jon Calderas 40]

Okay, I will say without any irony - I love this movie. I caught it when it came out in the 80s when I was in high school. I thought it was terrific. It as in the midst of MTV getting really popular and the music video was being explored as a new form. Film and TV directors took their cues from MTV and you can clearly see the influence here.

 

Here's what I can tell you from watching it or what I remember over the years. I'm not gonna google this and then dig up obscure trivia, so I may get some of this wrong.

 

There's a lot of great talent involved here. Walter Hill (48 Hrs. and The Warriors among other films) does a nifty job setting up a classic, economical story line. Hometown girl makes it big as a rock star, comes home to play a gig, girl gets in peril, hero saves girl. The set design is interesting - it blends visual elements from the 1930s up to the 1980s. It's never clear when or where this is set and I like that it looks like a mix of all those eras. Diane Lane is flat out gorgeous here. Michael Pare does a solid job as the hero - he looks the part and plays it fairly straightforward. Rick Moranis is also good as the nebbishy manager that wants Ellen Aim (Lane) back. Also nice to see Deborah Van Valkenburgh (who was in The Warriors) in a small role. Amy Madigan's role was originallly supposed to be played by a Hispanic man, but she convinced them to change the role for her.

 

Hill does a good job keeping the story moving and interspersing music. I think you flagged this as a musical, it's not. It just uses music to drive the story. Jimmy Iovine (one of the most powerful guys in the music business today) pulled together a solid soundtrack. Jim Steinman contributes a couple key songs that would stand up pretty well on Bat Out of Hell, particularly "Tonight is What It Means to Be Young". They are epic and overblown and just perfect. You also get The Blasters, Maria Mckee, Ry Cooder, and the hit "I Can Dream About You" by Dan Hartman. I remember an interview where Iovine said he had to use three voices combined to make Ellen's voice. One of them was Laurie Sargent who was in the band Face to Face and had a minor hit with 10-9-8 in 1984.

 

Lots of nifty cameos in this. Robert Townshend shows up as a singer in the soul group that they meet on the road. The girl dancing in the strip bar is Jennifer Beals' body double from Flashdance. Lee Ving (singer of Fear) is one of the baddies with Willem Dafoe.

 

I haven't seen this in a few years, but I don't see a lot to pick on. Okay, fine - the conflict gets resolved with an overall wearing sledgehammer fight, but aside from that - 5 Stars :-).

[Jon Calderas 40]

I love this movie and the soundtrack, particularly the Fire Inc songs... But you just made my entire week with this amazingly amazing Janus no Kagami opening. I'm in your debt. I once had the Streamline dub VHS of Zillions... Somehow never made the connection, but you're totally right. Maybe not a remake, but certainly heavily inspired by.

It's interesting, I saw this a while ago and was shocked anyone else know this song, especially young kids doing it as a choir performance!

[RyanSz 3140]

It was weird, because I think it was something he was taking for bodybuilding that's legal there, but not in WWE, or vice versa, I'm not sure. He wasn't competing in-ring though, so it's strange that it would immediately cost him his job.

It was illegal in both I believe, he got busted for the bodybuilding but kept it quiet from the WWE, which I think is what really cost him his job. If he had been forward about what happened, they might have let it slide since it wasn't anything for the promotion, though they probably would have suspended him since he popped for something that would violate the Wellness Policy.

[jarrycanada 2483]

It's interesting, I saw this a while ago and was shocked anyone else know this song, especially young kids doing it as a choir performance! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnnDxLeTMqE

 

Maybe it was picked because, it's not that hard of a song to sing. it's a kind of michael bolton version of

song.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

had the opening number in my head all day after watching it last night.

 

somebody on youtube decided to edit the movie down to 5:46 mins and use the song over it and you know what ... it looks awesome.

 

if you dont want to sit thru the whole movie just watch this:

 

 

not enough defoe though

[BertramCooper 122]

Rule 1 of Jim Steinman songs:

When your singer is on the verge of hitting the very top of his/her vocal range, make him/her sing even higher

 

Rule 2 of Jim Steinman songs:

When it sounds like the song is about to finally end, insert a dramatic key change.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this movie was going to be a musical and more rock opera-ish. The first act was thoroughly enjoyable, and I was like, "Oh, this is going to be a pretty good HDTGM movie." But after they get Diane Lane out of Torchie's, the movie turns to a snooze-fest.

 

 

Wasn't sure if I should spoiler this or not, so...fuck it. Did Michael Pare (aka-the man with the least expressive face known to man) really win the final fight by just pushing Willem Dafoe (shithead) over?

 

[BertramCooper 122]

I guess I'll be the one to bring up the odd and uncomfortable elephant in the room - the fact that Ellen was kidnapped and tied to a bed for (presumably) an entire day but came out of the experience apparently unharmed and completely unfazed.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Lots of nifty cameos in this. Robert Townshend shows up as a singer in the soul group that they meet on the road. The girl dancing in the strip bar is Jennifer Beals' body double from Flashdance. Lee Ving (singer of Fear) is one of the baddies with Willem Dafoe.

Not to mention Bill Paxton as the bartender and Ed Begley, Jr. as the homeless guy that tells them where Diane Lane is. Also, there's an early appearance from Elizabeth Daily, who would play Dottie in Pee-wee's Big Adventure the following year and then voice Tommy Pickles on Rugrats in the 90s (which is probably the most well-known of her dozens of voice credits; she's an awesome voice actress).

[BertramCooper 122]

I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this movie was going to be a musical and more rock opera-ish. The first act was thoroughly enjoyable, and I was like, "Oh, this is going to be a pretty good HDTGM movie." But after they get Diane Lane out of Torchie's, the movie turns to a snooze-fest.

 

From what I've read since watching this yesterday, Jim Steinman was brought in pretty late to write the opening and closing songs.

 

Which gives the movie a really misleading set of bookends, because you really do think it's going to be kind of a gloriously overdone 80s rock musical and it ends up being not that at all.

[EllenM 943]

the fact that Ellen was kidnapped and tied to a bed for (presumably) an entire day but came out of the experience apparently unharmed and completely unfazed.

 

 

I said it before and I'll say it again, this episode is going to be hard for me.

[Jon Calderas 40]

Maybe it was picked because, it's not that hard of a song to sing. it's a kind of michael bolton version of

song.

Sure, but I'm just shocked anyone under the age of 40 even knew that song existed!

[RyanSz 3140]

Has anyone brought up the fact that Dafoe is wearing leather overalls that make him look like Mike Myers' Dieter character's dominant partner?

[BertramCooper 122]

I can't wait to hear June's thoughts on Amy Madigan's hair.

 

And speaking of hair, was it just me, or was the length of Tom Cody's facial hair wildly inconsistent?

[Jon Calderas 40]

What the what, I found this while looking for stuff on the film. A sequel?!!! Apparently continuing the story with Michael Pare and Deborah Van Valkenburgh. Okay, I gotta find this now...

 

 

 

[Jon Calderas 40]

Wow, okay - Streets of Fire was supposed to be part 1 of a Tom Cody trilogy. Holy cow. I wanna see The Return of The Sorels.

 

"According to Hill, Streets of Fire was to be the first film in a Tom Cody trilogy. When it tanked at the box office, The Bombers Strike Back and Return of the Sorels sank with it. (Paré claimed the sequels were abandoned because everyone involved left Universal, who owned the rights to the franchise and wouldn’t play nice.)

For three decades, Streets of Fire fans waited patiently for someone to salvage the wreckage. Albert Pyun is their Argo."

"Hell Valley, that is. That’s where we hook up with Cody again, returning from his precious war with a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder. He still has too many weapons. Hell, he is a weapon.

Having had 29 years to reconsider his earlier poor decision, he’s now on his way back to The Richmond to reconnect with the hot girlfriend who got away. Along the way he meets two new characters: Caitlin (Clare Kramer) and Ash (Courtney Peldon), a pair of fetchingly underdressed misanthropes having car trouble on Route 666."

Sadly, don't see this for rent or sale anywhere...

 

 

https://sydneyschuster.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/film-review-road-to-hell/

[Herself 107]

Okay, I will say without any irony - I love this movie. I caught it when it came out in the 80s when I was in high school. I thought it was terrific.

 

I'm sorry that there isn't a better way to say this, but ARE YOU MAD???????? The story was tragically boring, the dialogue awful, the songs were atrocious, and the acting was worse than high school play bad! Everyone delivered their lines like robots! I hated this so much, I want to punch someone

[Jon Calderas 40]

Nope. Still love it. Sorry you didn't like it. I can see why people wouldn't. Maybe it helps that I saw it when it came out. I can see how someone catching it 30 years later may not have the same feeling.

[Jon Calderas 40]

Guess you had to be there...

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Also, I think Jeremy Renner would be sexier if he would just shut his stupid mouth.

He's definitely one of those guys I would have not talk and just be hot. And sing to me. He has an amazing voice so he can sing to me.

 

I have to put in my two cents on ScarJo because I find her veerrrryyyy attractive. Like she is in my top 3 ladies attractive. Her and Hayley Atwell and Jennifer Lawrence. I don't know what that makes my type as but it's those three.

 

Also Chris Evans is like... otherworldly. I found him very attractive until my cousin lost a bunch of weight and he suddenly started looking like him and I couldn't see Chris the same way anymore. But yes I think the consensus is that Chris Evans is like a fuckin' god all around. (Except with his choice of producing movies because Playing It Cool was one of the worst things I've ever seen).

[jarrycanada 2483]

good job....