Episode 128 - Streets of Fire: LIVE!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

 

If you have not seen them I highly recommend the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. It was made by similar people and around the same time. While both films are violence-wise over the top, Lady Snowblood I think are better films. There is something so over the top and fun I think about Lone Wold and Cub though I always go back to it. It's basically 9 hours of this:

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm familiar with the manga and have read the first couple omnibus volumes, but I haven't seen any of the films. I'm relatively new to discovering the weird/awesome world of Japanese cinema, and I love most of what I've seen from the 60s and 70s. I just saw that there are 6 Lone Wolf and Cub movies, so those all went on the list for sure

[BradleyEugene 4]

So after dinner I did some online reading and found out Steinman did write a few songs. Fuck me, I thought I was joking earlier.

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

I am sure you are well aware, but they have equally out there music too:

 

And I love it. I have an affinity for really weird music.

 

Yea, music here use to be a lot more interesting. There have always been pop boy bands and girl bands around but since the rise of AKB48 that's just what has dominated the music scene. Luckily their "boom" seems to be coming to an end so hopefully a return to a more diverse scene. Of course groups like Maximum the Hormone enjoy success they are far from mainstream though so there are always interesting bands just of the beaten path. So when it comes to weird music what aspect of it is most appealing? Weird music videos or just the music itself? I'll pass on whatever I can think of to expand your appreciation of bizarre Japanese music.

 

For now if you want to stick to Metal-esque music, I recommend the visual-kei band Dir En Grey. I would suggest checking out

and Saku. I would post them here, but they are very very NSFW and definitely not for everybody so follow the links at your own risk.

 

Also

. While visually safe their lyrics are NSFW so follow link at own risk. Oh these guys... It's like they wanted to be gangster rap but could only play metal music. Also they probably don't really speak English but decide to basically google translate their lyrics in to English and sing them. It's very bizarre to me. Best of all they decided to do a cover of John Denver's Country Road. They're off of Pizza of Death Records which I would highly recommend checking out. They are an independent label that basically has a dozen or so metal and punk bands.

[EllenM 943]

OH, I just re-listened to this and I have more Umbridge to take.

 

Paul, Ellen is perfectly good pop star name. I don't know where the hate is coming from. It cut a little deep when you said that...

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

A couple things I noticed while re-listening today:

 

First, Paul said they had to work around child labor laws because of Diane Lane's age. But she was 18. Would child labor laws still count since she's legally an adult?

 

Second, they mention the wrenches in Furious 7. Only Vin Diesel uses wrenches (it's been his weapon of choice for most of the series), and he does bring them along with him; they aren't "found wrenches." Statham actually tears off part of his fucking car after it's been wrecked to use as his weapons.

 

Isn't that right, Dom?

 

[EllenM 943]

A couple things I noticed while re-listening today:

 

First, Paul said they had to work around child labor laws because of Diane Lane's age. But she was 18. Would child labor laws still count since she's legally an adult?

 

Perhaps she turned 18 near the end of shooting, therefore they had to work around child labour standards until her birthday? It could also be a thing that if she was 17 when she started, her contract wouldn't grandfather in the fact of her being age of majority in the middle of shooting.

 

Also, presumably there were some minors in the crowd during the concert scenes so they would all have to be done during sanctioned hours.

 

This is just off the cuff, I haven't researched California child labour regulations

[Jon Calderas 40]

 

Perhaps she turned 18 near the end of shooting, therefore they had to work around child labour standards until her birthday? It could also be a thing that if she was 17 when she started, her contract wouldn't grandfather in the fact of her being age of majority in the middle of shooting.

 

Also, presumably there were some minors in the crowd during the concert scenes so they would all have to be done during sanctioned hours.

 

This is just off the cuff, I haven't researched California child labour regulations

 

 

Well, if you believe Wikipedia (oh, and why WOULDN"T you)...production began April 1983 and ended August 1983. Diane Lane would have been 18 on January 22, 1983.

 

Maybe rules were different in 1983, but current laws only apply to 17 and under and say total of 10.5 hours on set, 6 hrs of which are for work, 3 for tutoring (on school days), 1 for break and 0.5 for meals. 8 hours on non school days, still total 10.5 hours.

 

So, doesn't sound like Paul is right on this one. If there were minors in the crowd, I am guessing they would have recast them instead of having a multi million dollar production shoot around non essential extras.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

 

Well, if you believe Wikipedia (oh, and why WOULDN"T you)...production began April 1983 and ended August 1983. Diane Lane would have been 18 on January 22, 1983.

 

Maybe rules were different in 1983, but current laws only apply to 17 and under and say total of 10.5 hours on set, 6 hrs of which are for work, 3 for tutoring (on school days), 1 for break and 0.5 for meals. 8 hours on non school days, still total 10.5 hours.

 

So, doesn't sound like Paul is right on this one. If there were minors in the crowd, I am guessing they would have recast them instead of having a multi million dollar production shoot around non essential extras.

You'd be amazed. I've worked on a few films where minor extras were used, and there have almost always been scheduling issues with things running behind or with cancelations, because when you have minors around, their guardians have to be there too, which means mom or dad has to take off from work, and unless they're ALSO working on the film, they're not getting paid to be there. So much of the extras casting is pretty last minute too, which doesn't work well with a regular 9-5 schedule. When I worked on "Abduction", there was the added problem of Taylor Lautner being hot shit with teenage girls at the time, and they made up such a high percentage of the turnout for the casting calls. Right off the bat, most of the extras that were hoping to work were more interested with just seeing the star and screaming his name than with actually working and following direction, and that's the exact opposite of what you want in set. I've only worked in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas though, so maybe it isn't as much of an issue in the larger markets where there's a bigger pool of interested people to draw from, and the novelty of the latest teen idol shooting a movie in your town has worn off a bit. For more on my mostly misadventures on "Abduction", read my comments on THAT episode's thread!

[Jon Calderas 40]

You'd be amazed. I've worked on a few films where minor extras were used, and there have almost always been scheduling issues with things running behind or with cancelations, because when you have minors around, their guardians have to be there too, which means mom or dad has to take off from work, and unless they're ALSO working on the film, they're not getting paid to be there. So much of the extras casting is pretty last minute too, which doesn't work well with a regular 9-5 schedule. When I worked on "Abduction", there was the added problem of Taylor Lautner being hot shit with teenage girls at the time, and they made up such a high percentage of the turnout for the casting calls. Right off the bat, most of the extras that were hoping to work were more interested with just seeing the star and screaming his name than with actually working and following direction, and that's the exact opposite of what you want in set. I've only worked in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas though, so maybe it isn't as much of an issue in the larger markets where there's a bigger pool of interested people to draw from, and the novelty of the latest teen idol shooting a movie in your town has worn off a bit. For more on my mostly misadventures on "Abduction", read my comments on THAT episode's thread!

 

That's crazy, but I guess I can believe it. Seems like LA would be flush with 18 year old actors, but who knows? I've searched and can't find any references that they had to accommodate any minors or Diane Lane's schedule (minor or not). Wonder where Paul found this factoid? I didn't go back to listen, but if he was implying the tarp was built so they could shoot during the day for Diane, I don't see that anywhere. References just say it was built so they could shoot day for night (cheaper and easier).

[Jon Calderas 40]

Okay, I looked more and found all you ever wanted to know about the Streets of Fire tarp.

 

Andrew Laszlo specifically says the tarp was designed so they could shoot day for night and avoid night labor premiums and have longer day hours to shoot. Allegedly final cost close to $3 million.

 

 

Also lots of technical details on lighting and shooting here.

 

But I'm calling Paul on this one, I went back and he claims the tarp was built because Diane was a minor and it was to accommodate her schedule. It had nothing to do with Diane Lane being a minor!

 

 

 

https://books.google...%20fire&f=false

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Okay, I looked more and found all you ever wanted to know about the Streets of Fire tarp.

 

Andrew Laszlo specifically says the tarp was designed so they could shoot day for night and avoid night labor premiums and have longer day hours to shoot. Allegedly final cost close to $3 million.

 

 

Also lots of technical details on lighting and shooting here.

 

But I'm calling Paul on this one, I went back and he claims the tarp was built because Diane was a minor and it was to accommodate her schedule. It had nothing to do with Diane Lane being a minor!

 

 

 

https://books.google...%20fire&f=false

Yeah, that was my line of thinking when I brought this up. I imagine the tarp was there to cut shooting costs. I can't imagine it had anything to do with child labor laws regarding a legal adult.

 

And, if it did, at least my comments were probably too late for C&O, so Paul won't call me out yet again

[Lando 2019]

 

Yea, music here use to be a lot more interesting. There have always been pop boy bands and girl bands around but since the rise of AKB48 that's just what has dominated the music scene. Luckily their "boom" seems to be coming to an end so hopefully a return to a more diverse scene. Of course groups like Maximum the Hormone enjoy success they are far from mainstream though so there are always interesting bands just of the beaten path. So when it comes to weird music what aspect of it is most appealing? Weird music videos or just the music itself? I'll pass on whatever I can think of to expand your appreciation of bizarre Japanese music.

 

I like the music itself. I have very weird taste in music in general. I tend to like music that is dark, lush and gives you something new on repeated listens, but I also like some simple pop stuff.

 

For now if you want to stick to Metal-esque music, I recommend the visual-kei band Dir En Grey. I would suggest checking out

and Saku. I would post them here, but they are very very NSFW and definitely not for everybody so follow the links at your own risk.

 

Also

. While visually safe their lyrics are NSFW so follow link at own risk. Oh these guys... It's like they wanted to be gangster rap but could only play metal music. Also they probably don't really speak English but decide to basically google translate their lyrics in to English and sing them. It's very bizarre to me. Best of all they decided to do a cover of John Denver's Country Road. They're off of Pizza of Death Records which I would highly recommend checking out. They are an independent label that basically has a dozen or so metal and punk bands.

 

I have seen Dir En Grey a couple of times. They're probably one of the more well-known Japanese bands here, although still fairly obscure. I will definitely check out the rest though. It is interesting though how separated the US and Japan scenes are.

[Skeevins 322]

God cried a tear. That tear became an ocean. That ocean birthed life. That life trapped microscopic objects that, over time, coalesced and formed a magnificent goddamn pearl of a movie. And the angels named it "Streets of Fire."

 

That is how this got made.

 

So glad to see Streets of Fire reviewed, and so glad to see one of my favorite Earwolf talents Womping up the Jams with the regular gang.

 

 

I still think June should live Tweet a review or something. This film begs for her analysis.

[Jon Calderas 40]

Didn't get into C&O, but got this on twitter (for my It's Like Tokyo poster)- pretty groovy!

[JeremiahRickert 1]

Walter Hill described this movie as "The queen of the hop gets kidnapped by a boy from the wrong side of the tracks" 50s motifs with 80s music.

 

There's a podcast out there, I can't remember which one, where Michael Pare' said that his bland acting style was totally how he was directed! They were trying for a tone that resembled some 1960s Roger Corman biker movies, but it just comes off as bad. He said he kept trying to be more naturalistic and Hill kept prompting him to be more bland. Pretty nutty.

 

He also said that the clothes he was wearing looked shoddy but where actually some fancy Versacci or Armani designer clothes.

 

When Rick Moranis was on Nerdist, he was told that his character was going to be the funny guy, the comic relief, and he would get a chance to improvise. He was disappointed that his character was just a dick and also complained about the weird direction he got.

 

If you google, there's an interview with Mykelti Williamson where he walks about this movie, and how Robert Townshend was the worst dancer he had ever seen, and had no sense of rhythm. He also said that the movie has a different lead vocal on I Can Dream About You, than the one that was released as a single. (who was a white guy). When they made the music video for the white guy, they had to pay Williamson, Townshend, and the other guy, a huge pile of money to be in the video.

 

The band in the biker bar (with the nearly nude dancer) was The Blasters. They were a big part of the Punk scene in the 80s.

 

Ed Begley Jr's character was named Ben Gunn, which is a riff on Benjamin Gunn from Treasure Island.

 

Lee Ving, the lead singer of the punk band Fear was Raven's 2nd in command, who realizes that Raven has gone around the bend and leads the gang back to their territory after Raven loses the sledgehammer fight. He was also in Clue.

 

I think this movie could've been a fun comic booky movie if Hill hadn't been going for such a wonky tone.

[kcekada 0]

Late this thread, but Paul was incorrect regarding Micheal Pare being in "Greatest American Hero". I believe that show was one of his earliest acting jobs. He played one of the students in William Katt's class.

[Herself 107]

Oh, no! Bill Paxton!

[Jon Calderas 40]

Hey, I met Albert Pyun last week and asked him where I could see "Road to Hell" (the sort of unofficial sequel to Streets of Fire). He said it is available via his Facebook page or website. Check out Albert Pyun films on Facebook or Google his website. He said it is only available for about 2 weeks. I haven't seen it, but I am darned intrigued. I am fascinated that there is any kind of sequel to this movie and from the trailers and videos online it looks like Diane Lane and Michael Pare had a kid (played by Roxy Gunn, who totally looks the part) and this sequel is partly her story.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

If you're in the Chicago area and you legitimately love this movie, you are in luck: a 70mm screening!

 

https://www.musicboxtheatre.com/films/streets-of-fire

 

 

I'm... well, not jealous, but excited for the people who are excited for this.