Streets of Fire

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The Eighties was a peculiar decade for the Motion Picture Soundtrack. "Beverly Hills Cop," "Ghostbusters," and countless other films spawned strong selling albums featuring music contained in or inspired by their respective films. "Flashdance" and a few other pictures found solid airtime play, and the films succeeded partly because of their soundtracks and not for the film itself. The Nineties and first decade of the new millennium have not seen near as much success with soundtracks, but the Eighties and the rise of the Compact Disc saw a lot of soundtracks sold. Another film that failed to capture a box office audience, but sold a number of soundtracks was the 1984 Walter Hill film "Streets of Fire."

Some consider "Streets of Fire" a mixture of "The Warriors" and "Eddie and the Cruisers." Considering Walter Hill was the director for the 1979 cult classic film "The Warriors" and Michael Pare starred in both "Streets of Fire" and "Eddie and the Cruisers," there is some merit to this comparison. "Streets of Fire" is set in a similar gang-ruled world that dominated "The Warriors." The police are at odds with the large organized gangs and justice is served by people outside of the law. One could certainly draw parallels between the two films, although "Streets of Fire" does not feel nearly as epic or as finely crafted as the comic-book inspired "The Warriors." With the musical numbers and familiar soundtrack of "Streets of Fire," and Pare´s presence, it is hard to dismiss the biopic feeling "Eddie and the Cruisers."

Touching back on the topic of soundtracks, the singular item I remembered from the film was the song "I Can Dream About You" by fellow Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native Dan Hartman. I fondly remembered this little song and growing near where Hartman was from, I also remembered hearing about the controversy surrounding Hartman being depicted as a black gentleman in the music video. Not too many famous people come from the ´Burg, so when somebody does make it big, the locals aren´t too happy when they aren´t given their full due. Mr. Hartman has passed on, but he is one of the biggest musical acts to come from the Harrisburg area. Other than Dan Hartman, we have Poison to fondly call our own. I know I had watched "Streets of Fire" when I was younger, but the song was all that I could recall.

"Streets of Fire" was billed as a "Rock and Roll Fable" and featured a number of songs written by the likes of Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty, but sung by unknown artists. The film´s musical score and rousing performance by the Dan Hartman song during the film´s climactic performance are the highlights of the film. Michael Pare´s performance as the film´s tough guy protagonist is swallowable, but Pare´s tough guy role just didn´t stand up against other action movie performances of the time. Rick Moranis´ character is a unlikable weasel who grates upon one´s nerves as you try to sit back and enjoy this film. The film´s heroine McCoy (Madigan) is so un-sexy and forgettable, that you start to think of any possible sidekicks that were more unlikable. An early performance by Bill Paxton is wasted in the film. About the only actor worth remembering in "Streets of Fire" is the creepy performance by the masterful Willem Dafoe as Raven. Dafoe can play a great villain and this is one of the finest sleezebags you will ever find onscreen.

In the end, "Streets of Fire" feels like a soundtrack that evolved into a full-length film. It feels like an hour and a half long music video. The music is easily the strongest part of the film, but the story is so horribly bland and unexciting that it makes perfect sense that "Streets of Fire" failed to score any success in box office receipts. I had heard this was to be the beginning of a franchise and had the film had the original artists singing their songs, a solid sidekick, no Rick Moranis and a better overall story, Michael Pare could have been an action hero. He tried to salvage the film, but he wasn´t given the material to match up against Bruce Willis or Eddie Murphy.

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