Streets of Fire

The rock singer Ellen Aim is taken off the stage by Raven Shaddock's motorcycle gang while playing a show in the neighbourhood where she grew up. Tom Cody, an ex-soldier, comes back to town to get her back. Where and when this happens is left unfixed; fifties cars and clothes share the frame with eighties music and lighting. The subtitle says what the film wants to be: a rock and roll fable. Walter Hill directed. Michael Pare plays Tom Cody, Diane Lane plays Ellen Aim, Amy Madigan plays the mechanic McCoy, Willem Dafoe plays Raven and Rick Moranis plays the manager Billy Fish. The budget was 14.5 million dollars. Exteriors were shot in Chicago and the rest in Los Angeles and on the Universal backlot. To shoot night scenes during daylight, a tarp 1,240 feet long was stretched over the sets. Ry Cooder wrote the score and Jim Steinman wrote the opening and closing songs. It collapsed commercially, taking 8.1 million dollars. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 69 percent; Roger Ebert gave three stars out of four and praised its visceral expertise, while some critics found the stylisation excessive. It became a cult film over time and influenced later cyberpunk cinema, games including Final Fight and anime such as Bubblegum Crisis. Who it is for: viewers who like style put ahead of story, neon light and eighties music. Who it is not for: anyone looking for depth of character. Nobody explains anything, and the film leaves it that way on purpose.