Streets of Fire identifies itself on screen as "A Rock 'N Roll Fable" and that is about as apt a description as you will get for this film. While ostensibly an action film, rock n' roll is a key component to the plot, as one of the lead characters is the lead singer of a hit rock band, and several scenes in the film are rock concerts, photographed as if you were watching a concert film. The fable also fits, as Streets of Fire is an amalgam of multiple time periods and locations, taking place in its own alternate reality. Streets of Fire is not a great film by most anyone's standard, but it is an effective action yarn that looks good, hits the right beats and is relatively entertaining.
Streets of Fire opens in the Richmond District of an unnamed city. The rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is performing in her own home town, but before the show is over, Raven (Willem Dafoe), leader of the motorcycle gang the Bombers, kidnaps her off stage. A local diner owner, Reva (Deborah Van Valkenburg), contacts her brother Tom Cody (Michael Pare), who was Ellen's old flame, and pleads for him to return home to try and save Ellen from Raven. With Ellen's current boyfriend, and manager, Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) and a soldier for hire, McCoy (Amy Madigan), in tow, Tom heads off to the Battery district, the Bomber's home turf, and manages to rescue Ellen, but the return trip to the Richmond District is just as fraught with danger, as Tom must avoid the Bombers and the police, and try to rekindle his relationship with Ellen.
Streets of Fire is hardly a deep film, it is very much a straightforward action picture, but many of the details make it memorable. The production design by John Vallone creates a world that is not specific to any particular era. The vehicles and many of the buildings have a distinct '50's feel, yet there are television sets, modern rock music and other trappings that suggest a more modern setting as well. Streets of Fire is interested in creating a surrealistic look, and it succeeds. The cinematography, by Andrew Laszlo, is also very impressive, with most of the film unfolding at night, and the mix of colors and atmosphere is arresting.
Many of the intrinsic themes are very much in the vein of any film made by its director, Walter Hill. This is very much a film about male characters, living in a very macho world and very rarely deviating from that male posturing. Even one of the key female characters, McCoy, is more man than woman, proving to be tough as nails. It is also easy to see that even at this stage in his career, before Hill became largely a Western director, he was already molding his films around a Western archetype. Many of the basic setups and characters are very much in the Western vein: the loner hero brought in to save the damsel in distress from the ruthless outlaws; the ineffectiveness of the local police to handle the situation; and finally, as befits any Western, a showdown between hero and villain. While it would be a few years still before Hill managed an actual Western, it would seem that his heart was already there.
If much of the basis of the film feels like a Western, then the dialogue is very much steeped in the '50s. However, as delivered by the actors, it ends up coming across a bit stiff and unrealistic. Acting is one of the film's weaker points, as almost no one in Streets of Fire give a standout performance. Michael Pare, a relative unknown, in his first major lead, is relatively unimpressive, delivering his lines rather stiltedly and sounding at times like he is reading cue cards. Moranis, mostly a comedian, is also weak as Billy Fish. He does a good job of delivering his rapid fire dialogue, but almost none of it comes across other than words that were written down that he then needs to recite. There is little naturalistic flow to the speech in Streets of Fire, perhaps the actor's had a hard time wrapping their mouths around the anachronistic words, but it fails to deliver as believable. Dafoe, as Raven, is reasonably good as the villain, but he is not given enough screen time to really flesh out his character.
All that said, the film looks great, moves rather briskly, has some nice action sequences, including one standout fight and the rock concert scenes are well-staged and the music for those scenes isn't too bad either. Sometimes, a movie is just there to look good, provide a reasonably enjoyable two hours and not much else.
