A mercenary is hired to rescue his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a motorcycle gang.A mercenary is hired to rescue his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a motorcycle gang.A mercenary is hired to rescue his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a motorcycle gang.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination
Grand L. Bush
- The Sorels - Reggie
- (as Grand Bush)
Mykelti Williamson
- The Sorels - B.J.
- (as Mykel T. Williamson)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Attackers were the real-life band-mates of Laurie Sargent, who provided the singing voice for Ellen Aim. Their band was called Face to Face and they played mainly "new wave" music around the Boston area. The group split up in 1988.
- GoofsWhen the Sorels' bus is stopped by the cop roadblock, as McCoy is pulling the bus to a stop, there's a shot of her in the driver's seat. Seated directly behind Amy Madigan is a middle aged woman who looks like a crew member, present throughout the entire shot. She disappears immediately after the cut and is never seen again, nor was she a passenger on the bus prior to this scene.
- Alternate versionsAn 'R' rated version of the film was shown to theater exhibitors before being cut to a 'PG' for theatrical release.
- ConnectionsEdited into Quantum Leap: Miss Deep South - June 7, 1958 (1990)
- SoundtracksNowhere Fast
Performed by Fire Inc.
Vocals: Holly Sherwood, Rory Dodd, Eric Troyer
Written and Produced by Jim Steinman
Featured review
After about 25 years, I finally watched this underrated Walter Hill film that not only had several action sequences but also a few complete musical performances that just blew my breath away. I mean, seeing Diane Lane in the opening and closing numbers were some of the most awesome scenes in this movie. By the way, that's not her singing but that of Holly Sherwood. Another singer, Laurie Sargent, also dubs her in another musical segment. Her, I remember from the video "10-9-8" with her group Face to Face, who portray Lane's group The Attackers, whenever it showed on the TBS weekend late night music video compilation show "Night Tracks" during the '80s. Anyway, Michael Pare plays the antihero lead Tom Cody who agrees to rescue former flame Ellen Aim (Ms. Lane's character) from the clutches of Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe) for a price. Rick Moranis-as Aim's manager Billy Fish-agrees to provide the dough while Amy Madigan-as the tough-as-nails McCoy-tags along. Along the way, we meet Cody's sister Reva (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), Clyde the Bartender (Bill Paxton), Bill Gunn-the guy who reveals where Ellen and Raven are (Ed Begley, Jr.), Greer-one of the members of Shaddock's gang: The Bombers (Lee Ving), and the musical group The Sorels of which two of those members are B.J. (Mykelti Willimson) and Lester (Robert Townsend). I'll stop there and just mention that I found the whole thing awesome with the look of the picture especially when they showed those subway trains that I actually rode on when I briefly went back to my birthtown of Chicago, Ill. as a 10-year-old kid in the summer of 1977. And most of the dialogue-courtesy of Hill and Larry Gross-just cackles with atmosphere, especially when Pare, Madigan, and especially Moranis put in their two cents as their characters. In fact, this is quite a departure for the latter as he usually is more comically nerdy compared to the more straight character he plays here though he gets some point-on wisecracks. And all the songs are just so great especially when they're written by such luminaries as Lieber & Stoller, Stevie Nicks, and Jim Steinman. And what about that score by Ry Cooder with some help by Jimmy Iovine! In summation, Streets of Fire was just such a cool movie to watch so that's a high recommendation. P.S. One of those great songs was "I Can Dream About You" which The Sorels lip-synced to Winston Ford's vocals though the single release was performed by that song's writer, Dan Hartman, who was previously known for singing on The Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride" as well as the Disco hit, "Instant Replay". The dancer on the table at Torchie's was one Marine Jahan who the previous year was revealed to be Jennifer Beals' dance double in Flashdance. Besides knowing Moranis from "SCTV" and some other movies and Ed Begley, Jr. from "St. Elsewhere", I also recognized Deborah Van Valkenburgh from "Too Close for Comfort" and Lee Ving as the lead singer of the punk band Fear when they appeared on "Saturday Night Live". And since I just mentioned that I was born in Chicago, I also feel like noting the other players that came from there: Amy Madigan-who graduated from Marquette University which is where one of my younger sisters also finished school, Robert Townsend, and Kathy Griffin who appears as a concert goer here.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $14,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,089,290
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,426,500
- Jun 3, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $8,090,173
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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