Streets of Fire

Title: Streets of Fire

Director: Walter Hill
Released: 1984

Starring: Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe, Elizabeth Daily, Van Valkenburgh

Plot: When Tom’s (Pare) ex-girlfriend and singer Ellen (Lane) is kidnapped by the biker gang the Bombers, he sets out to get her back putting him on a collision course with Raven (Dafoe) the leader of the Bombers

Review: While director Walter Hill will no doubt always be best remembered for “The Warriors”, alongside Joe Dante he has probably one of the most underrated back catalogues of any director, which is something this film only further emphasises. This film also is another example of what happens when a director is given free reign to make exactly the film as we’ve seen with the likes of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” and Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” and well pretty much every movie that Quentin Tarantino has made it would seem.

So for Hill these loves would seemingly be fast cars, motorcycles, wisecracking tough guys, neon signs and brawling  in the street, while mixing up elements of 1950’s Americana within an 80’s setting with the results being certainly interesting to say the least, much like the shooting style which Hill brings to the film. Shot like a neo-noir while breaking off frequently on music video style tangents he also includes extended performance footage throughout the film, often seemingly dropped in at random or so it would certainly seem at the points these moments appear throughout the film making it almost a forerunner to “Sin City” only with added music video elements.

Much like “The Warriors” this film pretty seems to be set in its own enclosed world, were the police don’t seem to care to much about spontaneous street brawls or even bikers randomly walking into a concert and kidnapping the lead singer. This is unquestionably a world which runs to Hill’s unique set of rules. Perhaps though because the film is played with such a sense of fun that these frequently random things are never questioned. Still as random as the film might be with its shooting style (never mind the plotting) it is certainly hard to fault the unique mixure of eclectic characters that Hill populates his unnamed city with, with Tom making for a great lead. A soldier of fortune, he is essentially a stone cold badass who is mere minutes in town before he is shown throwing bikers through a diner window. Thankfully Pare knows his way around a one liner which helps to separate him from the line of disposable one shot action heroes that 80’s cinema was littered with, only making it more of a shame that Hill never got to make the intended trilogy he had planned for his character, with sequels being set in snow and desert settings. Ultimately though the closest we have got to a sequel is the unofficial one “Road to Hell” via cult favourite Albert Pyun which saw Pare reprising the role of Cody.

Its not only the unique setting which Hill plays around here, as he plays actors against type a he memorably makes Rick Moranis a foul mouthed tough guy wannabe, rather than having him rerun through his usual bumbling goofball style of characters and while it’s the polar opposite than what we’ve grown used to seeing him play it is a risk which plays off, especially as Moranis brings the right amount of sleaze as he manager and current boyfriend of Ellen who frequently seems to care more about getting his investment and scoring points off Cody than he does about Ellen. The real standout though is the tomboy ex-soldier and mechanic McCoy a part fought for by Madigan who despite originally being brought in to read for the role of Cody’s sister Reva (eventually played by Valenburgh) ended up fighting for the role of McCoy which Hill ended up changing from being the more traditional portly sidekick to her current form here which ultimately pays off as Madigan makes for the perfect counter to Pare’s Cody with the two making such a fun team it only makes it only the more sadder that the intended trilogy never happened.

When it comes to filling the bad guy quota Dafoe makes for a suitably creepy villain which seems to always be the way with these early roles, were he generally just seemed to be creepy and constantly giving toothy shark like grins which is pretty much what we get here only with the added bonus of PVC overalls which hardly seem to be the most biker of outfits and perhaps more of a kinky redneck look, yet for some reason it seems to strangely work here, even if the rest of the Bombers look like they have been torn straight out of the “The Wild One”. As Raven though he frequently rides the fringe of psychosis, though constantly seems to be able to keep things under control until the finale were he finally lets loose challenging Cody to a sledgehammer street fight.  This finale though does ultimately feel slightly anticlimactic when compared to the rest of the film, maybe due to studio tinkering guiding it more towards a more ratings friendly ending, rather than the ending that Hill had planned. Unquestionably though the journey which Hill takes us on is such a fun one that it’s easy to overlook, especially when  he once again crafts some great set pieces including Cody leading an attack on the Bombers clubhouse, were he gets to showcase his crack shot skills to great effect.

Despite being a box office flop on its release this film has since gone onto become a cult favourite and its easy to understand why, especially as its such a fun and fast paced film with some fun retro dialogue which perfectly matches this head on collision of styles and ideas. Unquestionably this is a unique film to say the least and like so many film in Hill's back catalogue it is certainly worth hunting down, if only to check out Dafoe in PVC overalls!

Part of "Forgotten Films" 1984 Blogathon, so why not check out the site for more 80's madness

Hit and Run

Title: Hit and Run

Director: Dax Shepard, David Palmer

Released: 2012

Starring: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, Jess Rowland, Ryan Hansen, Beau Bridges, Michael Rosenbaum, Jason Bateman

Plot: Former getaway driver Yul (Shepard) is happily enjoying his new life in witness protection under his new name of Charlie Bronson. When his girlfriend Annie (Bell) gets a job interview in LA, he is faced with running afoul of his former gang member Alexander Dmitri (Cooper)

Review: It has frequently been said that just because you can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do it. A case certainly proven here with the second film from the directing team of Shepard and Palmer and made on a minuscule budget of $2 million with Shepard using cars from his own personal collection and with the help of friends in the business to get the film made. Apparently it’s a method which worked out well for the duo, especially considering how they seemingly could afford to blow half the budget was blown on securing music rights. The end result though is essentially the equivalent of a student film made with an actual budget as here, Shepard (who also wrote the screenplay) seemingly aims to recapture the spirit of “True Romance” only with added car-porn. Sadly though this is nothing but a pale copy.

Opening with Yul and his Emily in bed, it is a utterly horrible bombardment of dialogue that introduces the couple at the heart of this tale in a scene which almost had me reaching for the eject button before the film had even begun. I guess one of the main issues I had with them is the fact that they have no real chemistry which could be placed more on the fact that they are being played by the real life couple of Shepard and Bell which more often than not fails to work outside of the occasional rare exception like “Cruel Intentions” which saw the pairing of real life couple (at the time atleast) Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon to memorable effect. Why the pairing of Shepard and Bell doesn’t work it’s hard to place and perhaps might have had a lot to do with Yul being the sort of character that Sam Rockwell would have played so well and perhaps it was this desire to see him the role which made this pairing all the harder to take.

The couple unfortunately are made only the more unlikable by the sheer lack of character development outside of surface details and their general relationship, they essentially have about much depth as a puddle, while never really giving you any reason to really care about either of them, even more so when both Shepard and Bell at times give the impression that they are pretty much phoning it in. Such frustration is only really added to when they never seem to be doing anything particularly interesting bar the occasional bit of fancy driving (interestingly mainly performed by the cast due to the budget) or when Shepard decides to show off another of the fancy cars in his collection, which considering they are the real highlight here makes it more of showcase for them than anything else.  

When it comes to the supporting cast things get slightly better with Tom Arnold on fun form as the fantastically clumsy and easily flustered U.S. Marshal Randy as he gives ones of his best performances since “True Lies” as he frequently has to deal with a number of escalating issues with his people carrier, which not only seems to have a mind of its own, but frequently seems to actively be trying to kill him, as it sets off his gun and even launches a bowling ball at him during one of the many specular crashes he has, which also certainly tests the endurance of the vehicle which honestly seems to be indestructible considering what its put through. Arnold’s character much like an overworked joke about a gay hook up app, really throws off the tone of the film which can never seem to decide if its supposed to be a drama or a comedy. As a result it flirts with both genres, while never fully committing to one or the other which again could be done to the generally horrible and frequently boring dialogue that while aiming for a sense of cool only to largely come off flat and uninspired.

Elsewhere Bradley Cooper proves to be another of the stronger aspects, while also getting to give us a rare villainous turn as the dog loving psychopath Alexander Dmitri who can be set off over something as simple as the type of dog food someone chooses to feed their dog. True the accent might be alittle off and the fact that Annie’s persistent ex-boyfriend Gil (Rosenbaum) is able to tip him off about Yul’s whereabouts through Facebook is beyond laughable, but here he frequently manages to come off as a decent threat to the couple, without ever having to resort to comically overplayed acts of violence outside of his introduction which proves to be more than enough to establish his character without ever needing to be added to.

Considering that half the budget was blown on the music rights for the soundtrack, its kind of a relief that this expense really pays off, with no doubt most of this expense going towards such tentpole tracks as Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, which unsurprisingly are used to soundtrack the more gratuitous slow motion moments of car porn.

Overall this film was a chore to get through from the start to the finish and the sort of film which would benefit from Shepard either fully committing to acting or directing, rather than trying to do both. Perhaps then there might have been some balance to the film but had it not been down to the resources available to Shepard it would be unlikely that this film would have been made atoll, bringing back to my opening statement, that just because you can do something it doesn't mean you should do it!