Cult film which marked something of a pinnacle for Walter Hill movies. It's a real one of a kind experience, though full of clichéd situations. Set in a weird sort of 50s rock and roll world, shot on a soundstage, Diane Lane lip synchs to Jim Steidman films in MTV snazzy rock video montage performances (very well done with excellent editing and carefully composed frames), then is kidnapped by bikie Willem da foe and ex-boyfriend Michael Pare comes to the rescue.I love so much of this - the opening attack scene, then Pare's arrival with Ry Cooder's thumping guitar, the jagged editing/jump cuts as the credits go past, arriving in a café and a random gang appear to be beaten up (but why do they change the music), meeting Rick Moranis and Amy Madigan, going into the Battery, rescuing Lane.
After that the story becomes less sure - did we really need that blonde girl with unmistakably 80s hair joining the group? What does she add?
And then at the end it makes sense the bikies would go after them - but sitting around watching while da foe and Pare fight it out doesn't make sense. It needed to be something more spectacular.
I think it was a mistake to have da foe kidnap Lane just for a couple of weeks to have fun - he should have wanted money as well. And the stuff about "the town" that Pare and company are from is undeveloped. Still, love that romantic ending, Lane is beautiful, Pare a charismatic star like a young Bob Mitchum (he had a decent career Pare, but never became a big name), Madigan and Moranis offer excellent support
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