Friday, March 23, 2018

Movie review - "Streets of Fire" (1984) ****

Final saw this movie on the big screen. At the end I felt this warm glow and I thought "I have such unconditional love for this film".

I've seen it so many times. I know the flaws, I know the flaws better than anyone - not just stuff that I think was simply not mainstream taste (mixing JD films and musicals and action movies and setting it in a never-never land) which to me is part of the film's charm... but things like the fact momentum drops out once Lane is rescued, the purpose of the Baby Doll character.

I get annoyed that the filmmakers blame Michael Pare for the film's failure instead of the structural flaws and over-mixing genres. Diane Lane's role should've been played by a real singer.

And the film doesn't work with a crowd. I saw it in Santa Monica at a theatre - they weren't getting into it. They weren't rising to it. Basic scenes worked - Pare's intro, the abduction and rescue of Lane, Moranis doing stuff... but that was about it.

No comments: