Synopsis
Raven Shaddock and his gang of merciless biker friends kidnap rock singer Ellen Aim. Ellen's former lover, soldier-for-hire Tom Cody, happens to be passing through town on a visit. In an attempt to save his star act, Ellen's manager hires Tom to rescue her. Along with a former soldier, they battle through dangerous cityscapes, determined to get Ellen back.
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Cast
- Michael ParéTom Cody
- Diane LaneEllen Aim
- Rick MoranisBilly Fish
- Amy MadiganMcCoy
- Willem DafoeRaven Shaddock
- Bill PaxtonClyde the Bartender
- Deborah Van ValkenburghReva Cody
- Richard LawsonOfficer Ed Price
- Grand L. BushThe Sorels - Reggie
- Rick RossovichOfficer Cooley
Recommendations
- 88
Slant Magazine
Walter Hill’s 1984 film combines everything from seedy bars, street fights, motorcycles, beefy heavies, and tough dames in a smorgasbord of tawdry, moral-flouting clichés that distills decades of imagery that represents youth in cinema. - 80
Time Out
The message is that there is no message; if this isn't action cinema in its purest form, then it's pretty close. - 80
CineVue
Streets of Fire is fairly devoid of anything resembling a cohesive plot or lacking even a shred of subtext. It exists purely as pop action cinema, sweeping you up with a fevered enthusiasm and an overpowering desire to entertain which proves incredibly difficult to resist. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Walter Hill's Streets of Fire begins by telling us it's a rock & roll fable ... from another time, another place. The movie is right on the rock & roll, but the alternative time and place are mysteriously convincing -- especially if, like me, you believe the most beautiful post-war American cars were Studebakers. - 70
The Guardian
Its subtitle, A Rock & Roll Fable, contains all the elements Hill looked for in a movie as a teenager in the late 50s, and in 94 minutes it manages to be an urban western, a backstage rock musical and a biker flick set in an unidentified, run-down rust-belt inner city that might be yesterday or tomorrow. - 70
Variety
A pulsing, throbbing orchestration careening around the rescue of a kidnapped young singer. The decor is urban squalor. - 60
Empire
Very of its time but enjoyable for all that. - 50
The New York Times
For all its studied sultriness, the movie feels unsexy, perhaps because its inspiration is the kind of hard- hearted western that concentrates on manly combat while eschewing all sentiment.
