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- Feb 8, 1999
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- Robert Harris
Walter Hill's Streets of Fire (Universal - 1984) is an odd film. The titles squarely announce that it's a Rock and Roll Fable, and in these terms it works nicely.
The film originally received mixed reviews, and my perception is that some reviewers didn't quite know what to make of it.
In the intervening four decades, the film has become a minor classic, and has gathered a nice fanbase for itself. I'm one of them.
If you take even a cursory look at those involved, you know this is going to be something visceral, stylistic and well-produced.
Beyond Mr. Hill, who has produced, written or directed numerous superb films in a 60 year career, you've got Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon.
Behind the camera - and filling Streets of Fire with smoke, fog, steam other gorgeous attributes is Andrew Lazlo.
Michael Paré leads a superbly eclectic cast. The film was apparently to be the first of a series involving his character. If you aren't aware of his work, best to look him up. He's still one of the busiest people around in the industry.
If this were to be a rock and roll bio-pic, it probably would have been entitled "Ellen Aim & the Sorels."
Had they actually existed, the Sorels might have been right up there with ...and the Pips.
Ellen Aim is played by Diane Lane, a superb actress, who Anne Coates noted was "the finest actor I've ever had the pleasure of cutting." And before questions begin, the reference was to Ms. Lane's apparent ability to make the same moves again and again, take after take, making editing easier, as opposed to trying to match different positions in different takes.
The back-up group, the Sorels, is also hardly made up of minor actors. They're played by Robert Townsend, Mykelti Williamson, Grand Bush and Stoney Jackson. Don't know some them. Look them up.
The antagonist is played by Willem Dafoe, in an oddball and slightly wacky performance.
A stand-out, for me, has always been Amy Madigan, playing a self-assured ex-military butch-type in a femme shell, who makes it known to Paré, that he's "not her type."
But that seems to be the overriding texture of the film. It's seems to be set sometime in the 1950s, where the Studebaker is the car of choice, and the inner city world appears akin to a ratty, worn place teeming with Bladerunner-like inhabitants.
When I saw the film theatrically decades ago, I thought the dialogue was some of the worst written I'd encountered, but now find fitting to the overall fantasy world in which the characters exist.
As a disc, Streets of Fire has had an odd life. I had the DVD in my library for years, and when I tried to upgrade to Blu-ray, the Shout version was out of print, and going for stupid numbers on eBay.
While I finally acquired a copy, it has now be supplanted by the new 4k, derived from a totally different (new) 4k master. While the old Blu-ray was split into two discs, with the second disc containing the extras, the new 4k is a 3-disc set - 4k, Blu-ray, extras, and like the earlier Blu-ray is part of the Shout Select library.
I've noted in the past that Shout Select, the company's premier brand is right up there when it comes to quality and extras with the presumed kings of the hill, Criterion and Arrow.
As to quality, Universal's new 4k is perfect. A film-like image with light to moderate grain, perfectly clean, and with both shadow details and black levels that show off Mr. Laszlo's gorgeous cinematography, which has more smoke and wet streets than most other films in memory.
A beautiful presentation.
Dolby Atmos raises the overall level of audio to include a more immersive experience.
Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)
Audio – 5 (Dolby Atmos)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4
Upgrade from Blu-ray - Absolutely!
Recommended
RAH
Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate, HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.
The film originally received mixed reviews, and my perception is that some reviewers didn't quite know what to make of it.
In the intervening four decades, the film has become a minor classic, and has gathered a nice fanbase for itself. I'm one of them.
If you take even a cursory look at those involved, you know this is going to be something visceral, stylistic and well-produced.
Beyond Mr. Hill, who has produced, written or directed numerous superb films in a 60 year career, you've got Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon.
Behind the camera - and filling Streets of Fire with smoke, fog, steam other gorgeous attributes is Andrew Lazlo.
Michael Paré leads a superbly eclectic cast. The film was apparently to be the first of a series involving his character. If you aren't aware of his work, best to look him up. He's still one of the busiest people around in the industry.
If this were to be a rock and roll bio-pic, it probably would have been entitled "Ellen Aim & the Sorels."
Had they actually existed, the Sorels might have been right up there with ...and the Pips.
Ellen Aim is played by Diane Lane, a superb actress, who Anne Coates noted was "the finest actor I've ever had the pleasure of cutting." And before questions begin, the reference was to Ms. Lane's apparent ability to make the same moves again and again, take after take, making editing easier, as opposed to trying to match different positions in different takes.
The back-up group, the Sorels, is also hardly made up of minor actors. They're played by Robert Townsend, Mykelti Williamson, Grand Bush and Stoney Jackson. Don't know some them. Look them up.
The antagonist is played by Willem Dafoe, in an oddball and slightly wacky performance.
A stand-out, for me, has always been Amy Madigan, playing a self-assured ex-military butch-type in a femme shell, who makes it known to Paré, that he's "not her type."
But that seems to be the overriding texture of the film. It's seems to be set sometime in the 1950s, where the Studebaker is the car of choice, and the inner city world appears akin to a ratty, worn place teeming with Bladerunner-like inhabitants.
When I saw the film theatrically decades ago, I thought the dialogue was some of the worst written I'd encountered, but now find fitting to the overall fantasy world in which the characters exist.
As a disc, Streets of Fire has had an odd life. I had the DVD in my library for years, and when I tried to upgrade to Blu-ray, the Shout version was out of print, and going for stupid numbers on eBay.
While I finally acquired a copy, it has now be supplanted by the new 4k, derived from a totally different (new) 4k master. While the old Blu-ray was split into two discs, with the second disc containing the extras, the new 4k is a 3-disc set - 4k, Blu-ray, extras, and like the earlier Blu-ray is part of the Shout Select library.
I've noted in the past that Shout Select, the company's premier brand is right up there when it comes to quality and extras with the presumed kings of the hill, Criterion and Arrow.
As to quality, Universal's new 4k is perfect. A film-like image with light to moderate grain, perfectly clean, and with both shadow details and black levels that show off Mr. Laszlo's gorgeous cinematography, which has more smoke and wet streets than most other films in memory.
A beautiful presentation.
Dolby Atmos raises the overall level of audio to include a more immersive experience.
Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)
Audio – 5 (Dolby Atmos)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4
Upgrade from Blu-ray - Absolutely!
Recommended
RAH
Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate, HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.
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