Streets of Fire
Short description
Streets of Fire is set in a nameless American city where a large motorcycle gang led by the ruthless Raven Shaddock holds the streets in fear. When the gang abducts rock singer Ellen Aim straight from a concert, her manager Billy Fish hires her former boyfriend, the soldier of fortune Tom Cody, to bring her back. Tom is joined by the tough McCoy and together they make their way through a hostile urban landscape to confront Raven and his riders.
Directed by Walter Hill, who wrote the screenplay with Larry Gross, the film was released in 1984 as his seventh feature, following 48 Hrs. and preceding Brewster's Millions. Michael Paré plays Tom Cody, Diane Lane plays Ellen Aim, Rick Moranis plays Billy Fish, Amy Madigan plays McCoy, and Willem Dafoe plays Raven Shaddock. The production, backed by Universal Pictures, Silver Pictures and RKO Pictures, carried a budget of 15 million dollars and returned 8 million dollars worldwide, a result that fell well short of its cost.
Audience responses place it around the middle of the scale, with a 6.7 rating from over 23,000 votes on IMDb and a 6.9 from roughly 566 votes on TMDB. A critics' rating of 6.2 from 29 reviews sits slightly below both audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- 500 extras played the residents of the district.
- At one point, the protagonist tries to find out from the typist the time of the train's departure, to which she replies that the train will not go anywhere due to high gang activity, pointing to burning railway tracks. This is a direct reference to the director's earlier film, "The Warriors" (1979), in which a gang tried to return home by train but was unable to do so for the same reasons.
- Many of the actors were so young that they were still subject to restrictions under labor laws regarding minors, so many night scenes had to be filmed during the day, covering the set with tarpaulin. There were two sets. A tarpaulin measuring 378 meters by 67 meters was required, and such a piece cost $1.2 million. However, its use proved to be problematic, something no one had anticipated. The tarpaulin swayed in the wind, and the sound it made interfered with the actors' lines; another problem was birds and their chirping.
- Walter Hill did not want to cast Diane Lane, considering her too young for the role. He first saw her at auditions in New York, where she arrived in black leather pants, a black mesh top, and very high heels. He was very impressed by her desire to land the role of a rock and roll star.
- Amy Madigan auditioned for the role of the protagonist's sister, but told director Walter Hill that she found the role of the protagonist's partner more interesting. The partner's surname was Mendes, and the role was originally male. Hill ordered the script to be rewritten for Madigan and the partner changed to a female partner named McCoy.
- Initially, it was intended to be the first film in a trilogy of films starring Michael Pare as Tom Cody, but the film flopped at the box office, and the idea was abandoned.
- The film's title is taken from a Bruce Springsteen song from the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978).
- The 4-minute scene of the final showdown between the characters played by Michael Pare and Willem Dafoe took a long time to film – according to Pare, four weeks.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
