Streets of fire 

Streets of Fire is a 1984 Rock ‘N’ Roll Action movie that was Directed by Walter Hill. With writing by Larry Gross and music by Ry Cooder. Cast members of the movie include Michael Pare, Daian Lane, Willem Defoe, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan and Deborah Van Valkenburgh. 

Warning this movie review will contain spoilers. 

Story Summary

Things don’t start off well for Rock N Roll singer Ellen Aim when she finds herself kidnapped by a ruthless Biker gang. Lucky for her Tom Cody (Who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) is in town and agrees to help get her back, but only if he is paid a large amount of money ($10,000 to be précised). On his journey Tom is joined by McCoy an ex-solider and Billy Fish, Ellen Aim’s manager and new boyfriend (bit argued I know). Together they travel to the Battery, where the bikers home base is located and where their leader Raven (not the dc character or the one from CBBC) has Ellen tied up on a bed. However, she doesn’t have to suffer for too long as she is rescued by her ex-lover and his team. Together they flee the scene, while Tom stays behind to hold the bikers back, However Raven wasn’t going to let this go and he swears to Tom he’ll be coming back to get Ellen.  

From there it is all about getting Ellen safely back to Richmond, this resulted in hitching a ride with a band known as The Solers and avoiding the cops as they are hunting down the people who caused a fire fight at the biker’s home base, (which Tom and the others caused by the way). After many twists and turns, the group makes it back to Richmond, but Tom and Ellen leave on bad terms as she was not too happy with the fact, he only came to rescue her if he got paid. Things only get worse as Raven tries to make a deal with the police that if they hand over Tom Cory to him his gang wouldn’t come and trash the place. However, they don’t keep their end of the deal and tell Tom to leave Richmond for good while they wait to arrest Raven.

Naturally Raven too doesn’t keep his side of the deal, as he was only meant to come with two members of his gang but instead roles up with entire biker squad. Lucky for them Tom doesn’t do what the cops tell him to do, and he shows up just in time for him and Raven to have their final battle. In the end, Raven was defeated and the biker, admitting defeat, leavening Richmond unharmed. The movie ends with Tom saying farewell to Ellen, and she and the Solers perform on stage, while Tom hitches a ride with McCoy. 

Thoughts and feelings

Personal I think this movie was really underrated as it was great film which was filled with an amazing storyline, brilliant action scenes and a Rocking soundtrack. The opening song Nowhere Fast was a rocking and rolling song to have at the start of the movie, it was written by Jim Steinman who is also known for writing a lot of Meatloaf’s songs such as Making Love out of nothing at all and I would do anything for love. This was good because it gave the song that style of Meatloaf Rock ‘N’ Roll that I am a big fan of.  

It was also great to see Willem Defoe in one of his earlier villain roles. He was able to give off the feeling that Raven is a psychopath and that he has a creepy obsession with Ellen, and he wants to have her all to himself. We also found out Raven doesn’t like it when people mess with him, and he makes it his mission to kill Tom Cody after he took his prize away from him and shot up his home turf.  

The final battle between Tom and Raven was insane as it had them fighting each other with sledgehammers (I couldn’t believe it). This was followed with the two of them fighting within the biker gang and pushing them off their bikes as they were beating each other up. This was definitely one of the most epic fights in movie history as it was so intense that even Raven’s own gang weren’t out of harm’s way.  

I’m goanna say it this is probably now one of my favorite movies of the 1980s and I would happily watch it all over again.