Streets of Fire (1984) on Netflix
A motorcycle gang led by Raven Shaddock seizes singer Ellen Aim from a concert stage. Her manager hires Tom Cody, a soldier for hire and her former boyfriend, to bring her back.
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- IMDb6.7/1027,867 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes71%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ellen Aim, lead singer of Ellen Aim and the Attackers, returns to the Richmond district for a concert. The Bombers, a motorcycle gang from the Battery, ride in and take her, and Reva Cody sends a telegram to her brother Tom asking him to come home. Tom is an ex-soldier and Ellen's former boyfriend, and at first he refuses to get involved. He changes his mind and talks with Billy Fish, Ellen's manager and current boyfriend, who offers ten thousand dollars. Tom wants Billy to come into the Battery with him, since Billy once lived there. McCoy, a mechanic and former soldier, asks for a tenth of the money to join them, and the three set out.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Streets of Fire (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film's title came from a song Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded for his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Ellen Aim was to sing it at the end of the film, but Springsteen withdrew permission when he was told it would be re-recorded by other vocalists.
- A tarp built over both sets measured 1,240 feet long by 220 feet wide and cost $1.2 million, but the sound of it flapping in the wind interfered with the actors' dialogue, and birds that nested in it provided their own noisy interruptions.
- Amy Madigan originally read for Reva, Cody's sister, then told Walter Hill and Joel Silver she wanted McCoy, a role "written to be played by an overweight male who was a good soldier and really needed a job"; Hill liked the idea and cast her.
- Ellen Aim was written as a 28-year-old woman and the filmmakers wanted Daryl Hannah but could not do a deal in time; Diane Lane read for the part when she was 18, and Walter Hill was reluctant to cast her because he felt she was too young.
- Among the actors seen for the role of Tom Cody were Tom Cruise, Eric Roberts and Patrick Swayze; screenwriter Larry Gross says they wanted Cruise and made him an offer, but he had already accepted another role.
- Streets of Fire fared poorly, opening in 1,150 theaters on June 1, 1984 and grossing $2.4 million in its first weekend; after 10 days it had made $4.5 million, while fellow opener Star Trek III: The Search for Spock grossed $34.8 million in the same time.
- Akira Yasuda, the planner of the game Final Fight, states on his personal website that he based its protagonist Cody Travers on Michael Paré's Tom Cody from this film.
SPOILER
Michael Paré said the original draft of the script had Tom Cody kill Raven with a knife, which Walter Hill liked because it had Cody winning at all costs, but it was changed to a fair fight to ensure a PG rating.
