Streets Of Fire (1984)

In an urban city seemingly populated by no one but young people, a rock star (Diane Lane) is kidnapped during a live performance by a biker gang lead by a thug called Raven (Willem Dafoe). The manager (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) of a local diner writes to her drifter brother (Michael Pare, EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS), the rock star's ex-boyfriend, to come and save her. Referred to as a "Rock & Roll Fable" in the film's poster, the film makes no pretense to realism. It's a fantasy city where there are no people over 40 (LOGAN'S RUN without the sci-fi) in night rain drenched streets and fluorescent day-glo colors with a constant rock 'n roll beat. The director Walter Hill had played around with this territory before, notably in his wonderful inner city nightmare yarn THE WARRIORS. STREETS OF FIRE was expected to be a major hit but it got the cold shoulder from both critics and audiences but the ensuing years has seen it grow a large cult following. Though Hill considered the film a musical, I wouldn't go that far. I'd call it a semi-musical and some of the songs (written by Stevie Nicks, Jim Steinman and Dan Hartman) are pretty good as is the pulsating underscore by Ry Cooder. With Amy Madigan (who just about steals the film), Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton, Lee Ving and Richard Lawson.