History Film / StreetsOfFire

Ellen Aim (Creator/DianeLane), lead singer of the Attackers, is kidnapped by a gang of bikers known as The Bombers. One of the people in the audience, Reva Cody (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), sends a telegram to her brother Tom (Michael Paré), a war veteran - and Ellen's ex-boyfriend - asking him to return to "the Richmond", a district in [[CityWithNoName the city]]. Tom Cody and the ex-soldier [=McCoy=] (Amy Madigan) are hired by Ellen's manager and boyfriend, Billy Fish (Creator/RickMoranis) to rescue Ellen. The three of them search for Ellen, to rescue her from the Bombers, only for Tom to find that he has feelings for Ellen that need to be reconciled.

* ChekhovsGunman: Clyde, who initially just seems to be someone for the Bombers to slap aside during the kidnapping, also facilitates (albeit unintentionally) the meeting between Cody and McCoy, and later [[spoiler: goes to get The Cavalry for the climax]].

* WhatTheHellHero: Reva gives one to Tom for his habit of alienating anyone who might care about him with his attitude. It works and he turns down his share of the reward, apologized to McCoy, and makes up with Ellen.

* WorldOfBadass: Soldiers, greasers, rockabilly bars, biker gangs, cops, vigilantes... everything is badass except the Roadmasters.

* NotableOriginalMusic: By Jim Steinman, The Fixx, and many others.

** Billy Fish. For all his whining and complaining, for all his constantly insulting and condescending to ''everyone'' he meets except Ellen, he rides right into Hell for Ellen along with everyone else, not to mention charging out into the fight onstage in the opening scene and trying to face down Raven just before the sledgehammer fight (he's pathetically ineffective both times, but still. Whatever else you can call him, he's no DirtyCoward). Furthermore, he quickly comes to teh defense of the new band, showing he is definitely no racist either. Also, despite his petty greed, he agrees to not one, but two benefits in Ellen's old neighborhood (with notably less complaining the second time). See also: IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy.

%%* KnightInSourArmor: Cody.

* ChekhovsGunman: Clyde, who initially just seems to be someone for the Bombers to slap aside during the kidnapping, also facilitates (albeit unintentionally) the meeting between Cody and McCoy, and later [[spoiler : goes to get The Cavalry for the climax]].

* FilmNoir

* GangsterLand

* KnightInSourArmor: Cody.

* PopCulturalOsmosis

* CombatPragmatist: Both Tom and Raven.

* RealityEnsues: A small, humorous moment: during the chaos of Ellen's rescue, Tom smacks one of the Bombers in the face with a rifle butt and sends him tumbling down a staircase into a crowd of more Bombers. One of them shouts "Who is that guy?" The villains' lives don't revolve around the hero or even their boss's latest caper. As far as they're concerned, Tom is just some guy who's busting up their party for no reason that they can determine.

* FanSequel: As mentioned above, [[http://www.roadtohellmovie.com/ a fan sequel]] is being produced.

* MissingTrailerScene: The trailer had Ellen saying "You gonna stay for the show? It's really good," and a different take of Raven saying "I want Tom Cody!'; the latter is notable as it appeared to be in his hideout that, in the film, was burnt down.

* WorldOfBadass: Soldiers, greasers, rockabilly bars, biker gangs, cops, vigilantes... everything is badass.
** Except the Roadmasters.

An unofficial FanSequel was released in 2010, produced by Creator/AlbertPyun. Entitled ''Film/RoadToHell'', it had Michael Pare and Deborah Van Valkenburgh reprising their roles from the original film. The website for the sequel can be found [[http://www.roadtohellmovie.com/ here]].

* CutSong: "[[TitleDrop Streets of Fire]]".

An unofficial FanSequel was released in 2010, produced by Albert Pyun. Entitled ''Film/RoadToHell'', it had Michael Pare and Deborah Van Valkenburgh reprising their roles from the original film. The website for the sequel can be found [[http://www.roadtohellmovie.com/ here]].

* AntiHero: Tom Cody.

* BadassLongcoat: Tom Cody.

* CityOfAdventure

* TheDandy: Billy Fish.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Kinda. While Tom and Ellen still have feelings for one another, it's implied Tom Cody's time as a soldier means he could not handle being with her as a group.

* GenderBlenderName: A man named...Raven?

* GoodOldFisticuffs: How the sledgehammer duel ends up.
* HellBentForLeather: If you enjoy leather, Willem Dafoe is fetish material.

* RuleOfCool: Did we mention the duel between Tom Cody and Raven? '''''With sledgehammers!'''''

* WorldOfBadass: Let's put it this way: Billy Fish is played by Creator/RickMoranis. He's pushy, he's a loudmouth, he's a nerd, and he loses every single physical confrontation he engages in. But he never once backs down to ''any'' of the tough guys he's surrounded by, even when he knows it means his ass is about to be kicked. Why? Because while he might be a pushy loudmouth nerd, he's a '''''BADASS''''' pushy loudmouth nerd. Same with Bill Paxton's character, Clyde the Bartender. Its pretty clear he's a joke of a human being. A bad joke. And when confronted with 200 heavily armed bikers, he naturally runs away... to bring back 400 heavily armed guys from the neighborhood to help drive the bikers away. So if the two weakest characters in the movie are both badasses, you know its a WorldOfBadass.
** Sole exception: the [[BigBadWannabe Roadmasters]].

%%* WretchedHive
%%* TheXOfY

* CrazyJealousGuy: Billy Fish.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: More like 'Didn't Want The Girl'; Tom loved her, and Billy even offered to stand down, but Cody wasn't the kind of man to be a groupie. He ''does'' drive off with the girl sidekick, though she's still playing hard to get.

* {{Dystopia}}

** Tom Cody. Saves his ex for money, kicks out her fangirl, and generally makes everyone dislike him...and then he lets Fish keep the money, reconciles with Ellen, and saves the town from the bikers.
** Billy Fish. For all his whining and complaining, for all his constantly insulting and condescending to ''everyone'' he meets except Ellen, he rides right into Hell for Ellen along with everyone else, not to mention charging out into the fight onstage in the opening scene and trying to face down Raven just before the sledgehammer fight (he's pathetically ineffective both times, but still. Whatever else you can call him, he's no DirtyCoward). Also, despite his petty greed, he agrees to not one, but two benefits in Ellen's old neighborhood (with notably less complaining the second time). See also: IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy.

** Sole exception: the Roadmasters.

From Creator/WalterHill, the director of ''Film/TheWarriors'' and ''Film/FortyEightHours'', ''Streets of Fire'' is a 1984 film, described as a "Rock & Roll Fable." Its setting is a kind of AlternateUniverse, a mix of an over-the-top 50s and a dystopian near-future as seen from the 80s; a card in the opening title sequence tells us it's set in "another time, another place." The charm of this film lies in its darkly beautiful shots with lots of shadow and smoke and piercing colors, the comic-book style storytelling, and fantastic music. It is especially [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff popular in Japan]], despite having no initial success, commercially or critically. Notably, ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'', ''VideoGame/FinalFight'', and ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' were influenced by this film -- not to mention the ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' series.

** For his part, Raven at least cares enough to hold back Greer from doing anything foolish when McCoy has them at gunpoint.

* HellBentForLeather: If you enjoy leather, Willem Dafoe is a FetishFuelStationAttendant.