Did anyone ever see "Streets of Fire"? It was a 1984 film by Walter Hill that was a crazy mix of action, comedy, drama and musical and featured a retro-futuristic look. Self-described as "a rock & roll fable", Michael Paré (a rising star at the time that never really got off the ground) plays as an ex-solider who is called on to save famous rock singer (and former girlfriend), Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) who was kidnapped by a biker gang lead by Willem Dafoe in an early film role. The film also featured Amy Madigan and Rick Moranis.
"Streets of Fire" is a hot mess of a movie but still a thoroughly watchable and entertaining mess. One bright spot is the music soundtrack. The film's title comes from a Bruce Springsteen song from his 1978 album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and was supposed to be sung by the Ellen Aim character at the end of the film. However, negotiations broke down and the song was dropped. Jim Steinman, best known for his theatrical rock ballads performed by such artists as Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler, was brought in to provide new material. He wrote "Nowhere Fast", the thrilling opening number and the ballad, "Tonight Is What It Means To be Young" for the finale. Diane Lane did not actually sing so professional vocalists, Laurie Sargent and Holly Shepard performed the songs with their voices blended together and were called Fire, Inc.
The biggest hit from the movie was "I Can Dream About You", written by Dan Hartman. In the film, the song was sung by session singer, Winston Ford and performed by the fictional doo-wop-soul group, The Sorels that featured Mykelti Williamson (recently seen in the film, "Fences") and future director, Robert Townsend ("Hollywood Shuffle", "Eddie Murphy Raw"). Hartman recorded his own version and was released as a single where it reached number six on the pop charts.
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