No one was afraid of cinematic excess in the ’80s, and nothing says “cinematic excess” quite as perfectly as the rock musical, a sub-genre that took on all sorts of (rockin’ and rollin’ and just plain bitchin’) shapes in the decade that birthed everything from “Purple Rain” to “Flashdance” and “The Blues Brothers.”Buried amongst a decade rife with musicals, rock jams, and the frequent intersection of the two is Walter Hill’s raucous “Streets of Fire,” an intensely creative rock musical fantasy filled with fantastic visuals and even better songs.
It’s about as cool a film as anyone could ever hope to see, no matter the decade.When it was released in the summer of 1984, the film was a box office bust: it made just $8 million on its $14.5 million budget, scuppering plans for an official trilogy, ultimately landing young star Diane Lane a Razzie nom (vile!), and sending…
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