ArkaEvren

FILM · 1984 · USA

Streets of Fire

33 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

33 Interesting Facts About Streets of Fire

Interesting Facts (20)

  1. #001

    According to Walter Hill, the film's origins came from a desire to make a movie he thought was perfect when he was young, and he "put in everything I thought was great at the time and still have a great affection for: custom cars, kissing in the rain, neon, trains in the night, high-speed pursuit, rumbles, rock stars, motorcycles, jokes in tough situations, leather jackets and questions of honor."

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #002

    The Attackers were the real-life bandmates of Laurie Sargent, who sang for Ellen Aim. Their band was called Face to Face and played mostly "new wave" music in the Boston area. The band broke up in 1988.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  3. #003

    Michael Paré had problems with Rick Moranis: "Rick Moranis drove me crazy. There's a whole wave of insult comedy. In the real world, if someone insults you a few times, you can hit him. Or punch him. You can't do that on a set. And these comedians walk around and can say whatever they want. I'm not that skilled at it. Comedians are a special breed. They can be your enemy and say whatever they want. They… want to, and you can't do anything to stop them… He's a strange-looking little guy who couldn't get laid in a whorehouse with a handful of fifties. He would imitate me. The first thing he said to me was: 'Do you just act cool, or are you really cool?' That was the first sentence he said to me in Joel Silver's office, and I said: 'Oh… this is not going to go well.' But he was one of Joel's dear friends and he ended up making a lot of films for him. Disney. I wasn't that smart, I wasn't ready for that kind of nonsense."

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  4. #004

    According to Andrew Laszlo, the film's style was determined by the story. Richmond's look was very soft and the colors did not stand out. The light in The Battery was harsh and contrasted with vivid colors. In the Parkside District, diamond-patterned prints and echoes were used, while the Strip was colored with neon lights.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  5. #005

    The car Cody uses in the film is a chopped, channeled, nosed and upholstered 1951 Mercury. Twelve 1950 and 1951 Studebakers were also used as police cars.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  6. #006

    Production designer John Vallone and his team built an elevated train line on the Universal Studios backlot that matched the ones in Chicago perfectly.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  7. #007

    The club name "Torchy's" also appears in 48 Hrs. (1982), When a Stranger Calls (1979) and The Driver (1978).

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  8. #008

    More than 50 motorcycles and their riders were featured as the Bombers, chosen from among 200 members of real Los Angeles-based clubs such as The Crusaders and The Heathens.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  9. #009

    Because most of the cast were young enough to fall under child labor laws, many of the night scenes were shot during the day under tarps on set.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  10. #010

    According to Michael Paré, the original draft of the screenplay had Tom Cody killing Raven with a knife. This was changed into a fair fight in order to secure a PG rating.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  11. #011

    The film was initially rated R but was re-edited to receive the PG rating Universal wanted. It was screened for participants as an R, and reported trims included several uses of the F-word, Marine Jahan taking her top off during her dance, and an alternate ending in which the credits roll over Ellen's final number.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  12. #012

    To allow the night scenes to be shot in daylight, the crew completely covered the New Street and Brownstone street sets, which doubled for the Richmond District setting. The tarp measured 1,240 feet long and 220 feet wide on both sets and cost $1.2 million to build. It created unusual problems, however: the sound of the tarp flapping in the wind interfered with the actors' dialogue, and birds nesting in the tarp provided their own noisy interruptions.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  13. #013

    The factory scenes set in the Battery were shot over ten nights at a decaying soap factory in Wilmington, California.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  14. #014

    It may be a coincidence, but the film ends the same way as Casablanca (1942): the lovers go their separate ways; she leaves with the man who can help her but whom she does not truly love, while he heads for the horizon with his new friend (by car rather than on foot).

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  15. #015

    Filming was halted for three weeks after a dangerously taciturn Willem Dafoe entered a sauna wearing PVC boots. His legs expanded from the heat and nearly formed a lethal seal. As the crew ran out of options, runner Colin Gillhagen managed to insert a straw through the mesh opening of the fishing boots, and those present took turns blowing enough air into them that the trousers could be safely removed. Dafoe calls the memory "really horrifying" and often draws on troubled memories when getting into character for his villainous roles.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  16. #016

    Rick Moranis had previously caricatured Joel Silver on SCTV (1976) as fast-talking Hollywood mogul Larry Seigel.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  17. #017

    When Tom Cody throws a fistful of money at Billy Fish, the bills are clearly foreign currency with no resemblance to real money. As the opening title sequence tells us, this really is "another time, another place."

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  18. #018

    The female mechanic who refuses to take Cody out of the city is played by Lynne Thigpen, who had previously played the mostly unseen, sharp-tongued D.J. in Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979).

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  19. #019

    The opening scene in which Ellen Aim performs was copied for the opening of the first OVA of the Bubblegum Crisis anime.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  20. #020

    Charlie Murdock shot the videos in which Ellen sings. He worked at Rocket Records and with Elton John, and also travelled to Africa with the Jacksons to film their concerts.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Production Story (2)

  1. #021

    James Horner wrote three different original scores for this film before eventually leaving the project in favor of director Walter Hill's preferred composer, Ry Cooder.

    PRODUCTION STORY · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #022

    Walter Hill later said he felt "humbled" during the shoot: "I thought I could handle some things. I didn't know how to shoot music. Music had been important in my films, usually in post-production. The shooting was a tough job. I already had great respect for people like Minnelli [Vincente Minnelli]. I just couldn't figure it out without putting up multiple cameras and shooting a lot of film… I realized that later, or talked to people about that and old MGM. Everybody was under contract for days and we couldn't figure it out. We got the songs only a few days before shooting. We didn't have the structural advantage of the old studio system. I don't think there's any other way to do it under those conditions."

    PRODUCTION STORY · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Behind the Scenes (6)

  1. #023

    Walter Hill was so impressed by Diane Lane's work in the film that he wrote additional scenes for her during shooting.

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #024

    Torchy's bar dancer was Jennifer Beals's dance double in Flashdance (1983). Her name is Marine Jahan.

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  3. #025

    Because of the choreography and setups between takes of every scene, filming the thrilling four-minute confrontation between Cody and Raven took quite a long time. Michael Paré estimated it was four weeks: "Willem [Willem Dafoe] and I shot it for two weeks and then Walter [Walter Hill] shot it for two more weeks with the stuntmen. The whole scene was pure Walter. He had to do something like that, especially after what they did in Hard Times (1975)."

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  4. #026

    Rick Moranis was unhappy about making the film because he was not allowed to improvise.

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  5. #027

    Cinematographer Andrew Laszlo shot the film in very low light, giving the images a stark "low-tech" quality.

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  6. #028

    During shooting in Chicago, the production crew was hampered by harsh weather that included rain, hail, snow and combinations of all three.

    BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Characters & Cast (2)

  1. #029

    Amy Madigan read for the sister of the lead character while auditioning for the film. Madigan told Walter Hill that the best part in the script was the lead character's sidekick. That part required a man and the character was named Mendez. The part was rewritten for Madigan and renamed McCoy.

    CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #030

    The first version of the screenplay was offered to Paul McCartney, after the producers learned he was interested in starring in a dramatic feature film. McCartney passed on the film (choosing instead to star in his own screenplay, Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)), so the role of the missing rock star was rewritten and Diane Lane was cast as Ellen Aim.

    CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Deeper Meaning (3)

  1. #031

    Although the film was a major financial bomb in the US, it was surprisingly successful in Japan and won the prestigious Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also had a secondary influence on A. D. Police Files (1990), Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 (1987), Gall Force: Eternal Story (1986) and, to some degree, Akira (1988). It also started a renewal of the "delinquent" genre and spawned a long line of both anime and live-action television series.

    DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #032

    The entire ten days of shooting set in Chicago were done outdoors at night, in locations such as the platforms of the elevated train lines and the depths of Lower Wacker Drive. According to Walter Hill, the trains and their look were very important to the film's world and represented one of three modes of transportation, the other two being cars and motorcycles.

    DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  3. #033

    The film inspired Final Fight (1989) and Streets of Rage (1991).

    DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Continue through the archive

Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work