23° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Walter Hill

Streets of Fire

Streets of Fire

Country: USA
Year: 1984
Duration: 84'


A rock star is kidnapped by a motorcycle gang and her ex-boyfriend tries to save her, with the help of her manager and a female soldier he met in a bar. The three rescue the girl with quick action, but the rival gang chases after them to get even. A rock fantasy in a timeless, unnamed city, where smoke, neon lights, wet streets and industrial architecture create an atmosphere somewhere between realism and expressionism.
 
“I was intrigued by the idea of making a rock ‘fantasy,’ working above all on the relationship between image and music. But then I got carried away. I think I spent too much on Streets of Fire because I saw it like a small film and instead it cost 15 million dollars. I don’t think like Hollywood producers, that more money means better quality. On the contrary. This film is based on a concept that is so limited that the fact that it’s a small film that didn’t cost much is in its favor.” (W. Hill)

Biography

film director

Walter Hill

Walter Hill (Long Beach, California, 1942) studied art and later enrolled at Michigan University, where he discovered his passion for cinema. He avoided the draft during the Vietnam war, moved to Los Angeles and entered the world of cinema as assistant director. He worked on the set of Bullit (Peter Yates, 1968) and The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1968) and in 1971 met Sam Peckinpah, for whom he wrote the screenplay for the film The Getaway (1972). After writing the screenplay for The MacKintosh Man ( John Huston, 1973), Hill debuted as director in 1976 with Hard Times, a story about clandestine boxing matches during the Great Depression. He next wrote the screenplay for The Drowning Pool (Stuart Rosenberg, 1975) and went on to direct his second movie, the detective film The Driver (1978). Walter Hill won international fame with his next film, The Warriors (1979), which mixes classic and modern cinema, horror films and musicals, westerns and thrillers. His success was confirmed by his next movie, Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), which Hill produced and, along with David Giler (his present collaborator), was also non-accredited screenwriter. In 1980 Hill tried his hand at westerns for the first time and directed The Long Riders, followed two years later by the greatest success of his career, the action film 48 Hrs., which made Eddie Murphy a star, and in 1984 the rock fairy tale Streets of Fire. Over the next few years Hill experimented different genres - comedies, Brewster's Millions (1985); musicals, Crossroads (1986); modern westerns, Extreme Prejudice (1987); noir films, Johnny Handsome (1989) - along with more commercial productions like Red Heat (1988) and the sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990), without the same box office and critical success he had enjoyed during the 1970s and '80s. After the violent film Trespass (1992), Hill returned to directing westerns with Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and writing screenplays for John Milius, Wild Bill (1995) and Last Man Standing (1996), based on a story by Kurosawa. In 2002 he directed Undisputed, which takes place in a California prison and is inspired by Mike Tyson's vicissitudes, and in 2004 he directed the pilot film of a western series on HBO entitled Deadwood. Hill is now on location in Canada shooting his next western, Daughters of Joy.

FILMOGRAFIA

Walter Hill (Long Beach, California, 1942) studied art and later enrolled at Michigan University, where he discovered his passion for cinema. He avoided the draft during the Vietnam war, moved to Los Angeles and entered the world of cinema as assistant director. He worked on the set of Bullit (Peter Yates, 1968) and The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1968) and in 1971 met Sam Peckinpah, for whom he wrote the screenplay for the film The Getaway (1972). After writing the screenplay for The MacKintosh Man ( John Huston, 1973), Hill debuted as director in 1976 with Hard Times, a story about clandestine boxing matches during the Great Depression. He next wrote the screenplay for The Drowning Pool (Stuart Rosenberg, 1975) and went on to direct his second movie, the detective film The Driver (1978). Walter Hill won international fame with his next film, The Warriors (1979), which mixes classic and modern cinema, horror films and musicals, westerns and thrillers. His success was confirmed by his next movie, Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), which Hill produced and, along with David Giler (his present collaborator), was also non-accredited screenwriter. In 1980 Hill tried his hand at westerns for the first time and directed The Long Riders, followed two years later by the greatest success of his career, the action film 48 Hrs., which made Eddie Murphy a star, and in 1984 the rock fairy tale Streets of Fire. Over the next few years Hill experimented different genres - comedies, Brewster's Millions (1985); musicals, Crossroads (1986); modern westerns, Extreme Prejudice (1987); noir films, Johnny Handsome (1989) - along with more commercial productions like Red Heat (1988) and the sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990), without the same box office and critical success he had enjoyed during the 1970s and '80s. After the violent film Trespass (1992), Hill returned to directing westerns with Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and writing screenplays for John Milius, Wild Bill (1995) and Last Man Standing (1996), based on a story by Kurosawa. In 2002 he directed Undisputed, which takes place in a California prison and is inspired by Mike Tyson's vicissitudes, and in 2004 he directed the pilot film of a western series on HBO entitled Deadwood. Hill is now on location in Canada shooting his next western, Daughters of Joy.

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