Categorie archief: Films

Streets of Fire

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘A Rock & Roll Fable’

Director: Walter Hill
Written by: Larry Gross, Walter Hill
Cast: Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Willem Dafoe

Year / Country: 1984, USA
Running Time: 90 mins.

Walter Hill, who brought us many cinematic treats during the 1980s, now delivers a rock & roll fable. Streets of Fire makes a fitting companion piece to Hill’s own cult classic The Warriors. It offers an unusual mix of action, musical, and romance. The idea behind it – from Hill, screenwriter Larry Gross, and producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon – was to create ‘the perfect film for teenagers’. They only partially succeeded.

Tom Cody (Michael Paré) is a badass who once had a love affair with Ellen Aim (Diane Lane), a rock goddess. She’s kidnapped during a benefit concert by a biker gang led by the strange and menacing Raven (Willem Dafoe). Cody agrees to rescue her, but since he feels she abandoned him for her career, he demands a reward from her suave agent and current boyfriend, Billy Fish (Rick Moranis). Cody also brings along the tough, hard-drinking McCoy, played by Amy Madigan in a role that strongly resembles Holly Hunter.

What follows is a fairly enjoyable ride that – unfortunately – holds only a few surprises. The dialogue and art direction are pretty fantastic, but the film lacks intensity. Not one situation in the screenplay is fully exploited for drama or tension. Had more of these opportunities been seized, this could have been a dream of a movie. As it stands, it’s just an entertaining action flick – nothing more.

Streets of Fire was poorly received both commercially and critically. It was released as a major blockbuster but failed to turn a profit. Still, it retains a cult following, thanks in part to its soundtrack featuring original songs by Ry Cooder, Stevie Nicks, and Tom Petty. It was intended to be the first in a trilogy of action films starring Michael Paré as Tom Cody, but due to its disappointing box office performance, it never got to that.

Rating:

Biography: Walter Hill (1942, California) has been an active member of the Hollywood community since 1967 when he became a 2nd assistant director. Ever since, he has produced, written and directed a significant number of movies. He once said in an interview that he considers all the films that he directed as westerns. If you look closely, you can see western touches, such as revolvers, Winchester rifles and cowboy hats in all of his work. Hill frequently works with character actors James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, Brion James and Ed O’Ross.

Filmography (a selection): Hard Times (1975), The Driver (1978), The Warriors (1979), The Long Riders (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), 48 Hrs. (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), Brewster’s Millions (1985), Crossroads (1986), Extreme Prejudice (1987), Red Heat (1988), Johnny Handsome (1989), Another 48 Hrs. (1990), Tales from the Crypt (1989-91, TV-episodes), Trespass (1992), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Wild Bill (1995), Last Man Standing (1995), Deadwood (2004, TV-episode), Broken Trail (2006, TV), Dead for a Dollar (2022)

The Warriors

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Warriors! Come out to play!’

Director: Walter Hill
Written by: David Shaber, Walter Hill
Cast: Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright, David Patrick Kelly

Year / Country: 1979, USA
Running Time: 89 mins.

Under the glow of neon lights, a bloody war takes place within New York’s underworld. The armies of the night are 100.000 heads strong, five times bigger than the entire police force. But instead of taking over the city, they are fighting each other. Cyrus, leader of major gang ‘The Riffs’, wants to unite the gangs and calls for a meeting. Nine representatives of each gang come to listen to Cyrus’ takeover plans.

But it is not meant to be. The insane leader of a small gang called the Rogues blows Cyrus away. ‘For no reason. He just likes doing things like that.’ Another small group called the Warriors get wrongfully accused of the attack and have to run for their lives. It is going to be a dark, long night riddled in fear. Not only do they get the police on their case, 100.000 bloodthirsty gang members are looking for them as well. Will all the Warriors make it back to their home base in Coney Island?

Based on the novel by Sol Yurick, Walter Hill has delivered an action film that shows a subculture involved in a gang war around Coney Island. The Warriors have to fight for life or death within an immense asphalt jungle. Only loyalty in the group can lead them to survival. But this is easier said than done. After all in any group, like in a bunch of chimps, leadership conflicts arise. So besides having to deal with gangs and police, they also have to overcome internal problems.

Can we dig it? Yes, we can. The Warriors is a cult classic. The minimalist plot works to the film’s advantage, because the focus lies on art-direction and creating tension, two elements that are executed extremely well. All the gangs look amazing. So does their environment. The tension comes mainly from the fight- and chase scenes, in which the Warriors make one narrow escape after another.

For fact fans, here are the names of all the major gangs; The Baseball Furies, The Blackjacks, The Boppers, The Electric Eliminators, The Fire Tasters, The High Hats, The Jones Street Boys, The Lizzies, The Moon Runners, The Orphans, The Punks, The Riffs, The Roques, The Saracens, The Satan’s Mothers, The Savage Huns, The Turnball AC’s, The Van Courtland Rangers, The Warriors, The Zodiacs.

Rating:

Biography: Walter Hill (1942, California) has been an active member of the Hollywood community since 1967 when he became a 2nd assistant director. Ever since, he has produced, written and directed a significant number of movies. He once said in an interview that he considers all the films that he directed as westerns. If you look closely, you can see western touches, such as revolvers, Winchester rifles and cowboy hats in all of his work. Hill frequently works with character actors James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, Brion James and Ed O’Ross.

Filmography (a selection): Hard Times (1975), The Driver (1978), The Warriors (1979), The Long Riders (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), 48 Hrs. (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), Brewster’s Millions (1985), Crossroads (1986), Extreme Prejudice (1987), Red Heat (1988), Johnny Handsome (1989), Another 48 Hrs. (1990), Tales from the Crypt (1989-91, TV-episodes), Trespass (1992), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Wild Bill (1995), Last Man Standing (1995), Deadwood (2004, TV-episode), Broken Trail (2006, TV), Dead for a Dollar (2022)

Scarface (1983)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘He loved the American dream. With a vengeance’

Directed by:
Brian De Palma

Written by:
Oliver Stone

Cast:
Al Pacino (Tony Montana), Steven Bauer (Manny Ribera), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira Hancock), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gina Montana), Robert Loggia (Frank Lopez), F. Murray Abraham (Omar Suarez), Paul Shenar (Alejandro Soza), Miriam Colon (Mama Montana), Harris Yulin (Mel Bernstein), Angel Salazar (Chi Chi)

Miami, the 1980s: Bad fashion, worse music, neon-lit nightclubs, yeyo, Cubans, Colombians, chainsaws, bikini-clad women, submachine guns, swimming pools, sports cars, hot tubs, and DEA agents. Welcome to the world of Tony Montana, the world of Scarface!

Brian De Palma’s Scarface is a bold, brash remake of Howard Hawks’ classic. Scripted by Oliver Stone – who wrote it while recovering from cocaine addiction in France – the story remains largely the same as the original, but the setting shifts dramatically. Instead of Prohibition-era gangsters, we follow the ruthless rise and fall of Cuban drug kingpin Tony Montana in the seedy underworld of Miami’s cocaine boom.

The film tracks Tony’s journey from a penniless refugee to a feared drug lord. Arriving from Cuba on an immigrant boat alongside his best friend Manny (Steven Bauer), Tony starts off running small-time hustles before proving himself as a vicious enforcer. His brutal ambition propels him up the ranks of Miami’s drug empire, ultimately overthrowing his boss, Frank Lopez, and taking everything – his empire, his woman (Michelle Pfeiffer’s icy Elvira), and his lucrative Bolivian connections.

But the higher Tony climbs, the faster he spirals downward. Paranoia sets in, fueled by mountains of cocaine. His marriage crumbles. His violent possessiveness over his sister hints at some unsettling, unspoken obsession. His reckless decisions alienate his allies, and when he crosses his powerful supplier Alejandro Sosa, the consequences are deadly. The film hurtles toward its legendary, blood-soaked climax, culminating in one of cinema’s most iconic shootouts.

What makes Scarface so compelling is that Tony Montana never truly enjoys his success. Unlike typical gangster flicks that revel in the spoils of crime, Scarface portrays a hollow, joyless ascent. Tony achieves everything he ever wanted, yet the moment he reaches the top, his downfall begins. The film’s bleak tone lingers from start to finish, reinforcing the idea that whether under communism or capitalism, Tony is doomed by his own insatiable greed and self-destruction.

Should you watch it? Absolutely. If only to understand its massive influence on pop culture, especially hip-hop. It’s violent, darkly funny, and features Al Pacino burying his face in a literal mountain of cocaine. Jeppy says go watch it. Okay?

Rating:

Quote:
TONY MONTANA: “You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!”

Trivia:
Bodycount: 42.

Scarface (1932)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Directed by:
Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson

Written by:
Armitage Trail, Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller

Cast:
Paul Muni (Tony), Ann Dvorak (Cesca), Karen Morley (Poppy), Osgood Perkins (Lovo), C. Henry Gordon (Guarino), George Raft (Rinaldo), Vince Barnett (Angelo), Boris Karloff (Gaffney), Purnell Pratt (Publisher), Tully Marshall (Managing Editor)

The original Scarface opens with a challenge — literally. The very first words on screen declare: “This picture is an indictment of gang rule in America. What are YOU going to do about it?” I can’t think of another film that confronts its audience so directly. It sets the tone for what’s to come: bold, brash, and unafraid to stir things up.

The story kicks off when Louis Costillo, the last of the old-school gang leaders, is gunned down. With him out of the way, Chicago is up for grabs. Enter Tony Camonte — a ruthless, trigger-happy Italian thug with big ambitions. He works for Johnny Lovo, a mob boss running the city’s bootlegging operations, but Tony clearly has bigger plans.

Tony’s greatest strength is his fearlessness. His greatest weakness? He’s reckless to the point of stupidity. At one point, he openly tells an underling — someone he barely knows — that he plans to kill Lovo and take over. Still, Tony lives by his own brutal code: “Do it first. Do it yourself. And keep doing it.” And for a while, that philosophy takes him far.

It’s no secret that Tony Camonte is a thinly veiled version of Al Capone — the real-life ‘Scarface’. The film even recreates the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, among other bloody moments from Capone’s reign. Paul Muni, who plays Tony, throws himself into the role with raw intensity. At times, maybe too much intensity. His exaggerated Italian accent borders on parody today — but to be fair, that larger-than-life acting style was very much in fashion back then.

Watching Scarface for the first time, I was struck by how much it echoes Brian De Palma’s 1983 version — the one I grew up with. Tony’s obsessive, almost incestuous protectiveness over his sister, the iconic ‘The World is Yours’ sign, and of course, his violent downfall in a hail of bullets — it’s all here. The DNA of De Palma’s Scarface runs straight back to Howard Hawks’ original.

But what really stood out to me on my recent rewatch was just how groundbreaking the action scenes are. The machine gun shootouts — stark, brutal, and filmed in gritty black and white — feel years ahead of their time. There’s a raw energy to them that still hits hard, even nearly a century later. This Scarface might not have the swagger of Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, but it’s every bit as bold, violent, and unforgettable.

Rating:

Quote:
TONY CAMONTE: “Hey, Cesca, you and me, huh? We’ll show them. We’ll lick them all, the North Side, the South Side! We’ll lick the whole world!”

Trivia:
Like many of the early gangster movies, real machine gun fire is used to create the bullet damage in walls, including scenes with main characters ducking gunfire.