Streets of Fire

Streets of Fire (1984) is Walter Hill's rock-and-roll fable, free to watch online on iFILM, set in a neon city that belongs to no decade in particular. A biker gang snatches singer Ellen Aim off the stage mid-show, and the man who once loved her rides back to get her.

Michael Pare plays Tom Cody as a quiet, furious mercenary who hits his old neighborhood just in time for trouble. Diane Lane is the star he's been hired to pull out of the gang's hands. Willem Dafoe runs the bikers as Raven, poured into black rubber and chewing every scene. Amy Madigan tags along as a sharp-tongued soldier for hire, and a baby-faced Bill Paxton and Rick Moranis turn up in the margins.

Hill built the picture like a living record sleeve: wet asphalt, overpasses, headlights, and Jim Steinman anthems blasting through half the scenes. The plot is as plain as a ballad, and that's the whole trick. It flopped on release, then found a cult among people who love style for its own sake. Stream Streets of Fire (1984) online on iFILM.