Hearts of Fire | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Marquand |
Written by | Scott Richardson and Joe Eszterhas |
Produced by | Doug Harris Jennifer Miller Iain Smith |
Starring | Bob Dylan Rupert Everett Fiona Suzanne Bertish |
Cinematography | Alan Hume |
Edited by | Sean Barton |
Music by | John Barry |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Lorimar Motion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $17 million |
Hearts of Fire is a 1987 American musical drama film starring Bob Dylan, Fiona and Rupert Everett. The film was essentially a vehicle for Dylan based on his success as a rock musician. It received poor reviews, a limited theatrical release, [1] and was later written off by Dylan himself.[ citation needed ]
Originally written by Scott Richardson, the screenplay was rewritten by future Basic Instinct writer Joe Eszterhas because Lorimar Productions felt that Richardson was a "baby writer" and not experienced enough to take on the responsibility of a starring vehicle for a rock icon of Dylan's stature. Hearts of Fire is also regarded as the film that "killed Richard Marquand", director of Return of the Jedi , who would die of a stroke later the same year. [2] [3]
The film was shot in Canada (Hamilton and Toronto) at the defunct Davenport Works of the Canadian General Electric Company and the United Kingdom (Southerndown and Coney Beach at Porthcawl). Cardiff Airport also substituted for Heathrow. [4] [5] The film's concert scenes were shot at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Colston Hall in Bristol, [6] and Camden, North London. [5]
Hearts of Fire did poorly in theaters. It was first released in the UK in 1987 and was pulled from the theaters after approximately two weeks. As a result, the film was released to a very few theaters in the United States for one week only. All plans to set to release the film nationwide, which was planned for release by Lorimar Motion Pictures, but the film was set to limbo, citing the negative reviews of the feature film. [7]
In the United States, the film was released directly to video by Warner Home Video in 1990 after a very short theatrical run. [8] The film was re-released on VHS by Warner Brothers on December 6, 1993. [9]
The film was released digitally for purchase through iTunes and Vudu.
Variety lamented that it was "unfortunate that the last film of helmer Richard Marquand, who died shortly after completing it, should be Hearts of Fire" and that the film failed "to fire on all cylinders despite a nimble performance by the enigmatic Bob Dylan typecast as a reclusive rock star." [10] Channel 4 deemed the film a "blunt instrument of 80s vacuity." [11] DVDLaser stated that it is "a really bad movie," but also that the viewer's opinion of Bob Dylan is "the key to liking or disliking the film." [12]
Time Out London said that Dylan "hovers enigmatically on the sidelines, offering jaundiced comments." [13]
In 1987, Columbia Records released the soundtrack to the film. Dylan was apparently originally contracted to write and contribute four new original recordings to the album [14] but only turned in two original songs and one cover song. The tracks included a cover of John Hiatt's "The Usual", along with the Dylan originals "Night After Night" and "Had a Dream About You Baby". Dylan later released an alternate version of "Had a Dream About You Baby" on the 1988 album Down in the Groove .
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Roy Scheider. The screenplay, by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse, is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as a dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. It borrows its title from the Kander and Ebb tune "All That Jazz" in that production.
Dont Look Back is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.
Showgirls is a 1995 erotic drama film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Joe Eszterhas, starring Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera. An ambitious young woman hitches a ride to Vegas to pursue her dreams of being a professional dancer and showgirl.
Daniel Roland Lanois is a Canadian record producer and musician.
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry.
F.I.S.T. is a 1978 American action crime drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sylvester Stallone. Stallone plays a Cleveland warehouse worker who becomes involved in the labor union leadership of the fictional "Federation of Inter-State Truckers" (F.I.S.T.). The film is loosely based on the Teamsters Union and their former President Jimmy Hoffa. The screenplay was by Joe Eszterhas and Stallone, from a story by Eszterhas.
József Antal Eszterhás, credited as Joe Eszterhas, is a Hungarian-American writer. Born in Hungary, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. After an early career as a journalist and editor, he entered the film industry. His first screenwriting credit was for the film F.I.S.T. (1978). He co-wrote the script for Flashdance, which became one of the highest-grossing films of 1983, and set off a lucrative and prolific run for his career. By the early 1990s, he was known as the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, and noted for his work in the erotic thriller genre. He was paid a then-record $3 million for his script Love Hurts, which was produced as Basic Instinct (1992), and following its success, news outlets reported he earned seven-figure salaries solely on the basis of two-to-four page outlines.
Richard Alfred Marquand was a Welsh film and television director active in both US and UK film productions, best known for directing the 1983 space opera Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy. He also directed the 1981 drama film Eye of the Needle, the quiet Paris set romance Until September, and the 1985 thriller Jagged Edge.
American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has released 40 studio albums, 21 live albums, 17 volumes of The Bootleg Series, 44 compilation albums, seven soundtracks as main contributor, 24 notable extended plays, 104 singles, 61 music videos, 17 music home videos and two non-music home videos. Dylan has been the subject of eleven documentaries, starred in three theatrical films, appeared in an additional thirty-six films, documentaries and home videos, and is the subject of the semi-biographical tribute films I'm Not There and A Complete Unknown. He has written and published lyrics, artwork and memoirs in 11 books and three of his songs have been made into children's books. He has done numerous collaborations, appearances and tribute albums. The albums Planet Waves and Before the Flood were initially released on Asylum Records; reissues of those two and all others were on Columbia Records.
Jagged Edge is a 1985 American neo-noir legal thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, and directed by Richard Marquand, the last of his films to be released during his lifetime. The film stars Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges, Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia. A lawyer reluctantly takes the case of a man accused of killing his wife, but remains uncertain if he is guilty or not.
Baby Snakes is a film which includes footage from Frank Zappa's 1977 Halloween concerts at the Palladium in New York City. It also includes backstage antics from the crew, and stop motion clay animation from award-winning animator Bruce Bickford.
Fiona Eileen Flanagan, known professionally as Fiona, is an American rock singer and actress, best known as the love interest in the 1987 Bob Dylan vehicle Hearts of Fire.
Cemetery Man is a 1994 comedy horror film directed by Michele Soavi and starring Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro and Anna Falchi. It was produced by Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli and Soavi and based on the novel Dellamorte Dellamore by Tiziano Sclavi. Everett plays a beleaguered caretaker of a small Italian cemetery, who searches for love while defending himself from dead people who keep rising again. It is an international co-production between Italy, France, and Germany.
Dunston Checks In is a 1996 comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis. The film stars Eric Lloyd, Graham Sack, Jason Alexander, Faye Dunaway, Rupert Everett, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and Sam the Orangutan as Dunston. The film received negative reviews and grossed $10 million against a budget of $16 million.
It's Alive is a 1974 American science fiction horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen. It stars John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell as a couple whose infant child turns out to be a vicious mutant. The film's cast also includes James Dixon, William Wellman Jr., Shamus Locke, Andrew Duggan, Guy Stockwell, and Michael Ansara. The baby was designed and created by special effects make-up artist Rick Baker, and the film's score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.
American Gothic is a 1988 slasher film directed by John Hough and starring Rod Steiger, Yvonne De Carlo, Janet Wright, and Michael J. Pollard. Its plot follows a group of travelers who become stranded on an island where they find themselves in the clutches of a demented family of murderers. The film poster is a pastiche of the Grant Wood painting of the same name.
Less than Zero is a 1987 American drama film directed by Marek Kanievska, loosely based on the 1985 novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas to spend time with his ex-girlfriend Blair and his friend Julian, both of whom have become drug addicts. The film explores the culture of wealthy, decadent youth in Los Angeles.
Iain Smith OBE is a Scottish film producer. He is known for his productions of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Fountain (2006), Children of Men (2006) and The Fifth Element (1997), among others.
Avalanche Express is a 1979 adventure thriller film starring Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, Maximilian Schell and Linda Evans, and produced and directed by Mark Robson. The plot is about the struggle over a defecting Soviet general. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky was based on a 1977 novel by Colin Forbes. It was the last film for Shaw and Robson, who both died during production in 1978.
Hearts of Fire is a soundtrack to the film Hearts of Fire. Columbia released the soundtrack October 20, 1987, with the record number SC 40870. It was recorded on August 26 and 27, 1986 in London.