Saturday, November 12, 2011

Film Review - Street Hero (1984)


Street Hero stars Vince Colosimo as Vinnie Romano, a young man who lives in commission housing and is sent back to school in the hope that his life might start to find some meaning again as his father is dead, one day he is persuaded to join the school band and it's here that Vinnie may start to change things for the better.

I liked this movie, it was well directed by Michael Pattinson and the film has some good performances from almost everyone on board, the highlights for me being Colosimo, the late Bill Hunter, Tibor (yes that is his first name and I did get a good laugh when I saw it) Gyapjas and pretty much the rest of the cast, what can I say everyone here delivered the goods though at times the plot did feel a little cliché in terms of "that I'll happen" and the film did also feel a little long at times despite being only about 98 minutes.

Though there is one that I want to talk about and that is Sigrid Thornton who plays Gloria and boy does she look young in this movie, the reason I say this is that when I talked about Summer Lovers, I mentioned that it was such a sad shame that Valerie Quennessen was killed before she had the chance to do that one iconic role that would ensure people remembered her as Thornton got to later with her TV Series Sea Change and that she was so enchanting that she could've been something great regardless, happily that didn't happen with Thornton and she had the chance to blossom into a great actress and one that is always worth watching.

One other highlight I want to mention also is the soundtrack or more specifically the songs that were in the film, all of them had my toe tapping but the highlight without a doubt was "Wilder World" by Dragon, this song was also used to promote the film and I did perk up a bit when it came on during the film.

But what I think is most appealing about the film is this, and that it reminded me of a time when Australia had a proper film industry and that not only we made the more art house style films but we could also make a good popcorn guzzler like this, Mad Max, Razorback, Alvin Purple and others, a shame that its gone by the wayside and with it, our industry, hopefully the success of films like Tomorrow when the War Began and Red Dog will help to re energise our industry and get it going again like it did in the 70s, 80s and early to mid 90s.

All in all, Street Hero works best as a product of its time, don't get me wrong, the film is enjoyable but all it does is remind you of the past, of a time when things weren't what they are now and I suppose if it does that and give you a good time while your watching it well you have to say that the movie did its job and did it well and that is something that you can't complain about, 3 out of 5.

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