When Bruce Springsteen heard that his song “Streets of Fire” would be re-recorded for this film, he pulled it. That made sense: it was Walter Hill's vision, not the Boss's. Elevated trains clattering above streets lurid with neon light and tangles of fog-no Jersey boulevard here, but “another time, another place.” This is a self-described “rock and roll fable” that anchors itself in youth's psyche, using music as its source for anarchic allegory. Here, a lithe rock star played by Diane Lane, fresh from Rumble Fish, is kidnapped by arch–gang leader Raven (Willem Dafoe) and his maniacal sidekick Greer (Lee Ving, from the punk band Fear). The well-tonsilled trophy is whisked off to the Battery, an unsavory neighborhood where even angels fear to tread. But the fable has an angel, tarnished though he may be-Cody (Michael Pare)-who defies this nocturnal realm. Berated as a feature-length music video at the time, Streets of Fire reminds us that it's only rock and roll. But I like it.