{"id":5733,"date":"2024-10-12T06:45:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T06:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=5733"},"modified":"2024-10-12T15:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T15:39:08","slug":"great-balls-of-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/12\/great-balls-of-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Balls of Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic material, some sexual content, language, brief violence, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jim McBride\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jack Baran and Jim McBride\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Lee Lewis\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cinematography: Alfonso Beato\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 30, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, John Doe, Lisa Blount, Stephen Tobolowski, Trey Wilson, Steve Allen, Mojo Nixon, Jimmie Vaughan, David R. Ferguson, Michael St. Gerard, Lisa Jane Persky, Peter Cook.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $13.7M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0Something has always bothered me about the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> and I couldn\u2019t quite put my finger on it….. until now. The short answer is that it\u2019s badly misconceived from start to finish. As a film critic, I can\u2019t just leave it at that; my profession demands that I elaborate on such a statement. Okay, here goes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anybody who\u2019s heard of Jerry Lee Lewis knows he\u2019s an extraordinary musician. His hits include \u201cWhole Lotta Shakin\u2019 Goin\u2019 On\u201d, \u201cBreathless\u201d and the titular song. He\u2019s considered a pioneer of rockabilly and rock & roll\u2019s first \u201cwild man\u201d. Wild is a perfect description of his piano playing style. When he pounds those 88 keys, it\u2019s like he\u2019s possessed or something. He doesn\u2019t just sit there and play. He jumps and hops around, dances and gyrates. He plays with his hands, feet and behind. He plays from behind and perched on top of the instrument. Just watching him is exhausting. What many don\u2019t realize, however, is that his personal story is dark. By all accounts, he wasn\u2019t a nice man. His life is one marked by alcohol and substance abuse, violence, multiple marriages and one huge scandal that nearly destroyed his career.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> centers on Jerry Lee\u2019s (Quaid, The Big Easy) meteoric rise to fame and success with a string of hit songs. It also deals with his relationship with the girl who would become his third wife, Myra Gale Brown (Ryder, Heathers). From that description, you might think I\u2019m talking about a normal romantic relationship. That is so NOT the case for several reasons. Myra was Jerry Lee\u2019s 13YO cousin. He was living with her family when they became involved. He was still married to his second wife when he took Myra across state lines to marry her. So we have incest, pedophilia, bigamy and kidnapping. How did he NOT wind up in prison? The man is a felon and a pervert yet the movie would have us sympathize with him when the story gets out and all his fans turn against him. I don\u2019t know about you, but I can\u2019t accept \u201cbut we love each other\u201d as an excuse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tonally, Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> is way off. What should be a dark biopic along the lines of The Rose has become a sanitized and lobotomized tale of a misunderstood rock star. Attempts at any real drama fall flat in the hands of director Jim McBride (The Big Easy). Take the scene where a drunken Jerry Lee has a terrible argument with his wife. It reaches a dramatic crescendo when the terrified girl tells him she\u2019s pregnant with their child. He breaks down and cries on her lap. This should be one of the movie\u2019s biggest moments, but it\u2019s negated by the rest of the movie marked by a weird performance from Quaid. When not on stage playing the piano, Jerry Lee is depicted as a simpleton and a clown. It\u2019s such a cartoonish portrayal, Jerry Lee becomes less of a real person. It also goes against the real life persona I\u2019ve heard about from more than one source.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Other things about Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> bother me, but none as much as how Myra\u2019s parents (Doe and Blount) deal with the situation. First of all, how could they not know something hinky was going on between Jerry Lee and their daughter under their own roof? When they finally find out the kids (well, one kid and one grown man with a kid mentality) are married, they\u2019re understandably angry and hurt. Dad shows up at the recording studio waving a gun around. They order the newlyweds out of their house. Before you can say \u201cawkward Thanksgiving dinner\u201d, all is forgiven when Jerry Lee moves his in-laws into the big new house he bought for Myra. Just what does that say about her parents? It says that they\u2019re leeches only too happy to sponge off their famous cousin as long as the money keeps coming in. Once he becomes a pariah, they walk away. Of course, this is handled in the same perfunctory manner everything else in Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> is. Take the relationship between Jerry Lee and his evangelist cousin Jimmy Swaggart (Baldwin, Working Girl) who often preaches about the evils of the \u201cDevil\u2019s music\u201d. He disapproves of Jerry Lee\u2019s lifestyle, warning him that his spiritual life is in jeopardy. This conflict should be an important part of Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> but barely qualifies as a subplot given what little exploration it gets.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To its credit, Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> comes to life when the music starts. An amazing transformation takes place on the part of Quaid. As on-stage Jerry Lee Lewis, he nails it. He channels the singer\u2019s energy, enthusiasm and love of music. A performance of \u201cWhole Lotta Shakin\u2019 Goin\u2019 On\u201d in a roughneck bar perfectly captures the sexual aspect of rock & roll. When \u201cHigh School Confidential\u201d comes on, the kids at Myra\u2019s school break into dance like it\u2019s a teen musical from the 50s. Scenes like this capture the essence of the musical genre. It\u2019s fun and energetic. However, once the music stops, so does the movie (in a manner of speaking).<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are a few decent performances in Great Balls of Fire<\/strong>. The late Trey Wilson (in his final role) is great as record producer Sam Phillips who can\u2019t get over his colossal blunder in losing Elvis Presley to another label. It\u2019s a mistake he doesn\u2019t intend to repeat. Ryder is also quite good as Myra, a girl still young enough to bring her dollhouse with her when she moves out. She effortlessly conveys the idea that Myra doesn\u2019t fully understand or appreciate the seriousness of her situation. Unfortunately, the good points become moot as Great Balls of Fire<\/strong> flounders its way to an ending that feels tacked on and detached from reality. It shows Jerry Lee and Myra in church listening to a fire-and-brimstone sermon by Cousin Jimmy. He invites people to step forward and be saved. Myra finds herself caught in a literal tug-of-war between good (Jimmy) and evil (Jerry Lee). Words escape me when it comes to this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Maybe someday another filmmaker will take a crack at telling Jerry Lee\u2019s story. My only advice to this person is to do it right. Don\u2019t be afraid to delve into the darker aspects of the man\u2019s story. It\u2019s okay to celebrate his musical genius but not at the expense of downplaying less desirable details. This is the greatest sin committed by Great Balls of Fire<\/strong>, a disappointment made worse when you factor in Quaid and McBride\u2019s earlier collaboration, the terrific police corruption drama The Big Easy. The chemistry between Quaid and Ellen Barkin in the 1987 movie is HOT! There\u2019s an unavoidable ick factor with Quaid and Ryder. It\u2019s yet another reason not to bother with Great Balls of Fire<\/strong>, a biopic that\u2019s lukewarm at best and even that is being generous.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Balls of Fire (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic material, some sexual content, language, brief violence, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jim McBride\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jack Baran and Jim McBride\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Lee Lewis\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cinematography: Alfonso Beato\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 30, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, John Doe, Lisa Blount, Stephen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Great-Balls-of-Fire-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5775,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5733\/revisions\/5775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}