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Hearts of Fire

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Hearts of Fire
VHS cover
Directed byRichard Marquand
Written byScott Richardson and Joe Eszterhas
Produced byDoug Harris
Jennifer Miller
Iain Smith
StarringBob Dylan
Rupert Everett
Fiona
Suzanne Bertish
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited bySean Barton
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byLorimar Motion Pictures
Release date
  • October 9, 1987 (1987-10-09) (United Kingdom)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
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]

Cast

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Origin and filming

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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]

Release

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Hearts of Fire did poorly in theaters. It was first released in the UK on October 9, 1987 at the Odeon Marble Arch and Odeon cinemas in Brighton, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester during a Dylan tour of the UK.[7][8] It was pulled from the cinemas 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.[9]

Home media

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In the United States, the film was released directly to video by Warner Home Video in 1990 after a very short theatrical run.[10] The film was re-released on VHS by Warner Brothers on December 6, 1993.[11]

The film was released digitally for purchase through iTunes and Vudu.

Reception

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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."[12] Channel 4 deemed the film a "blunt instrument of 80s vacuity."[13] 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."[14]

Time Out London said that Dylan "hovers enigmatically on the sidelines, offering jaundiced comments."[15]

Soundtrack

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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[16] 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.

References

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  1. ^ Heylin, Clinton (2003). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. HarperCollins. pp. 603–604. ISBN 0-06-052569-X.
  2. ^ Eszterhas, Joe (2005). Hollywood Animal. Random House, Inc. p. 35. ISBN 0-375-71895-8.
  3. ^ Eszterhas, Joe (2007). The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God!. Macmillan. pp. 176, 352. ISBN 978-0-312-37384-9.
  4. ^ "Internet Movie Database - List of Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  5. ^ a b Hearts of Fire (1987) - Filming locations
  6. ^ "History 1980s". Colston Hall. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  7. ^ Mather, Victoria (October 8, 1987). "A nasty piece of work". The Daily Telegraph. p. 12.
  8. ^ Johnston, Sheila (October 16, 1987). "Rupert on the barricades". TheIndependent. p. 28.
  9. ^ "Dylan Starrer In Limbo". Variety. 1987-11-25. p. 4.
  10. ^ Maltin, Leonard (2003). Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 2004. Plume. p. 598. ISBN 0-452-28478-3.
  11. ^ Hearts of Fire Amazon.com
  12. ^ "Hearts of Fire Movie Review". Variety. 1987-01-01.
  13. ^ "Channel4.com/film - Hearts of Fire". Channel4.com. 2006-06-24. Archived from the original on 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  14. ^ "DVDLaser: The largest database of DVD reviews on the web". www.dvdlaser.com. Archived from the original on 3 May 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  15. ^ "Hearts of Fire Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London". Timeout.com. Retrieved 2012-02-20.[permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ "Hearts Of Fire Press Conference". Interferenza.com. 1986-08-17. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
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