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GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (1989)
MGM / SHOCK DVD (region 4)
d. Jim McBride; pr. Adam Fields; scr. Jack Baran, Jim McBride; book. Myra Lewis, Murray Silver Jr.; ph. Affonso Beato; ed. Lisa Day, Pembroke Herring, Bert Lovitt; cast. Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, Stephen Tobolowsky, Alec Baldwin (108 mins)
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Re-envisioning the Rock 'n Roll Movies of the 1950s
The rock n’ roll movie was a staple of the 1950s. These films, arguably joyful and even rather naïve, celebrated a youthful energy that encouraged sexuality even though the social conventions of the time prevented the explicit depiction of moral change.
Indeed, some films tried to make the rock n’ roll aesthetic wholesome. Such laundering efforts, however, were not helped by the behaviour of several singers, especially one Jerry Lee Lewis. Some initially held Lewis to be the next Elvis as his songs steadily rose through the music charts of the day. But when the public realized that Lewis had married his thirteen-year-old second cousin, the challenge to contemporary morality was too much even for the social reforms set in motion by American rock ‘n roll. First in England and then in America the moral outcry was pervasive, effectively ending Lewis’ career. The unusual story of the success and fall of Jerry Lee Lewis is the subject for the retrospective biography Great Balls of Fire. Yet what is perhaps most intriguing and even subversive about this movie is director Jim McBride’s refusal to condemn Lewis in any way, and indeed his outright mockery of those who would seek to do so. What thus emerges is a film that is so filled with energy and mocking caricature that it stands as the most vibrantly and deliberately cartoonish of period films to emerge from then-contemporary Hollywood.
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Synopsis (contains spoilers)
Great Balls of Fire starts with Lewis as a child in the American South. He is fascinated by Afro-American music, which his cousin and future evangelist soon terms “devil’s music”. The impression is a lasting one.
As an adult (and played with tremendous gusto by Dennis Quaid) Lewis is a pianist who, with friends, takes a demo record of work to a local producer (the very same one who discovered Elvis). When it is played on the radio, Lewis becomes a genuine rock ‘n roll star even if the morally questionable lyrics of some of his rock ‘n roll songs cause them to be banned in the South. Lewis moves in with a relative and fellow band member and begins a flirtation with his younger second cousin (Winona Ryder). The more successful he becomes the fonder he gets of her and eventually the two of them marry, much to the initial dismay of her parents although they eventually do accept it along with the money that comes with success. Lewis takes his child bride on tour with him to England where the local critics (especially one not at all fond of American culture) discover her age. Outrage subsequently spreads throughout the country and Lewis is booed and ridiculed at his concerts. He leaves England and feels that the USA will welcome him back like the King of Rock he believes that he is. This proves not to be the case and when he returns to the USA his career declines and his marriage soon suffers.
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Emotional Immaturity, Sexual Freedom and the Child Bride
Great Balls of Fire depicts Lewis as an emotionally immature man wholly fascinated with the sexual freedom that is rock ‘n roll.
The film suggests that at a time of restrictive morality in the USA rock ‘n roll music represented a transitive stage towards the sexual liberation of the nation. Ironically, this burgeoning liberation could be argued by its detractors as the spread of immorality and the time when American popular culture turned against God. Lewis is thus a messenger for a new morality, one pioneered by Afro-Americans: as a white performer who plays “black music” he is hence another bridging figure. Yet, when he puts this new morality into practice by marrying his thirteen year old cousin, he has perhaps pushed the envelope too far and finds the nation is not ready. Rather than condemn Lewis’ attraction to pubescent girls the film celebrates the courage of his moral decision even if it literally means that he has turned his back on the traditional Southern God of repression (and segregation). Although Ryder is an innocent, she is depicted as a young woman with yearnings of her own, yearnings that Quaid responds too not out of an immoral intention to deflower her but because he too is emotionally undeveloped. It is as if this rock n’ roll liberator can only relate to adolescents – his attraction to high school girls (arguably children) is thus a sign of his immaturity rather than a true perversion, in the films’ view.
The morally repressive within society (represented by the preacher cousin, Alec Baldwin) would condemn Lewis for going against God, but their morality is based on a fear of sexual liberation.
Quaid and Baldwin are moral opposites and their comparison treated mockingly as McBride clearly celebrates Quaid’s decision to perhaps go against God and keep his moral independence even if it implies a punishment by God. Ironically, Ryder is the more mature figure despite her age, and wanted to wait for a few years before marriage although Quaid persuaded her otherwise. In this, the film toys with the notion of Quaid as a corruptor and a kind of devil’s advocate – he is after all spreading the devil’s music rather than God’s word. The film treats this paradox comically and engagingly as Quaid becomes, for the director, a celebration of immorality and irresponsibility; although Quaid sticks to the conventions of marriage until despair sets in. A bridge to the social changes of the subsequent decade, he is morally ahead of his time and the relationship between Quaid and Ryder is not treated as an aberration but ironically as a symptom of the progression of American moral enlightenment – immorality becomes strength. The film is aware of the irony of this position and there lies the subversive charge in this energetic tribute to the true wild child of rock, an immature talent who became a moral affront to civilization.
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Garish, Cartoonishly Colorful Tribute to 1950s US Pop-Culture
The visual transfer is most accomplished, preserving the tremendous visual exuberance of the film’s design. Unfortunately, the film is offered in 4:3 fullscreen only.
It is nonetheless full of lurid colours (as is much of director McBride’s work, including another slice of American immorality in the unfortunately ill-fated remake of Breathless) and with a stunning physical sensuality in its early depiction of Afro-American culture. The film’s use of colour makes for a garish, cartoonish pop-culture sensibility as if the period sense has been virtually exploded for this filmization. Its stylized, pop-art sense of décor and costume add to the overheated visual texture and such is neatly contrasted in the latter stages to the greys of a morally staid and stagnant England – hence, America, and the South in particular, is the proverbial hotbed in this film. Despite some milky blacks, the exuberant colour is preserved intact and contributes to the comedic tone that dominates this fascinating biography. It neatly contrasts the sexual openness of Afro-American influence with the rowdy and violent cowboy culture of country music, with Lewis as an ironic influence in a greater moral transformation: does he represent a rock n’ roll civilization? It is a bold visual design in a provocative film and one which is carried through with consistent aplomb. Lewis’ erotic yearnings for young girls are treated with restraint and humour and always contextualized.
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African-American influence on the Shaping of Rock 'n Roll Morality in US Culture
The sound transfer although available in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo only is often thrilling, with a full, rich score – always important in a movie so centred on music history as is this one.
It has some directional finesse but the real plus is the palpable flow of energy gained through the pristine music track, ably suggesting the tremendous moral impetus that rock ‘n roll music initially meant for society as a galvanizing and an enlivening force for youth. This use of song complements the film’s vibrant visual design. Thus there is an aurally demonstrative sense to the film’s depiction of how Afro-American musical influences became such a vital force in rock n’ roll, with Lewis again established an important bridging figure. Rock ‘n roll music and the ethos it spawned are presented herein as potentially necessary moral and cultural forces of change, initially anarchic although perhaps even an equalizer if given the chance to reform attitudes. The transfer’s spatial sense is finely deployed, most notably during a remarkable split-screen phone call sequence, and the spectacularly fiery piano concert sequence is a dynamic standout. There is also a nice, slyly self-conscious comparison between rock ‘n roll and preaching to suggest the ironic responsibility shouldered by rock stars as the arbiters of a new morality. In that design, the immature Lewis is again depicted as ahead of the pack and a serious challenge, a most ironic fallen innocent.
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USA DVD PURCHASE INFORMATION: Great Balls of Fire!
UK DVD PURCHASE INFORMATION: Great Balls of Fire [DVD]
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