Hearts of Fire

Hearts of Fire
VHS cover of Hearts of Fire
Directed by	Richard Marquand
Produced by	Doug Harris Jennifer Miller Iain Smith
Written by	Joe Eszterhas
Starring	Bob Dylan Rupert Everett Fiona Flanagan Suzanne Bertish
Music by	John Barry
Cinematography	Alan Hume
Edited by	Sean Barton
Distributed by	Lorimar Productions
Release dates	1987 (1987) (U.S.)
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million

Hearts of Fire is a 1987 American musical drama film starring Bob Dylan, Fiona Flanagan (billed only as "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 and was later written off by Dylan himself.

Origin and filming

Originally written by Scott Richardson, the screenplay was rewritten by 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", who directed Return of the Jedi of Star Wars fame and died of a stroke the same year.

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). The film's concert scenes were shot at the Colston Hall in Bristol, and Camden, North London (UK). Concert scenes filmed at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton Ontario

Release

Hearts of Fire did extremely poorly in theaters. It was first released in the UK in 1987, being pulled from the theaters after approximately two weeks. As a result, the film was not even released to theaters in the United States, and was sent directly to video in 1990. Hearts of Fire was re-released once more on VHS by Warner Brothers on December 6, 1993.

To date, the film has not been released on DVD.

Reviews

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." Channel 4 deemed the film a "blunt instrument of 80s vacuity." 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."

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

Soundtrack

In 1987, Columbia released the soundtrack to the film. Dylan was apparently originally contracted to write and contribute four new original recordings to the album, but would only turn in two original songs and one cover tune. 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 would later release an alternate version of "Had a Dream About You Baby" on the 1988 album Down in the Groove.

External links

• Hearts of Fire at IMDb
• Hearts of Fire at AllMovie
• Hearts of Fire at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hearts of Fire at Box Office Mojo