Great Balls of Fire! (1989)

Director:

Jim McBride

Writers (WGA):

Myra Lewis (book) and
Murray Silver Jr. (book) ...

Release Date:

30 junio 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Biografía | Drama | Music

Frase comercial:

The true story of a legend.

Plot:

The story of Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably the greatest and certainly one of the wildest musicians of the 1950s...

Plot Keywords:

Elvis | Elvis Presley | Historical | Bible Belt | Jerry Lee Lewis

Awards:

1 win

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Immensely Entertaining & The Music Is Great

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 24

8:00 PM

CMTV

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Jerry Lee Lewis
Winona Ryder	...	Myra Gale Brown
John Doe	...	J.W. Brown
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Jud Phillips
Trey Wilson	...	Sam Phillips
Alec Baldwin	...	Jimmy Swaggart
Steve Allen	...	Himself
Lisa Blount	...	Lois Brown
Joshua Sheffield	...	Rusty Brown
Mojo Nixon	...	James Van Eaton
Jimmie Vaughan	...	Roland Janes
David Ferguson	...	Jack Clement
Robert Lesser	...	Alan Freed
Lisa Jane Persky	...	Babe
Paula Person	...	Sam's Secratary

También conocida como:

Gran bola de fuego (Spain) [es]

Duración:

108 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby SR

Clasificación:

Iceland:L | USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re rating) | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Marion, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivialidades:

Jerry Lee Lewis hated both this film and his ex-wife Myra Lewis' autobiographical book which was a source. Linda Gail Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis' sister, also thought this film was a poor and unjustified version of the real Jerry. The book's co-author Murray Silver Jr. was outraged by the film which he thought departed from the book or the truth. Silver made several criticisms such as "The movie was phony." Director Jim McBride admitted that it was never his intention to tie his film to the facts, and stated "This movie does not represent itself in any way to be a historical documentary. We use the book as a jumping-off point."

Goofs:

Continuity: There is a shot of The plane jerry is flying in from England to the US. It clearly shows a TWA logo, yet when the shot jumps to Jerry coming off the plane, the plane changes from white to silver and from TWA to American airlines.

Quotes:

Myra: All I ever wanted was a little pink house with a blue door... a little baby sittin' in a high chair.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "L.A. Law: Great Balls Afire (#6.15)" (1992)

Soundtrack:

That Lucky Old Sun

Immensely Entertaining & The Music Is Great

An excellent job by director Jim McBride of putting Myra Lewis's book about the life of legendary rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis (her husband) on film.

Dennis Quaid gives an over the top performance (sometimes a bit too over the top; but, then again, this is Jerry Lee Lewis) as Lewis, arrogant and child-like, trying to deal with sudden fame, having to deal with the consequences of having married his thirteen year old cousin (Myra, who authored the book). Quaid was truly excellent in this role. Yes, the lip-synching was perhaps a bit too obvious at times, but for the sake of hearing some great music performed by the real Jerry Lee Lewis, that was an irritant I could easily put up with. The relationship between Lewis and Myra (Winona Ryder) is developed sensitively and tastefully by McBride. Humour is added by exploring the complex love-hate relationship between Lewis and his cousin, the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin). There is also great irony, given what ultimately happened to Swaggart, as we listen to him lecturing Lewis about the dangers of taking the "gold-paved streets of rock and roll."

I really enjoyed this movie. Perhaps it was guilty of portraying everyone in it as a bit of a caricature, but it still seemed to offer an entirely believable story of Lewis's life. Well worth the watching.

9/10