Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Walter Hill's Streets of Fire (1984) is being released by Shout Select in a three-disc "Collector's Edition" that includes a recent 4K scan of the original camera negative. The film is presented in Dolby Vision on the 4K Ultra HD along with a recently created Dolby Atmos track ("DISC ONE"). The 4K restoration is downsampled to 1080p on the Blu-ray, which also carries the Atmos mix ("DISC TWO"). All of the previously available bonus materials are collected on a separate BD-50 ("DISC THREE"). I have covered the movie on two prior editions put out by Shout: a 2017 "Collector's Edition" and a 35th Anniversary Edition SteelBook that features a then-new DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 Surround track made from the 70mm six-track magnetic audio master. That mix has been ported over here, too.

Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Streets of Fire was the beneficiary of a recent 4K restoration and appears here in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1 on a BD-100 and BD-50. All of the screen captures are taken from the new transfer and displayed in 1080p. Much of the picture was shot at night and the Dolby Vision renders the blacks crisp and deep with no crush. Frame grab #9 is an illustrative example of these attributes inside the police car. Shafts of light in certain shots (such as the one inside the concert auditorium's entrance) are contrasted well with pure darkness in other parts of the composition. Grain is consistently well-balanced. There are no large chunks of grain. Grain is pretty well-distributed throughout the frame. Neon and the bright hues on the color spectrum gleam on the damp streets (see Screenshot #s 14 and 15). Daylight scenes are gray but sharp. The Dolby Vision and HDR do a bang-up job of bringing out facial details in close-ups (see screen captures 6 and 7) and medium shots. For instance, I could see the pores and creases on McCoy's (Amy Madigan) face quite well. Distant background planes, such as the one showing the squad cars filmed from inside the The Sorels's bus (see #11), are rendered with remarkable clarity. There are occasional infinitesimal white specks and small pockets of dirt seen during editing wipes and scenic transitions. My video score for the UHD and and Blu-ray transfers are 4.75/5.00.

Shout delivers a dozen chapter breaks on the two discs for the 93-minute feature.

Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

New to this release is a Dolby Atmos track (Dolby TrueHD compatible with a standard bitrate of 4921 kbps: 7.1+11 objects; 24-bit). Carried over from the SteelBook is a DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 Stereo Surround mix (3752 kbps, 24-bit). In addition, there's the original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (2129 kbps, 24-bit), which appeared on the prior two US Blu-ray releases. Since I have already examined the 2.0 and 4.1 mixes on the earlier Blu-rays, I will just focus on the Atmos mix here. All of my speakers were active and lively. Performances of song numbers carried across the entire sonic spectrum. My height channels made excellent use of discrete f/x, particularly motorcycles and Studebakers cruising down the streets. I could even hear characters stepping on gravel along the fronts. Dialogue is sometimes faint and distant coming from the center channel but this is due to the age of the sound track's recording and not a mastering deficiency.

There are optional English SDH for the feature on Disc One and Disc Two.

Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

DISC THREE (BLU-RAY—SPECIAL FEATURES)

• HOTGUNS & SIX STRINGS: The Making of a Rock N Roll Fable – A Feature-Length Documentary Featuring Interviews with Director/Co-writer Walter Hill, Producer Lawrence Gordon, Actors Michael Paré, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Richard Lawson, Elizabeth Daily, Lee Ving, Screenwriter Larry Gross, Editor Freeman Davies, Associate Producer Mae Woods, Art Director James Allen, Costume Designer Marilyn Vance, Assistant Director David Sosna, Choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday, Sound Editor Richard Anderson, Music Producer Kenny Vance and Many More... (1:40:23, 1080p) - a comprehensive doc with the listed participants that Shout produced for its 2017 "Collector's Edition." Anecdotes and production stories are multitudinous from the filmmakers and cast members. In English, not subtitled.

• RUMBLE ON THE LOT: Walter Hill's Streets of Fire Revisited – A Feature-Length Documentary Featuring Interviews with Director/Co-writer Walter Hill, Actor Michael Paré, Amy Madigan and Art Director James Allen (1:22:29, 1080p) - this doc originally appeared on the Koch Media and Second Sight discs. In English, not subtitled.

• Vintage Featurettes: Rock and Roll Fable, Exaggerated Realism, Choreographing the Crowd, Creating the Costumes, From the Ground Up (10:43, upconverted to 1080) - a compilation of mini-featurettes extracted from Universal's EPK. In English, not subtitled.

• Music Videos (8:39, upconverted to 1080) - some music videos produced when the movie came out that are played in succession.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:25, upconverted to 1080) - an urestored anamorophic widescreen trailer that appears as if it's been run through the projector one too many times. In English, not subtitled.

• On Air Promos (13:13, upconverted to 1080) - more EPK stuff with interview snippets and the like. In English, not subtitled.

• Still Gallery (10:22, 1080p) - a voluminous collection of color and black-and-white stills from Universal's press kit, lobby cards from the European marketing campaigns, and reproductions of pictures and posters from the Japanese program/booklet. The slide show starts out with vertical photographs before seguing into wider snapshots.

Streets of Fire 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Streets of Fire has really grown on me with each new viewing. I especially appreciated all it has to offer on this 4K presentation. With the addition of an Atmos track, Shout Select has assembled the definitive package of the film on home media. This three-disc set is a MUST OWN that earns my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.