Great Balls of Fire! (1989)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Jim McBride

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

30 June 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Jerry Lee Lewis: He Rocked The Nation... And Shocked The World.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Cousin | Rock Star | 1950s | Jerry Lee Lewis | Pianist

Awards:

1 win

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

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re rating) | UK:15 | Canada:14A | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Marion, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

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: When Jerry comes off the plane from New York, there's a lot of girls gathering around. One of them kisses his cheek right by the ear, but in the next shot the mark after the lipstick is far nearer his mouth.

Quotes:

Lois Brown: "Jerry Lee here's a married man, ain't that right, Jerry Lee?"
Jerry Lee: "Well, that's not necessarily so, Lois."
Lois: " And just what do you mean by that?"
Jerry Lee: "Well, you see I was still married to my first wife when I married my second wife,so I never really was married to my second wife. And since I divorced my first wife a couple of years ago, I'm as free as a bird in a tree!"

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

I completely disagree, I really loved this movie..

Personally I disagree with the other user's comments as I saw this movie on TV a while ago and really enjoyed it. What makes it so interesting is the fact that someone would actually go ahead and marry their cousin who was only 13 years old.

This movie is pretty accurate and the acting and music is great.

Dennis Quaid's portrayal of the Killer is definitely one to watch.

His accent and facial expressions are priceless and Winona Ryder's Myra is sweet and believable. This movie offers a great insight into the personal life, music and career of J.L.L. A really enjoyable film I would highly recommend :-D