Great Balls of Fire! (1989)

The story of Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably the greatest and certainly one of the wildest musicians of the 1950s. His arrogance, remarkable talent, and unconventional lifestyle often brought him... See full summary »

Director:

Jim McBride

Writers:

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

Stars:

Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, John Doe

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

The story of Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably the greatest and certainly one of the wildest musicians of the 1950s. His arrogance, remarkable talent, and unconventional lifestyle often brought him into conflict with others in the industry, and even earned him the scorn and condemnation of the public.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | rock star | 13 year old | child bride | bible belt | 

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Taglines:

The true story of a legend.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 June 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Great Balls of Fire

Filming Locations:

Marion, Arkansas, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$13,741,060 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "Great Balls of Fire" in the soundtrack has an extra, extended piano solo which builds up to a vocal climax missing from the original Sun record version.

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Goofs

In the scene where Jerry is picking Myra up at school, while singing "High School Confidential", she had a red ribbon in her hair. But in the next scene, which is supposed to be right after he's picked her up, the ribbon in her hair is grey with trombones on.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Jerry Lee: Well, if I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano.

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Connections

Features A Face in the Crowd (1957)

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Soundtracks

"Big Legged Woman"
Written by James Williams
Performed by Booker T. Jones
Produced by Joe Mulherin and Billy Swan

User Reviews

The Good & Bad Of 'Great Balls Of Fire'

Being a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis since he began rockin' way back in the 1950s, this movie is a bit of a disappointment overall. The "bad" outweighs the "good" in here, story-wise.

GOOD - The music - naturally! There is some great music in here, featuring Dennis Quaid as the entertaining rockabilly-rock-country singer who surely will go down as the one of the great entertainers of his generation. Quaid lip-syncs the songs, but that okay. They sound better with Lewis doing the singing. The movie is colorful, entertaining and fast-moving. Wynona Ryder looks really cute, too.

BAD - There is a little bit too much emphasis on Lewis' brother, Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin) and, of course, they make him look like some fanatical religious preacher. Hey, I'm not a "charismatic" follower but there was an obvious bias in here and it wasn't necessary. Also, the writers actually made Lewis look a sympathetic victim for the criticism he got marrying his 13-year-old cousin! Only in the film-making world do we see poor morals given the thumbs-up. Sorry, Jerry Lee, but marrying your 13-year-old cousin warrants a bit of criticism! I later discovered this movie was based on a book by that the same "girl," so it's no wonder it makes that relationship look "legitimate."

The ending was not appropriate, either. Most of the characters in this film were exaggerated to the degree that they all look cartoonish. This movie could have been so much better with a more objective look at Jerry Lee's life and people in it.