The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
18K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writers
- Myra Lewis(book)
- Murray Silver Jr.(book)
- Jack Baran(screenplay)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Myra Lewis(book)
- Murray Silver Jr.(book)
- Jack Baran(screenplay)
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
Videos1
- Director
- Writers
- Myra Lewis(book)
- Murray Silver Jr.(book)
- Jack Baran(screenplay)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
A semi-fictionalized account of the early career of Jerry Lee Lewis is presented. The year is 1956, and he, as the front man, is trying to break into the business in a combo with among others his cousin, J.W. Brown, playing his rollicking version of the music he has always been interested in: what he heard emanating from the black honky-tonks of the south. Success and what goes along with it - fame and money - are arguably foremost on his mind. Against the many odds, he is able to gain that success, the odds including the Christian moral majority largely denouncing his type of music - hard driving rock 'n' roll - as that of the devil and thus anti-Christian, with one of his most vocal opponents with regard to his music being another cousin, sidewalk evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. He may derail his own success in his reckless behavior, especially falling prey to his urges with adoring young female fans, the most scandalous relationship being with J.W. and his wife Lois' thirteen year old daughter, Myra Gale Brown, who would go on imminently to become Myra Lewis, aka Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis, and who in part was looking for a protector in her fear during this nuclear age. —Huggo
- Taglines
- Jerry Lee Lewis. His music rocked the nation. His story shocked the world.
- Genres
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaJerry Lee Lewis re-recorded his songs for this film, which Dennis Quaid lip-syncs. At first, Quaid wanted to record his version of the songs over Lewis' objections, and did. Lewis was surprised at how good he was, and at one point it was proposed that Lewis do half the songs and Quaid half. When Quaid heard the new re-recordings done by Lewis, he changed his mind, and agreed that all the songs should be done by Lewis.
- GoofsThe song "Great Balls Of Fire" is shown climbing the Billboard charts to number one. The song only made it to number two.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Jerry Lee Lewis: Well, if I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano!
Top review
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
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
helpful•367
- sddavis63
- Sep 3, 2001
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Velike vatrene kocije
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $16,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $13,741,060
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,807,986
- Jul 2, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $13,741,060
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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