8The Tar HeelThursday, July 13, 1989
Arts and Features
The rose amid faOD of aim American Beeend
By JOHN BLAND
Assistant Editor
The attitude taken by the filmakers
of "Great Balls of Fire" is to show a
portrait of a man who is an immensely
talented jerk. Hey, they did it with
"Amadeus," why can't they do it with
Jerry Lee Lewis?
Because Jerry Lee Lewis is NOT
Mozart
"Great Balls of Fire" is the semi
biographical movie about the early
career of the "Killer" (played by
Dennis Quaid) and his marriage to
his 13-year-old cousin Myra (Winona
Ryder).
The reason I say "semi-biographical"
is because while it deals with
real people, real places and real events,
it's often hard to tell if those people,
places and events are truthful or col
ored by the hazy shade of legend.
Director Jim McBride, late of the
critically-acclaimed The Big Easy,"
has chosen to concentrate on the
"legendary" aspects of Lewis' life.
He tries to walk the tightrope be--tween
the none-too-pleasant facts and
the bright light of a man who "shines
like gold" when he sits at the key
boards. As a result, a film which could
have been a quite powerful study of
a man blessed with a great talent in
stead becomes a high-powered but
self-parodying fable of a jerk.
"Great Balls of Fire" zeroes in on
the years when Jerry Lee Lewis looked
as if he was going to snatch the rock
'n' roll crown away from Elvis the
King: 1956 through '58. For those
two frenetic years Jerry Lee rose to
become the crown prince of rock V
roll only to be brought down by his
anarchic behavior off the stage.
Plotwise, the film pops the clutch
early and gets the audience into the
life of the "Killer" from the word go.
Lewis moves to Memphis from the
small town of Ferriday, La., and in
with his bass-playing cousin and
family man J.W. Brown (John Doe,
founder of the rock group X). His
daughter Myra is fascinated by the
man who she first sees banging on a
piano in her living room when she
returns home from school one after
noon. Flirting unabashedly, her at
traction to Lewis is at once sexual
and innocent.
When Lewis and Brown hook up
a record deal with the Phillips broth
ers, John (Stephen Tobolowsky) and
Sam (the late Trey Wilson), at the
legendary Sun Studios, they begin
the climb up the pop charts.
"You take one black hand," Sam
Phillips tells him, "and one white
hand, and whatta you got? You got
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As Jerry Lee's fame grows,
sparked by the success of "Whole
Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," so does
his attraction to Myra. Unfortunately,
this is where the film has a bad ten
dency to slip into self-parody.
McBride overdubs cheesy organ
music (sort of like a bad '50s soap
opera) during Myra's and Jerry Lee's
more intimate conversations, thus
making them seem trivial.
Inevitably the two elope to Mis
sissippi. When J.W. finds out he goes
to Sun Studios with a gun to kill
Jerry Lee, but Sam Phillips, himself
faced with a public relations disas
ter, calms him down and hushes up
the story.
But the marriage is bound to be
discovered sooner or later, and on a
tour of England, Myra lets the cat
out of the bag to the vicious English
press. The public is repulsed, the tour
bombs and Jerry Lee is forced to
return to the United States, where he
insists his fans will understand. Guess
what?
The film ends with a defiant ges
ture, a repudiation of repentance.
Whatever Jerry Lee has done, the
film says, rock 'n' roll forgives him.
It is odd that of all the fascinating
incidents and relationships which
have marked Lewis' life, McBride
chose to concentrate on only two
years. It would have been interesting
to see more focus put on Lewis' re
lationship with his cousin, evangel
ist Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin),
here represented as a one-dimensional
goody-goody who thinks no impure
thoughts.
This film does not moralize. Mar
riage to a 13-year-old cousin is no
big deal to Lewis, and his flippant
attitude towards this public relations
fiasco makes him deserve the dam
age to his career.
As Lewis, Dennis Quaid struts
around like a proud cock-of-the-walk,
conceited in every sense of the word
and perhaps a bit psychotic. His Jerry
Lee is a man whose brains are in his
fingers. Like the film itself, Quaid
overdoes it most of the time, some-
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Dennis Quaid tickles - no, beats the hell out of - the ivories
times coming off like Deputy Dawg
from Hell, but his energy is right in
more intense moments.
Winona Ryder holds the film to
gether as Myra. At turns innocent
and touching, flirty and sexy, she gives
her role the right mix of bewilder
ment and straightforwardness that the
film lacks. She is definitely a talent
to watch.
McBride fills this film with great
cameos. Mojo Nixon, in his first dra
matic role, plays Jerry Lee's drum
mer James Van Eaton, and Fabulous
Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie
Vaughn is his guitarist Roland James.
Joe Bob Briggs appears for about 30
seconds as DJ Dewey "Daddy-O"
Phillips.
By far the most successful ele
ment of "Great Balls of Fire" is the
music. McBride has done an excel
lent job re-recording Jerry Lee's hits,
and they sound great in Dolby Ste
reo. McBride also gets the late '50s
look down, from the cars to the clothes
to the houses.
But "Great Balls of Fire" is a film
with a split personality.
J)
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