About the time Myra Gale Brown would have been worrying about the hydrogen bomb destroying mankind, I was in parochial school doing duck and cover drills for the same reason. So even while Jerry Lee Lewis was becoming the Wild Man of Rock and Roll, I don't recall what a stir he was causing with his 'savage animal rhythms' back in 1957. What I do know is that it's impossible to sit still with a whole lotta shaking going on, and the rock and roll world is a lot better off for Jerry Lee having made his contribution.
With that said, the film comes across as somewhat disappointing. Maybe it's Dennis Quaid's pouty and exaggerated portrayal, or maybe it's the severely restricted view one gets of virtually a single year in the life of the rock star. Perhaps a treatment in the style of "The Buddy Holly Story" or "La Bamba" might have fleshed out the singer a little better, instead of subjecting us to the one dimensional character that appears here from open to close. Some reviewers on this board insist that this was Jerry Lee right from the get-go, but I find it hard to believe that his life wasn't more nuanced than the picture we get here. Not only that, but if comparisons were going to be drawn along side Elvis and Chuck Berry, then maybe we could have seen some interaction between Jerry and his contemporaries instead of the flip brush off he gave them in the story. Jerry and Berry jamming would have been a whole lot more fun to watch.
But if you dig Jerry Lee's style of manic raunch and roll, you won't hear any better than what's on display in "Great Balls of Fire". Jerry Lee himself provides the vocal power to Quaid's ferocious delivery, the only part of his over the top performance that rings true throughout the film.
With that said, the film comes across as somewhat disappointing. Maybe it's Dennis Quaid's pouty and exaggerated portrayal, or maybe it's the severely restricted view one gets of virtually a single year in the life of the rock star. Perhaps a treatment in the style of "The Buddy Holly Story" or "La Bamba" might have fleshed out the singer a little better, instead of subjecting us to the one dimensional character that appears here from open to close. Some reviewers on this board insist that this was Jerry Lee right from the get-go, but I find it hard to believe that his life wasn't more nuanced than the picture we get here. Not only that, but if comparisons were going to be drawn along side Elvis and Chuck Berry, then maybe we could have seen some interaction between Jerry and his contemporaries instead of the flip brush off he gave them in the story. Jerry and Berry jamming would have been a whole lot more fun to watch.
But if you dig Jerry Lee's style of manic raunch and roll, you won't hear any better than what's on display in "Great Balls of Fire". Jerry Lee himself provides the vocal power to Quaid's ferocious delivery, the only part of his over the top performance that rings true throughout the film.