Great Balls of Fire! (film)
Great Balls of Fire! (1989) is an American biographical film, directed by Jim McBride and features Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. It was written by McBride and Jack Baran, based on an autobiography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr.
The picture executive producers were Michael Grais, Mark Victor, and Art Levinson, and was produced by Adam Fields.
The early life of Jerry Lee Lewis when he became a teen idol and married his 13-year-old cousin Myra is depicted in this film. Many thought Lewis would supplant Elvis Presley as the "King of Rock and Roll" in the 1950s.
CD Track
Listing
Great Balls Of Fire
High School Confidential
Big Legged Woman
- Booker T. Laury
I'm On Fire
Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston And The Delta
Cats
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - Valerie
Wellington
Breathless
Crazy Arms - Jerry Lee Lewis/Dennis Quaid
Wild
One
That Lucky Old Sun
Great Balls Of Fire (Original Version)
Cast
Television host Steve Allen & "The Killer."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
Peter Cook - British reporter
Spoiler
The film tells the story of Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid), nicknamed "The Killer", during the early years of rock and roll, 1956-1958. Lewis is shown as a mixed-up person: a skilled performer with little discipline, an alcoholic, and a caring husband who sometimes beats his wife.
As Lewis rises to the top of the charts with such hits as "Crazy Arms," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and "Great Balls of Fire!" he falls in love with his 13-year-old second cousin Myra (Winona Ryder), and eventually marries her.
There is a sub-plot of Lewis' relationship with his cousin, the preacher Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin). Jimmie's career keeps him in constant conflict with his cousin's wild life of rock and roll, and brings out some funny exchanges. Lewis once responds to Swaggart:
Don't
thank Jesus, thank Jerry Lee Lewis!
When a British reporter (Peter Cook) discovers
he is married to his teenage cousin, Lewis is condemned as a molester and a pervert
by the public.
The movie ends after Lewis learns he is about to become a father, as his 13-year-old wife tells him she has become pregnant.
The closing title card reads: "Jerry Lee Lewis is playing his heart out somewhere in America tonight."
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