I saw this movie when it first came out and just happened to see it again tonight - many years later. When I first saw this I had never been a fan of Lewis. After seeing Dennis Quaid's performance, which I thought was incredible by the way, I had to get Whole Lot of Shaking Going On and Great Balls of Fire right away. They soon became party favorites that got everyone on the dance floor. I understood the true genius that embodied Jerry Lee. The movie was fun and the music was fantastic. Wynona Ryder was good as the 13 year old cousin who married him. I can't imagine ever letting my 13 year old daughter marry such a man but he was so endearing that it was hard to hate him for it. I saw Jerry Lee Lewis perform on TV and I always thought he was so crazy and obnoxious and Dennis Quaid nailed him right on the head. Alex Baldwin was an unlikely person to play cousin Jerry Faldwell but he was believable. Over all I loved this movie and it made a fan out of me.

This is quite possibly the worst performance of Dennis Quaid's career. The rubber-faced mugging he does neither looks like Jerry Lee nor does the phony "voice" he uses during this performance. His lip-syncing is always just a half-beat behind the music. Although Dennis had the wavy hair like The Killer, it wasn't long enough in the back to look like Jerry. His acting was a farce when he'd throw back his head in an apparent attempt to look arrogant. He failed. Alec Baldwin is also not very believable as Jimmy Swaggart (I actually knew the man in my youth). The storyline was okay but it could not overcome Quaid's awful acting. Especially at the airport when they are leaving England and he tells England to kiss his ass. Dennis, why did you sink so low?

Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid) is a wild young man... who certainly loves to sing, playing hard on his piano and rock & roll music. Jerry Lee wants to change the ways of Rock & Roll by playing on his piano, which most people thinks it's wouldn't work. Since Jerry Lee is ambitious and he knows the music is changing. When he recorded an demo record for a music producer Sam Phillips (Trey Wilson). Which Mr. Phillips loves as soon as he heard it. Mr. Phillips wants to make Jerry Lee is a big music star and maybe even bigger than Elvis Presley. When Jerry Lee's career hits sky high and the future looks bright for him until Jerry Lee falls in love with his underage second cousin Myra (Winona Ryder). Which Jerry Lee later married her but when the public finds out that his underage bride. He finds himself fighting for his career if not always for the better.Directed by Jim McBride (Breathless, The Big Easy) made an enjoyable brash and very board feature that has an memorable lead turn by Quaid in one of his best roles. "Great Balls of Fire" was probably the first film that doesn't take the usual Biography feature seriously. McBride's film keeps everything moving and it never slows down, even the flaws starts to show up. There's strong supporting performances by Ryder, J.W. Brown as Jerry Lee's cousin and Alec Baldwin as Jerry Lee's evangelical cousin.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (Also in Pan & Scan) and an terrific Dolby Surround 2.0 Sound (It would have been great if the sound was remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1). DVD's only special feature to this fascinating film is the original theatrical trailer. "Great Balls of Fire" was an box office disappointment, when it was release in the summer of 1989. Which it is a shame that the audiences were not interesting in this movie until it becomes an major cult classic on video. The music in this feature are excellent and even "Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story" pays some loving tribute to this movie. "Great Balls of Fire" is a one of a kind film that certainly lived on for nearly 20 years. Don't miss it. Based upon the book by Myra Lewis and Murray Silver, Jr. (****/*****).

Dennis Quaid struts around like a rooster in "Great Balls of Fire," a 1989 biopic about Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the great entertainers. Discovered by Sam Phillips, the man who discovered Elvis and Johnny Cash, Lewis came up the ranks quickly and was poised to become the King of Rock 'n' Roll when Elvis went into the Army. But the scandal that broke when it was revealed he was married to his 13-year-old cousin Myra (Winona Ryder) and was in fact a bigamist - which today would be shrugged off - just about ruined his career. Soon he was prone to violence on and off stage and imbibing in alcohol.I have always loved Jerry Lee Lewis' music, but the only thing I knew about him was that he married his cousin - so that will show you where all the publicity was focused. I had no idea that Jimmy Swaggert (played here by Alec Baldwin) was also his cousin. I was struck by the qualities he had in common with Elvis - they both were highly-charged performers with so much energy a stage couldn't hold them, both completely original, natural talents inspired by music they heard in their communities, and both were discovered by Sam Phillips. What each one was most of all was just like one of the kids that he sang to, who could pulsate, dance and let their hormones run wild with the music. Lewis remains today an electrifying performer with an unmistakable sound. His high gear "Great Balls of Fire," "Breathless," "High School Confidential," and of course, "Whole Lotta Shaking' Going' On" are unmatched.Now, how accurate was this film? Jerry Lee himself claims he never acted the way Dennis Quaid portrayed him in his life, though others say Quaid was right on. It's a little like Scottish people hearing a Scottish burr on an actor and saying, we don't talk like that when they do. I will quibble with the depiction of Sam Phillips as a snake oil salesman who, according to this script, "lost Elvis." Phillips didn't lose Elvis - his record company was too small to promote Elvis as he needed to be promoted, and Phillips badly needed the money Elvis' contract would bring. Elvis, Vernon and Gladys Presley thought they had it good - no one dreamed Elvis could accomplish what he did - so Sam Phillips could have kept Elvis with Sun for a longer period of time, but rather than stifling Presley's career, he let him go.Quaid does an excellent job as a thrilling performer who perhaps isn't the most likable person off stage - in fact, might be a little sleazy - and Ryder captures the teenage silliness beautifully. Baldwin doesn't get to do much but proselytize.The most interesting thing about "Great Balls of Fire" is its relevance today. Rock 'n' Roll was perceived as the way to complete degradation for teenagers and the performers were servants of the devil. Rap music is viewed the same way today. With rock 'n' roll, the road to degradation was a sexual one - swinging those hips and getting all charged up could only mean trouble. Today, with rap, it's the message of violence against women and attitudes towards them, the use of violence and foul language. In between, we had the schools ruling that no one could have a Beatles haircut. Maybe someday it will occur to somebody that many things can destroy a generation - war and drugs being two - but music doesn't seem to be one of them.