10 Things to Know About 'Savage Streets' (1984)

10 Things to Know About Savage Streets

10 Taglines

The tagline for Savage Streets used in newspaper ads from the time is wonderfully cheesy.

“The Streets Have Exploded with A Savage Vengeance”

9 Cherie Currie

Former Runaways singer Cherie Currie originally was cast to star in Savage Streets but for unknown reasons, Currie left the project. Blair was a last minute replacement just as the film was beginning to film.

8 Linda Blair’s Career Crossroads

Three years before Linda Blair joined the cast of Savage Streets she was busted for drugs. According to Blair she didn’t have a ‘drug problem’ and didn’t have to attend rehab but the bust nevertheless harmed reputation. She stopped getting work in TV movies leading her to seek whatever work she could find. This included Chained Heat, a film she was entirely unhappy with, and Savage Streets which she is happy with, for the most part. Mostly, at the time, Blair stated that she was just happy to be able to find work.

7 Linnea Quigley

Today Linnea Quigley is known as a popular scream queen. In 1984, she was a young actress still finding herself and she was quite intimidated when she found out she’d be working with Linda Blair. Thankfully, she has since described Blair as great to work with, “So nice” and a “great actress.” The pair bonded over their mutual involvement in animal rights causes.

6 Danny Steinmann

Director Tom Desimone was originally hired to direct Savage Streets. But, that didn’t work out. He was let go around the same time as original star Cherie Currie left the film. He was replaced by Danny Steinmann, future director of The Unseen and Friday the 13th Part 5.

5 Financial Problems

The changes behind the scenes may have had more to do with money than with creative issues. The film lost financing early on and had to scrape together enough to get back on track with a new director, several other new crew members, and a few of their remaining cast members.

4 Savage Streets Was Bigger than Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop

Savage Streets did well at the box office… in Central and South America. In parts of Mexico and South America, Savage Streets out-grossed modern blockbusters including Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop. There’s no way to know why it happened, but it did apparently happen. Allegedly, we can’t actually verify this.

3 Linda Blair Said No

Linda Blair turned down the role of Brenda at first based on her bad experience on Chained Heat. Chained Heat came out earlier in 1984 and became a hit, though Blair told people not to bother seeing it. According to Blair, the film was not the film she thought she was making. Not only did Blair say no to Savage Streets her full quote was:

“No, after that last film, you know what you can do with this script?”

She changed her mind because of backend participation. She received points on the gross of Chained Heat and made a bundle on that. And she got the same deal on Savage Streets.

2 The Kiss

One of the stranger and most memorable moments in Savage Streets was an improvisation. Villains played by Sal Landi and Robert Dyer improv’d a kiss during the rape scene and director Danny Steinmann liked it so much, he kept it in the movie.

1 Linda Blair’s Razzie Award

Sad to say, Linda Blair really earned her Razzie Award for Savage Streets. Blair’s performance is checked out at worst and half-assed at best. She comes off as embarrassingly silly throughout, whether she’s joking with her friends or being serious. Blair bugs out her eyes and puffs up her cheeks and seemingly has no idea how to play any scene she’s in.

Is it because she’s a bad actor? Or is it because she doesn’t care about this material? Hard to say. I’ve not loved her work in other performances but, genuinely, who could possibly play this material well?