Product Description

They called it "the devil's music." To this, Jerry Lee Lewis whooped: "If I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano!" Dennis Quaid gives a "rousing performance" (Gene Shalit, "The Today Show") as the defiant rock 'n' roll superstar who broke all the rules. Co-starring Winona Ryder as Jerry Lee's teenage bride and Alec Baldwin as Jerry Lee's evangelical cousin Jimmy Swaggart, and featuring scorching piano and vocals re-recorded by the legendary Lewis himself, Great Balls of Fire! is a wild ride back to the early days of rock 'n' roll that will leave you "B-B-B-Breathless"! In 1956, Louisiana bad boy Jerry Lee Lewis (Quaid) moves to Memphis, determined to dethrone Elvis with his "ferocious, God-given talent." When Jerry Lee bangs out the bass chords with his feet,fans howl for more. When he finishes a performance by setting his piano ablaze, they mob the stage.But when he marries his 13-year-old second cousin Myra (Ryder)...the scandal nearly kills "The Killer's" career.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4881 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-06-04
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
Dennis Quaid's delightfully over-the-top performance dominates this 1989 biopic about the life, times, and music of rocker Jerry Lee "the Killer" Lewis. It's all here: his snazzy threads, his devil-may-care Southern charm, his mane of golden hair, his underage girlfriends (Lewis's infamous marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, played here by Winona Ryder, and its effect on his career is a big part of the story), his fascination with "the devil's music" (much to the chagrin of cousin Jimmy Swaggart, portrayed by Alec Baldwin), and of course the classic tunes like "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." Director Jim McBride plays the whole thing broadly, for laughs, much like Quaid plays Lewis. The result is tongue-in-cheek entertainment with a strong musical component, made all the more so by the fact that all the singing and playing on the soundtrack is done by Lewis himself. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Fun and over the top biopic about Jerry Lee Lewis
This comic book like biopic about singer Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid) rise to fame and subsequent fall from grace after his marriage with his 13 years old cousin Myra (a very young and very good Winona Ryder) was discovered, is probably not terribly true to life, but it is still very entertaining. Quaid happily hams it up in an over the top performance that has to do more with caricature than with acting. Alec Baldwin adds to the fun in his cameo as Jerry Lee's cousin, preacher Jimmy Swaggart. There is a nifty, idealized pop reconstruction of small town America in the 1950s. And the music, of course, is great. Best scene: staid English journalists raising a scandal when the singer and his teen wife arrive.

Jerry Lee and Dennis Quaid Rock!

Great Balls of Fire is one of my favorite movies of all time. The actors and the soundtrack are fantastic. I grew up in the fifties with Elvis and all the others, have a great collection of Elvis music, but I didn't realize Jerry Lee Lewis because of circumstances, and perhaps, because he didn't quite have the charisma of Elvis, was really quite talented and outrageous--which I love--rebel against a pseudo-traditional view and do your own music and live your life as you want. One of my favorite parts is when Dennis/Jerry Lee tells his cousin, preacher Jimmy Swaggert, Alec Baldwin playing Swaggert, if he's goin' to hell, he's goin' there playin' piano, his god-given talent. I rarely watch films more than once, but I own this one and whenever I need an uplift, I watch it again. It's esp. good the filmmaker/producer/director used Jerry Lee Lewis' own voice and music. Quaid, a brilliant actor, gives this role just the right combination of tongue-in-cheek humor and depiction of the wild man.

My Favorite movie of all time!!
I can't explain what it is about Jerry Lee Lewis. Even though I was no where near being alive during the time of his greatest success. I have been a fan of his music & antics as long as I can remember. All of my love for Jerry Lee Lewis was sealed up when I saw this movie. I remember the first time it aired on VH1 & I happened to catch it. The songs make you want to jump up & dance forever. The love story is amazing (even though you aren't sure when you become okay w/ the fact that this young woman is not only just 13 but his cousin). The story is amazing & the acting is brilliant. If you love Jerry Lee's movie then I can't imagine you wouldn't love this movie!