The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJerry Lee Lewis re-recorded his songs for this film, which Dennis Quaid lip-syncs. At first, Quaid wanted to record his version of the songs over Lewis' objections, and did. Lewis was surprised at how good he was, and at one point it was proposed that Lewis do half the songs and Quaid half. When Quaid heard the new re-recordings done by Lewis, he changed his mind, and agreed that all the songs should be done by Lewis.
- GoofsThe song "Great Balls of Fire" is shown climbing the Billboard charts to number one. The song only made it to number two.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Jerry Lee Lewis: Well, if I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano!
Featured review
From some of the reviews here, I get the feeling many viewers of this film have never seen a Jerry Lee Lewis performance, much less have ever seen him offstage. Well, I can tell you, Dennis Quaid has the man down to pitch perfect. But it isn't just a great impersonation. Beneath every nuance and gesture is the frenzied heart and mind that probably would never have been able to function outside of the venue of rock and roll. Jerry Lee was the white man's Little Richard. He had rock and roll in his blood and he was BORN outrageous! He also made Elvis Presley look like a wind-up doll. `Great Balls of Fire' captures the essence of Jerry Lee's music, especially in the musical' scene with the kids outside the high school. Rock and Roll breaks the rules, so why not have a film that breaks the rules by throwing in a musical number that obviously has no backup band? Those who have seen the high school rock and roll movies like `High School Confidential' and `Rock Rock Rock' will appreciate this spirited ode to them. Winona Ryder does a pretty good job for Winona Ryder, and it's fun to see John Doe (of the L.A. punk band `X') playing the somewhat stymied father of little Myra Gale. This film is not a biopic, it's a rock and roll movie, which is what the King of rock and roll (as far as I'm concerned) deserves. Is he a bad, bad man for marrying his thirteen-year-old cousin? Is it anyone's business? The marriage lasted longer then most marriages these days do. Even if it hadn't, I think people can be capable of respecting the artist and his music even if that artist's lifestyle offends them. That's this film's point of view, so no doubt, there will be viewers who will take offense. But to set the record straight, the whole world did not turn their back on Jerry Lee when the news got out about his marriage to his cousin. There were thousands of fans who actually embraced him more BECAUSE their parents and authorities hated him. And then there were just the fans (like myself) who will always love his music and audacious energy at the piano, and have decided to leave judgment of his personal life to whatever entity is in charge of such things.
- How long is Great Balls of Fire!?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Velike vatrene kocije
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $16,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $13,741,060
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,807,986
- Jul 2, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $13,741,060
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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