Fire with Fire - Verbotene Leidenschaft

When I saw this movie for the first time I was going through a hard time. I was a lonely teenager and I felt that love would never come to me. This movie made me dream and believe that unexpectedly love would appear in my life. Joe is the perfect man; he is beautiful, romantic and so in love with life.... Lisa is also beautiful and I think all teenagers would like to be like her. They live a story who talks about freedom. A love without frontiers that always win... it's a simple movie, but the beauty lives in simple things. I'm sorry that the sound track is not available. If anybody loves this movie like me, contact me...

Since it's not clear which came first the juvenile offender boot camp, or the Catholic school for girls, I don't know whom to blame. But the mere fact that these two facilities are only a few hundred feet away from each other screams, "TROUBLE BREWING!" What could possibly be a more dangerous combination? A toxic waste dump next to a farm? A daycare center next to an attack dog training school? Or a nuclear plant next to an artillery range? Anyway... despite its unrealistic plot premise this really is a great forbidden love film.

Craig Sheffer stars as a hunk from the wrong side of the tracks now imprisoned in an "honor" boot camp without any wall or fences. Come on! That's just too tempting. Give them at least one fence with razor wire.

The camp's ONLY security is Jon Polito randomly threatening people with his double barrel shot gun. Shockingly the young Jon Polito isn't fat but he's still bald. Much like Patrick Stewart and Kevin Spacey he never had hair at any point in his life.

Since this is Hollywood only 10% of the prisoners are token blacks. Everyone else is a clean shaven English speaking Caucasian. Or perhaps the camp represents those criminals too clean to be in a real jail where everyone is black, has AIDS, and is gang affiliated.

The camp doesn't really seem that bad as we are never shown any horrors of prison life like gang rapes, beatings, or harsh conditions. Again, it's unclear if this is the film's intention to show a nice camp or just careless for not showing any hardships? Craig Sheffer predictably falls for Princess Irulan of 'Dune' (Virginia Madsen) during a dance arranged by the nuns for their sex starved teenage girls and the camps' criminal teenage boys. Again, this is just asking for trouble! The dance scene will go down in history as the only film to feature Prince's 'Computer Blue' besides 'Purple Rain' itself.

It's love at first sight for Sheffer and Madsen whom predictably agree to escape their respective prisons and meet later for a tryst at... a mausoleum. I've heard about people being too cheap to get a motel room but a mausoleum is just ridiculous. Are they trying to put on a show for the people inside? Sex in a mausoleum is just plain wrong even if both partners are alive.

Sheffer and Madsen's run off into the sunset also provides for even more unrealistic sequences, such as their race through the school electronic gate. See? Even the school has a gate. The boot camp should learn from the nuns. And Madsen failing to hear a helicopter approach until it's only a few feet away from her.

As I said, don't try and take this film too seriously otherwise you won't enjoy it. It's cute 80s fun.

Two teenagers fall in love--one is in a prison camp (Craig Sheffer), the other is at a Catholic school (Virginia Madsen). He escapes and they run with the law in hot pursuit...

I was one of the few who saw this theatrically back in 1986. I had seen Sheffer and Madsen in movies before. I knew they were good actors (although Madsen is a little better) and very physically attractive (especially Sheffer). The whole audience consisted on me and a bunch of teenage boys (I was 24 at the time). The guys hated it but I loved it! The soundtrack, the direction, the acting--all were just great. Sheffer and Madsen also worked well with each other which helped. Purportedly Madsen couldn't stand Sheffer but you'd never know it watching this movie.

It was being pushed by the studio as an updated version of "Romeo & Juliet" (the similarities are there) without the unhappy ending. But with no stars to "sell" it this died quickly and disappeared. That's too bad--it's one of the better teen romances of the 80s. See it if you get a chance.

This was a great movie made better by a brilliant performance from Virginia Madsen. She was the star of the movie beyond doubt. Virginia plays a girl in a Catholic school who falls in love with a boy from a prison camp. She organizes a dance at her school just to meet him, and when she does, sparks fly all around. It's a shame that there was'nt a soundtrack that was released with this film because it has some catchy numbers. Fire With Fire is easily one of Virginia Madsen's best films. Not only does she look more beautiful than ever but she also displays her tremendous acting ability.

I really loved this movie when I saw it back in 2000. A friend and I had rented it and watched it over and over. If you love romance movies, then you should watch it especially for the scene at the school dance. The music playing, the whole setup. That was probably one of the best scenes in a romance movie to date. Sure, the acting wasn't Oscar worthy, but they did their part in making you believe they would have done anything for each other. I am a big fan of Virginia Madsen and she really did steel the scenes she was in, but Craig Sheffer is wonderful to look at and plays a great "bad boy". To all those hopeless romantics out there, its a fun one for a rainy Saturday afternoon.