is a 1989 American biographical drama film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis.

[3] The film depicts the early career of Lewis, from his rise to rock-and-roll stardom to his controversial marriage to his 13-year-old cousin that led to his downfall.

Until the scandal of the marriage depreciated his image, many had thought Lewis would supplant Elvis Presley as the "King of Rock and Roll" in the 1950s.

As Jerry Lee rises to the top of the charts with hits such as "Crazy Arms", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", and "Great Balls of Fire", he falls in love with Myra Gale Brown (Winona Ryder), the 12-year-old daughter of his first cousin and bass player J. W. Brown (John Doe), and eventually marries her (eloping to Mississippi), much to the anger and chagrin of her parents.

Jerry Lee's other relationship is that with second cousin and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin) who, during this period, was a struggling Pentecostal preacher.

The caption preceding the closing credits reads, "Jerry Lee Lewis is playing his heart out somewhere in America tonight."

[4] Director Jim McBride admitted that it was never his intention to tie his film to the facts, and stated, "This movie does not represent itself in any way to be a historical documentary.

The critical consensus reads, "Great Balls of Fire romanticizes the more disturbing elements of Jerry Lee Lewis' controversial life story, but Dennis Quaid's crackerjack performance and a soundtrack stuffed with classic songs gives this flawed biopic some smolder".

Lewis re-recorded his music from the 1950s for the soundtrack with the title track "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "That Lucky Old Sun."

This re-recorded version was also featured in the 1993 film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Needful Things, when the character Hugh Priest (Duncan Fraser) is reminiscing about his youth as a teenager in the 1950s after trying on a jacket that looks like the one he had when he was younger.

The title track of "Great Balls Of Fire" was released as a single on 7" vinyl and CD format with either 2 or 3-tracks in various countries such as the US, UK, Netherlands, Japan and Germany with the B-side being "Breathless" or "Crazy Arms".