Backdraft (1991)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

BACKDRAFT is a blockbusting firefighter thriller that involves a couple of warring siblings who are caught up in a plot involving a mysterious arsonist with a vendetta against a group of seemingly unconnected men. The film suffers a little from being a bit overlong and a bit too melodramatic, with too much time given over to the family dynamics when more thrills and spills would have worked. Still, it's well worth a look, not least for the fiery set-pieces which are nicely staged by a then-youthful Ron Howard. William Baldwin performs well in a rare leading role, although his thunder is stolen by a brash Kurt Russell and a strong supporting cast that includes J.T. Walsh, Robert De Niro, and Scott Glenn.

Ron Howard's 1991 action-drama "Backdraft" is one of the actor-turned-director's earliest and most magnificent of action-drama epics, in that it shows Howard's conceptual grasp of the story, the characters and more characteristic of much of his later work, his technical mastery of visually impressive (if not necessarily groundbreaking) special effects work - as well as an incredible technical accuracy of his subject matter (well, about as accurate as a movie such as this can possibly be).Human performances often tend to get lost in a spectacle such as "Backdraft," but the ensemble cast (some of whom surely do get more screen-time than others) and their respective personal dramas and complex relationships are able to match the spectacular pyrotechnic special effects sequences, which still hold up incredibly well 26 years later and have yet to be topped by today's overblown CGI special effects-laden blockbuster vehicles."Backdraft" is a big-budget action story about firefighters - and also written by a former firefighter, "Highlander" Gregory Widen - specifically those in the Chicago Fire Department, Station 17, the toughest "smoke-eaters" in the city. The film's title, as you may not know, refers to the real-life phenomenon of when a fire breaks out in a confined area, deprives itself of oxygen (but does not die out, it gets "snuffed"), and explodes with a violent fury when suddenly exposed to a massive rush of air.A mysterious serial arsonist is loose in the city, setting deadly "backdraft" fires that are so powerful, they blow themselves out long before the first fire engine shows up to try to extinguish the raging blaze. This arsonist goes to elaborate lengths to ensure the fires burn themselves out, while also making them look like terrible accidents. These same "backdraft" fires ultimately claim the lives of three men, but no one can establish a connection between them and why they were killed in the first place.But this murder mystery aspect of the story is just one of many stories being told here. The real meat of "Backdraft" concerns quarreling brothers Stephen McCaffrey (Kurt Russell) and his younger brother Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin). As a child in 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their father on what was a routine firefighting job, and he even made the Pulitzer Prize-winning cover of a famous issue of "Life" magazine a year afterward. 20 years later, Stephen is a lieutenant at Station 17, and Brian has just graduated from the fire academy after failing out of several other professions; firefighting appears to be his one true calling, but he remains in the shadow of his older brother. Stephen manages to pull some strings in order to get Brian assigned to Station 17 with him and veteran firefighter John Adcox (Scott Glenn), who also knew and served with their late father and was like an uncle to the two boys.The two men have a strained relationship dating back to the death of their father and the way that their lives took wildly divergent directions as the years went by. Stephen shows a blatant disregard for well-established safety procedures, charging head-first, and mask-less, into fires where obviously any number of things can go wrong. This worries his teammates and has even caused Stephen to separate from his wife Helen (Rebecca De Mornay), who fears his reckless and dangerous ways and the effect it could have on their young son. Eventually, tensions come to a head between Stephen and Brian, and Brian quits Station 17 and, through his former flame Jennifer Vaitkus (Jennifer Jason Leigh), he goes to work with arson investigator Donald Rimgale (Robert De Niro), who is currently investigating the string of serial arsons. They turn to an incarcerated pyromaniac, Ronald Bartel (ever-creepy Donald Sutherland), whose M.O. provides them some valuable clues as to the killer's identity (a la, Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs," which came out earlier that same year).As I stated earlier, "Backdraft" is a masterpiece of technical pyrotechnic special effects wizardry. The film portrays fire as a living entity, one that "lives, breathes, and kills and the only way to truly kill it, is to love it a little." I've yet to see another film in the years since "Backdraft's" release in 1991 to bring fire to life on the screen the way that this movie does. This goes to show that Ron Howard was by no means working with an inexperienced special effects crew - Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), of all places. If anyone could get the job done and done right, it was ILM. One of the most eerie, yet spectacular sequences involves a flame being moved by air rushing from an open vent, like a snake reaching for the ceiling.Having seen the film today for the first time in several years, I'm still gosh-wowed at how "Backdraft" was made, the firefighting training that the performers surely had to endure, and the way that the pyrotechnics were achieved as to look realistic enough to film. The picture still looks great - Mikael Solomon's crystal-clear cinematography still holds up well today - and the picture looks even better on Blu-ray DVD, which is what I watched the film on."Backdraft" is an excellent action-drama that also doubles as a thrilling whodunit. If there was ever a better movie about firefighters, then it hasn't been made by Hollywood.9/10

The McCaffreys are a firefighting family; in 1971 Captain Dennis McCaffrey died in a fire that was witnessed by Brian, his younger son. Twenty years later Brain has joined the Chicago Fire Department; his older brother Lt Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey is unsure that Brian has what it takes so arranges for them to work together so he can keep an eye on his younger brother. Against this background a city alderman has been making cutbacks in the Fire Department which the firemen believe are putting lives in danger. There is also an unusual arsonist at work in the city; he is setting fires that kill the first person to open the door to them but are then blown out by the blast before the firemen arrive. Captain Donald "Shadow" Rimgale is investigating these fires and after one too many disagreements with his brother Brian joins his team. As they learn more about the fires and the victims it becomes apparent that the culprit could be a little too close to home.The first thing to say about this film is that the numerous fire scenes look fantastic… even if they do lack the thick smoke one would expect in such fires; obviously it wouldn't make such a good film if one couldn't see anything! The story is a good mix of firefighting action and a mystery about who is starting the fires and why. The cast is full of well know faces who do an impressive job; most notably William Baldwin and Kurt Russell as Brian and Stephen McCaffrey and Robert DeNero as Captain Rimgale. There are of course a few clichés along the way, most notably the fighting brothers who are reconciled in the face of danger at the end, but these don't really detract from ones enjoyment. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting a good action film; especially if you'd like to see protagonists who are something other than cops, spies or members of the military.

Trying to re-watch Ron Howard's "Backdraft" on Netflix. I've never seen a movie with so many clichés -- dead father big brother clichés; ex-girlfriend clichés; camaraderie clichés; dead best friend clichés; beer drinking firefighter clichés; evil budget cutting corrupt politician clichés; creepy arsonist clichés; separated wife and sad son clichés; even the city of Chicago is a friggin' cliché. -- But worth it just to watch the fire special effects. And this is from 1991 before digital visual effects. I remembered not liking this when it came out -- I saw the pan and scan version on VHS. -- It is much better in letterbox on the large hi-def screen. Ron Howard is a great filmmaker but this is probably his worst film ever.