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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1990s
    Movies - 1990s Movies - B 2 Mins Read

    Backdraft (1991)

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    Conceived as an expensive look at the lives of firefighters, something burned up in the process between script and final cut. In the ashes, all that remain are the fires. Anything resembling plot, character development, acting, coherence, or real people was extinguished in the lab.

    Kurt Russell and William Baldwin are handsome sibling rivals who learn to love each other in the flames. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a political activist at City Hall, and Robert De Niro, as a beleaguered fire chief, are reduced to walk-ons.

    Donald Sutherland makes a worthless guest appearance as a demented arsonist behind bars (director Ron Howard’s homage to Dr Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, no doubt).

    backdraft_002

    There are lots of red herrings, falling pipes, and exploding windowpanes, a minor mystery about the true identity of the wacko who is setting all the fires and burning down Chicago. And when the firemen stop inhaling smoke fumes, they light cigarettes and say “Fire is a living thing. It breathes, it eats, and it hates. Only way to beat it is to love it a little.”

    This is not a movie about real people. It’s a movie about uncorking the valves on fire hydrants. Pyromaniacs may love it, but the only real audience for this bomb is the dogs who chase fire trucks.

    Stephen McCaffrey
    Kurt Russell
    Brian McCaffrey
    William Baldwin
    Donald Rimgale
    Robert De Niro
    Jennifer Vaitkus
    Jennifer Jason Leigh
    John Adcox
    Scott Glenn
    Helen McCaffrey
    Rebecca De Mornay
    Tim Krizminski
    Jason Gedrick
    Martin Swayzak
    J T Walsh
    Ronald Bartel
    Donald Sutherland
    Chief John Fitzgerald
    Tony Mockus Sr
    Grindle
    Cedric Young
    Ray Santos
    Juan Ramirez
    Nightengale
    Kevin M Casey
    Schmidt
    Jack McGee
    Pengelly
    Mark Wheeler
    Washington
    Richar Lexsee
    Sean McCaffrey
    Beep Iams

    Director
    Ron Howard

    Video

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