DeuceWild_77
Even with its flaws, "Backdraft" is still one of Ron Howard's best films that stood the test of time and still delivers as an unique piece of entertainment set in the world of the courageous firefighters.Written by Gregory Widen (who penned "Highlander"), himself an ex-fireman that based the story in real life facts, this was an unusual movie for its time, an action packed big scale epic melodrama with the fire itself as the main character portrayed here as a somekind of a live entity escaping to the control of its own arsonist.Howard directs it with a great sense of visual impact, especially during the fire scenes, and led his actors to do their best for the roles, even if the screenplay kind of underwhelms the female parts envolved.The special effects are outstanding, even for nowadays standards, it was nominated for 3 Oscars: Sound, Sound Effects Editing & Visual Effects, but lost to "Terminator 2 - Judgment Day", the big technical winner of the year, but in retrospective, "Backdraft" would be more deserving, it totally embraces the viewer in the heat, the smoke, the flames and the sweat like as if we were there battling alongside the firefighters.Besides the action parts, it works well as a family drama: the antagonism between the two orphan brothers, whose father was killed 20 years before in the line of duty and their messed up' private lifes, and also as a mystery / thriller / 'whodunit', even if Howard keeps it in a moderate light mode, yet emotional & soulful almost resembling a modern Greek tragedy.The strong (and well directed) cast helps to elevate the film to another level with Kurt Russell, in the movie that saved his almost dead career at the time after several box office disasters in a row, leading it in the dual role of Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey (the older brother) & Dennis McCaffrey (their father, in a tiny cameo at the beginning). Kurt was always a great actor that could do everything from comedy to drama to musical or horror, but his critical breakthrough role as a 'serious' performer came with "Backdraft" delivering a skillfully constructed performance, as well human and sincere, that entranced the public and caught the attention of the critics.Billy Baldwin, after his big brother Alec declined the role, stepped in as the younger McCaffrey (in a role originally written for Tom Cruise) and even if he was still a bit green with his acting ("Backdraft" was only his 4th movie and 3rd as a prominent character), he fared better than most critics said and that wasn't an easy task for him trying to standout, acting alongside Russell or De Niro in about 80 per cent of his scenes in the movie.Scott Glenn was always a kind of roughed cowboy, but a rather mysterious & charming individual as well and he was well cast as John "Axe" Adcox, with Howard filming him in a dubious manner, sometimes only as a background character, removing his focus and playing with the audience making him suspicious or just a 'red herring'.Jennifer Jason Leigh & Rebecca De Mornay play the love interests for the McCaffrey's brothers with Jennifer in a kind of a bland role (due to the writing, not the actress herself) and Rebecca, with a couple of good scenes almost all with Russell, fares a little better.Donald Sutherland and Robert De Niro reunite 15 years after "1900", the epic tale they did together for Bernardo Bertolucci in the mid-70's, with Donald playing the sociopath arsonist Ronald Bartel in a 2 scenes' cameo that the viewer will never forget and De Niro, surprisingly restrained (well, except for 1 or 2 scenes...) playing the investigator Donald Rimgale, knew his place as a supporting player and did not try to upstage the protagonists.Jason Gedrick, the cocky hot shot from the cult movie "Iron Eagle" (the "Top Gun"'s rival in the summer of '86) and the late great character actor, J. T. Walsh as the Mayor Marty Swayzak, complete the main cast which also featured ex-firefighters turned character actors such as Kevin Casey, Jack McGee, Cedric Young or Richard Lexsee.Last, but not the least, the late Hans Zimmer's music score is a piece of outstanding orchestration which was criminally snubbed for an Academy Award nomination back in '91.In short, "Backdraft" is an artistically and technically (almost) perfect achievement, a well paced firefighter's opera that is emotionally endearing as much as visually fascinating and even if the script tends to be a bit flimsy in the characters' motivations and the direction focused too much on the fire and its incredible special effects and less in the development of some of its characters, it stills holds very well and it's probably one of the best movies that came out in the 90's.As a side note, the original theatrical trailer is one of the best ever made and several quotes from this movie are still often used nowadays (well, it's a Kurt Russell movie after all...) such as "Look at him... That's my brother goddammit !"; "Let me go, Bull !!"; "You go. We go."; I'm Brian." / "I'm sorry." among lots of others.Recommended !!
Leofwine_draca
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.
Tweekums
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.
