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4/28/2014

Backdraft (1991) - Ron Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie



French poster for Ron Howard's Backdraft

QUICK REVIEW:

A pair of brothers in the Chicago Fire Dept. walk in their father's footsteps, when a series of terrible fires are set off by a crazed arsonist.
Gregory Widen's (Highlander (1986)) script is so idiotically thick with clichés, and Ron Howard's (Frost/Nixon (2008)) direction so disengaged and loose that not even the many fine actors involved can save the messy Backdraft.
William Baldwin's (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) character - one of the two leads - seems even stupider than himself, and the ending of the film is overly long and twaddling in sentimentality.
Backdraft has solid photography, - by Mikael Salomon (Hard Rain (1998), director), - and impressive fire scenes, but it's a bad film.

Related review:

Ron HowardA Beautiful Mind (2001) - John Nash given the Epic Treatment


Brothers (in the film) Kurt Russell and William Baldwin in their fire uniforms


Watch the overly long trailer for the overly long Backdraft here

Budget: 75 mil. $
Box office: 152.3 mil. $
= Flop

What are your thought on Backdraft?
Ron Howard has had his highs and lows; and firefighters are rarely the stuff of great movies, - what is his best and worst films in your opinion?

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