Backdraft (1991)

Directed by Oscar-winner Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Parenthood), this remains one of the most celebrated big budget Hollywood films about what is likely one of the more cinematic professions.....FIREFIGHTERS.  It tells the seemingly simple story of two firefighting brothers in Chicago played by Billy Baldwin (Sliver, Flatliners) and Kurt Russell (The Thing, Tombstone) and their struggles to work together.  Not only are they struggling with the dangers of their professions but also the women in the lives played by Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female, The Hateful Eight) and Rebecca DeMornay (The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Risky Business), along with an ongoing series of fatal pre-planned fires killing various real estate developers around town, which have the lead arson investigator (Robert DeNiro) on the case.  This sprawling action adventure which has sometimes been referred to as "Top Gun for Firefighters" also co-stars Scott Glenn, JT Walsh, and Donald Sutherland among several others.    

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

BACKDRAFT – 1991           Directed by Ron Howard

Starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert DeNiro, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Glenn, Rebecca De Mornay, Jason Gedrick, JT Walsh, Anthony Mockus Sr, Cedric Young, Juan Ramirez, Kevin Casey, Jack McGee, and Donald Sutherland

Genre: Top Gun With Firefighters (Audio clip)

"Look at him....that's my BROTHER GODDAMIT!!!"

Even seeing this in theaters at the impressionable age of 16, I had to LAUGH at that line of dialogue uttered by Kurt Russell's Stephen as he lays severely injured on a platform in an open factory floor bursting with flames and smoke....punctuated by some overwrought notes coming from my favorite composer, Hans Zimmer. It's a genuinely funny moment and I remember not being the ONLY person in the audience laughing. 

Of course it's not MEANT to be funny nor is much of the rest of Backdraft....especially the moment immediately preceding this one which also never fails to make me smile: the melodramatic faces being made by Billy Baldwin’s Brian as he trains his hose on new flare-ups he sees on the nearby floor as if to say, "F@$k YOU fire - YOU'RE not the boss of me!!!" 😆He’s also saddled with much of the film’s most cheesiest dialogue.

Backdraft always struck me as a movie which was aspiring to be "Top Gun for Firefighters"....and lord knows that Top Gun had its share of unintentional comedy too. :) Unfortunately Backdraft was also saddled with a more MOR director and no matter how you spin it….Billy Baldwin just can’t match the movie star presence of Tom Cruise.  Though to be fair, Howard tries REALLY hard to ape Scott's style throughout with help from DP Mikael Solomon who helps give all of the visuals the SAME kind of tobacco-filter look with intense, saturated colors along the lines of earlier Scott films like Top Gun and previous episode Days of Thunder.  He also does come close a couple times mostly via montages which feel somewhat similar to ‘90’s beer commercials.  Unfortunately, he also has WAY too many endings. This film does NOT need to be almost 140 minutes and you really feel it towards the end. So what results is a more bloated film (25 minutes longer) than Top Gun and with a much less charismatic star at its center too. And yet....I actually prefer Backdraft, why?? 🤔

In a word....FIRE. It's just more exciting and interesting watching these guys fight fire than seeing pretty boys flying fighter jets and maybe that's just me. The fire sequences are impressive to say the least - the folks at ILM truly outdid themselves staging this stuff and credit is also due to Howard (and DP Solomon) for filming it all cleanly along with never leaving any doubt as to where our main characters are within the action.

It also helped that Howard has filled his supporting cast with big-time actors who (besides JJL disappointingly) have all come to play!  The late, great JT Walsh once again delivers the sleaze and corruption with aplomb as the local alderman. Scott Glenn proves again how good he is at balancing warmth and intimidation as Axe, the firefighting Lieutenant with a dark secret. Rebecca DeMorney has some genuinely affecting moments as Helen who’s ex-wife to Kurt’s Stephen…..even though she's saddled with a pretty thankless role.

And then there are my two favorites: DeNiro playing Rimgale, the lead arson investigator and Sutherland as the now-convicted arsonist Bartel who he helped put in jail….and helps KEEP in jail too.  These characters feel like they're in a different movie....but a more compelling one at that! The late, great Sutherland gives off the Hannibal Lector vibes whose only scenes are waxing about his morbid fascinations from a prison cell.....hmmm, yeah I remember it feeling EVEN weirder seeing this in a theater just a few months after Silence of the Lambs first came out. :o Which turned out to be purely coincidental as this film was already in the can by the time 'Lambs came out....

And you have all of these cool Chicago locations which I'm always a sucker for....especially noticing that ONE particular west side abandoned factory location is not only used for two different factory fire set-pieces (set at different locations in the movie) in this movie, but is also the same area where the massive hospital explosion from The Dark Knight was filmed. 🤔

Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Now did I mention that this score was composed by Hans “The Zimm” Zimmer?  It’s one of his earliest just as he was starting to make a name for himself – a truly bombastic mixture of orchestra and synthesizer with some genuine pulse-pounding base.  Of course, the actual MAIN theme for Backdraft which we hear throughout is sufficiently rousing. (Audio clip) 

Not particularly subtle I know, it’s just sounds SO star-spangled awesome you could see them using it for commercials for the fire department….was that ever a thing, even back in the ‘90’s?  Not sure. But it’s the kind of music which makes you want to suit up and SLIDE down that pole.  Regardless, I personally enjoy this score most when it kicks upa  notch for the increasingly intense build-up to the climax when Stephen AND Axe are dispatched on ONE more mission to take out a major factory blaze….and Brian hitches a ride on the engine behind them.  Now we only get to hear this full selection on the EXTENDED score for Backdraft, this track is called, “The Arsonist Unveiled.” (Audio clip) 

However THE most recognizable portion of this score is actually more well-known for being used SO prominently for the main trailer for a DIFFERENT film which would come out a couple of years later from Universal Pictures.   I’m referring to Jurassic Park, the second half of that trailer when the dino-action REALLY kicks in.  The strings and percussion used for these theme are SO iconic that Universal would also bring them back for the trailer for the Jurassic sequel a few years later, The Lost World.  AND this music is also used to glorious effect when Stephen, Brian, and Axe are on the roof of this factory…..they were arguing until UH-OH the roof starts to collapse under big gashes of flames.  Not only genuinely impressive action filmmaking here on display but with JUST the right music to accompany it – this track is fittingly called, “Burn It All.” And YES you would be forgiven for having assumed it was done for Jurassic Park.  (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

I mean take your pick here…sorry but I just never found Billy Baldwin to be NEARLY the actor that his older brother Alec was and his performances in Sliver, Flatliners, and ESPECIALLY this which was supposed to be his BIG break….pretty much cemented that.  And it’s most obvious in his many scenes interacting with his characters brother – Kurt Russel just acts him off the screen.  Hey nothing against Billy personally…from all accounts, he might actually be the most decent and level-headed of the Baldwin brothers  from Massapequa, NY. (Audio clip) 

However the TRULY guilty culprit for preventing this film from reaching its full potential still has to be the screenwriter….Gregory Widen, it’s a genuinely overstuffed, overwritten screenplay with too many repetitive beats and with an extended cast THIS loaded, not every actor is able to overcome it.  Widen’s had an interesting career in that the only two other films he has apparently written are The Prophecy and previous episode Highlander….both solid, fun genre films at the very least and what they both have in common is that they are both very much geared towards the supernatural.  And that’s the difference…..this type of story just wasn’t in his lane. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

And SPEAKING of Bobby D….even though there are several admittedly impressive fire-based setpieces, my personal favorite scene is pretty much just watching him REALLY cook roughly about 70 minutes in as his Donald is investigating with Billy’s Brian another “crime scene” where a backdraft allegedly took place.  Honestly like most other monologues within this film, it’s a pretty overwritten scene but when you have the right actor in place…..well it’s still a genuine blast to simply watch DeNiro go all Manhunter, pretty much talking to the fires to "understand" them, hey why not?? (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Bottom line this film simply does NOT work if the visual effects aren’t working.  Pretty much done all practically via models and ACTUAL real Chicago locations, the fire is not only convincingly inhabiting the SAME space as several actors but also a character in itself….as so eloquently laid out by DeNiro’s Rimgale.  And that comes from the aforementioned effects geniuses at Industrial Light & Magic who justifiably received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects…..now in MOST years, they might have very likely won this award and they would have deserved it too.  Unfortunately, the competition that year included T2….yeah enough said. (Audio clip) 

Obviously it took a large team to pull all of this off though that team was lead by visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar and the on-set wizard Allan Hall.  And between the two of them…you have ONE hell of a combined CV: Hall would go on to produce some amazing pyrotechnics in future episode The Long Kiss Goodnight….yes THAT bridge explosion wow – and along with truly next-level stuff on the otherwise mediocre Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.  Yeah you know those AMAZING slow motion shots of Beckett walking down the stairs while the wood of his ship literally shatters into a million pieces all AROUND him?  Yup that’s Allen Hall.  Scott Farrar was no slouch himself, truly one of THE best in the business at crafting photo-realistic CGI through the early ‘00’s on Spielberg films like AI and Minority Report along with the Michael Bay Transformer’s movies.  Hey say what you want about the overall quality of those films but the CGI WAS unassailable.  And combined with dozens of others – many of whom put their lives at risk working with some genuinely flammable and combustible materials – they created the visuals for a genuine technical marvel of a movie.  For delivering among THE best pyrotechnics of the ‘90s, Hall, Farrar, and the crew at ILM are the MVP’s. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3 stars out of 5

So yeah even though Top Gun had a better star, less fat, more stylish direction, and certainly more homo-eroticism....Backdraft offers its own distinct charms which at least for me, just makes it more rewatchable.  Happy 35th Anniversary to Top Gun for Firefighters! 

Streaming on Prime Video

And that ends another FLAME RETARDANT review!