Backdraft (1991)
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Cast
as Stephen McCaffrey
as Brian McCaffrey
as Donald Rimgale
as Jennifer Vaitkus
as Ronald Bartel
as John Adcox
as Helen McCaffrey
as Martin Swayzak
as Tim Krizminski
as Chief John Fitzgerald
as Grindle
as Ray Santos
as Nightengale
as Schmidt
as Pengelly
as Washington
as Sean McCaffrey
as Brian (age 7)
as 4th Paramedic
as Stephen (age 12)
as Willy, the Bartender
as Ricco
as Alan Seagrave
as 1st Candidate
as 2nd Candidate
as 3rd Candidate
as 4th Candidate
as Woman Psychiatrist
as Man at Parole Board
as 2nd Reporter
as 70's Hippie
as Washington
as Firetruck Driver
as 1st Paramedic
as 2nd Paramedic
as 3rd Paramedic
as 4th Paramedic
as Mannequin Fire Reporter
as Mannequin Fire Reporter
as Mannequin Fire Reporter
as Donald Cosgrove
as Repairman
as Engine Lieutenant
as Man on Party Boat
as Security Guard
as Captain
as Battalion Chief at Tenement Fire
as Mother at Tenement Fire
as Grasping Child at Tenemant Fire
as Probie
as Grandma Vaitkus
as Photographer on Boat Party
as Donald Cosgrove
as 1st Nurse
as 2nd Nurse
as Sally
as Party Crony
as Party Brawler
as Security Officer
as 1st Cop
as 2nd Cop
as 1st Swayzak Aide
as 2nd Swayzak Aide
as Bar Patron
as Television Reporter
as 1st Detective
as Nurse
as 1st Retirement Party Schmoozer
as 2nd Retirement Party Schmoozer
as 3rd Retirement Party Schmoozer
as Retirement Party Roaster
as 1st Politico
as 2nd Politico
as Nurse
as High Rise Fireman
as Battalion Chief at Mannequin Fire
as Falling Chair Lady
as Nervous Probie
as 2nd Politico
as Child Rescued at 70's Fire
as 70's Onlooker
as 1st Reporter
as 2nd Reporter
as 4th Reporter
as Doctor
as 1st Fireman
as 4th Reporter
as 2nd Fireman
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Critic Reviews for Backdraft
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (12) | DVD (1)
"Backdraft" is a spectacle worth observing; it may also generate a little more respect for firemen, everyday heroes who don`t need the movies to polish their image.
Backdraft has some of the raw filmmaking excitement that has been missing from Howard's recent work.
Visually, pic often is exhilarating, but it's shapeless and dragged down by corny, melodramatic characters and situations.
Visually speaking, the film does pretty well with fire-as-spectacle, less well with everything else (Howard tends to trot out fuzzy-toned Spielbergian backlighting on any pretext).
The fire sequences are stunning, and the build-up to them, complete with blaring sirens and bellowed conversations, has an aggressive immediacy.
The spectacular fire sequences, which must have been hellish to film, are powerfully enveloping on screen, thanks especially to the eerie effect of the title.
Audience Reviews for Backdraft
Good film. Good story. Almost good acting (I'm looking at you, Kurt Russell.)
Super Reviewer
Lt. Steven McCaffrey: Look at him... That's my brother god damnit. "Silently behind a door, it waits." Backdraft was a pretty big disappointment for me. The fire scenes were pretty cool, but they weren't enough to make up for everything that was wrong with the film. A great cast is wasted on terrible dialogue and by the numbers filmmaking from Ron Howard. Everything about the firefighters and the story is cliche and everything that occurs is predictable. Nothing in the film is at all original, and we pretty much end up watching the same movie we have seen countless times, except this time it is about firefighters. I have trouble grasping how this movie doesn't work. I love the subject, I love the cast, and I even like Ron Howard. Sure he always goes for sentimentality, which is on full display here, but he also has a way of making entertaining and exciting movies. The problem with Backdraft is that it is only exciting when we are in a burning building. Outside of that, it is dull and too unoriginal. The brothers relationship has been done so many times, and Backdraft adds nothing new to the formula. Two brothers who don't get along, but work together, get over there differences through their job and a tragedy. This story had potential. Two firefighter brothers are working together while an arsonist is running wild in Chicago. If the movie wasn't so dumb it could work, but every time Howard had the chance to take the story somewhere new, he instead chose to keep it in familiar territory. The result is a lackluster film, be it with some cool effects, that doesn't give any insight into firefighters, brothers, or human beings at all. When I want to get my firefighter kicks, I'll stick with rewatching episodes of Rescue Me.
Super Reviewer
This firefighter adventure about two brothers and their unit, fighting their personal struggles and what turns out to be a murder series offers some excellent pyro action in pretty impressive scenes. Excellent actors like DeNiro and Sutherland also manage to make the investigation parts fun, even if the solution to the case is a bit silly. It's built into such an impressively fiery showdown that you easily forget about that, though. Here, director Ron Howard is in his true element, stylizing the fire as a living, breathing villain. Those scenes make this a pretty impressive adventure with some minor flaws in the more every day sequences. Of course the American firefighters are depicted as the heroes of our time with the help of a bombastic Hans Zimmer soundtrack, slow motion and all that jazz.
Super Reviewer
Backdraft Quotes
| Stephen McCaffrey: | You go, we go! |
| Martin Swayzak: | You see that glow in the corner of your eye. It's your career dissapation light and it's going into overtime. |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | If anyone's lights are about to go out, believe me they are yours. |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | [Steven enters after having saved a child from the fire] Man, that was pretty crazy, huh? |
| Brian McCaffrey: | I waited. I would've waited. |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | Come on, don't worry about it. |
| Brian McCaffrey: | But you did it man. You did it all the way. You were really a hero. |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | Brian... its not about being a hero. I went in because there was a kid up there. I do what I do because that's my way. And it was Dad's way. Maybe it's not everybody's way. |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | You go, We go ! |
| Stephen McCaffrey: | You go, we go! |
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