''Backdraft'' is a 1991 American
action thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed by
Ron Howard
Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...
and written by
Gregory Widen. Starring
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...
,
William Baldwin,
Scott Glenn
Theodore Scott Glenn (born January 26 between 1938 and 1942) is an American actor. His roles have included Bill Lester in '' She Came to the Valley'' (1979), Pfc Glenn Kelly in ''Nashville'' (1975), Wes Hightower in '' Urban Cowboy'' (1980), as ...
,
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). She re ...
,
Rebecca De Mornay,
Donald Sutherland,
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
,
Jason Gedrick and
J. T. Walsh, it follows
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
firefighters on the trail of a serial
arson
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
ist.
It was released on May 24, 1991, to mixed reviews, and grossed $152.4 million worldwide.
It received three
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
nominations for
Best Sound,
Best Sound Editing and
Best Visual Effects. It also inspired a
special effects attraction at
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...
, which opened in 1992 and closed in 2010. It was followed by the
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
, ''
Backdraft 2
''Backdraft 2'' (also known as ''Backdraft II'') is a 2019 American action film, action Thriller film, thriller film directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego and written by Gregory Widen. A sequel to the 1991 film ''Backdraft (film), Backdraft'', also ...
'', in 2019, with Baldwin and Sutherland reprising their roles.
Plot
Two
firefighters of Engine 17 of the
Chicago Fire Department
The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides firefighting services along with emergency medical response services, hazardous materials mitigation services, and technical rescue response services in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, un ...
(CFD) are brothers: the elder, Lieutenant Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey, is experienced, while Brian has labored in his brother's shadow. Brian returns to firefighting after several other careers falter, although Stephen has doubts that Brian is fit to be a firefighter. In 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey, while accompanying him on a call.
The longest-serving of the men at Engine 17, John "Axe" Adcox, served under the McCaffreys' father and was like an uncle to the boys when their father died. Adcox grows concerned about Stephen's unorthodox methods and disregard for safety procedures, as does Stephen's wife Helen, who
separated from Stephen to protect herself and their son Sean from the risks that was taking.
Inspector Donald "Shadow" Rimgale, a dedicated
arson
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
investigator and veteran firefighter, is called in because some recent explosive fires resemble those that were set by
pyromania
Pyromania is an impulse-control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, to relieve some tension or for instant gratification. The term ''pyromania'' comes from the Greek word (''pyr'', 'f ...
c Ronald Bartel, who has been imprisoned for years. Brian transfers to become Rimgale's assistant after an argument with Stephen. Rimgale manipulates Bartel's obsession with fire to ensure that his annual parole application is rejected. It is revealed during an investigation that
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
Marty Swayzak has supported budget cuts to the CFD. Contractors have paid him to shut down firehouses so that they can be converted into community centers, with the contractors receiving kickbacks for the construction. Brian rekindles a relationship with Jennifer Vaitkus, an aide to Swayzak.
When Engine 17 answers a call in a high-rise, Stephen urges them to move in quickly, despite Adcox's advice to wait for backup. Brian's friend and fellow trainee Tim Krizminski opens a door, triggering a
backdraft. His face is burned beyond recognition and he barely survives. Adcox and Brian both condemn Stephen for what happened. Through experiments, Rimgale concludes that whomever is causing the fires does not want the fires to spread, hence the backdrafts.
Rimgale and Brian go to Swayzak's home to confront him after learning of his connection to the three backdraft victims (Alan Seagrave, Donald Cosgrove, and Jeffery Holcomb) and interrupt a masked man about to set the residence on fire. The man attacks them with a flashlight but is burned on his shoulder by an electrical socket. Rimgale saves Brian and Swayzak from the house but is injured in an explosion. In his hospital bed, Rimgale tells Brian to revisit Bartel, who helps Brian realize that only a firefighter would be so careful as to not let backdraft fires rage out of control.
Brian suspects Stephen but spots a burn in the shape of an electrical socket on Adcox's back. He reveals his suspicions to Stephen just before an alarm. When Brian realizes that Adcox has heard their exchange, he jumps aboard Truck 46 after borrowing some
turnout gear. On their way to the fire, their truck crashes after dodging a taxi. Stephen confronts Adcox about the backdrafts during a
multiple-alarm fire at a chemical plant. Adcox admits that he set the fires to kill Swayzak's associates because Swayzak benefited from firefighters' deaths and closed down firehouses. When an explosion destroys the catwalk that they are on, Stephen grabs Adcox's hand while hanging on to the remains of the catwalk. Stephen refuses Adcox's advice to let go of him and loses his grip on the catwalk. Stephen lands on the lower catwalk, but Adcox dies when he falls into the fire. Brian bravely battles the fire, allowing two firefighters to reach Stephen and carry him to safety. Stephen dies with Brian by his side on the way to the hospital, with his final request that Brian not reveal Adcox to be the perpetrator.
After the funeral for Stephen and Adcox, Brian and Rimgale, with the help of the police, interrupt Swayzak at a press conference. Rimgale questions Swayzak on a fake manpower study that led to the deaths of several firemen including Stephen and Adcox. They also state that Swayzak engineered the downsizing of the CFD, destroying Swayzak's mayoral ambitions. Brian continues as a firefighter, carrying on his family's firefighting tradition, despite the loss of his father and brother.
Cast
Production
Before filming began, the main actors went on calls with real Chicago firefighters, as well as to the Chicago Fire Academy to learn how to behave like firefighters in the film.
Filming in Chicago began on July 23, 1990, and
wrapped on December 8, 1990. Rubber cement from Petronio Shoe Products was used to create some of the fire effects.
Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...
created many of the visual effects.
Casting
Russell pursued
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...
for the role of Brian McCaffrey, but Cruise declined.
Robert Downey Jr.,
Brad Pitt and
Keanu Reeves also auditioned for the role.
Realism
Firefighting professionals have noted that most of the film's
structure fires scenes differ considerably from reality:
Fire investigation
Fire investigation (sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation) is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosi ...
professionals have also dismissed the investigative methods shown in the movie as unscientific—in particular, the portrayal of fire as a living entity.
Music
''Backdraft'' is scored by
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...
, and features two songs by
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...
: "The Show Goes On" (which was previously released on his album ''
Scenes from the Southside''), and the new song "Set Me in Motion". Zimmer's score was pared to approximately 30 minutes for release on the soundtrack album, which also features both Hornsby songs. The soundtrack was issued by
Milan Records on May 14, 1991. In 2024,
Intrada Records released a 2-CD expansion featuring Zimmer's full score and the 1991 album tracks in their original
George Martin mixes.
Release
Home media
The film has been released on both
VHS and
DVD. In 2006, a two-disc DVD Anniversary Edition was issued. On January 4, 2011,
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
released a
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
''Anniversary Edition'' with many of the features ported from the previous DVD release, including four
featurettes, 43 minutes of deleted scenes, a three-minute Ron Howard introduction, and trailers. It was released for the first time as a two-disc
Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD (3840 × 2160 pixel resolution) video at frame rates up to 60 progre ...
package on May 4, 2019.
Reception
Box office
''Backdraft'' grossed $77,868,585 in the US (ranking 14th in the box office for 1991), and $74,500,000 in other markets.
Critical response
''Backdraft'' was praised for its special effects and performances, while much criticism was reserved for the story. It holds a 73% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The consensus reads, "It's not particularly deep, but ''Backdraft'' is a strong action movie with exceptional special effects." Film critics
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' gave the film positive reviews.
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of A on a scale of A+ to F.
Accolades
The film received three nominations at the
64th Academy Awards for
Sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...
,
Sound Effects Editing, and
Visual Effects
Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of
a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production.
The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...
.
Other media
Novelization
A paperback novelization of the film, written by
Kirk Mitchell, was published in 1991.
Sequel
In March 2018, it was announced that Universal had tapped Spanish director
Gonzalo López-Gallego
Gonzalo López-Gallego (born 27 June 1973) is a Spanish film director who is best known for his movie ''Apollo 18 (film), Apollo 18'', a 2011 science fiction film, sci-fi Thriller film, thriller and horror film starring Warren Christie, Lloyd Ow ...
to direct the sequel with William Baldwin reprising his role. The film, titled ''Backdraft 2'', was released
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...
on May 14, 2019.
Theme park attraction
References
External links
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Backdraft (Film)
1991 films
1991 action thriller films
American action thriller films
American disaster films
1990s English-language films
Films about arson
Films about brothers
Films set in Chicago
Films shot in Chicago
Films about firefighting
Films directed by Ron Howard
Backdraft (franchise)
Imagine Entertainment films
Universal Pictures films
Films scored by Hans Zimmer
Films with screenplays by Gregory Widen
Chicago Fire Department
1990s American films
Films produced by Raffaella De Laurentiis
English-language action thriller films