City on fire
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | City on fire |
| Original title | City on Fire |
| Country of production |
Canada , United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alvin Rakoff |
| script |
Jack Hill , David P. Lewis , Celine La Frenière |
| production | Claude Héroux |
| music |
Matthew McCauley , William McCauley |
| camera | René Verzier |
| occupation | |
| |
City in Flames (OT: City on Fire) is a disaster film by director Alvin Rakoff from 1979 , which was made in US-Canadian co-production.
action
William Dudley, the corrupt mayor of a major city in the American Midwest, has approved the construction of an oil refinery near the city center. The problem is that the refinery has no access to the water. No river, lake or reservoir is nearby. At the same time a new hospital was built, which is poorly equipped due to Dudley's mismanagement. Dr. Whitman, the new hospital director openly denounces the grievances but is condemned to silence.
Stover, an unstable employee at the refinery, is obsessed with the millionaire heiress Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec. She was a former classmate of his and, in his opinion, only rose into the better circles through marriage. Diana herself came to the opening of the hospital, as did an old friend of Whitman's. Not only is Stover passed over if he believes a promotion is overdue, but he is fired for not accepting a change of department. Stover wants revenge and closes valves on a pipeline. The resulting overpressure triggers an alarm. He uses the confusion to empty a tank truck into the rain gutters in the ground. Petrol flows into the surroundings and into the sewer system. When welding a few kilometers further, the gasoline ignites. A fire roller shoots through the sewer system and reaches the refinery in seconds. Not only is the refinery destroyed, dozens of fires break out in the city itself.
Dr. Whitman and his staff try to take care of the injured, while fire chief Risley has to send his rescue teams to the sources of the fire with poor equipment. The alcoholic reporter Maggie Grayson, on the other hand, sees the disaster as an opportunity to establish herself with a current story. More and more injured people pour into the clinic as the fires continue to spread. At the same time, people are fleeing the city. Eventually, Dudley and Risley decide that the hospital must be evacuated as the fires threaten to destroy the hospital in a firestorm.
During the evacuation, the fires reached the hospital and made it impossible to use vehicles. The fire brigade has to create a corridor with hoses to protect people from the heat. Stover, who stayed in the hospital because of Diana, and several male nurses are killed. Dr. Whitman is the last to escape before the hospital explodes in a giant ball of fire.
In the end, you learn that the entire city has apparently burned down. Dr. Whitman and Diana get together.
Reviews
The lexicon of international films described the film as a "technically very complex spectacle, in which, however, the real threats to our modern cityscapes are neglected behind an overly constructed plot and glaring visual effects."
The film magazine Cinema wrote: "As a work of destruction, this spectacle is consistent: It burns an army of old stars as extras in a monstrous pyrotechnic show. Ava Gardner and Leslie Nielsen, plus the Oscar winners Henry Fonda and Shelley Winters all of them stay in the Clouds of smoke run away. "
The "TV Guide" scoffed that the film was a bad excuse for a disaster film. Although the cast is good, the involuntarily comical script makes it difficult to get through the film.
background
The film is one of the few productions that premiered abroad. It was shown for the first time in Germany on May 24, 1979. In Canada it was only published on August 29th of the same year, and in the USA on August 31st.
The production had an estimated budget of $ 5.3 million.
The film, supported by the state production company Telefilm Canada, was shot in Montreal . As usual with disaster films of this time, many movie stars were used, with Fonda, Gardner, Winters and Franciscus already counting among the veterans of this genre.
Elements of the film refer to the Texas City Explosion that killed 581 people in April 1947.
William McCauley, the film music composer, worked here with his son Matthew.
In 2000 a remake was made under the title Blaze - City in the Firestorm .
Web links
- City in flames in the Internet Movie Database (English)