Céu em Chamas

Fire (1977)

** (out of 4)

Sam (Ernest Borgnine) really loves Martha (Vera Miles) but she says it's too late as they should have acted on this years earlier. A married couple (Patty Duke, Alex Cord) find themselves falling out of love. A teacher (Donna Mills) must make a devastating decision. Oh yeah, there's a convict who starts a fire to try and make an escape and soon this fire is threatening the entire town. The all-star cast then must jump into action.

Producer Irwin Allen struck gold with THE TOWERING INFERNO so why not take that fire a put it in a different location? FIRE was a made-for-television film that comes as a major disappointment and especially if you're a fan of the genre. As you'd expect, there's a great number of familiar stars on hand here and all of them turn in decent enough performances. Obviously most of the cast were just picking up checks for movies like this but it's still fun seeing all of them here. Not only do we get the stars I mentioned but there's also Erik Estrada, Gene Evans, Neville Brand and Lloyd Nolan.

The biggest problem with FIRE is that there's not a single second that you feel any tension. What I really disliked about this movie is that the "good guys" are constantly put in harm's way but there's no a single moment where you feel as if they are in danger. We get some really ridiculous scenes where it seems like the characters are going to die only to have some cliffhanger-style non-sense happen to where everyone is safe. Whenever you're watching a film like this and you can't feel any tension the entire thing is just pointless.

What's worse is that the 100-minute running time seems to drag on and on. There's really not a very good story here as it's all rather routine and especially the various personal dramas that are thrown in. Even the special effects aren't all that great. Sure, one shouldn't expect the same quality as THE TOWERING INFERNO but what's here just isn't all that memorable.

"Fire!" is an okay disaster flick that was above average in quality for '70s TV flicks. The movie is dead serious but the preview is not.

See how Warner Home Video sold this title by clicking on the trailers icon. It's funny!

Earl Bellamy directed this Irwin Allen produced TV movie that stars Ernest Borgnine("The Poseidon Adventure") as wealthy lumber mill owner Sam Brisbane, who tries to win back an old flame(played by Vera Miles) who owns a lodge in their mountain community. Their plans are ruined when a fire involving two prisoners(played by Neville Brand and Erik Estrada) gets out of control, threatening to destroy the area, and cost several lives... Donna Mills, Lloyd Nolan, Alex Cord, and Patty Duke costar. Made concurrently with "Flood"(1976), disaster film is an improvement, with more excitement and interesting story turns, and the expected(if quite familiar) scenes of triumph and tragedy.

This is one of the most boring disaster movies I have ever seen. The actors are playing really bad and walk around like zombies. Donna Mills was the only reason I watched this movie and I must say, she is the only one who seems to be talented in "Fire". Her part is very small and the storyline around her part is sometimes very illogical. She portrays a kindergarten teacher who is out in the woods with a bunch of kids. When the fire gets close to them they try to escape and one child is missing. When she manages it to be saved with the kids she seems to be the only one who was really concerned about the missing child. Nobody else was interested. I must admit they tried to make a good movie by telling several stories about the different characters and how they finally get together in this disaster. But they totally failed by showing everything so boring and characters you won't be interested in. A total waste of time and money, it so forgetable.

In my process of reassessing of all pictures watched in the past, Irwin Allen's Fire! Was one harder to find out, I've been looking it for a long time without success, out of blue I saw it on second hand dealer and right way I've purchase an original US's edition copy with any kind of subtitles available, I've took it anyway, I had watched it exactly in early 1980, on TV together to my older brother.

Even being an Irwin Allen's fan due the four classic series on the sixties, it's an excruciating and hard experience watch this film let us annoyed by such lousy picture, preposterous screenplay and others oddities at the behest of Irwin Allen who at this point already lost sense of ridiculous, when he still insist in make disaster movie whereof the story goes insanity due so contrived offer.

In small town that only business comprises timber extraction lead by the old owner Sam Brisbane (Ernest Borgnine) using almost all labor work from there, also aided by some prisoners coming from correction facility Larry Durant (Neville Brand) and Frank (Erik Strada) aiming for commute the sentence, Larry perceives the only way to get away from there is through a fire, then he settles a plan to do it without raises suspicion, then he let a burning cigarette underneath of the dry woods, it triggers a wildfire of enormous proportions, worst meanwhile a student group escorted by a teacher a child lost from the group and when the teacher realizes the fire approaching the only way is get out there and later tries saves the child.

A Helicopter bringing the water battle the blaze, however as expected ends up crash on the forest, helped by Frank that is fleeing, the fire reaches at lumber mill, Mrs. Martha Wagner (Vera Miles) the owner of the lodge which received the injured workers in the middle of forest also in jeopardy by fire nearby and they must rescue them at once, anyway a total mess, the master of disaster movies did again, in time I'd bought the DVD for nostalgia only knowing previously the stodgy content of 97 minutes of agony and suffering hoping the time goes faster, over such appalling outcome, have mercy!!

Thanks for reading.

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First Watch: 1980 /How many: 2 /Source: TV-DVD /Rating: 5.25.