Review by planktonrules

In many ways, "Firehouse" feels like it's a pilot for an upcoming television series. A year later, a short-lived series called "Firehouse" debuted...but from what I could see it really wasn't like this made for TV movie and the title is probably just a coincidence...though one of the actors in the movie (Richard Jaeckel) did appear in both.

When the film starts, the firemen are putting out yet another arson blaze. One of the men is killed and soon a new probationary firefighter, Shelly Forsythe (Richard Roundtree) is hired to replace him. There are several problems with this. First, the men miss the dead guy and replacing him is not easy. Second, some of the men are simply bigots and hate that Forsythe is black. Third, Forsythe also has a chip on his shoulder and it makes his transition to the department even more difficult. Can he manage to survive his probationary period and become an accepted member of the team?

The reasons I said it felt like a pilot was mostly because things were NOT completely settled and the movie left a lot unsaid which could easily have been dealt with had they made additional films or a TV series. It might have been interesting...especially since the movie was so blunt about racism...more so than shows you see today.