Backdraft

Two estranged brothers from a family of firefighters match wits with an arsonist, as well as each other. Terrific cast and special effects!

Two estranged brothers from a family of firefighters match wits with an arsonist, as well as each other. Terrific cast and special effects!

Brian McCaffrey's father's a fireman and he was there, as a child, when his father died. When he grew he tried to be a fireman but quit and left town and for a few years tried other jobs. He would eventually return and try to be fireman again. However, he finds himself working under his brother Stephen whom he doesn't exactly have a good relationship with. When Brian gets his picture in the paper and is lauded as a hero when in fact it was a mistake, a politician offers him a job working under the department's arson investigator, Donald Rimgale. It seems that Ringale is working some unusual fires wherein someone is killed. Brian initially refuses but when he has too many confrontations with Stephen, he takes the job. And he gets a lesson on what it means to be a fireman.

The movie tells the story of a group of Chicago firefighters at Engine 17, two of whom are brothers. Lt. Stephen 'Bull' McCaffrey (Kurt Russell), the elder brother, is obsessed with the beating of the fires that he fights. He is always at the heart of the fire the most dangerous part of a conflagration. Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin), Stephen's younger brother, has labored under his brother's shadow all his life, having quit the firefighting academy several years prior to the movie's beginning. He returns to firefighting after a number of other career attempts falter, though Stephen has doubts that Brian is able to see things through, as well as possibly not having the correct temperament required of a firefighter, dismissing his return to firefighting as another temporary fancy. As a child, Brian was bullied by Stephen. Brian also witnessed the death of their father (also played by Kurt Russell) firsthand when a gas pipe ruptured and burned him alive; this is shown in flashback and we see that a Life photographer captured the moment when young Brian looks up at the fire that killed his father, and crying while holding his father's helmet in his hands. The popularity of the photograph follows Brian the rest of his life, hindering his attempts to pursue a serious firefighting career. Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale (Robert De Niro) is an arson investigator who is highly dedicated to his profession. (The real Donald Rimgale, a veteran Chicago fire investigator, served as one of the technical advisors on the film.) He is called in because a number of fires that have occurred have somewhat similar connections. He earned his nickname after a phosphorus tub explosion left his shadow on the wall (and badly scarred his torso). Convicted arsonist Ronald Bartel (Donald Sutherland) has been imprisoned for many years and can appear very normal on occasions but at the mention of fire his mind becomes obsessed with the idea of living fire (he