Fire! (1977)
The sheer terror and unearthly beauty of a raging forest fire is breathlessly captured in this compelling Irwin Allen production boasting a big-name cast and enough blazing special effects to turn night into day. Involved are a lumber mill owner (Ernest Borgnine), the widowed operator of a forest lodge (Vera Miles), a teacher on a class outing (Donna Mills), a country doctor (Lloyd Nolan), a couple (Patty Duke Astin and Alex Cord) whose shaky marriage is healed when battling the blaze brings out their better natures, and escaping convicts (Neville Brand and Erik Estrada) who use the conflagration to cover their tracks. Like Allen’s crowd-pleasers The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, Fire sizzles with suspense and excitement. Turn up the heat!
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The greatest movie ever made..!
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
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.
"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!
This film was one of the very last disaster movies not to be ridiculed by the critics. The main reason for this must have been the realistic and very good fire sequences. While later disaster movies had credibility problems, this one was actually pretty realistic. Well worth a look.
"Fire!" came out at the peak of the disaster craze, when studio heads were actually green lighting movies like "Food of the Gods" and "Empire of the Ants". You would think they could get a little more creative with the title. This one centered on a forest fire and a group of children stranded in the middle of it all. Donna Mills is ultra 70's and very polyester. Pretty predictable stuff. This was a TV movie that came out the same time as the equally predictable TV movie "Flood!".