One of the best films about firefighters, Backdraft, is now back on DVD in a special two-disc anniversary edition that actually has enough special features to make it more than worth the double-dip. The DVD features include new interviews with cast and crew, an introduction about the film from director Ron Howard, interviews with real firefighters, and behind the scenes footage.
Backdraft, which was released in 1991, featured a cast of Hollywood talent including Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca DeMornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert DeNiro. The film was a blending of several genres including thriller, drama, romance, and mystery.
At its core, Backdraft tells the story of two brothers Brian McCaffrey (Baldwin) and Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey (Russell) who both lose their firefighter father at the beginning of the film. It then jumps to find Brian as a rookie firefighter assigned to one of the hardest fire department houses in the city – which also happens to be run by his tough as nails older brother Stephen. Brian, who has tried to be a firefighter before along with several other failed businesses, not only has to deal with the hardships of being a firefighter, but has to also handle an overbearing brother waiting for him to fail.
Brian doesn’t love fire the way Stephen does, and he doesn’t even seem to be sure that he wants to be a firefighter – it is just the family business. He has been a failure at everything he has tried, and it seems being a firefighter is the only choice that was left for him to do with his life. As Brian begins his career as a firefighter, he also reignites a past love with Jennifer Vaitkus (Leigh) – who happens to be working for a corrupt city official that has been involved in closing fire houses throughout the city.
Stephen, who is the opposite of his brother, seems to love fire, and his life as a firefighter comes first. This dedication has cost him his marriage, alienated him from his son, and is starting to take its toil on the men he leads into fires. When Brian is thrown into the mix, Stephen is forced to deal with his own failings in his family, and starts to question his own rash actions that are starting to make his men not trust him.
While Brian and Stephen’s relationship is the family drama element of the story, Howard also provides mystery plot to keep the audience glued to their seats. Stephen and company continue to be called out to fires that involve “backdrafts” and result in the death of one person. Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale, the arson investigator, begins to think the fires are being set as a method to kill, and slowly begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together with the help of Brian. Throughout the movie, Shadow and Brian begin to suspect that the fires could even be the work of a firefighter, and it looks like Stephen could be the main suspect. Shadow and Brian even turn to convicted arsonist Ronald Bartel (Sutherland) for help. The scenes between DeNiro and Sutherland make the movie worth watching.
Backdraft is a pressure cooker with Howard setting a pace early on in the film and never letting up until the credits roll. The director uses fire as a character, and at times it seems to even out-act the great Hollywood talents in the movie. The filming is excellent, and really takes you into the fires in a way not captured before on film. Yes, this is a Hollywood movie and has faults, but it is clear that Howard and company wanted to make the film as realistic as they could.
The Two Disc Anniversary Edition comes with enough special features that fans of the movie will have a reason for wanting to pick it up – even if they already own a previous version of the DVD.
Disc One includes an introduction from Howard where the director talks about the new edition of the DVD, the difficulties of making the film, the dangers that the actors and filming crew went through to capture some of the fires on screen, and how he is proud of the movie. He also mentions how firefighters accepted the movie, and still invite him for a cup of coffee when he passes a fire station. Howard also talks about how they thought of using CGI style of fire, but that it ended up not looking right so they went with real fire instead.
The disc also includes about 44 minutes of deleted scenes (I wish some could have been cut back into the movie for a new version of the film), but many of the scenes are not really needed to help the story. There is also no explanation for why the scenes were cut in the first place so their inclusion on the DVD is not really that great of an addition.
Disc Two has the bulk of the special features including five documentaries that give more insight on the film and the making of the movie. “Igniting the Story” goes into the making of the movie from script to screen, and the special effects that were needed to pull off the various fire scenes. “Bringing Together the Team” goes into the casting process with interviews from some of the cast about why they wanted to take part in the movie. It is fairly standard for this kind of DVD.
“The Explosive Stunts” and “Creating the Villain: The Fire” look at the difficulties in creating and controlling the fires used in the film, and the different visual and special effects that were used to help create the film’s look. “Real-Life Firemen, Real-Life Stories” is probably the most interesting of the interviews on the DVD and features conversations with firefighters from fire station Number 73, from Santa Clarita, California. The firefighters describe their experiences fighting fires, and what it is like to go into a burning building. It is highly enjoyable and will make you respect firefighters even more. Many of them also praise the film for its blending of life outside of the fire station and the effects their job has on their family.
Backdraft is possibly the best firefighter film ever made, and features good performances from its cast, a blending of several genres, and pace that never lets up on the audience. The filming is excellent and the effects still hold up today – even in the wake of CGI. I have always enjoyed the movie, and the two-disc anniversary edition is definitely worth buying.
Backdraft (Two-Disc Anniversary Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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