City on Fire (1979)

User Rating:

2.8/10   

Director:

Alvin Rakoff

Writers:

Jack Hill (writer) &
David P. Lewis (writer) ...

Release Date:

31 August 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

What Happened to Them Could Happen to You ... In Any City Anywhere!

Plot:

A pyromaniac, ex-employee of a city oil refinery creates an explosion at the facility which starts a chain-reaction of fires that engulf the entire city.

Plot Keywords:

Fire | City | Explosion | Mayor | Fire Chief

Cast

Barry Newman	...	Dr. Frank Whitman
Susan Clark	...	Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec
Shelley Winters	...	Nurse Andrea Harper
Leslie Nielsen	...	Mayor William Dudley
James Franciscus	...	Jimbo
Ava Gardner	...	Maggie Grayson
Henry Fonda	...	Fire Chief Albert Risley
Jonathan Welsh	...	Herman Stover
Hilary Labow	...	Mrs. Adams
Richard Donat	...	Fire Captain Harrison Risley
Mavor Moore	...	John O'Brien
Donald Pilon	...	Dr. Matwick
Terry Haig	...	Terry James
Cec Linder	...	Councilman Paley
Ken James	...	Andrew - Deputy Fire Chief

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | USA:R | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Astral Bellevue Pathé

Trivia:

German Import DVD has a Super-8 Version (German language only), as a special feature on the disc.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: TV station call letters in the USA start with K or W, not C.

Quotes:

Mayor William Dudley: What's eating you now? You have a new job and the city has a beautiful new hospital.
Dr. Frank Whitman: That's right, some new hospital. It looks really good on the outside. But thanks to your political favors here and there of saving money and cut backs, I'm stuck with the patch-up job!
Mayor William Dudley: Well nothing is perfect. Everything's compromised. Now, if you were the mayor of a big city and you have to get things done, you have to learn to give and take.
Dr. Frank Whitman: Try talking to a surgeon about compromise during an open-heart operation.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: City on Fire (#1.16)" (1989)

This was written? I don't think so.

Poor Henry Fonda. In the end of his career, he had to be in City on Fire. This movie had the most ridiculous dialog ever. I actually cringed when some of the characters said their lines. None of the B-plots made enough sense to follow through on. The start of the fire was absurd. There was no attempt to build up to an actual motive. The writers thought that CPR was the only action to take in an emergency and that old men using a bedpan was necessary for the audience to see. This movie was made purely to burn some gasoline for the big fire scenes and so that stunt men could be lit on fire. 1 out of 10 is generous.