Unintentionally hilarious made-for-TV film starring a not-so-young Gary Coleman as a teenage arsonist. The authorities, friends, and neighbors warn his absentee parents until it is too late.
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Title: Playing with Fire (TV Movie 1985)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Gary Coleman | ... | David Phillips | |
| Cicely Tyson | ... | Carol Phillips | |
| Ron O'Neal | ... | Steve Phillips | |
| Yaphet Kotto | ... | Fire Chief Walker | |
| Tammy Lauren | ... | Pamela Fredericks | |
| Tom Fridley | ... | Mike Harris | |
| Salome Jens | ... | Dr. Becker | |
| Richard McKenzie | ... | Principal Sweeney | |
| Arthur Burghardt | ... | Harry | |
 |
Jacque Lynn Colton | ... | Miss Somerhalter |
| Rance Howard | ... | Fireman Goodwin | |
| Ron Jackson | ... | Fireman Wilson | |
| Cherie Johnson | ... | Eileen Phillips | |
|
|
Wesley Pfenning | ... | Mrs. Williams |
| Brad Savage | ... | Paul | |
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Storyline
Unintentionally hilarious made-for-TV film starring a not-so-young Gary Coleman as a teenage arsonist. The authorities, friends, and neighbors warn his absentee parents until it is too late. Written by Doug Mosurak <marumaru@andrew.cmu.edu>
Plot Keywords:
arsonist | teenage boy | mother son relationship | marital problem | husband wife relationship |Taglines:
All he wanted was a little love.Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
14 April 1985 (USA) See more »Company Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
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This one is up there with "Star Wars Holiday Special" only not that bad. I remember watching this as a kid and being bored and amused at the same time. I think Gary Coleman was attempting to actually do "drama" in this ill-written attempt to enlighten the world about arson and it just didn't work.
Basically, you have Coleman's character who is having trouble in school, friends and family (obviously) and the more stress he comes under, the more fires he sets to public property. No, he doesn't turn to drugs or alcohol or teen suicide... he's got a disease that causes him to set fires! How dramatic! His parents seems incredibly stupid, not realizing that he's mentally anguished and no one suspects Coleman as the arsonist until he gets spotted, blah, blah, blah. It's pretty obvious how the plotline goes as well as the ending.
Probably one of the funniest parts is Coleman's "evil" expression during one of the blazes, his eyes lit up from the flames in front of him with this "burn you bastard, burn!" expression. Can you imagine Arnold as evil? Yeah, I laughed my ass off, too.
If you ever see this on TV again, which you probably won't, watch it if you want to kill two hours of your life. It's incredibly bad, stupid and absurdly funny at the same time.