BACKDRAFT: 4K Blu-ray (Universal/Imagine, 1991) Universal Home Video

Derived from an original screenplay by Gregory Widen, Ron Howard’s Backdraft (1991) remains a superior thrill ride, a $152.4 million bell ringer for Universal, buoyed by a catalog of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, including Kurt Russell, Robert DeNiro, Donald Sutherland, and, Scott Glenn. Backdraft hails from what can now officially be considered a golden epoch in brilliantly-scripted actioners from the 1990’s, where the acting and cleverly-evolved narratives are amply supported by breathtaking visual effects in service to the story. Backdraft is, today, the antithesis of our present-age philosophy in picture-making, where great effort is expended upon effects-laden CGI, sacrificing, or even ignoring the aforementioned essentials of invested humanity as mere afterthought.  Let us pause a moment, herein, to address the ridiculous criticism Backdraft has received from fire-fighting specialists, arguing Howard’s harrowing masterpiece does not provide an accurate depiction of their profession, the actors not wearing the appropriate protective gear – most notably, the use of the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus). Backdraft was never intended as an instructional video on how to deal with, as Glenn’s Senior Firefighter, John ‘Axe’ Adcox puts it, “old man fire.” It is a work of fiction; director, Ron Howard rightly understanding his audience has come to be entertained, in as much by each 4-alarm blaze as to see the stars.  Obscuring his cast under weighty and camouflaging paraphernalia, not to mention, coating everything in a heavy veil of acrid smoke, wound not be good for business. Finally, the umbrage taken against Backdraft’s depiction of fire as a ‘living entity’ is, frankly, moot. Widen’s screenplay isn’t interested in the science of fire; rather, concretely illustrating it as one of the movie’s villains – the Darwinian ‘man against nature’ chronicle on full-display. Finally, Widen’s story is cleverly conceived, with some truly startling plot twists and a thoroughly satisfying dramatic arc. Widen wants us to ‘feel the burns’, as it were. And we do – getting as dramatically close to ‘the big show’ as any participatory audience experience can, with heart-palpitating results.

I recall going to see Backdraft at the Odeon Theater in Windsor, Ontario in 1991 (ironically, to have burnt to the ground in its own terrible conflagration in 1999). Frankly, I had no expectation for anything beyond a ‘special effects’ movie, dedicated to watching things go up in flames. So, to have become enraptured by Backdraft’s awesomely crafted generational saga in bitter sibling rivalry between the McCaffrey brothers – tough and tumble, Lieutenant Stephen ‘Bull’ (monumentally played by Kurt Russell – in probably the best bit of acting he has ever done), and, his more fine-boned and sensitive probationary firefighter/younger brother, Brian (less impressively executed by William Baldwin), was a minor revelation for me. And to follow the rest of these brave-butch boys from Chicago’s fictional Engine 17 company, as they navigate their way through one incredibly staged inferno onto the next was riveting. Finally, to discover a compelling subplot woven into this already well-plotted scenario, involving government graft, murder and arson, not to mention a hauntingly effective cameo by Sutherland, as the demented ‘burn ‘em all’ firebug, Ronald Bartel, and, well…Backdraft quickly became one of my absolute favorite theatrical viewing experiences from this decade.  In the years since its debut, Backdraft has only continued to ripen with age; a rollicking thrill-seekers fantasia with a soft-centered, emotionally compelling story to tell. Just try to keep a dry eye during Stephen’s funeral, as the flag of honor, draped over his coffin, is folded and presented to his widow, Helen (Rebecca DeMornay); director, Howard, ingeniously cutting from a master shot, hundreds of immaculately dressed fighting men in a funeral cortege down North LaSalle Street, to the heart-wrenching close-up of a desolate Helen, walking alongside the casket with their son, Sean (Beep Iams). It can’t be done.

Backdraft began its gestation as a script, seemingly hermetically sealed in Universal’s vault where undeveloped properties, collecting dust, go to die.  Mercifully, this one was brought to Ron Howard’s attention by his producer/partner, Brian Grazer.  Its author, Gregory Widen, had moonlighted as a fireman to put himself through university, amassing a small novel of real-life stories that helped to shape his narrative around the acute phenomenon of a ‘backdraft’; a situation whereby a fire, starved for oxygen, ceases to burn, yet lies lethally dormant at high temperatures within a confined space. When oxygen is reintroduced into the room, by opening a door or window, the resultant combustion becomes deadly explosive. In his first draft, Widen always saw ‘fire’ as the star of his story – a living entity with a carnivorous appetite to consume and destroy. Amidst the flames, and subsequent rewrites, Widen began to fashion the more ‘conventional’ yarn, about two heirs to ‘old man fire’s’ familial legacy; brothers, already in conflict in childhood, robbed of their patriarch – Capt. Dennis McCaffrey (also played by Kurt Russell), idolized all out of proportion by both his children and the men who serve under his command for his heroism. Ruthlessly, in the movie’s prologue, Dennis is killed in the line of duty by a backdraft while 7-year-old Brian (Ryan Todd) looked on. Shot entirely on location in Chicago, Production Designer Albert Brenner was instructed by Ron Howard to find his inspiration among the abandoned ruins within the city’s urban blight, rather than create anything from scratch. Such verisimilitude extended to casting: Cedric Young (Grindle), Kevin Casey (Nightingale) and Jack McGee (Schmidt), all firemen-come-actors who lent authenticity, not only to the action pieces, but also the testosterone-infused respites in shared fire hall camaraderie.

A stickler for authenticity, Howard instructed costume designer, Jodie Tillen to pool her instincts and resources from the same company that provides real fireman with their equipment and apparel. The costumes the actors wore were actual fire-fighting gear. And although pared down to reveal more of the stars, the retardant clothes still weighed in excess of 85 lbs. Cast and crew were also given a crash course in fireman-training and subjected to the real thing via a cleverly devised system of pre-lit gas pipes, effectively to raise and/or lower the various blazes at will. At one point during the shoot, John Glenn, who agreed to be set on fire for a climactic sequence, suddenly realized the flames had eaten through his retardant apparel and were beginning to char several layers of under-clothing. He was quickly extinguished, but sustained minor burns to his back and inner thigh. The final piece of effective casting is composer, Hans Zimmer, as it turns out, by pure happenstance. Howard was shown a piece of real-firing fighting footage onto which a track from Zimmer’s score to Black Rain (1989) had been laid. Howard immediately gravitated to Zimmer’s cue, hiring him to write the score for Backdraft. Inspired by the altruism of firemen, Zimmer wrote an overtly masculine, uniquely American orchestral ode, passionately tinged with the soul of Byronic heroism. Rather ingeniously, Zimmer conceived of two autonomous and competing themes for Backdraft, to be interpolated throughout the movie, but miraculously brought together into one emotional groundswell as Brian, newly matured by the loss of his brother, but having found his own destiny, now instructs another newbie on how to zip up his uniform. Herein, Howard, cuts to a wide master shot of Chicago at sunset as Engine 17 company embarks upon yet another, in its never-ending saga of life-saving endeavors; the movie’s epilogue, paying tribute to those who fight fire everywhere – a truly, ‘lump in your throat’ inducing moment, augmented by Zimmer’s patriotic score, as much devoted to the precepts of their combined courage as the intimate dedication of each participating member, sworn to protect lives at the very real peril to their own.   

Backdraft begins in the summer of 1971; 7-year-old Brian winning a coin toss over his 12-year-old brother, Stephen (played by John Duda) to accompany their father, Capt. Dennis McCaffrey on Engine 17’s latest call to battle an apartment blaze. The moment is played in slo-mo, with a flourish of optimism met by a groundswell of chest-thumping underscore. Alas, this time, the company is unaware of a rupture in the building’s gas line; the instinct, that something is terribly wrong, going unnoticed by the men, but first witnessed by Brian, who is unable to forewarn his father. Moments later, the entire upper floors of the apartment complex are ingulfed in a hellish explosion, instantly incinerating Dennis as Brian looks on. Again, in slo-mo, Howard plays to the frantic terror of the moment. Dennis’ closest friend and fellow firefighter, Adcox, coddles the screaming child, handing him his father’s charred helmet. As Brian stands paralyzed amidst the ensuing chaos, a merciless shutter-bug cruelly snaps his photo, later selling the rights to Life Magazine. We fast track to the present: Brian (now played by William Baldwin) is seemingly a failure at every career he has attempted; the local bar containing many of his past business cards. The years have not mellowed Brian’s fractured relationship with Stephen. If anything, these two are more estranged than ever. Stephen always regarded Brian as weak and ineffectual and Brian has always resented Stephen for having magically morphed into the spitting image of their late father.

Having thus far lived in Stephen’s shadow, Brian is determined to become his own man, and, a firefighter. Nervously, Brian bids to influence Chief John Fitzgerald (Tony Mockus Sr.) with a case of Scotch to appoint him to a fire hall on the other end of Chicago, far removed from Stephen’s watchful eye. Rather sadistically, Stephen intervenes and sabotages this effort, suggesting Brian would be better served by joining his company instead. Unknowing of the brother’s mutual animosity, Fitzgerald agrees to these terms. Alas, Stephen has no desire to make his younger brother welcomed into his close-knit company of men. In fact, he is hoping to quickly usher Brian to quit by focusing all of his exhaustive physical ‘training’ efforts on him, surely to make Brian fail again. But not this time.  Instead, Brian endures the friendly jibes from the other men in Company 17, finding a sympathetic ear in Adcox. Unlike Brian, the other newbie to this group, Tim Krizminski (Jason Gedrick) is passionate about the work, and sycophantic in his worship of Stephen – the brother he never had. Enter Jennifer Vaitkus (Jennifer Jason Leigh). At one time, Jen and Brian were an item. Like everything else in his past, Brian was not nearly as serious. So, their relationship ended on a sour note. At present, Jen works as an attaché to alderman, Marty Swayzak (J.T. Walsh) who is a mayoral hopeful but something of Stephen’s sworn enemy, as he supports budgetary cuts to the fire department.

If Brian’s relationships have been sincerely flawed, his inability to commit pales to Stephen’s bull-headed incapacity to obey even the most basic protocols. Stephen is estranged from his wife, Helen and their young son, Sean. At present, he lives on a derelict boat in dry dock. It was a clear case of Helen not being able to take any more of Stephen’s needless risk-taking. Indeed, he always seems to be tempting fate, chronically at war with an enemy he cannot reason with – fire; attacking the specter of his late father’s legacy head-on, and charging into situations with blind daring that, thus far, has served him well, but has also earned him a reputation for being something of a loose cannon. This seething rage is usually amplified after a few drinks. Thus, at a fireman’s fund-raiser, Stephen gets into a physical altercation with Helen’s new steady; restrained by Adcox and Schmidt. Fearing Stephen’s ego as a detriment to his own safety, Helen distances herself and Sean from his influence. Backdraft’s second act is all about establishing the variables in each of these sincerely flawed relationships, escalated through montage (and Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s The Show Goes On).  During their endeavors to extinguish a blaze inside a garment factory, Brian believes he hears a cry for help from the top floor. Disobeying Stephen’s direct order to keep the company together, Brian ventures on his own through the thick smoke and grabs hold of what he firmly believes is a victim’s hand, only to emerge from the warehouse with a female mannequin instead; the real victim, safely rescued by Stephen and Adcox. Afterwards, Stephen angrily admonishes Brian.

As if engineered by fate, it is Tim who suffers the most egregiously under his idol worship, when, during the company’s next investigation of a high-rise fire, Tim inadvertently triggers a backdraft that severely burns him. His career as a firefighter over, and, devastated by his ruination, Brian and Stephen’s sibling rivalry reaches a perilous impasse, the brothers nearly coming to blows inside the emergency ward – restrained by their fellow firemen. Interpolated with these family histrionics, Ron Howard departs into several seemingly unrelated vignettes; a horrendous backdraft at a local theater, and another at the brownstone of an accountant working for City Hall. To Fire Department Captain, Donald ‘Shadow’ Rimgale (Robert DeNiro) it appears as though the incidents are not only deliberate arson, but very likely linked. Indeed, they hauntingly resemble the work of pyromaniac, Ronald Bartel, long-since imprisoned. Each time Ronald comes up for parole, Rimgale appears with the charred remnants of a doll – the toy of a little girl incinerated by one of Ronald’s staged fires. The doll triggers Ronald’s undying amusement with setting fires and convinces the Prison Board to deny him an early release from prison. After Brian and Stephen’s near-violent confrontation over Tim, Brian is reassigned to Rimgale’s investigation of these backfires. And although Brian and Stephen continue to pass within inches of each other at various fire crime scenes, their exchanges are limited to steely-eyed glances and bitter retorts.

Sympathetic to Brian’s desire to make good on his new assignment, Jennifer begins to suspect Swayzak is up to no good. Investigating a contractor who supposedly received kickbacks from Swayzak, Rimgale and Brian are nearly bludgeoned by an unknown assailant, who flees moments before the house is blown apart in another backdraft. Disturbed by the incident, Brian comes to suspect Stephen of being Swayzak’s crony, discovering various half-empty containers of Varsol and other flammable liquids on Stephen’s boat. These could easily be used to start a fire. Piecing the clues together, Stephen realizes what his brother is thinking. But he also knows he had nothing to do with these crimes. In tandem with this revelation, Brian comes to the conclusion Adcox is Swayzak’s point-man. Stephen is therefore in grave danger as Engine 17 departs for their most hellish firestorm yet; a large manufacturing plant near the waterfront gone up in flames. Rejoining Engine 17, Brian is confronted by Adcox. Indeed, Adcox has figured things out for himself and means to do Brian serious harm.  Stephen confronts Adcox on the roof of the manufacturing plant. Adcox painfully admits taking bribes from Swayzak to make ends meet, deliberately setting backdrafts to murder the loose ends in Swayzak’s scheme who otherwise might have derailed his chances to run for public office.

Before the men can resolve this conflict, the roof gives way beneath them; Adcox and Stephen plummeting several stories. Despite his treachery, Stephen rescues Adcox from falling to his death in a horrific lake of fire at ground level – the pair, dangling from a chain high above the inferno. Witnessing their plight, Brian makes a daring try to save his brother. Adcox falls to his death as Stephen clings to the chain. But his grip is loosening. Unable to hold on, Stephen dies, but not before he makes his newly acquired admiration for Brian known to him. This, alas, makes the thought-numbing resplendence of Stephen’s funeral, with hundreds of marching firefighters, all the more heart-wrenching. Now, Brian and Rimgale barge in on a press conference being given by Swayzak. Rimgale reveals to the crowd of reporters, with documentation in hand, how Swayzak bribed contractors in a bid to shut down and convert preexisting firehouses into community centers. The kickbacks became so egregious that eventually Swayzak had to resort to murdering some of the key players in this graft, merely to save face in his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor. As Swayzak recoils from the barrage of questions, Brian informs him that his career dissipation light has just gone into overtime; Swayzak, likely looking at federal indictments for fraud, money-laundering and murder. Jennifer and Brian rekindle their former relationship. In the movie’s epilogue, Brian, now seasoned and newly reinstated to Engine 17 company, prepares for another fire call. With a hint of his late brother’s cockiness, though infinitely more compassion, Brian informs the new probationary firefighter – as young and anxious as he once was – that he has fastened the lapels of his protective coat incorrectly; a mirror-image of a scene first played between Brian and Stephen at the start of the movie. Schmidt smiles, knowing the McCaffrey family legacy has come full circle.  

At its core, Backdraft is a tale of succession and forgiveness. Kurt Russell delivers a seminal turn as the embittered brother, brewing in his pent-up anger, thinly masked by an air of willful arrogance.  William Baldwin, somewhat less competently, nevertheless, compliments Russell’s powerhouse performance. Casting such heavy hitters as Bobby DeNiro and Donald Sutherland in mere walk-ons is risky. After all, Sutherland was a huge star only a decade earlier, and DeNiro in 1991 was, arguably, still at the top of his game. But in Backdraft, DeNiro and Sutherland’s second-fiddle status works spectacularly well, perhaps, because the rest of the cast are as equal to the task of carrying the heavier loads. Scott Glenn makes for a very tragic baddie, while, T.J. Walsh is his usual, steely-eyed and plotting self. The female co-stars in Backdraft are underutilized, especially the marvelous Rebecca DeMornay. That said, Backdraft is not their story to tell. So, token estrogen works. Besides, this is a story of male-bonding, sibling rivalry and brotherly forgiveness. Ultimately, Backdraft remains a superior example of what film-making in the 1990’s was capable of, especially when the script was solid, the performances strong, and the action set pieces, A-1. Stunt coordinator, Walter Scott and pyrotechnic genius, Allen Hall have created some of the most visceral and harrowing fire sequences ever committed to film; death-defying and full-scale, where fire truly becomes another character in the story. Feel the burns? Oh, yeah!

Universal Home Video’s 4K Blu-Ray ups the ante and is a class-A quality affair. It is gratifying to see Uni taking an invested interest in bringing some of its biggest hits from past decades to this still ‘relatively new’ format; particularly, when many studios continue to overlook the past or offer a mere trickle of back catalog in UHD. Backdraft on standard Blu-ray was a minor revelation in 2009. So, it is perhaps not as impressive herein to find its 4K upgrade looking absolutely fantastic. The most quantifiable upticks, comparatively between the old Blu-ray (also repackaged and included herein) and the new 4K remaster are, predictably, in the resolution and HDR 10 color grading. While the fire sequences looked hot and deadly on Blu-ray, in 4K they emerge with such staggering clarity, heat can almost be felt being generated from the other side of the screen. Flesh tones are far more natural and subtly nuanced. And blacks, in uniforms particularly, are deep, rich and shiny. We have come to expect such miracles of image clarity from 4K. But Backdraft projected is as close to a theatrical experience as one might have in the comfort of his/her living room. The 5.1 DTS kicks things into high gear as well, with bass-rattling action sequences, and excellently placed dialogue. As with most 4K releases, extras herein are restricted to the standard Blu-ray and include nothing more than previously available. So, we get the same intensive audio commentary from Howard and other cast and crew, plus several well thought out documentaries devoted to the making, casting and special effects.  Bottom line: very highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

5+

VIDEO/AUDIO

4K - 5+

Blu-ray - 5

EXTRAS

3.5