This block will stay here, I am going to leave this post here and then change out the movie plot details below. This page will get outdated as far as posts go, but will have a new movie each week (or at least I am going to try and do one a week). You can stream older movies on places like Fandago but they don’t have all the titles and some are really hard to find. You could go to the library and get the DVD and watch these older movies but then you run the risk of the copy being scratched and well not working that’s what happens when you lend things out to anybody. So yeah this change, I may update the date on the post so that you will be able to see when I have a new movie to watch.
Backdraft
Two firefighters of Engine 17 of the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) are brothers: the elder, Lieutenant Stephen “Bull” McCaffrey, is experienced, while Brian has labored in his brother’s shadow. Brian returns to firefighting after several other careers falter, although Stephen has doubts that Brian is fit to be a firefighter. In 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey, while accompanying him on a call.
The longest-serving of the men at Engine 17, John “Axe” Adcox, served under the McCaffreys’ father and was like an uncle to the boys when their father died. Adcox grows concerned about Stephen’s unorthodox methods and disregard for safety procedures, as does Stephen’s wife Helen, who separated from Stephen to protect herself and their son Sean from the risks that he was taking.
Inspector Donald “Shadow” Rimgale, a dedicated arson investigator and veteran firefighter, is called in because some recent explosive fires resemble those that were set by pyromaniac Ronald Bartel, who has been imprisoned for years. Brian transfers to become Rimgale’s assistant after an argument with Stephen. Rimgale manipulates Bartel’s obsession with fire to ensure that his annual parole application is rejected. It is revealed during an investigation that Chicago City Council alderman Marty Swayzak has supported budget cuts to the CFD. Contractors have paid him to shut down firehouses so that they can be converted into community centers, with the contractors receiving kickbacks for the construction. Brian rekindles a relationship with Jennifer Vaitkus, an aide to Swayzak.
When Engine 17 answers a call in a high-rise, Stephen urges them to move in quickly, despite Adcox’s advice to wait for backup. Brian’s friend and fellow trainee Tim Krizminski opens a door, triggering a backdraft. His face is burned beyond recognition and he barely survives. Adcox and Brian both condemn Stephen for what happened. Through experiments, Rimgale concludes that whoever is causing the fires does not want the fires to spread, hence the backdrafts.
Rimgale and Brian go to Swayzak’s home to confront him after learning of his connection to the three backdraft victims (Alan Seagrave, Donald Cosgrove, and Jeffery Holcomb) and interrupt a masked man about to set the residence on fire. The man attacks them with a flashlight but is burned on his shoulder by an electrical socket. Rimgale saves Brian and Swayzak from the house but is injured in an explosion. In his hospital bed, Rimgale tells Brian to revisit Bartel, who helps Brian realize that only a firefighter would be so careful as to not let backdraft fires rage out of control.
Brian suspects Stephen but spots a burn in the shape of an electrical socket on Adcox’s back. He reveals his suspicions to Stephen just before an alarm. When Brian realizes that Adcox has heard their exchange, he jumps aboard Truck 46 after borrowing some turnout gear. On their way to the fire, their truck crashes after dodging a taxi. Stephen confronts Adcox about the backdrafts during a multiple-alarm fire at a chemical plant. Adcox admits that he set the fires to kill Swayzak’s associates because Swayzak benefited from firefighters’ deaths and closed down firehouses. When an explosion destroys the catwalk that they are on, Stephen grabs Adcox’s hand while hanging on to the remains of the catwalk. Stephen refuses Adcox’s advice to let go of him and loses his grip on the catwalk. Stephen lands on the lower catwalk, but Adcox dies when he falls into the fire. Brian bravely battles the fire, allowing two firefighters to reach Stephen and carry him to safety. Stephen dies with Brian by his side on the way to the hospital, with his final request that Brian not reveal Adcox to be the perpetrator.
After the funeral for Stephen and Adcox, Brian and Rimgale, with the help of the police, interrupt Swayzak at a press conference. Rimgale questions Swayzak on a fake manpower study that led to the deaths of several firemen including Stephen and Adcox. They also state that Swayzak engineered the downsizing of the CFD, destroying Swayzak’s mayoral ambitions. Brian continues as a firefighter, carrying on his family’s firefighting tradition, despite the loss of his father and brother.
Author: admin
Obviously my interests include philosophy. I think thinking and thought are the beginning of every great thing. It’s how we understand and perceive the world. Periodically I’ll change things up and blog about something math or computer science related or even a blog about mythology. I am not political, trendy, or savvy, but I do like a good story. That is why I try and find a movie clip that hints or encompasses what I want to blog about. Sometimes the relevance is there, sometimes it’s a reach and I just really love the movie that I put in the post. The intent and purpose of my blog is to make you think, make me think and together our thoughts can be shared in a collection of material.