Extreme Heat Double FeatureCity on Fire! [1979] (First viewing; YouTube) – 6/10
A disgruntled employee sets fire to an oil refinery, causing it to explode. The uncontrollable fire rapidly spreads throughout the city, and eventually traps the people in a city hospital.
This is no
Towering Inferno, and should have been retitled as “Hospital on Fire!”. A lot of rambling soap opera and not much tension.
Barry Newman (
Vanishing Point, 1971) stars. Susan Clark (
Airport ‘75), Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Winters, James Franciscus, Ava Gardner, Henry Fonda co-star. Alvin Rakoff (
Death Ship) directs.
Firestorm [1998] (First viewing; f.o.c.) – 7/10
A group of Wyoming State Penitentiary convicts escapes after an arson sets a nearby forest ablaze. Their plan is to retrieve 37 million dollars that was hidden by their leader (William Forsythe) in the forest. Trapped in the fire is Jennifer, a bird-watcher who is also taken hostage. When veteran firefighter and smokejumper Jesse Graves (Howie Long) arrives at the scene, he must do everything he can to save Jennifer and fight back the convicts.
I missed this when it was playing at the cinema. Mark reminded me of this again when I saw his post, so I watched it
The plot resembles that of
Cliffhanger. The lead actor could have been played by any action star of that era. Unfortunately, newcomer Howie Long is wooden and does not possess onscreen charisma. No wonder he disappeared after this. One film feature, besides the decent plot, which is worth seeing are the action scenes. If you like style-than-substance action adventure, this will satisfy you.
Suzy Amis, Scott Glenn co-star. Deam Semler (
Mad Max 2, Dances with Wolves, Waterworld - cinematographer) directs.