Thanks for the memories!

Admirable film.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Fire (1977) ** (out of 4) Sam (Ernest Borgnine) really loves Martha (Vera Miles) but she says it's too late as they should have acted on this years earlier. A married couple (Patty Duke, Alex Cord) find themselves falling out of love. A teacher (Donna Mills) must make a devastating decision. Oh yeah, there's a convict who starts a fire to try and make an escape and soon this fire is threatening the entire town. The all-star cast then must jump into action.Producer Irwin Allen struck gold with THE TOWERING INFERNO so why not take that fire a put it in a different location? FIRE was a made-for-television film that comes as a major disappointment and especially if you're a fan of the genre. As you'd expect, there's a great number of familiar stars on hand here and all of them turn in decent enough performances. Obviously most of the cast were just picking up checks for movies like this but it's still fun seeing all of them here. Not only do we get the stars I mentioned but there's also Erik Estrada, Gene Evans, Neville Brand and Lloyd Nolan.The biggest problem with FIRE is that there's not a single second that you feel any tension. What I really disliked about this movie is that the "good guys" are constantly put in harm's way but there's no a single moment where you feel as if they are in danger. We get some really ridiculous scenes where it seems like the characters are going to die only to have some cliffhanger-style non-sense happen to where everyone is safe. Whenever you're watching a film like this and you can't feel any tension the entire thing is just pointless.What's worse is that the 100-minute running time seems to drag on and on. There's really not a very good story here as it's all rather routine and especially the various personal dramas that are thrown in. Even the special effects aren't all that great. Sure, one shouldn't expect the same quality as THE TOWERING INFERNO but what's here just isn't all that memorable.

Grizzled convict Larry Durant (Neville Brand in peak crusty form) decides to start a forest fire as a diversion to cover his escape. However, said fire soon gets out of hand and becomes a raging inferno.Director Earl Bellamy relates the gripping story at a swift pace, makes nice use of the breathtaking sylvan scenery, builds a good deal of tension, and stages the hairy fire set pieces with considerable skill and aplomb. The taut script by Arthur Weiss and Norman Katkov displays a refreshing dearth of pretense and keeps the cornball sappy subplots to an admirable minimum by getting right down to exciting brass tacks after only fifteen minutes of basic setup. Ernest Borgnine delivers a delightfully hearty performance as hearty lumber mill boss Sam Brisbane. Moreover, there are also sturdy acting contributions from Vera Miles as feisty widow Martha Wagner, Alex Cord as the rugged Dr. Alex Wilson, Patty Duke as Alex's fed-up physician spouse Peggy, Erik Estrada as noble Native American felon Frank, Donna Mills as sensitive school teacher Harriett Malone, Lloyd Nolan as the amiable Doc Bennett, Ty Hardin as tough warden Wyatt Fleming, Gene Evans as gruff forest ranger Dan Harter, and Michelle Stacy as adorable little girl in jeopardy Judy. Both Dennis Dalzell's crisp cinematography and Richard LaSalle's spirited score are up to par. Best of all, the fire sequences are convincing and harrowing in equal measure. A neat little teleflick.

This is a great example of a 70's disaster movie! Starts off with all the story lines...Vera Miles and Ernest like each other, but never got married...Donna Mills is a school teacher out in the woods with her class...Erik Estrada is a disgruntled prisoner (falsely accused!)...Alex Cord and his wife are both doctors, but just can't see eye-to-eye about their marriage. Then the fire starts in the woods!! And all the actors come together in various threads (at the lodge, on the road, etc.) to battle the blaze and display their heroism. It's pretty entertaining, and also considering this is PRE CGI affects!! The best part for any Airwolf fans out there (the 80's helicopter action series) is to see Ernest B. (Airwolf's Dom Santini) and Alex Cord (Archangel in Airwolf) together in this!

This film was one of the very last disaster movies not to be ridiculed by the critics. The main reason for this must have been the realistic and very good fire sequences. While later disaster movies had credibility problems, this one was actually pretty realistic. Well worth a look.