Firefighter movies and others we remember

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nfd2004

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Several years ago there were two famous movies that introduced the public to the workings of city firefighters. They were based on what it was like to be a firefighter in the cities of Chicago and Baltimore.

Yes, this was Hollywood using actors to play the part. But in reality, it was a lot like this in many of the busier fire departments across America. During showings, many theaters enjoyed sell out ticket sales. For me, these movies still are probably two of my all time favorites.

As we look back in time, it is hard to believe this first one came out over 25 years ago in 1991. Some reading this might not even have been born at this time, but today they are firefighters, buffs etc. You can watch this entire movie on youtube these days. It was produced by Ron Howard, who many of us remember as "Opie". The little kid who played the son of a small town Sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show". That movie was called "Backdraft" and it was about a group of firefighters who worked in a busy Chicago firehouse.

This is the ending scene from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3plzNBdI8U

The second movie came out in 2004, starring John Travolta. That movie was called; "Ladder 49" and it was based on life as a firefighter in the City of Baltimore. Once again this movie filled the theaters.

Here is the preview trailer from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Wgm28hUpg
 
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M

mack

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The 1973 movie "Firehouse" was a poorly made movie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwWaBAKtkGQ
 
raybrag

raybrag

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Willy and Mack:

You left out the best 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOfsNiQxfAo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29wI18uT7zU

You've got to click on this one:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xv03y_three-stooges-false-alarms_fun

 
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mack

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1974 - "Towering Inferno"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nch1URmJvMA
 
M

mack

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Top Firefighter Movies by Money Made

1  "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" $120,059,556    2007

2  "Backdraft" $77,868,585    1991

3  "Ladder 49" $74,541,707    2004

4  "Frequency" $45,010,278    2000

5  "Always" $43,858,790    1989

6  "Collateral Damage" $40,077,257    2002

7  "Roxanne" $40,050,884    1987

8  "Fireproof" $33,456,317  2008

9  "Firestarter"  $17,080,167  1984

10  "Firestorm"  $8,165,212  1998
 
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nfd2004

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mack said:
1974 - "Towering Inferno"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nch1URmJvMA
Click to expand...

The movie "The Towering Inferno". I even remember the date that I went to see that playing in the movies. That date would change my entire life.

It was on February, 14th, Valentines Day, 1975. It was my first date with the girl I would marry about a year and a half later.

The economy wasn't doing very well at the time. In fact it was around that time that the FDNY would close dozens of fire companies and lay off about 300 firefighters. After that movie we had gone out to get a pizza at a well known Great place in New Haven, Ct called "Pepes".

It was there that I had told her that it looks like I would be getting hired as a firefighter in a place about 75 miles away. A place that neither one of us really knew too much about. But with these jobs being so scare and hard to come by, I told her that "if they open the door for me, I got to walk in and take it".

  A few months after seeing that movie I would get the job and buy a house there. We would get married in October, 1976. And be very happily married for the next 35 years until she passed away from a form of cancer.

That movie, "The Towering Inferno", was the beginning of a very happy life for us that we celebrated for many years later. 
 
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nfd2004

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Thanks Ray. A lot of us here remember those too. "They were GREAT and STILL ARE Today".
 
B

BoroCall

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If I'm not mistaken, weren't there several real-life Chicago firefighters in Backdraft?  Saw it many times both in the theater & TV - I shed many a tear at the end, the score was stunning - the entire movie was stunning.  Although I did think it was a bit strange how a Chicago firefighter is able to go from being a proby firefighter to being a fire investigator trainee and then back to being a firefighter in such a short period of time (by short-period of time, I'm not meaning the two-hours of the movie).


nfd2004 said:
Several years ago there were two famous movies that introduced the public to the workings of city firefighters. They were based on what it was like to be a firefighter in the cities of Chicago and Baltimore.

Yes, this was Hollywood using actors to play the part. But in reality, it was a lot like this in many of the busier fire departments across America. During showings, many theaters enjoyed sell out ticket sales. For me, these movies still are probably two of my all time favorites.

As we look back in time, it is hard to believe this first one came out over 25 years ago in 1991. Some reading this might not even have been born at this time, but today they are firefighters, buffs etc. You can watch this entire movie on youtube these days. It was produced by Ron Howard, who many of us remember as "Opie". The little kid who played the son of a small town Sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show". That movie was called "Backdraft" and it was about a group of firefighters who worked in a busy Chicago firehouse.

This is the ending scene from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3plzNBdI8U 

The second movie came out in 2004, starring John Travolta. That movie was called; "Ladder 49" and it was based on life as a firefighter in the City of Baltimore. Once again this movie filled the theaters.

Here is the preview trailer from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Wgm28hUpg
Click to expand...
 
B

BoroCall

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Dec 31, 2016
Messages
909
How beautiful & heartwarming!


nfd2004 said:
mack said:
1974 - "Towering Inferno"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nch1URmJvMA
Click to expand...

The movie "The Towering Inferno". I even remember the date that I went to see that playing in the movies. That date would change my entire life.

It was on February, 14th, Valentines Day, 1975. It was my first date with the girl I would marry about a year and a half later.

The economy wasn't doing very well at the time. In fact it was around that time that the FDNY would close dozens of fire companies and lay off about 300 firefighters. After that movie we had gone out to get a pizza at a well known Great place in New Haven, Ct called "Pepes".

It was there that I had told her that it looks like I would be getting hired as a firefighter in a place about 75 miles away. A place that neither one of us really knew too much about. But with these jobs being so scare and hard to come by, I told her that "if they open the door for me, I got to walk in and take it".

  A few months after seeing that movie I would get the job and buy a house there. We would get married in October, 1976. And be very happily married for the next 35 years until she passed away from a form of cancer.

That movie, "The Towering Inferno", was the beginning of a very happy life for us that we celebrated for many years later.
Click to expand...
 
M

mack

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"As the Lights Go Out" is a Chinese-made firefighter 2014 movie on some lists:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV7DnpXRE6g
 
N

nfd2004

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nfd2004 said:
As we look back in time, it is hard to believe this first one came out over 25 years ago in 1991. Some reading this might not even have been born at this time, but today they are firefighters, buffs etc. You can watch this entire movie on youtube these days. It was produced by Ron Howard, who many of us remember as "Opie". The little kid who played the son of a small town Sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show". That movie was called "Backdraft" and it was about a group of firefighters who worked in a busy Chicago firehouse.

This is the ending scene from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3plzNBdI8U
Click to expand...

The movie Backdraft was released in 1991. That movie about a group of very busy Chicago Firefighters working Engine 17 is now 31 years old.

Ron Howard, the director of that 1991 movie "Backdraft", who many of us knew also as Opie Taylor, in the TV series "The Andy Griffith Show" recently passed away on August 25, 2022.

For many of us, his list of Hollywood contributions will live on.
 
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raybrag

raybrag

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nfd2004 said:
Ron Howard, the director of that 1991 movie "Backdraft", who many of us knew also as Opie Taylor, in the TV series "The Andy Griffith Show" recently passed away on August 25, 2022.
Click to expand...
No, Willy. He's alive and well. The story about his death was a hoax. Opie lives! Happy Days!
 
M

mack

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Academy Award winning director Ron Howard is 68, is bald but in good health and is wortv$210 million. Backdraft is 31 years old and made $150 million. Several actors turned down the role of Brian McCaffrey including Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon and Val Kilmer. Other actors considered for that role include Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. Backdraft 2 made a few years ago was not made by Ron Howard and did not have the success of the original movie.
 
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N

nfd2004

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raybrag said:
No, Willy. He's alive and well. The story about his death was a hoax. Opie lives! Happy Days!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Ray.

I was telling many of my friends that "Opie", Ron Howard had passed away.
Today, I had planned to tell more friends through a monthly newsletter that I do for several local firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and dispatchers.

I MUST LEARN - "NOT" - TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING WRITTEN AND TOLD THESE DAYS.

The Movie "BACKDRAFT" was my favorite, followed by "Ladder 49", and "Fort Apache the Bronx" (remember them)

The television series "The Andy Griffith Show", when Ron Howard played "Opie", and a few years later when he played "Richie Cunningham" on "Happy Days", were some of the best years of television that have long since passed.

I am certainly GLAD to hear that Ron Howard is Alive and Well.

Thank you "mack" as well.
 
T

ta176

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After Backdraft came out a few people approached us and said they never knew what we actually did at a fire. So it was also an education for non firefighting people.
 
grumpy grizzly

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mack said:
Academy Award winning director Ron Howard is 68, is bald but in good health and is wortv$210 million. Backdraft is 31 years old and made $150 million. Several actors turned down the role of Brian McCaffrey including Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon and Val Kilmer. Other actors considered for that role include Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. Backdraft 2 made a few years ago was not made by Ron Howard and did not have the success of the original movie.
Click to expand...
I have seen scenes from BD 2, to say it did not have the success of the original is being kind.
 
grumpy grizzly

grumpy grizzly

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nfd2004 said:
Several years ago there were two famous movies that introduced the public to the workings of city firefighters. They were based on what it was like to be a firefighter in the cities of Chicago and Baltimore.

Yes, this was Hollywood using actors to play the part. But in reality, it was a lot like this in many of the busier fire departments across America. During showings, many theaters enjoyed sell out ticket sales. For me, these movies still are probably two of my all time favorites.

As we look back in time, it is hard to believe this first one came out over 25 years ago in 1991. Some reading this might not even have been born at this time, but today they are firefighters, buffs etc. You can watch this entire movie on youtube these days. It was produced by Ron Howard, who many of us remember as "Opie". The little kid who played the son of a small town Sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show". That movie was called "Backdraft" and it was about a group of firefighters who worked in a busy Chicago firehouse.

This is the ending scene from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3plzNBdI8U

The second movie came out in 2004, starring John Travolta. That movie was called; "Ladder 49" and it was based on life as a firefighter in the City of Baltimore. Once again this movie filled the theaters.

Here is the preview trailer from that movie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Wgm28hUpg
Click to expand...
In reality the two companies depicted in the movie, Engine 17 and Truck 46 are companies that are OOS. Engine 17 went OOS on January 16, 1968 while Truck 46 met the same fate on November 16, 1971. Ironically though there is a Engine 46 and Truck 17 in service on the South Side.
 
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