‘Backdraft,’ Ron Howard’s fractured tale of firemen, turns 35

William Baldwin and Kurt Russell played firefighting Chicago brothers in the 1991 film that made creative use of fire.

Here’s what I remember most about Backdraft from 1991: It’s a firefighter movie that, while it lands roughly in the middle, quality-wise, of director Ron Howard’s filmography, is still one of the better movies about firefighters.

Also, its Hans Zimmer-composed theme song was later pilfered by the original Japanese version of the competition show Iron Chef- a property that, tone-wise and genre-wise, could not possibly be more different.

Roger Ebert’s review was in line with the critical consensus: The film did a particularly great job of presenting fire as a special effect, but in the service of a rather thin plot, based on a crime that was somewhat convoluted.

Released in May of 1991, 35 years ago next week, Backdraft begins with a flashback to 1971, in which a young boy accompanies his Chicago fireman dad on a call- an ill-advised move that it’s very clear, from the first minute, is going to end in the dad’s tragic death. And since the photograph of the kid holding his dead dad’s helmet ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize, the tragedy goes on to define the kid’s life.

That idea was everywhere in the cinema of the early ‘90s- the movie protagonist whose Father Was a Great Man. That kid grows up to be Brian (William Baldwin), who lives in the shadow of both his late dad and his older brother Stephen (Kurt Russell, 40 at the time but looking considerably younger), a veteran firefighter. After a series of failed careers, Brian decides to pursue a Fire Department career of his own, even as he and his brother are frequently at odds.