The sheer terror and unearthly beauty of a raging forest fire is breathlessly captured in this compelling Irwin Allen production boasting a big-name cast and enough blazing special effects to turn night into day. Involved are a lumber mill owner (Ernest Borgnine), the widowed operator of a forest lodge (Vera Miles), a teacher on a class outing (Donna Mills), a country doctor (Lloyd Nolan), a couple (Patty Duke Astin and Alex Cord) whose shaky marriage is healed when battling the blaze brings out their better natures, and escaping convicts (Neville Brand and Erik Estrada) who use the conflagration to cover their tracks. Like Allen’s crowd-pleasers The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, Fire sizzles with suspense and excitement. Turn up the heat!
Practical Effects
Real forest fires filmed with genuine 'how did they insure this' energy
Acting
Ernest Borgnine yells at flames like they owe him money
Production
Irwin Allen's '70s disaster formula: stars + peril + barely coherent plot
Director
Earl Bellamy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was originally a failed 1974 TV pilot called 'The Firefighters,' then repurposed as a TV movie when networks passed. The '70s recycling economy!
Fire arrived during peak disaster-movie saturation—audiences had already survived The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and TWO Airport films. This was Allen's attempt to prove he could burn things down outside buildings.
US
