Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater? Quiz

Answer: Backdraft

1991's "Backdraft" packed an all-star cast. In addition to De Niro as the grizzled arson investigator, Baldwin as the rookie firefeighter and Russell as his older experienced brother, the movie featured Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland, Rebecca De Mornay, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Gedrick. The complicated plot pits firefghters and arson investgators against a deadly arsonist tied to a corrupt city official. Filled with state of the art fire/rescue sequences, the portaryal of fire as almost a living elemental force is the more interesting element of the film. The film did well at the international box office earning over $150,000,000, received three Oscar nominations for technical merit and remains a highly watchable film today.

Backdrafts are a very real problem for firefighters. A backdraft is an explosion of flame that happens when a sudden source of air reaches a fire that has used up all the available oxygen. An example of a backdraft is the opening of a door to a room containing a fire. Backdrafts are dangerous for firepersons because the fire will surge to the source of the oxygen, which is often exactly where the firefighter is standing.

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

It is often eerie to see how accurate some books and movies can be at predicitng the future. The premise of Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel, and the film version from 1966, is that a totalitarian American government has banned all books as a means to eliminate dissent and control information. Fireman are empowered to seek out and burn books. People are encouraged to receive information from giant wall sized televisions that show either government approved news or insipid "approved" programming. Expressing themes of the power of the visual media to control thought, demise of the printed word, and the negative effects of banning contrary opinion, the image of the future in "Fahrenheit 451" is maybe too real to ignore.

The 1966 movie is a relatively faithful adaptation of the book starring Oskar Werner as the conflicted "fireman" Montag who comes to reject his book burning task, and Julie Christie in a dual role as his wife and a 20 year old book lover who serves as the catalyst for change in Montag. The film was the only film directed by the great French director Francois Truffaut in English and his first foray into color production. While Truffaut's direction was praised,the movie was criticized for poor choices in casting Ms. Christie and Mr. Werner as the leads.

Answer: John Travolta

"Ladder 49" is the tale of the relationship between experienced fireman Mike Kennedy played by Travolta and the younger Jack Morrison played by Joaquin Phoenix. The movie is considered one of the more accurate and realistic representations of the difficulties, dangers and sacrifices made by modern fireman in battling fires of all shapes and sizes. The film is told in flashback, as Travolta tries to save his friend and protégé, Phoenix, who is trapped inside a burning high rise building. The film was received with mixed reviews and is considered only a mild success having grossed just slightly over $100,000,000 in worldwide box office.

John Travolta came to fame in the early 1970s on US television as the rather dim, perpetual high school student Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter". Roles in 1975's "Carrie" and 1976's "The Boy in The Plastic Bubble" opened the way for Travolta to become one of the 1970s and 1980s biggest movie stars, when he starred in 1977's "Saturday Night Fever" and 1978's "Grease". By the mid 1980s Travolta's star had dimmed, only to be rekindled when he played a heroin-using hit man in 1994's "Pulp Fiction".

Answer: Cyrano de Bergerac

Steve Martin plays C.D. Bales, the Fire Chief of a small Washington state town. While eloquent and charming, C.D. has a large nose that saps his confidence around women. A beautiful astronomer played by Darrel Hannah, Roxanne, moves into town. C.D. is attracted to Roxanne; however, he believes he is not good looking enough for her. He agrees to help a classically handsome but rather intellectually limited colleague in winning over Roxanne. C.D. creates poetry and witty conversation for the younger man to voice. Eventually, Roxanne learns who has been charming her, and amidst the dangers of a real fire, she and C.D profess their love.

Roxanne is, of course, the name of the heroine from Edmund Rostand's 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac". Rostand's large nosed, love-struck soldier is transformed into Martin's Fire Chief. A hilarious scene has Martin recounting 20 "big nose" insults in rapid succession to humiliate a would be heckler. That scene mirrors a similar set of verse from the play. Unlike other movies about fireman, the danger level is dialed way down in "Roxanne", as romance and laughs are center stage.

Answer: Hellfighters

"Hellfighters" is the true to life story of specialized fireman who travel the world stopping the massive and deadly fires that occur in oil fields. Wayne plays Chance Buckman, the leader of the "go-to crew" of fire daredevils. Jim Hutton plays his protégé, Greg Parker. Hutton, Wayne and fellow star Bruce Cabot also star together in 1968's "The Green Berets". Hutton was well on his way to a highly successful career when he died at the age of 45 in 1979. Hutton was the father of Academy Award winning actor Timothy Hutton.

"Hellfghters" is based on the life of the famous oil field firefighter Paul "Red" Adair. Adair was so highly respected by the oil industry that he was charged with controlling the Kuwaiti oil field fires at the end of the First Gulf War. Much of the excitement in the otherwise average "Hellfighters" comes from the technical firefighting scenes choreographed by Adair and legendary stuntman/director Hal Needham. One of the firefighting sequences includes real images of Adair and his team combating a burning oil well. The owner of the real well persuaded Universal Studios to pay Adair his $100,000 fee for controlling the blaze and allowed the studio to film the action for the movie.

Answer: The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges made over 190 short films between 1934-1958 that formed the backbone of their immense popularity. The Stooges were a slapstick comedy act that were comprised, for the most part, of brothers Moe and Curly Howard (later another brother Shemp Howard replaced Curly) and Larry Fine. The combination of disruptive pathos and cartoon violence between the Stooges was extremely popular and made the Three Stooges international stars for generations of fans.

"False Alarms" was the 17th short film made by the Three Stooges and was released in 1936. The Stooges play hapless fireman who contrive to create a false fire call to get them out of the station house to attend a party with their girlfriends. By the end of the movie the Stooges have destroyed the fire chief's new car and are last seen escaping from the irate fire chief. In 1938's "Flat Foot Stooges", the 35th short film, the boys are again decked out in firefighter gear; but this time are not embarrassing the uniform. The Stooges save their beloved firehouse and the attractive daughter of the Fire Chief, both endangered by an arson attempt from a nefarious fire equipment salesman, an egg laying duck and leaky gunpowder containers.

Answer: Edwin S. Porter

Edwin Stanton Porter is one the early cinema pioneers and legends. Porter made over 250 films in the first decades of the 20th century, mostly for the Edison Manufacturing Company. Porter, like his contemporaries Chaplin, DeMille and Griffith, operated in the silent film era, where seemingly every new film used untested and experimental techniques. Porter is best known for the 1903 western "The Great Train Robbery", which is regarded as the first true American film to portray a cohesive narrative. At 12 minutes in length, "The Great Train Robbery" was one of the longest films of its time; and is considered the first film to use location filming. The worldwide success of the film spurred further investment and interest in movie-making.

"Life of an American Fireman" was made prior to "The Great Train Robbery", and is shorter at eight minutes. The film was co-directed by Porter with another of Edison's pioneer artists, George S. Fleming. This film clearly shows Porter's attempts to synthesize editing techniques to create a narrative. The film includes one of the very first uses of close up camera work. The "story" is essentially sequential scenes of a fireman receiving and responding to a fire call. An even earlier film, the 1901 British film "Fire", is perhaps the first cinematic depiction of the fireman as hero. "Fire" is a nearly five minute film that shows fireman responding to a dangerous blaze.

Answer: The Towering Inferno

In 1974, Irwin Allen, producer of the successful people-in-peril movies "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "The Poseidon Adventure", turned his attention to his biggest spectacle yet, the effects of a fire on a 138 story ultramodern high rise building. "The Towering Inferno" was a script based on two different books, "The Tower" and "The Glass Inferno", and interwove the plot and characters from both books.

The film paired movie idols Steve McQueen as the heroic Fire Chief Michael O'Halloran, and Paul Newman as the building's architect, who realizes the building owners changed his design to cut costs.

The all-star cast included Fred Astaire, who was nominated for his only Oscar as a con-artist also trapped in the fire. The film was Oscar winner Jennifer Jones' last film and featured performances from William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughan and O.J. Simpson.

Answer: Montana

"Red Skies of Montana" details the dangerous lives of "smokejumpers", firefighters who parachute into inaccessible locations to fight forest fires. The film is based on the real-life death of 12 smokejumpers in May 1949. These firemen died fighting to control a blaze in the remote Mann Gulch area of Montana's Helena National Forest. Widmark plays, Cliff Mason, the leader of a gang of smokejumpers.

The movie shows the real life dangers of fighting big forest fires in the early 1950s, including the very real chance that not all the fireman will survive.

The movie received high marks for accuracy in documenting the firefighting scenes, but did poorly at the box office and is largely forgotten today.

Answer: Collateral Damage

"Collateral Damage" deals with the unrelenting search for revenge by Los Angeles Fire Captain Gordon Brewer against the terrorists who bombed the Los Angeles branch of the Columbian Embassy in protest of US activities supporting the Columbian regime. Nine people are killed during the attack including Brewer's wife and young son, who were in an adjacent cafe. Brewer's family's death was the titular "collateral damage" to the government officials and property that were the subject of the attack. In classic commando style, Schwarzenegger storms off to find, catch and kill the terrorists. Ultimately the future Governor of the State of California uncovers and foils a plot by the terrorists to bomb the US State Department in Washington DC.

"Collateral Damage" had the unfortunate timing to be scheduled for release on October 5, 2001. The devastating and all too real terrorist actions on September 11, 2001 required the producers to both delay release and change elements of the movie. The marketing for the movie was changed to remove posters depicting the bombing and a scene showing a hijacking of an airplane by terrorists was cut altogether. The film was released on February 8, 2002 to mostly negative reviews. "Collateral Damage" was considered a box office bust and likely hastened Schwarzenegger's decision to temporarily retire from acting and run for political office.