Watch City on Fire For Free

Good movie but grossly overrated

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

City on Fire is about an ex-employee taking it out on the whole city by sabotaging the refinery. The city winds up in flames and the doctor and his staff have a race against time to get everyone out before the fire spread to the hospital. Pretty much cheesy at best including the special effects and the flubs on some of the scenes on a limited movie budget. Barry Newman, Henry Fonda(I don't know why he took this role), Susan Clark(Webster jokes by MST3K guys), Leslie Neilsen trying to be serious as the mayor, Ava Gardner as a wasted news anchor doing the play by play on the City on Fire and Shelley Winters whom she just comes in for some of the scenes. Pretty much if someone needs to remake the movie anytime in the future please don't make it worst.

This uproariously absurd Canadian disaster (semi) epic centers on an unspecified metropolis (Chicago? New York? Los Angeles?) catching aflame after a bitter oil refinery worker (grossly overplayed by Jonathan Walsh) pours fuel in the city's sewers that in turn gets set alight by two welders working in said sewer (!). Next thing you know the whole city becomes an incendiary inferno and people are getting fried left and right. Trapped inside a hospital in the middle of the blaze are dull doctor Barry Newman (whose once smokin' hot career promptly ran out of gas following his sterling portrayal of Kowalski in the car chase cult classic "Vanishing Point"), haggard-looking nurse Shelley Winters (who suffered a heart attack during "The Poseidon Adventure" and meets a similar abrupt fate here), and corner-cutting mayor Leslie Nielsen (who also got killed during "The Poseidon Adventure;" who was the casting director on this flick?). Trying to contain the fire and save countless human lives is stern, no-nonsense fire chief Henry Fonda (the President in "Meteor").Clumsily directed with an appalling lack of skill and finesse by Alvin Rakoff (who went on to fumble with the equally inept "Death Ship"), with a totally implausible script co-written by none other than Jack Hill, this admittedly awful picture still counts as a great deal of cheesy fun thanks to terrible acting from a noticeably embarrassed Hall of Shame Faded Name cast (Ava Gardner is pitiful as a boozy, bitchy TV news anchorwoman; ditto James Franciscus as a harried television station manager), poor special effects (both the miniatures and matte paintings are laughably pathetic), and hilariously horrendous dialogue (groan-inducing gems include "Try talking to a surgeon about compromise during an open heart operation" and "Don't die on me for Christ's sake"). The single most unintentionally sidesplitting scene occurs when a drooling, deranged old bag gets turned into a human torch and cuts loose with an incredible high-pitched scream as she runs down a flame-engulfed street. And remember folks: "It can happen to any city anywhere!"

Although I am a die-hard disaster movie fan I could find little if any redeeming characteristics in this turkey. The acting was dull, and most of the once-were stars seem at best indifferent. One exception is Leslie Nielsen, who turns in a funny if unintentional performance.The plot and special effects all center around the approaching fire storm which threatens a "major" city hospital, all the while followed Ava Gardner in her campiest role since Earthquake as a reporter deeply in the sauce. The special effects are in of themselves Subaru and the director seems to have a grasp of physics that is as limited as his proclivity for having nurses, the average man on the street, the kid next door and even Spot run around on fire. Unfortunately for both the director and the viewer, the images of screaming alphas does little to advance the story.To sum it up in two words: Stay away!

What can I say...were movies really this bad.Henry Fonda the great actor...what was he thinking when he agreed to be in this disasterous disaster movie.I won't bore you with the plot..the movie is bad enough without having to try to understand the intricat web of sub plots that exist.I have a few questions anyone who watches this movie might be able to answer me cause I sure couldn't figure them out.1) How did the entire city catch fire? 2) The hospital evacuation...why do they run out of oxygen? 3) I didn't think firemen would normally run into a burning building like they do in this movie with no oxygen? 4) What was the contraption that was used for CPR on the injured fireman? Look like a porno prop to meLeslie Nielsen was doing comedy even when he was doing serious drama. This movie is right out of the Naked Gun series. only problem is the actors take it all seriously.Susan Clark (aka Websters mum) plays the rich, trampy, heroine love interest for Barry Newman (who is this guy? what a chick magnet really?)I think my impression of the movie is coming through loud and clear. I love disaster movies usually, but god were all of the 1970's movies this bad?? Surely not....If you need a laugh watch this tripe if only to appreciate good movies when you watch them.