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City on Fire

Play trailer Poster for City on Fire R 1979 1h 44m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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A doctor (Barry Newman), a fire chief (Henry Fonda), a newswoman (Ava Gardner) and hospital patients face disaster after arson at an oil refinery.

Critics Reviews

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Tom Milne Observer (UK) Apr 23
A damply spluttering disaster movie. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com 01/09/2024
3/5
...in any other film, casting the venerable Shelley Winters as a young, idealistic and gutsy nurse would be a talking point, but she’s only one more shonky element in a tower of inanities... Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 06/25/2021
1.5/4
...a misbegotten endeavor that's rarely, if ever, able to live up to the potential afforded by its seemingly foolproof premise. Go to Full Review
Gilbert Adair Monthly Film Bulletin 08/02/2015
The attractions of City on Fire may be encapsulated thus: Fire destroys city. Not many stars killed. Except that 'dull', as criticism, scarcely does justice to the ludicrous contrivance of this disaster movie. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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03/23/2020 I can see why this doesn't get the love the rest of its kind does. It's a bottom of the barrel disaster flick. It's still fairly entertaining if you're hungry for one of these, but it's very cheap looking and gets kinda dull. See more 08/03/2015 Closing in on the bottom of the barrel disaster flick makes no sense picking up and dropping plot points at random intervals. Shelley Winters at least tries to give a performance but Ava Gardner and Henry Fonda, both looking the worse for wear, obviously did it strictly for the loot and are phoning it in, Henry being the worst offender. If you're a disaster movie junkie this is a must see but for anyone else its a Grade Z mess. See more 03/20/2015 A campy B-disaster film about a resentful pyromaniac caused the explosion at a local refinery in Canada and somehow set the entire town on fire. Shockingly, there were many well known actors in the film like Leslie Nielsen and Henry Fonda for instance. The acting was so bad that I cringed constantly, the dialogues were ridiculous. To be honest, it might have been better if this was a comedy. See more 05/04/2012 Average disaster flick, with some great actors wasted. Has it's moments. See more 09/09/2011 Boring, dingy disaster movie from the 70s with a couple of notable names, but not much else going for it. A good early MST3K episode. See more Read all reviews
City on Fire

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Movie Info

Synopsis A doctor (Barry Newman), a fire chief (Henry Fonda), a newswoman (Ava Gardner) and hospital patients face disaster after arson at an oil refinery.
Director
Alvin Rakoff
Producer
Claude Héroux
Screenwriter
Jack Hill, David P. Lewis, Celine la Freniere
Distributor
AVCO Embassy Pictures
Production Co
Astral Films, Astral Bellevue Pathé
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 31, 1979, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 25, 2019
Runtime
1h 44m