City on Fire (film)

City on Fire
Year	1979
Directed by	Alvin Rakoff
Produced by	Claude Héroux Sandy Howard Harold Greenberg
Written by	Jack Hill David P. Lewis Céline La Frenière
Music by	Matthew McCauley William McCauley
Studio	Astral Films
Cast	Shelley Winters Leslie Nielsen James Franciscus Ava Gardner Henry Fonda
Run time	106 minutes
Riffed in	Experiment #K16

For the episode, see MST3K K16 - City on Fire.

City on Fire is a 1979 disaster movie directed by Alvin Rakoff.

Plot

A disgruntled oil refinery worker sabotages a major city with incendiary devices. As the metropolis burns, firefighters and emergency responders try to minimize the damage. Government officials also react.

Cast

• Barry Newman as Dr. Frank Whitman
• Susan Clark as Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec
• Shelley Winters as Nurse Andrea Harper
• Leslie Nielsen as Mayor William Dudley
• James Franciscus as Jimbo
• Ava Gardner as Maggie Grayson
• Henry Fonda as Fire Chief Risley

Notes

• The film was partially financed by the government agency Telefilm Canada and filmed on a relatively confined budget. Some of the fire sequences utilized stock footage from both existing movies and news footage. City on Fire was ultimately a failed venture for the company and had a limited run at the American box office. [1]

MST3K Connections

• James Franciscus also portrayed Clayton Stone in Space Travelers and Paul Diller in Killer Fish.
• Casting director Victoria Mitchell was also casting director for The Last Chase.
• Sound technician David Appleby was also sound technician for The Last Chase and H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come.
• Foley artist Andy Malcolm was also foley artist for The Last Chase.
• Foley recording mixer Don White was also sound re-recordist for The Last Chase and re-recording mixer for H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come.
• Special effects assistant Thomas L. Fisher also did special effects for SST- Death Flight

Critical Response

• Leonard Maltin wrote: "One-and-a-half stars. Dull, fill-in-the-blanks disaster film [...] Good cast wasted. For pyromaniacs only."
• Gene Siskel picked this movie as his Dog of the Week on the October 4, 1979 episode of Sneak Previews.
• Received Dishonorable Mentions for Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress (for Ava Gardner), and Least Special Special Effects categories in the 1979 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.