City on Fire (1979 film)

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City on Fire
City on Fire movie poster.
Directed by	Alvin Rakoff
Produced by	Claude Héroux
Written by	Jack Hill Dave Lewis Céline La Frenière
Starring	Barry Newman Susan Clark
Music by	Matthew McCauley William McCauley
Cinematography	René Verzier
Distributed by	AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date(s)	August 29, 1979 August 31, 1979
Running time	106 min.
Country	Canada/USA
Language	French/English
Budget	$5,300,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

City on Fire is a 1979 disaster film directed by Alvin Rakoff and featuring an “all-star cast,” as was the custom for that time. The film’s plot revolves around a disgruntled civil servant who sets fire to an oil refinery, setting off a blaze which engulfs an entire city. Various people try to either fight or flee the fire as it spreads throughout the city. Some elements of the disaster depicted reflect the infamous Texas City Disaster of 1947.

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. The film was resurrected from obscurity by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1989, and has since been known as an example of campy disaster B-movies.