Light a fire under those filmmakers

Firefighter films are few and far between. What with “Ladder 49” now out in theaters, it’s easy to think back to 1991’s “Backdraft,” the firefighter action/mystery flick made by a pre- “Beautiful Mind” Ron Howard. And here’s the view from one outpost: While “Backdraft” had too many plot lines, “Ladder 49” has too few.

If you’ll recall, “Backdraft” (screenplay by Gregory Widen, best known for writing “Highlander” and its many crappy sequels) tells the story of two brothers, Irish naturally (aren’t most stereotypical big-city firefighters Irish?), who share a common bond: Dad was killed in a fire set by an arsonist. The two brothers (Kurt Russell, William Baldwin) don’t get along, which is one kind of tension. A new set of fires is being set with specific people as targets. This is tension point No. 2.

A grizzled veteran (really, are there any other kinds of veterans, especially those played by the contemporary Robert De Niro) fire investigator is on the criminal’s trail (No. 3), and his main suspect ( Donald Sutherland ) is what Washington Post critic Desson Howe calls the Hannibal Lecter of arson (No. 4). Don’t let us forget the obligatory romance, this time between Baldwin’s character and the junior city bureaucrat played by Jennifer Jason Leigh (No. 5) – who works for the creepy J.T. Walsh (No. 6) – even while older brother is battling with his wifey, witchily played by Rebecca De Mornay (No. 7). And then there are the fires themselves (No. 8).

Here’s what passes for Widen-inspired dialogue about the McGuffin that makes this mess go: “It’s a living thing,” De Niro tells Baldwin, referring to the fire. “It breathes. It eats. The only way to beat it, is to think like it. You gotta love it a little.”

Make the appropriate sighing sound here. And buy a program, because you’ll need it to keep track of the plot lines.