Ladder 49 [P&S]

Director: Jay Russell Jay Russell

Overview

An everyday hero recalls his life as he's forced to look death in the eye in this adventure drama. Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) is a young firefighter who is a member of Ladder Company 49, led by Capt. Kennedy (John Travolta), a tough but compassionate man who looks upon his fellow firefighters as a family. While battling a blaze, Morrison finds himself trapped inside a burning building, and as Kennedy and his men try to find a way to rescue him, Morrison looks back on his life and how he came to choose such a dangerous career. Ladder 49 also features Jacinda Barrett and Brooke Hamlin as, respectively, Morrison's wife and daughter.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/08/2005
UPC:	0786936226416
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, THX-Supervised Mastering]
Language:	English
Time:	1:55:00
Sales rank:	22,309

Special Features

Closed Caption;Enhanced Home Theater Mix - a dynamic audio-sensory experience designed specifically for your home theater system; Everyday Heroes: real stories from real firefighters; Deleted scenes; The Making of Ladder 49; Robbie Robertson "Shine Your Light" music video; Audio commentary with director Jay Russell and editor Bud Smith

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joaquin Phoenix	Jack Morrison
John Travolta	Capt. Mike Kennedy
Jacinda Barrett	Linda Morrison
Robert Patrick	Lenny Richter
Morris Chestnut	Tommy Drake
Billy Burke	Dennis Gauquin
Balthazar Getty	Ray Gauquin
Tim Guinee	Tony Corrigan
Kevin Chapman	Frank McKinney
Jay Hernandez	Keith Perez
Kevin Daniels	Don Miller
Brooke Hamlin	Katie Morrison
Robert Logan Lewis	Robert Reilly
Spencer Berglund	Nicky Morrison
Peggy Cafferty	Julia
William Ross	Composer

Technical Credits

Lewis Colick

Jay Russell	Director
Lewis Colick	Screenwriter
Casey Silver	Producer
Armyan Bernstein	Executive Producer
Marty Ewing	Executive Producer
Seth Arnett	Stunts
Nancy Foy	Casting
Larry Fioritto	Special Effects
Kirk Francis	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

From the blue-collar heroism of its title onward, Ladder 49 honors the quintessential experience of the American firefighter. Never mind that it focuses on a blazing Baltimore factory, rather than the World Trade Center -- the film is a pretty transparent eulogy for the public servants who left behind loving families on September 11, 2001. To make Joaquin Phoenix's Jack Morrison even more of an archetype, Irish flute music provides the soundtrack for some of the defining moments of his life, because firefighters -- at least those created in Hollywood -- are disproportionately Irish. But just because the film has some overtones of Bush White House propaganda doesn't mean it's not truthful, and at times, funny and touching. Phoenix' broken-nose good looks have always made him an effective everyman. He perfectly embodies the universality of screenwriter Lewis Colick's protagonist, a charming good old boy who wins a pretty wife and produces two darling children. That this idyllic life is so vulnerable is probably a belabored point in Jay W. Russell's film, as several beloved firehouse jokesters are forced to pay a dear price in the line of duty. Ladder 49 is also a little lazy in its plotting, amounting to little more than a highlight reel from Jack's life, recalled as he lies in that burning building. Because of this structure, the outcome of the film's primary conflict -- whether Jack should go on saving lives or retire to a desk job to protect his family -- is already known. But maybe that's the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from Ladder 49's agenda: for the brave firefighters who died on 9/11, there never was a choice.