Fire

Spectacularly ham-fisted disaster movie (made for TV). The disaster this time is a forest fire, ignited by convict Neville Brand as part of an elaborate escape plan. Bellamy's sluggish direction dampens every opportunity for suspense as he brings together groups of gruff rangers, public-spirited prisoners, an anguished teacher and her cosmetic schoolchildren, an incredibly silly couple of doctors whose marriage is on the rocks, and two ageing sweethearts. Curdled sentiment predominates, the performances are uniformly awful, and the script ('Any psychiatrist would tell us that our real problem is your father') is stilted in the extreme.