Continuity mistake: When the firefighters go to the house of the first backdraft "victim" you see that he has gone through the windshield of his car. But when we saw him opening his front door and getting hurled away from the house he didn't land anyway near the car.
Backdraft (1991)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Glenn, William Baldwin
Continuity mistake: When the fire truck swerves out of the way to keep from hitting a car, and tips over onto its side, we see it precariously balanced on two wheels. When they show a shot of the inside of the fire truck, we see that the fire truck is scraping against the ground. The side scraping against the ground is the driver's side, while the truck rolled onto the passenger side. Then in the next shot we see the fire truck still balanced on two wheels and then it tips and falls onto its side.
Visible crew/equipment: When Brian is coming up the lawn to the back door to visit Helen, you can see Ron Howard and the film crew clearly reflected on the back door window.
Firefighter Brian McCaffrey: You see that glow flashing in the corner of your eye? That's your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear.
John 'Axe' Adcox: Your Dad died saving my life and these people were killing firemen for money.
Ronald Bartel: The funny thing about firemen is... Night and day they are always firemen.
Question: Can someone please tell me why Kurt Russell is playing his own father in the flashback scenes. I just don't understand why.
Question: The guy who took the picture of Brian as a kid - was he an opportunist who sold the photo to the magazine? I have a hard time imagining they would be prescient enough to know to send one of their own photographers to the scene of the fire.
Answer: Local photographer could have been monitoring emergency calls. A fire is a big visual, and the photo sold to a wire service or Life directly.
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Chosen answer: Why not? There's no reason why an actor couldn't play his own father at the same age - indeed, it can serve to emphasise a family resemblence between father and son. It can also serve as a swift way of letting the audience know that this is the father, rather than having a different actor come in and have to have the relationship established through dialogue.
Tailkinker ★