Starring: - Joaquin Phoenix
- John Travolta
- Jacinda Barrett
Description:
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 Chief 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.
While films like Back Draft have celebrated the spectacular danger and courageous work that America's firefighters face every day, director Jay Russell's tale of a Baltimore ladder company is more interested in the character of the men that dedicate their lives to saving others. The film's character study nature has inspired a song-based soundtrack that variously evokes introspection (David Gray's "As I'm Leaving", "How to Dream" by Sam Phillips) and differences of generation (The Breeders' rollicking "Cannonball," "Twice as Hard" by Black Crowes, Tom Petty's "You and Me" and ethnicity (The Pogues' "If I Should Fall From Grace With God", composer William Ross' richly textured underscore extract), all of it grounded in a rock solid working class ethos embodied by Bonnie Raitt's "Love Sneakin' Up On You". Of special note is Robbie Robertson's heart-on-its-sleeve ballad "Shine Your Light," the first song the Band founder and rock legend has written expressly for a motion picture. Robertson also contributes the film's moody, Celtic-tinged instrumental end title piece, "Reflections/Adagio."
1. Shine Your Light - Robbie Robertson
2. As I'm Leaving - David Gray
3. Fire - Ohio Players
4. How To Dream - Sam Phillips
5. Cannonball - The Breeders
6. Orange Sky - Alexi Murdoch (not featured in film)
7. You And Me - Tom Petty/The Heartbreakers
8. Reflection-Adagio - Robbie Robertson
9. If I Should Fall From The Grace Of God - The Pogues
10. Love Sneakin' Up On You - Bonnie Raitt
11. Twice As Hard - The Black Crowes
12. Big Sweet Life - Jon Dee Graham
13. Call To Courage, A - Robbie Robertson
Ladder 49
