Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

fredcdobbs5 Gordon MacRae is a wounded ex-GI who's been in an army hospital for treatment for a broken spine. He falls for the beautiful nurse who took care of him, and he and his army buddy have planned to go into business as ranchers when he was released from the hospital. However, his buddy disappears suddenly and MacRae is told by the police that's because he's the prime suspect in the murder of a notorious gambler. MacRae, refusing to believe that his pal is guilty of the crime, sets out to find his buddy and clear his name.Director Vincent Sherman, an old Warner Brothers hand, was an expert at making tight, suspenseful thrillers--check out "Underground", a terrific 1941 little "B" he made for Warners--but this isn't one of his better efforts. He doesn't seem to have had his heart in it, as there are holes in the somewhat contrived script big enough to drive a truck through, there are way too many convenient coincidences and the identity of the real killer becomes very obvious not long into the picture. Edmond O'Brien is excellent as MacRae's army buddy but Virginia Mayo isn't much more than window dressing as MacRae's love interest (his real wife Sheila MacRae has a small part as a brassy party girl). MacRae tries hard, but he just isn't up to the part. It has a good supporting cast and does have its moments, but overall it's one of Vincent Sherman's lesser efforts, with more minuses than pluses.

utgard14 Veteran Gordon MacRae is recuperating from wartime injuries in a hospital. His buddy Edmond O'Brien has been visiting him regularly but suddenly the visits stop. On Christmas Eve, Viveca Lindfors shows up to tell MacRae that his friend is hurt. When he's released from the hospital a short time later MacRae tries to figure out what happened to O'Brien, with help from pretty nurse Virginia Mayo.Solid film noir with a good cast and several twists & turns. Great role for MacRae, best known for musicals. His wife Sheila also appears in this. Edmond O'Brien, Viveca Lindfors, and Dane Clark are all good. Virginia Mayo is lovely but it's odd seeing her in black & white. She will always be a Technicolor goddess to me. She's enjoyable in this and has believable chemistry with Gordon MacRae. Ed Begley is terrific as the police captain who's also looking for O'Brien. He gets some great lines such as when he stops another cop from shooting at a fleeing suspect because "you might hit a taxpayer." It's something of a hidden gem among film noir movies. For some reason, it sat on the shelf for about a year and a half before it was released.

GManfred I thought "Backfire" was an engrossing story, a noir told in flashbacks. The script was literate and had some snappy repartee customary of the genre. It was genuinely mysterious as injured war vet Gordon MacCrae searches all over Los Angeles for his missing buddy Edmond O'Brien. He comes across several dead ends and there seems to be no apparent answer for his predicament, or for a lead on the whereabouts of O'Brien.Then came the ending. As so often happens in many movies, the screenwriters seemed stumped for a way to end their story, and resort to unsatisfactory circumstances that do not fit the rest of the plot and spring a ridiculous final scene on us that leaves us slack-jawed. They also leave us with unanswered questions and give us a chance at revenge via the IMDb website by awarding a lower rating than it was originally destined for.

Robert J. Maxwell The title, "Backfire," adumbrates the quality of the film. It's one of those generic titles that could mean anything. You know the type -- "Another Dawn," "Guns of Darkness," "Whirpool," "Danger Signal," "Fatal Bliss," "Lethal Panties: The True Story of the Victoria's Secret Murders". The movie is a talky, rather dull murder mystery about Gordon MacRae, who's been undergoing surgery for a couple of years in a VA hospital in Los Angeles, trying to clear his buddy, Edmond O'Brien, of a murder charge.It has an interesting cast -- Virginia Mayo, Ed Begley, Dane Clark, Viveca Linfors, and even John Dehner and John Ridgeley in small parts. The latter has only one or two lines. Caramba, he was a Warners stalwart during the war years, and here, with that mustache, he looks like an aged John Dillinger.But this is no film noir, unless we want to invent a new definition for the term. There is no femme fatale, no expressionistic photography, no evocative sets, no atmosphere of resigned despair. What it is, is a B murder mystery. Dump the post-war background, change the casting, and you've got a cheap thriller from the 1930s. Not Charlie Chan, maybe, but Boston Blackie or Dick Tracy.I was able to spot the mysterious villain shortly after he appeared, not because of an excess of ESP but because of the Inviolable Law of Excess Characters. The director keeps the murder's face hidden during his rare appearance so we know immediately that he's someone we've already met. And which character have we met that uses a well-known performer but seems to have nothing much to contribute to the narrative so far? In any case the structure is clumsy. There's a good deal of talk about money in the movie -- did Edmond O'Brien make off with someone's stash? -- but it's all a red herring.The performances are all professional except Viveca Lindfors. She's beautiful in a darkly Scandinavian way but her acting is wincingly stilted. Some ten years later she was to have a few small roles in which age had wrecked her good looks and she was immeasurably better.