User reviews

Let's see...Droughts in the Midwest...check. Higher temps in the South..check. Multiple Category 3 or better storms, check. Unaffordable insurance rates...check. Although I know this stuff goes in cycles, this movie seems to have hit quite a few nails on the head, although I hope that it got a few wrong. Although the acting is somewhat stilted and could use help, it is a made-for-TV film from early in most of these actors' careers. If you have never lived in the sauna known as the South, they did get this part right. This seems to be very prophetic, especially since it was written in one of the lull periods in hurricanes. At the writing of this comment, we only had 3 names left for the year, which has not happened in a very long time. This is a nice way to spend a few hours.

A recent poster commented that "it's 2005 and nothing has come to pass like predicted in this film." That's hardly true anymore. The beginning shows a major hurricane decimating the city of New Orleans (my original home town, necessitating its evacuation. This, as we all know, has come to pass with the advent of Hurricane "Katrina." And the images we are seeing come out of the gulf coast on the news are far more horrific than anything in this movie.

Aside from this prophecy now come true and then some, the movie was otherwise a little too Orwellian for my tastes. I should also note that the recent hurricane activity is not necessary global warming. There's a cycle to these things. We saw hurricane activity of this magnitude in the 1940s, the 1960s (Camille), the 1990s (Andrew) and in this decade (Charley and Katrina).

This is good stuff. A TV movie about Global Warming in 1993? Believe it, and I've been thinking lately how predictive it was. I think more than just the events surrounding them are the people's response to them that grabbed me. The human drama derived out of the confusion is very gripping. There's a sense of emergency in the air with all the wildfires and smoke. Bad weather, emergency response stretched thin. You definitely get the sense of these characters are worn out and exhausted from the heat and insanity of what's going on around them. The family drama, though, doesn't seem as canned as the Day After Tomarrow, another state-of-emergency type film. The cast was also top notch for a made for TV movie. I only saw this when it aired in my teens, but it's stayed with me since.

This movie is a decent movie. It's message is a "save the earth" type of thing, and makes its point pretty well, I'd guess. Overall, I'd say the movie does not live up to what it could have been. I was an extra in this movie, and the things the directors described to those of us who were in it were just mindblowing. This film, as described to us by one of the directors, had the feel of something apocalyptic. Sort of like a "Road Warrior" type setting, but without the punk-haired bandits. Kind of a wasteland, bleak existance. But for some reason, that just didn't translate to the screen. I still feel it was a decent movie, though. Not great, but decent. But, I may have a biased opinion, seeing how we all heard a very vivid description of what it was going to be.

As I said, I was an extra in this movie. I was in the Morgan City, LA scenes. From what I remember, these scenes consisted of everything in part 1, up until they left after the storm. There were some things that were planned to be put in the movie that would have clarified alot of stuff, but for some unknown reason, they left them out. For example, the reason all the clothes were such drab colors was supposed to be something along the lines of chemicals being banned. Therefore, fabrics were no longer dyed the way we do it now. And there was something else I seem to remember about there no longer being soap, due to its manufacturing process causing some kind of pollution. Or something of that sort. There were a few little details that were left out, that in my opinion would have portrayed the world as an even harder place to live.

This movie was filmed in my area in more than just Morgan City, as the Filming Locations link has. It was also filmed in Berwick, LA and Stephensville, LA, as well as a scene shot offshore. I was in the scenes shot in Berwick, at the Civic Center. In the scene where Justin Whalin is watching TV in the shelter, he turns around in his chair and jumps up yelling "Paw!". I am seated on the floor directly in front of him when he does that. And he kicked me in the lower back on every take of that shot when he jumped out of the chair! LOL!

I have noticed this movie playing on the Action channel alot. If anyone is interested in seeing it, that would be a safe place to look.

I didn't see the original airing of this mini series but watched later about 3 years ago on USA. Seemed prophetic then and even more so now with huge fires here in SouthWest and Katrina in NOLA. I live in Arizona so I can speak more to the drought of SW. I had a 275,000 acre fire come within about 6 miles of me. Just a few days ago we had 20 fires start up in one day. I live in N central AZ and we have had less than an inch of rain from Oct of 2005 to mid July, date of this comment. Yes we have weather cycles but there are too many bad cycles all at once all over, I am from Maine originally and winters up there since I was a kid, have generally gotten warmer and less snow. this mini series is eerily coming true. I enjoyed it, lots of food for thought,acting is not great but adequate and suffice to keep you hooked. I was probably kept on board too by references to Acadia and Evangeline as my ancestors were Acadian and story of Evangeline has been in my heart since my childhood. I say watch it for first time and if you have seen it before get a refresher.

When this was first televised as a two part mini-series I watched the first night and opted out for the 2nd. Now, after renting it from Portland's finest (and the country's finest, if truth be told) video store MOVIE MADNESS and watching the entire four hours I can safely say that buried inside the 240 minute mammoth of overcooked plotting and sweaty melodramatics is a fine 90 minute movie.

Craig T Nelson is a hell of a good actor and that's the trouble: he plays a completely unlikable character to irritatingly well effect. There is no one to root for: Nelson's character is a selfish pig from the get-go and he never gets much smarter or nicer. I realize that its not his fault--the script makes everyone a symbol and he has to stand for The Guilty Short-Sighted Consumer of All The World's Goodies....other actors are saddled with equally heavy burdens to carry.

Which leads me to another major drawback : the uneven tone of the script.We get semi-interesting first night scenes between the extremely underrated Charles Haid and Craig T. Nelson alongside some real second night howlers like the absurd scene with Lousie Fletcher-- who chirps to Bonnie Bedelia ( who I must say looks wonderful with her ample bosom on sweaty display) "In the morning you will be issued your regulation camouflage army fatigues; its our way of keeping our message of hope alive." I am not kidding, she actually says that--and she is supposed to be the representative of the Evil Pro-Earth whatever the hell you want to call them. Ludicrous. As is most of the rest of this thing. But there are some interesting notions. Not ALL worthless but you have to wade thru a lot of dumb stuff.

I'm watching this during one of the 5 coldest winters in recorded North American history in the Northeast US and maritime regions of Canada and I am amazed at how absolutely wrong this movie is in every regard. History will prove that this movie was based on hysterical false assumptions and pseudoscience. If you want to watch a group of mediocre actors have water blown on them , feel free to enjoy but don't make the mistake of believing that anything in this movie is remotely accurate.

This was one of the better TV mini series that has been shown on TV this decade. I was mesmerized while watching it and still remember vividly how I thought this could really happen. Given recent weather, I don't believe I was far wrong. It is awesome how many things in this movie have already come to pass. If there is any way of viewing it by any means I would really like to hear about them. I'm also trying to find out if there was a book published on this title. I wish all TV was as entertaining and as lasting as this movie was.

Taking place is the not too distant future of 2017, when climate change has devastated our natural waters and wildlife, causing massive global droughts and food shortages while temperatures continue to increase. We follow Drew Morgan (Craig T. Nelson) as he flees his now flooded home in Louisiana north along the Mississippi, with hopes of making it to the families ancestral home of Nova Scotia. This two part, made-for-tv event was clearly ahead of its time, although look at contemporary reviews it seems to not have landed quite like they'd hoped. Quite accurate to the climate disaster realities we've seen, they don't go overboard with death and destruction, instead hinting at the slow but inevitable collapse of society as poverty and starvation spread through the masses. There are definitely some eye-roll parts, it does feel like a 90s made-for-tv movie, but its message is quite poignant given modern times. And at one point Paul Rudd even shows up for a small part in what I can discern must be his first significant role in anything. At an over three hour run time, its not the most exhilarating of experiences being quite slow through much of its run, but its a decent watch if you like dramas.

What a waste. This was made in 1993 and was to show what 2017 was to look like? What a farce. The rhetoric goes from global warming/cooling/climate change. I agree that we need to take care of the environment, but trying to go to all electric vehicles or other less fossil fuel use is not the answer. Such a waste of some decent actors time.

It's September 2006, and I'm sitting here watching this film with chill bumps. The Santa Anas are blowing outside spreading the "Day Fire" which has been raging for nearly three weeks, just as the scene on the movie shows fires in the LA area that have gone on and on, burning more than 50,000 acres. Creeped out by the similarities, I continued to watch the film. As a hurricane is headed towards the bayou area where the core family lives, the townspeople are in a meeting to find out what the government is going to do to help them. "Why are you waiting 24 hours before this hits to do anything?" one lady shouts at the officials. Then scenes of people trying to evacuate at the last minute, and the tragedy that ensues, brings up memories of last year's Katrina disaster. I'm sure when this film came out, it was seen as cheesy apocalyptic sci-fi. But turn on the news, folks, and take another look. I think this film did an excellent job of saying "what if?"

James Baldwin, a black writer and enormous influence in the social justice and equality movements of the 1960's + in the US, published a book titled "The Fire Next Time" which featured two essays.

This stupid film is a gross theft of his title, and a lame attempt at environmental justice and awareness. Sort of like Tremors 5. No one will remember this, which is something to be thankful for. I guess.

This movie about disasters is itself a disaster. Do not waste your time watching it. If you do, prepare to laugh out loud at some of the script and "special effects". My husband and I started watching it and have only continued to see if it could get any worse. I will say there is one highlight. When the lady sings the old Gospel song on the barge, it is worth hearing. There are some things in this movie that are very big brotherish as one person already wrote and that these "predictions" have happened was the scary part. As it concerns global warming? BAH! It's another fad, just as the global cooling predictions of the 60's. The big difference this time is that there are people like Al Gore who stand to make millions on this scam.

I can't say this more strongly, stay away from this movie, very far away!

Filmed for television as a cautionary tale about the impending global warming disaster, "The Fire Next Time" is a disaster unto itself. If anything, this two-part 1993 groaner is testament to how consistently unoriginal and glaringly inaccurate the environmentalist party line has remained over the past 15+ years.

In "The Fire Next Time," the writers do their best to throw everything they have against the wall, hoping that something will stick. The movie employs disaster flick favorites ranging from drought and famine to social discord and disease in painting a picture of overall chaos in the America of 2017. As we've learned from Nostradamus, broad ambiguity is the key to a good false prophecy.

Lest the aforementioned examples prove overly sensationalistic, a can't-miss disaster is brought in for support: the hurricane. There is no safer bet than hurricanes in the southeastern U.S., and if this American standard can now be ascribed to global warming, all the better.

If only global warming could be linked to earthquakes and the impending "big one" in Los Angeles. Now that would be an "I told you so!" The left-wing fantasy is completed at the end of the film, when Americans are found scrambling for entry into Canada. In reality, 1993 was the year of the big push for universal healthcare in America, with the "Canadian model" being cited as the last, best hope for Americans. Canada was hip, Canada was the "in" thing, and it was only natural that Canada be given further hype as the salvation for climate-oppressed Americans 25 years into the future.

Today, we find the global warming community in much the same situation as Health Canada: large, powerful, and staving off collapse as it becomes more and more apparent that their assumptions have constructed a false reality upon an untenable foundation.

With just 15 years of hindsight, it is now stunningly clear that "The Fire Next Time" has gone up in smoke.

I too was in this movie as an extra. What a was of air time to show this mess. It was poorly written, directed, and edited. It was fun to work on the movie, made a lot of friends. I was embarrassed to have my other friends watch this show

Living there in Morgan City when the movie was filmed in the summer of 1992, we members of the press, at the press conference for this movie, laughed when told what the movie was going to be about. Our local KQKI was quick to point out that if the crew just waited till August, they wouldn't have to make up some of the hurricane scenes. Though everyone laughed, the joke was on Ernest Polk when Andrew slammed into Morgan City after taking out south Florida. Ernest was right. The move was okay but when the real hurricane met some of the sets that were used in the movie, like the Berwick Civic Center, Andrew, quite impolitely, removed roofing off of the walkways and such. If you lived in a trailer before the hurricane, you lived in a shelter after it (residents from Patterson to Amelia, at least). It was the only time I evacuated, ever. I went to Mississippi and watched CNN. The Mayor at the time, Cedric LaFleur really did make Morgan City look like it was a haven for Cajuns with his thick accent. Anyway, I found this on another web site and it does sound like what the Mayor might have said.

TWC Meteorologist: Mayor Lafleur, are you concerned that many citizens will stay for the storm or do you believe they will leave early enough to get to safety? Cedric: No, Sha. Iss all gone be okay. We done issued a mandatory evaporation for da hoal city.

Public Works Director (off camera in a hushed voice): No. Cedric, that's the wrong word.

Cedric: What? Oh..Oh..Yeah, I'm sorry bout dat. I meant ta say we done ejaculated da hoal city, Sha.

This movie was very enlightening when I watched it back in 1993. It showed what could happen if we did not do things to improve things that could prevent Global Warning. This movie was made 14 years ago and let it is still relevant today. People should watch this movie and compare it to the movie "Day After Tomorrow" I still cannot believe that some people are in denial about Global Warning after all these years. May Be President Bush and other leaders in the world should watch this movie then work on a commission about stopping greenhouse gases. Ashley Jones was only starting her career when this movie was made but her acting was not that bad.

10 only because of Bonnie Bedila's assets on display. I caught this on the lifetime movie network earlier this week and it's 2005 and nothing has come to pass like predicted in this film. However, this movie does have 2 or should I say 4 redeeming qualities, mainly in the form of the mother and daughter. Bonnie Bedelia who plays the mom shows off her boobs in almost every scene and in a surprise in one scene you can see right into her nightshirt when she bends down and see full boobage. A real surprise for a TV. And it's a most impressive pair. The daughter is really hot too, although I'm sad to see her career has gone the daytime TV route and not the mainstream movie Ashley Judd nude scene or the playboy made cable TV route. Anyhow, watch this for the two hot women and just ignore the dumb story about how bad America is because of crap.