Fire Down Below
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Image:Fire down below poster.jpg
Fire Down Below is a 1997 action film in which an EPA agent investigates a Kentucky mine and helps locals stand up for their rights.
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Credits
The movie stars Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton and Stephen Lang. It includes cameos by country music performers Levon Helm, Randy Travis. and Travis Tritt.
The movie was directed by Felix Enriquez Alcala and written by Jeb Stuart and Philip Morton.
It was produced by William S. Gilmore, Julius R. Nasso, Steven Seagal, Ronald G. Smith and Jeb Stuart. Seagal's production involvement (cf The Patriot, On Deadly Ground) is detectable in the Aikido-inspired fight sequences, general overcompetence of Seagal's character versus antagonists, and repeated references to male on male sexual assault.
Plot
In the peaceful Appalachian hills of Kentucky, toxins are beimg dumped into abandoned mines, causing environmental havoc, but the locals, mindful of their jobs and the power of the mine owners, can do nothing. Environmental protection agent Jack Taggart is sent to investigate, after a fellow agent is found dead, probably not by accident. The EPA has received an anonymous letter from the town of Jackson, and Taggart goes there undercover to continue his colleague's investigations.
It is discovered that Hanner Coal Company, owned by Orin Hanner Sr., is being paid to dump toxic waste into an abandoned coal mine shaft, so Jack is assigned to go to the small town of Jackson, where his cover is that of assistant and volunteer carpenter to a local church. He stays in a room in the church's basement, and begins his cover work by repairing the roof at a house where one of the children is sick because of the pollution. As a newcomer to the small local community, he's threatened by Hanner's son Orin Hanner Jr., the incompetent local tool of his rich father, and the corrupt local Sheriff.
Taggart exposes the corruption and pollution and survives an attempt to kill him in an underground explosion, but still the locals are afraid to do anything to help. But when the mine owner has the church set on fire, the limit has been overstepped and the bosses are arrested.
Other meanings
- Fire Down Below is also the title of a 1957 film starring Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon.
- It is also the name of a popular song by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band.
External links
- Song information at the SoundtrackINFO project
- Internet Movie Database entries: