After watching “Ladder 49,” you will never complain about moving to the side of the road to make room for a fire truck. The new movie is the most polished of recruiting films. But that doesn’t mean it ...

While Sept. 11 helped embellish the already heroic image of firefighters, "Ladder 49" doesn't owe any direct debt to such recent events. It plays, rather, like an old-fashioned, by-the-numbers drama ...

Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and other city officials today announced a schedule of special events leading up to, and including, an advanced screening of the movie Ladder 49, filmed locally. The ...

2004 drama released by Touchstone and Beacon Pictures. Directed by Jay Russell from a script by Lewis Colick. Features John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix. Running time 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 for ...

TUCKED INTO the helmet actor Tim Guinee wore on the set of the firefighting movie “Ladder 49” was a picture of a legendary Fire Department captain who was among the 343 FDNY -heroes killed on 9/11.

Phoenixville firefighter David Meadows Sr. said he saw the movie with his wife, son Dave and daughter-in-law Beth. “I thought it was really good,” said Meadows. “Of course, you had your scenes where ...

Folks at the Baltimore City firefighters awards ceremony at the Marriott Waterfront Sunday night, and those at the Ladder 49 premiere at the Senator weren’t the only ones to get “up close and personal ...

Oct. 1, 2004 — -- Every major star has been burned once or twice, at least in a gossip column. But Joaquin Phoenix is the only fire-hardened celebrity who might show up at your door when your ...

While Sept. 11 helped embellish the already heroic image of firefighters, "Ladder 49" doesn't owe any direct debt to such recent events. It plays, rather, like an old-fashioned, by-the-numbers drama ...

One of the most enduring images in the weeks and months after Sept. 11, 2001, centered on the cleanup at the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers at Ground Zero. As the tons of debris were ...

When you make a movie like “Ladder 49,” about the day-to-day lives of firemen, almost anything you do runs the risk of being exploitative. It’s hard to know the right way — or even if there is a right ...

It's loud. It's noisy. It's downright cacophonous. That being the case, I'm led to wonder if turning up the volume is a director's ploy to draw an audience's attention away from corny melodrama. Is ...