Ladder 49

2004 film that follows the life and heroics of firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) from his first day on the job to his last fire, the focal point of the film. It also stars John Travolta as Deputy Chief Mike Kennedy, his boss with whom he develops a very close friendship, and Jacinda Barrett as Linda, Jack's eventual wife.

The film opens with Jack saving the life of a man who is trapped in a blazing grain warehouse. However, immediately after doing so, the grain dust in the building explodes, resulting in the inside of the building collapsing underneath him. Jack falls several floors, breaks his leg, and is trapped among the rubble. The movie cuts back and forth between important scenes from his life (him meeting and eventually marrying Linda, the birth of their first child and their joys and struggles as a family); his working and bonding with his fellow firefighters; several major fires (each of which has a profound impact on Jack and/or his family); and his own attempt to escape to a safe area of the building in order to be rescued by his fellow firemen.

Tropes used in Ladder 49 include:

• Action Prologue: Jack inside the grain elevator looking for and saving survivors, and the elevator's collapse.
• Award Bait Song: "Shine Your Light".
• Bad Santa: Lenny, who shows up wasted at the bar with a girl who is "definitely not Mrs. Claus" and provokes Jack to fighting him after suggesting that he is coming for Linda next.
• Big Damn Fire Exit: Played literally, then subverted at the end of the film when it is discovered that the one way out has become impassible itself.
• Christianity Is Catholic: Jack and Linda's wedding and the baptism of their first child. Played for Laughs with the mock confessional (see Initiation Ceremony below).
• Death by Flashback: The entire film.
• Downer Ending: Jack is unsuccessful escaping, as the only possible exit out of the burning grain elevator turns out to be completely engulfed in flames; after Jack radios this to Mike, he calls off the other firefighters and Jack dies inside the building.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Mike, after emotions come to a head in the house following Dennis' death.
• Drinking Contest: Linda challenges Jack and Tommy to chug a beer, the loser of which has to strip naked and run around the bar. Linda says clearly that the loser is the "last to empty their glass". Upon "go", Linda pours hers into another glass and therefore wins; Tommy loses after he reacts in disbelief while Jack quickly downs his.
• Emergency Services
• Empathic Environment: Gets worse with every fire shown. During Jack's first fire, the weather is mostly sunny, with cheerful music playing in the background. The final two fires and the one Jack is trying to escape from are at night, and the last one before the resolution takes place during a snowstorm.
• Ending Memorial Service: Mike delivers Jack's eulogy.
• Face Death with Dignity: Jack has Mike call off the others after he sees his death as inevitable.
• Facial Horror: Tommy's face is severely burned after a steam pipe ruptures next to him and he has to get skin grafts. He is afraid to let his children see him and Jack's son is shaken up after he hears about it at school.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Played literally with Jack and Lenny, as they save the girl in the apartment during the blizzard.
• Foreshadowing: Several instances, but in particular Dennis saying "I'm getting too old for this shit" moments before he is killed after the roof of a wildly burning building collapses underneath him. Jack utters the same line in the opening scene as he is looking for survivors.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: As the fire crew is shown sleeping before the alarm wakes them up for the early morning call at the industrial plant, the firehouse clock is prominently displayed showing the time as 4:20.
• Grave Clouds: Dennis' funeral.
• Happily Married / Good Parents: Jack and Linda, though obviously not without tension at times, especially given the danger of Jack's occupation.
• Happy Birthday to You: They actually sing it at Katie's birthday party.
• Heroic Fire Rescue: Natch.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jack is the only one who has one of these in the film, as Dennis' death was in a vacant building, and there were no victims in the plant where Tommy got blasted with steam.
• Initiation Ceremony: Jack gets chastised on his first day at work for being late by a seemingly drunken Mike, who then stands up to show that he is not wearing pants, and is then taken to a mock confessional set up by the other firefighters with Lenny as the "priest". The process is repeated for another new firefighter later on, with Mike letting the rookie in on the joke to turn the tables on Lenny.
• Jerkass: Lenny, especially to rookie firefighters.
  • Also, when the firehouse is in mourning over Dennis' recent death, Lenny suggests that it was Dennis' own fault, provoking turmoil in the house.
  • Gains respect for Jack, though, as he goes in to save him and the girl he found trapped in the blazing apartment.
• Meaningful Funeral: Dennis', and later Jack's. In the film commentary it is noted that hundreds of actual firefighters came from all over the country to participate in these sequences.
• Meet Cute: Jack and Linda, at the supermarket.
• Practical Joke: Someone stuffs a live goose inside Jack's locker, with hilarious results.
• Suddenly Sober: Immediately after Mike pulls Jack (who is drowning his sorrows) out of the bar for fighting with Lenny, he takes him for coffee and discusses his career path with him.