In the Line of Duty: Smoke Jumpers (1996)

“It was great! It was like Christmas Day. It was the best day of my life. ” – Don Mackay

Number of Times Seen – 1 (3 Aug 2021)

Brief Synopsis – Aspiring fire fighter must try and find a way to choose between his two loves; the adventurous work of a volunteer fire fighter and his family.

My Take on it – This is a film that I was curious to see because it is part of the In the Line of Duty series, yet it stands out because it isn’t about a police officer, but actually a volunteer firefighter.

The story moves along in a nice fashion and lets the audience get a very clear idea what kind of work these heroes do day in and day out and the fact that many of them do it as volunteers instead of it being their full time job is quite commendable.

The main character is shown to be deeply committed to his work, until he starts dating and eventually falls in love

This adds a new conflict to his life because he wants to continue to do the dangerous work of a firefighter yet also feels the devotion and loyalty that his family needs from him too.

They do a fine job showing this conflict even if the production is on the weak side here.

This was a made for TV movie that allows for the story to flow, yet fails to really develop any of the character enough despite giving the audience a great premise that is based on real events.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This movie title and it’s plot line are reused as one of the fictional movie starring Vincent Chase in the TV show Entourage (2004) (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)