HotToastyRag If you like Jack Lemmon, Rita Hayworth, and Robert Mitchum, you'll be tempted to rent Fire Down Below, a love triangle set in the Caribbean. Since I've seen it, I can tell you the beginning and the end are the best parts. The middle isn't that great.To set the scene, the first scene is in a nightclub. The aptly named "Stretch" Cox and his troupe are filmed doing a ridiculously impossible limbo, impressing the audience and making them expect just as much fire from the rest of the movie. Jack and Bob are introduced, as friends and partners in the smuggling business, but when they take a job from icy Rita, their friendship is tested. At first she's drawn to the sweet and safe Jack, but when Bob is around, there's just no ignoring her real feelings. For the most part, the love triangle is overshadowed by the smuggling and boat businesses, and that's why the movie isn't very interesting. I'm really not a Rita Hayworth fan, so I tended to fast forward her scenes. I've never understood why she played in roles where she was supposed to be irresistible, but to each his own. If you agree with me, you can check out the beginning, get the gist of the love triangle, and then skip to the last fifteen or twenty minutes when things get really exciting. No spoilers here, but the last few scenes are very good.

Kirpianuscus it is difficult to say why. but see it !for the cast, for the story, for dialogues, tension, characters and, of course, for Rita Hayworth. and her dance . but, maybe, for the high chemistry between her and Robert Mitchum. and for the work of Jack Lemmon. sure, it reminds many films from the same period, with the same theme and dispute nature and end. but using the same recipes, "Fire Down Below" remains special. maybe, because it is a film of its actors and not exactly pretext for fireworks. because the performances are different by others from the same actors. because Rita Hayworth is the same but she tries, and she did a good job, to give to her character the mark of a period and context and signs of a type who is not exactly reduced at stereotypes. so, see it ! not only for the status of old film.

MarieGabrielle Rita Hayworth was 40 at the time this film was made. Rather interesting. She still looked lovely. Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon are both vying for her attention; Mitchum wins out momentarily.Toward the end the story shifts as Lemmon is trapped in a ship, there is a fire, and Lemmon becomes a more sympathetic character. Mitchum and Hayworth feel guilty. This story would seem ripe for a re-make; it is a good story; rather a curiosity.The Technicolor oranges and greens are prevalent; it is always interesting to watch films from this period. It would seem the stars themselves were fabricated to coordinate with the surroundings. The scenes at the carnival event are colorful and wild. Worth seeing as a commentary on the times.

Neil Doyle FIRE DOWN BELOW is watchable for the performances of ROBERT MITCHUM, RITA HAYWORTH and JACK LEMMON, as well as some good supporting actors, but there's a major disappointment.The first half of the film deals with relationships and just starts to get added interest from the Mitchum-Hayworth chemistry when the story shifts gears and turns the rest of the plot over to Jack Lemmon for the film's climactic sub-plot. Ordinarily, this would have been fine, but not when viewers are expecting to see the Mitchum-Hayworth pairing develop into a deeper story of its own.There's a lot of local color and some gorgeous scenery in Trinidad and Jamaica, but the story is an uninspired one that finally gets going once Hayworth enters the scene, then evaporates once she and Mitchum are given less to do.Lemmon is fine as the happy go lucky, naive sort of bumbler he always played at this stage in his career. Hayworth is an even more jaded version of "Gilda" (maturing now and still quite attractive), and Mitchum is his usual laconic self.Uneven as drama but watchable for its star appeal.