City on Fire is a 1979 disaster action film directed by Alvin Rakoff, written by Jack Hill, Dave Lewis and Celine La Freniere, and stars Barry Newman, Susan Clark, Shelley Winters, Leslie Nielsen, James Franciscus, Ava Gardner and Henry Fonda.

In an unnamed U.S. city, the corrupt mayor William Dudley has allowed an oil refinery to be built right in the center of town, far from any river, lake or reservoir.

On one typically hot summer day, Herman Stover, a dangerously disturbed employee at the refinery, has been denied an expected promotion, and in addition, finds himself fired after refusing a departmental transfer.

He then decides to take his revenge against the works by opening the valves to the storage vats and their interconnecting pipes, flooding the area and sewers with gasoline and chemicals.

Herman Stover also arrives at the hospital during the dedication ceremony, having left the refinery before the explosion to stalk Diana, and having known her since attending high school.

The film required several urban blocks that could be set on fire, which led production to search for appropriate locations to shoot, including Atlanta, Edmonton, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

[2] From a contemporary review, Gilbert Adair of the Monthly Film Bulletin declared that "'dull' as criticism, scarcely does justice to the ludicrous contrivance of this disaster movie", and that "its idiocy is best exemplified by the scene in which, as the crooked mayor and the jet-setting benefactress of a hospital resolve their amours differences, the camera focuses on the beatific expression of an elderly patient who has finally managed to relieve himself into a bedpan.