Skip to main content
Backfire backdrop
Backfire poster

Backfire

“Before the night is over... someone will be rich, someone will be dead, someone will be avenged.”

4.8
1988
1h 33m
ThrillerDramaMystery
Director: Gilbert Cates

Overview

Mara McAndrew's marriage is falling apart. Her husband, Donnie, a Vietnam veteran, suffers troubling flashbacks about the war, leaving him unresponsive to her needs. Mara wants out, but she also wants Donnie's money. When Mara meets a mysterious stranger, Reed, at a local bar, she believes she has found the right person to help her out of her predicament. But Mara worries that Donnie's sister, Jill, is on to her.

Trailer

Backfire - 1987

Cast

Reviews

kevin2019

"Backfire" is an exceedingly strong film from the very beginning and it easily leads the viewer astray on many occasions, especially after Mara is forced into the position where she must return home with Donny following his presumably failed suicide attempt - he has stipulated in some legal paperwork she will have power of attorney should he ever become incapacitated - and she must subsequently contend with the intrusive interference of Donny's sister Jill. This development narrows and sharpens the focus of the entire film and the true architect of everything which has been happening neatly harks back to the frequent visual references to Donny's traumas in Vietnam. The pace has also been tightly wrought throughout to achieve maximum effectiveness and potential and it continually manages to shatter expectations and anticipations to create an extremely poignant and memorable portrait of true friendship.

Read full review
LN
Latest Netflix

Discover the latest movies and series available on Netflix. Updated daily with trending content.

About

  • AI Policy
  • This is a fan-made discovery platform.
  • Netflix is a registered trademark of Netflix, Inc.

© 2026 Latest Netflix. All rights reserved.