The Towering Inferno (1974)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Directors:

John Guillermin
Irwin Allen

Writers:

Richard Martin Stern (novel)
Thomas N. Scortia (novel) ...

Release Date:

14 joulukuu 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

One Tiny Spark Becomes A Night Of Blazing Suspense.

Plot:

At the opening party of a collosal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Plot Keywords:

Fire | Party | Trapped | Architect | Skyscraper

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Steve McQueen	...	Fire Chief Michael O'Hallorhan
Paul Newman	...	Doug Roberts
William Holden	...	Jim Duncan
Faye Dunaway	...	Susan
Fred Astaire	...	Harlee Claiborne
Susan Blakely	...	Patty Duncan Simmons
Richard Chamberlain	...	Roger Simmons
Jennifer Jones	...	Lisolette Muller
O.J. Simpson	...	Harry Jernigan
Robert Vaughn	...	Senator Gary Parker
Robert Wagner	...	Dan Bigelow
Susan Flannery	...	Lorrie
Sheila Allen	...	Paula Ramsay (as Sheila Mathews)
Norman Burton	...	Will Giddings (as Normann Burton)
Jack Collins	...	Mayor Robert Ramsay

Also Known As:

Liekehtivä torni (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

165 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

France:U | Hungary:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1975) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 (w) | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | UK:A

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Irwin Allen Productions

Trivia:

Steve McQueen did most of his stunts for the film, including having 7,000 gallons of water dumped on him in the climactic final attempt to put out the fire.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lorrie goes through the window, she is seen on fire, then not on fire, and goes through the window twice.

Quotes:

Giddings: [Will has produced the original blueprints of the Glass Tower] Well Doug, here you are. The original specs. Zone 1 only, but we have to start somewhere.
[referring to Roger changing the electrical specs]
Giddings: You really think he did it?
Doug Roberts: Well, he didn't admit it, but two bucks'll get you ten that he did.
Giddings: Payoffs and kickbacks, that's the only way he could have swung it.
Doug Roberts: [referring to Roger's lack of cooperation in producing the wiring specifications]
Doug Roberts: Son of a bitch gave us an impossible job!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Linda: Tüzes babák (#3.5)" (1989)

Soundtrack:

We May Never Love Like This Again

The Die Hard of its day

The Towering Inferno is still the daddy of all the 70s disaster movies, even if time has taken the edge off some of the special effects and rendered the fashions and décor more frightening than the pyrotechnics. It's also the blueprint for Die Hard, which borrows many of its key setpieces almost verbatim – the trapped party guests, the hero crawling around at the top of a seemingly endless lift shaft, the chopper exploding on the roof, the explosion that unleashes a deluge on the building – while scaling down the all-star cast and adding gunplay to the mix. As a rule in the genre, movie stars survive, TV stars die, but it's not ironclad here, although the probability of death does seem directly correlated to the amount of screen time a character gets. It's a lavishly mounted affair and, unlike the Glass Tower itself, beautifully constructed. Stirling Silliphant's script sets up the characters (although some, like Robert Vaughn, end up sidelined completely for most of the film) and the premise so efficiently that you barely notice it's 36 minutes before anyone even notices the fire, while the survival (or otherwise) set pieces are well-staged and show some imagination – particularly the scenic elevator scene.

If with recent history it may seem a tad tasteless to say it, the film is Hollywood enough to enjoy as an old-fashioned survival story/disaster movie and at least doesn't dodge the bullet of the main characters' complicity in the corner-cutting that results in the disaster – even Newman's supposedly idealistic architect takes the blame for his inaction in preventing it.