The Towering Inferno (1974). What a Disaster (movie)
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2022
- #disastermovie
Stam Fine Reviews looks at a movie that always seemed to be on TV, but on a school night so we never saw it properly until now. Producer Irwin Allen (Lost in Space) follows up his 1972 hit The Poseidon Adventure with a movie that became the biggest disaster movie hot of the decade.
A new skyscraper full of Hollywood stars catches fire. Hijinks ensue. Towering Inferno is a Toasty Thriller starring the likes of Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and more. - Розваги
Saw The Towering Inferno in 1974 as a kid with my family, the cinema was packed so we had to sit near the front. To this day I'll never forget the experience having to turn your head to follow the action, the screaming from hundreds of people in the cinema. When Steve McQueen grabbed the fireman's hand on the elevator to stop him falling the whole cinema went wild. Unforgettable experience I haven't replicated to this day.
Saw The Towering Inferno with my family and as seeing the fire department being dispatched I like always being rubbing my hands together.As the fire engines and fire trucks are rolling out from the fire stations lights flashing and sirens sounding off my heart ❤️ pumping to the beat off my chest,Especially when Steve McQueen arrives as the fire chief. This is what I wanted to pursue when I was a young boy. Either as real firefighter or a actor.
My Mom and I saw this movie when I was seven years old. We had gone to the old Southgate Movie Theater. They had a smaller 3 screen movie house and a really big single one. We went to that one. It was breathtaking, scary, intense, amazing, awesome, and unbelievable all in one. Steve McQueen was brilliant in this movie, actually they ALL were incredibly good in this. The scope was massive, and the instilled the fear of being 120+ floors up OVER a 🔥🔥fire🔥🔥that you can't escape from. Looking back now, this is so TERRIFYING in that people in the Twin Towers lived and died through this same thing. It gave me a sick feeling when I watched it 10 years after 9/11.
Yeah this movie sold out for about 4 months in my city!
This was the best and first film I ever saw.rammed to the rafters never a spare seat and it lasted 23 weeks at my local cinema...no film now would beat that!
Same experience I had as a kid😃
The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno should be brought back and shown on the big screen for a couple of weeks. I'm sure many people, myself included, would go and see them!!
Especially with the movies 🎥🍿 they are making today.
They need to get back to basics.
@@carterbentonjr399 I so totally agree with you!!
I’d go and see those movies on the big screen
Twin towers a real life drama!
@@carterbentonjr399 Loved the '70's 'disaster movies! Gosh yes, bring them back!
An author named Roderick Thorp saw this movie and as a result, he a had dream about terrorists hijacking a huge office building. That was the inspiration for his novel, Nothing Lasts Forever. The novel was eventually adapted for film but the title was changed to Die Hard.
And since Nothing Lasts Forever was intended as a sequel to The Detective (which was made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra), the producers of Die Hard were legally obligated to first offer Ol' Blue Eyes the lead. Can you imagine what would have happened if he had said yes?
@@neesi1570 He would have had less screen time than his stunt double ! On a related subject, Sinatra was originally selected to be the titular character in Dirty Harry but had to decline the role due to an injury he sustained when he did the Judo scene in The Manchurian Candidate.
Interesting because I saw Towering Inferno as a kid in 1974 when it first came out in the theater. I also saw Die Hard when it first came out as well and thought of it as the Towering Inferno of the 80's.
It may seem incredible that terrorists were able to hijack a huge office building, but it was easy once they kidnapped the old man from Up and forced him to make all the balloons.
@@neesi1570 I’m sure he would have done it his way
I lived through this period as a kid. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) made us afraid of the ocean. The Towering Inferno (1974) made us afraid of buildings. Earthquake (1974) made us afraid of the ground. Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976) made us afraid of roads. Airport 77 (1977) made us afraid of the air. The Car (1977) made us afraid to ride our bicycles. And Jaws knock-off Grizzly (1976) made us afraid to play in our own back yards! Ah the 70's.
Don’t forget Damnation Alley (1977) made us afraid of the Soviet Union, Prophecy (1979) made us afraid of paper companies, It’s Alive (1974) made us afraid of babies and Trilogy of Terror (1975) made us afraid of Karen Black.
@@peterson88keyz haha. i just watched Damnation Alley again
JAWS (1975) was another movie that made a lot of people afraid of the ocean 🌊 .
@@marwatson7408 we were already afraid of the ocean by the time jaws came out
And don’t forget “The Swarm” that made everyone freak out about the killer bees.
Both the Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure were simply awesome movies!! The actors and actresses were super! This is why these movies are still watched a lot to this day.
I agree both good shows
You may also like the book ~ saved~ I think its about the Adria Adoria the movie adeptation is ~ a night 2 remember~ blk white movie
Seeing Leslie Nielson in a serious role, was pretty weird.
This and The Poseidon Adventure are the perfect double feature. Love them!
Earthquake too
Oh I hope he does Poseidon! First date my husband and I went on. Years later, my son's first date with his girl friend/future wife was Titanic. There's just something about a sinking ship.
His last movie was , when time ran out, Paul Newman ernest borgnine and some of the regulars he used in all his disaster movies were there, shame that it never came close to the earlier films though.
Went to the double feature in L.A. of Earthquake and Towering Inferno. It was referred to as the Shake and Bake feature!
@@kirnpu That sounds awesome!
Watching disaster movies with my granny at Christmas in the 70's. Every death she would comment with "Aww I like him". But when Shelly Winters character died saving the priest in the Poseidon Adventure she was inconsolable.
It was the same with me with my mother and when Richard Chamberlain fell off the breeches bouy she was inconsolable and covered her ears up she didn't like to hear his screams as he fell even though he had kicked several men to their deaths.
@@georgie1246 She wasn't seeing whatever Chamberlain's character in this film was called, she was just seeing that nice Dr. Kildare falling to his doom. Kids today wouldn't realize what a heartthrob Dr. Kildare was.
@@KarlSmith1 Your right she did watch Dr Kildare without fail and it made my dad's day when he fell off the chair lift although he admitted he would of been making alot of noise on the way down.
I was upset when Jennifer Jones fell out of the elevator.
@@KarlSmith1 God, my first crush. Dr. Kildare....dreamy!!!
I loved how William Holden not only did not take his jacket off, he didn't even loosen his bowtie! Classy all the way!
Seeing this Film back in the day was an "Event". This was not a film, it was a "Disaster Film"! We had Airport, Poseidon and Earthquake to keep us entertained by watching people die in a variety of amusing ways. Terrific fun. Cheers Stam. I had almost forgotten this old classic.
You forgot Rollercoaster!
@@l.a.gothro3999 Love that film. Didn't Rollercoaster come out when Disaster Films were on their way out? I think that Rollercoaster was around the time of a small Independent Film about Outerspace. Star something, something, something, something.
Yes. "Rollercoaster"(1977) , like "Earthquake" was released in Sensurround- also Universal's WWII war epic "Midway"(1976).
Yeah same here. Really brings back memories! I was 12 and we used to save our money for Saturday flicks in old Victorian concert halls converted to cinemas.
the theme songs helped.
8:16 "Stirling Silliphant"
What a name
Those closing lines of the film have haunted me ever since 9-11 and the fall of the Twin Towers. I kept thinking of the movie while watching people jump and fall from the Twin Towers, thinking, the movie was right, there is no way to save them. And there wasn't, and then unlike the movie, most of them all died.
I remember in the summer of 1975 they re-released this movie in a double feature with Earthquake. One ticket for both movies. They called the double feature "Shake and Bake"!
I instantly feel less bad about certain jokes in this vid!
If I recall, an episode of the Game Show "Match Game" from the era did the same "Shake & Bake" joke.
You beat me to it Sparkle Bat - I posted that below. I think I watched them out on La Tijera in Los Angeles. Great bang for the buck!
I remember seeing Earthquake in “Sensurround” - there were large stand alone speakers in the back of the theater. I just looked it up so my memory was true. Wikipedia says there were complaints about noise. I remember news stories about people in neighboring theaters thinking there was an actual earthquake.
Great movie, all star cast and kept you on the edge of your seat at the time, extremely inventive and realistic
I still remember the brilliant Mad Magazine spoof:
Paul Newman: "I've a way to rescue them stuck in the elevator"
Robert Vaughn: "You mean by releasing the mechanical brakes?",
Newman: "Gee, that's better than my plan. I was going to cut the cable".
Smarmy Son-in-Law: "I did everything by the book",
Newman: "What book?",
"How to Wire your Christmas Decorations Safely".
'Hey, there's a red 82 flashing on the board..& a dime just fell out of that little slot!'
'System is working; means there's a fire on the 82nd floor'
'OK but what's the dime for?'
'To call the Fire Department; you sure don't understand sophisticated equipment..'
How did I recall this when I haven't read that in umpteen years?
Think Most Drucker drew it; he usually did the movies & Angelo Torres did mostly TV shows. Jaffee, Aragones, that whole ' usual gang of idiots' were anything but; thanks for chiming in!
Mad Magazine😏🤣🙌🤪the only truth😁🙋♂✌😎
Even funnier, is Richard Chamberlain's character plugging the building's electrical system into a street lamp.
I must dig through my old stack of Mads and find this one.
This and Airport '77 were the PINNACLE of disaster movies in the '70s.
The Towering Inferno is a film that really needs to be seen in a cinema to be appreciated. I can still remember seeing it back in 1974, but I think I've only ever seen it once on TV in all the years since. On TV it was sort of "meh". (Do the kids still say "meh"?) You really need that big, wide screen experience.
I feel the same way about Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I saw the 4K restoration this year and aside from the improved special effects, I thought it was far more enjoyable on a large screen.
I remember seeing it in the theater. It was amazing for its time. Saw Airport, Poseidon Adventure, and their assorted sequels. Still love disaster films.
I strongly disagree with you. I saw this film on TV when I was a teenager and it actually made me feel emotional just like “Poseidon Adventure.” Mind you I was a teenager in the early 2000’s there was no CGI effects and it seemed more real. They did an amazing job with this film.
@@a.b.s_productions So how are you strongly disagreeing with me? I didn't say it wasn't a great film; I said seeing it on TV is a pale reflection of the widescreen cinema experience. If memory serves me correctly, I saw it in Cinema One in Perth - a new, 1000-seat, purpose-built, widescreen cinema for showing the new-fangled 70mm films. That was the 1970s equivalent of the Imax cinemas built in the 1990s. That's a completely different experience to the modern multiplex with 4-6 "digital cinemas" seating only 100-200 people. I'm glad you enjoyed seeing it on TV, but (unfortunately) you didn't have the same experience I did.
TL;DR: Everything was better in the good, old days. 😁
I saw it as a kid in 1974 as well. I remember seeing the trailer for Jaws right before it. I made it a point to see Jaws as well when it came out and that movie is still to this day my favorite movie of all time. The Towering Inferno is still my favorite "disaster" movie.
I hated that Jennifer Jones character, Lisolette, was killed off by falling out of the Glass elevator. In the book, she survived. Shelley Winters character, Belle, did die in the book The Poseidon Adventure. Other than that, it was a great film. Laugh all you want, but they did didn't need CGI in those days to create spectacular movies. Glad the cat survived!
Shelley Winters swam underwater like a professional swimmer. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
I wish she survived in the film too. I noticed that she didn't just fall out of the lift, she hit the building half way down. Brutal.
One of my favorite disaster movies. Perfect pacing. Perfect acting. And since I am dead afraid of heights and fire. Yeah. This movie scares the jeebus outta me😊😅
I recommend the book about the MGM fire in Las Vegas a few years ago if you read that you prob won't go into a tall building for a while descriptions R graphic makes Towering Inferno look like a Disney movie ...
McQueen's speech at the end is eerily prophetic.
Robert Wagner's death is really horrifying. Probably the most graphic in the movie.
Even as a 10-year-old kid at the time I thought his character was stupid for even trying to run through that room. The air temperature was probably well over a thousand degrees and he thought he could get through it with just a blanket wrapped around him!
Some of the fans now would cheer his death. Many people believe that he murdered Natalie Wood. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
@@harperstacey9604 i have seen documentaries and such that deal with the whole notion of him having murdered Natalie. It certainly is a case where there is ample room for it to be true, yet cannot quite be proven. Well, we must go by the old adage "he must be considered innocent before being proven guilty". It will always be a topic of debate and one that will always hang over Wagner's post-humous head.
@@jamiebraswell5520 Jamie, I honestly don't know what to believe. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
I remember fancying his girlfriend in the movie at the time , gorgeous.
I was twelve back in ‘74 when I first saw this, but I remember it well. It was pretty intense. Irwin Allen movies were always so entertaining back in the day.
I was only 5 but saw this on 📺 and like you it blew me away 😂😂 Who knew what was waiting for us in 2024 hey! Best wishes from the City of Liverpool.😂👍🇬🇧🇺🇸
There isn't anything like a good disaster movie from the 70's!
This is my favorite move ever. The acting as you say wasn’t over the top but that is exactly what i love about it. At times you can forget that you’re seeing a film and think the dialogue sound like real people in the middle of a tragic event. Another aspect of this movie i enjoyed is how useful information about how to fight a fire or how to try and survive a fire are sprinkled throughout the film in a semi subtle way. Love this film and the list of celebrities is mind boggling, it’s a who’s who of Hollywood royalty. I was actually watching this film a few days ago, it still stands head and shoulders above the rest for me.
The unsaid part of this review is that for many of us who were alive at the time of 911, this film became a really difficult watch.
Get over it! It is a film.
911 is Only an American thing. No one really cares about it outside the US so get over it
But what we learned in real life is, if you build them so tall, you run the risk of someone angry enough at the world, can, or will hijack airliners, and use them as missiles, and run them into the upper floors, making it impossible for firefighters to get up to the affected floors.
Bullshit. I'm not weak or stupid.
About the third or fourth time I watched Richard Chamberlain fall, I was laughing pretty hard.
There goes Shogun! The then 40 yr old spoiled brat had it coming.
What was so funny about Richard's death in the movie? From Ms. Harper Stacey.
@@harperstacey9604 Yes I didn't find it funny I had the hots for him my husband laughed at his screaming as he falls which I didn't like.
The screams, lol! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
@@tomy.1846 I must admit Richards screaming did sound like a Tarzan scream lol but I do think you would be screaming falling that far my hubby said he would
The towering inferno movie still sends chills down my spine to this day! I don't how many times I must have seen it as a kid back in the day, the cast was nothing but pure star power! One of the most memorable and exciting scenes was when the San Francisco Fire Dept. Was responding to the glass tower and the two firefighters on top of the engine were talking about what building was on the corner of Montgomery and what ever the other Cross street was on and then the firefighter remembered and said oh shit! The glass tower and said that he hoped that the fire was on the first floor! I'll never forget that scene it was awesome with the sirens and horns blaring as the were responding to the fire , what a rush! As a matter of fact I actually went on to becoming a firefighter in 1986 for the City of Fort Wayne,Ind Fire Department and served for 27 years and 4 months .The movie the Towering inferno was my inspiration to become a firefighter as well as many other movies and shows about the fire service and it was also my childhood dream.
i remember all that
Never use an elevator in a fire is what I learnt from this movie as a kid.
Do they even put glass elevators on the OUTSIDE of buildings anymore? Asking for a fren.
I saw it a week before Christmas of 1974 with my family. I was just 8 years old then. For weeks the movie previews filled the tv commercial slots adding to the hype. The movie didn’t disappoint. Still one of my favorites.
I think the John Williams music is fantastic. It gave the movie a sense of gravity. Understated. Of course, most of his work has been great. Other than that, great overview. It was the best of the genre (and was nominated for an Oscar if I'm not mistaken). And Richard Chamberlin's character is a great baddie (feels so good when he meets his destiny).
Your right Richard played an excellent baddie but I was gutted when he fell off the chair lift I had the hots for him in Dr Kildare my husband laughed at his scream as he fell.
@@gina7288 Shogun too. I had the honor of meeting him. He was elderly by then. Very friendly. Not a baddie.
These all-star disaster flicks were really popular back then. I saw it in '74, had a great time with my mates. Watched it again recently; not such a great time, but it was pleasantly nostalgic. I'll give it that!
I LIKE HOW STEVE MCQUEEN SAID ALL FIRES ARE BAD
Any fire chief will back him up! No such thing as a small harmless fire! The Towering Inferno was critically acclaimed, which meant fire chiefs thought it was accurate!
I saw 'The Aristocats in the 60s. However, the first three movies that heralded my 'growing up' (I was about 11), were The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and Towering Inferno. Going to the theatre to watch those movies was an event in itself.
Aristocats (in the 70s for me) is the first movie i remember seeing and the towering inferno my first "grown up" movie - still love it to this day and have it on bluray
The Aristocats came out in December, 1970 (almost 1971), not the Sixties.
@@SmartCookie2022 Yeah, I was a bit doubtful of my dates. I was about 7-years old. It was also the first time I'd been on a train to 'the city'.
Mine was Rex Harrison Doctor dolittle at the age of two.1967.
Yes, the first movie I ever saw on my own was "Earthquake" in 'sensaround' at the SONO cinema in Norwalk Connecticut. It was so loud at one point I had to step outside to the hallway for a minute. I was 11 years old. I have loved sub-woofers ever since. The sound was generated with a simple digital circuit that generates a random output (pulses) called a Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) and a capacitor to round off the edges of the pulses.
3:09 absolutely love seeing Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in same film! Always thought they were so similar, like cousins, but Steve far more "Dangerous." Fun beautifully done film, and excellent Cast.
i saw this at the flicks on Saturday arvo when i was 10. it left life long memories
By the time Irwin Allen made “The Swarm” and “When Time Ran Out” the all-star disaster movies had just about played out.
I love disaster movies, especially from the 70s. The Towering Inferno is my favorite. I was 6 years old in 1974 and I remember seeing it at a summer matinee with my mom, probably a year or two after it came out.
The 70s was the golden era of disaster movies. I remember going to the show to see Earthquake, they promoted the movie by introducing the phrase filmed in Sensurround. Th audience was supposed to feel the effects of the earthquake through the sound of the movie. Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno and Airport started my love of these types of movie which led to end of day’s movies like The Omega man and the Planet of The Apes franchise.
I saw this movie with a friend in a theater when it came out. We both loved it. It's still a favorite and I have it now on Blu-ray.
O. J. Simpson notwithstanding, this is my formative and favorite disaster movie... so Hollywood epic. Actually this score made John Williams a superstar to me. In the opening and that suspenseful bomb scene near the end, his music syncs with the titles, the editing and the "ticking". Its pretty graphic burn body count for the time had the audience screaming like they were at a horror movie. Love this flick.
I wish someone would open a chain of theaters just to play old classic movies like the Towering Inferno. I remember back in the 80s there was a small theater that would play old black & white movies on St. Marks place in the east village, NYC. It was so cool. We need something like that again.
One of my favourite movies. Saw it the first time on TV as a kid in the early 90s. The Maureen Maureen McGovern song is so beautiful and always gives me chills.
All these movies from my childhood are helping me to understand why I had anxiety and insomnia by 3rd grade 😂
I saw this movie when it first came out at the El Rey Theater in Manteca, Ca. A few days later, after the theater closed for the evening from showing the film, caught on fire during the night and the inside was gutted. They never determined what caused it but thought it was from a smoldering cigarette in the balcony. Then it became a brewery and fires broke out in the kitchen. Now it is a banquet hall. The poster of the movie that was in the display case of the theater is now at the Manteca Museum.
Holy cow what an ensemble cast. Even Dabney Coleman!
who?
I remember when this came out sitting beside my older sisters friend and I had a towering inferno . Lol
The movie is also notable for its opening credits. Newman and McQueen were roughly equal in status at that point, although mostly in different directions. In order to give them equal billing, the names were on the screen at the same time, but offset with one name in the Top Right (first if read top to bottom) and the other in the Bottom Left (first if read left to right).
The movie was also a joint release of Fox and WB. Each had optioned one of the two books and it was decided to combine the projects to avoid splitting the audience (i.e. avoiding a Tombstone/Wyatt Earp scenario).
Also, Bobby from the The Brady Bunch is in the movie.
O.j. Simpson and Robert Wagner were in this film. They have something in common. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
@@harperstacey9604 Allow me to be the first to say, "Aw, SNAP!". Well done, ma'am. You win the internet today.
Also, McQueen demanded that he get the exact same number of words on his dialogue as Paul Newman.
@@harperstacey9604 Yeah, neither have been found guilty of murder.
@@dhenderson1810 well remembered, also if you watch the end credits Steve and Paul are on top left and right then everyone else follows single file below, did you know William' holden thought he should have been top billing for this movie.
William Holden was 56 here yet looked at least 70. Heavy drinking isn't good for you.
William Holden was romantically involved with Stefanie Powers before he died. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
Look at him in The Bridges at Toko Ri (1954) and Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Only 20 years by the calendar but he ages 40 years by appearance.
Your dry humour and masterful use of irony with your narration here is restoring my lost faith in Americans capacity to entertain, keep in coming please Sir.😂 😂👍🇬🇧👏🇺🇸
I loved the disaster movies. The Poseidon Adventure was my ultimate favourite film as a kid but The Towering Inferno is up there with it. Earthquake was alright but that blood splat with the lift scene kills me.
I love disaster movies . This is the reason. I'll even take a ridiculously bad one. I love this movie!
I remember seeing this in the theaters when released. I went back the next weekend and saw it again. My parents used the movies as a "babysitter" while they shopped in the mall. I was 11 years old.
I remember seeing this film along with earthquake back in the day and I mean to tell you the enthusiasm over this kind of film was indeed through the roof
It’s just epic when Steve McQueen says
“You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill 10,000 in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and bringing out bodies until somebody asks us how to build them”
Love that moment and speech
Knocked out for a time after 9 11, for reasons of sensitivity to the victims.
@@duncancurtis5971 I didn't quite get your comment - your saying they removed that speech from the film? Seriously? No way.
Most of it, chiefly they'll kill ten thousand in one of these firetraps.
@@duncancurtis5971 Understandable
These movies were so much fun to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the 80s.
They just felt like simple, tight, and exciting stories, despite the implausible scenarios and sometime cheesy effects. The great cast just carried you through it with ease.
It was too slow as a disaster movie this one.
One of the most badass movies I’ve ever seen still keeps me on the edge as to what comes next great all star cast 70s movies definitely rocked
I was a kid in the 70s and loved the disaster genre, especially "The Towering Inferno" and "Earthquake!". Then, of course, came Airplane! and Airplane II, which are all-time classic parodies.
The "mild spoilers" disclaimer is extra hilarious for this video
Add 58 years old I remember so much Of how great television was and why they call it The And the golden age of television. It really was, and all of the movies some of them wonderful. They are also the limited series and movies that each network made that was shown on Saturday night movies had endless writers and producers and directors. Now we have are the endless number of Reality TV because of it's low production value it absolutely sucks!But I can remember and often tell my nieces and nephews about when television was absolutely wonderful and studios even have big budgets for Saturday morning cartoons.They say they say if you live longer enough everything old is new again and I'm really hoping to see the new return. I'm glad I found your channel it was suggested by UA-cam normally I ignored them but this time I didn't and I'm pretty happy about that.
I was 4 when I watched it with Mom and Dad at the theatre. I cried my heart out.
My Father was so wise in 1975, family beach trip, 1st night we went to movies, Saw Jaws, didn't go in ocean during entire vacation
OJ had the kat at the end.
One of my all time fav films.
For me the greatest memory of this film was trying to get into a sold out session. Went across the road and watched the amazing Chinatown. Definitely came out in front that day lol
Watching Richard Chamberlain falls to his death repeatedly made me laugh.
I didn't I had a crush on him but he did play a good role as an ass hole, my husband did laugh at them all falling being noisy sods as he said.
relentless gag, but🤣🤣🤣 every time🤪😁🙋♂✌😎
Of course, you could not be more wrong about John Williams’ score which is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Cheers
I paid hard earned money to see this in a walk in theater, they hired all the Star Actors including Bobby Brady. Enjoyed the "International Rescue" shot.
😮 Retro movie greetings from coastal Mississippi. Saw this 50 years ago at the Drive In theater.
Great movie together with The Poseidon Adventure. Watched both of them during my teenage years on big widescreen cinema with stereo surround sound.
I love how she bounces and then goes into a spin. Could watch that all day 😀
In 1974 I lived in small town in the arse end of nowhere, we had a small American airbase nearby and we had American kids at junior school
I went to watch The Towering Inferno with some of the American kids and they were way more excited that OJ Simpson was in the film than McQueen and Newman, it's easy not to realise that Simpson was as big a star as anyone in 1974 to these kids!
I always remember this being on T.V. as a kid in the 70s (some networks A.B.C., N.B.C., or C.B.S. night movie special). I never knew it was in theaters.
タワーリングインフェルノは素晴らしい映画です。凄いシーンで、好きです。俳優さんも凄いです。しかし、ロバートワグナーさんのファンです。
This movie ruled!
This is often shown on daytime TV but then they ruin it by cutting out all the grisly deaths to avoid upsetting the kids. If you want to see it whole you have to watch it on DVD.
Love your commentary!
Superior videos this guy makes. Humour is excellent, cuts and editing are superb, and it's written and delivered on point. Love these.
Did you read the dictaphone transcription? 1:58 You'll have to pause it to see the last few lines. The guy thinks up funny stuff like that and then just lets it go by in the blink of an eye.
this movie traumatized me when I saw it as a kid
I was too young when I watched this movie back in the 80s. I sleep with an extinguisher beside my bed as an adult.
Two things both 'The Poseidon Adventure' and Towering Inferno' had in common: both the sea and the fire obligingly stopped advancing when there was a melodramatic incident, and it's impossible to miniaturise water or fire. The long shots of the Tower are clearly models! Having said that, both films were enjoyable - 'Towering Inferno' more so by an edge!
Best double feature of the 70's: Earthquake & The Towering Inferno. AKA Shake and Bake.
This movie is fantastic. I haven't seen this in years.
Char grilled...love it!
I didn’t realize the movie had an all star cast. So many great actors in this movie. 😊
I saw this film quite recently on TV and it's still enjoyable as seeing as a kid on TV in the late 80s - where it scared the crap out of me esp when the woman falls from the window. Classic film. Love the slow build up and dismissing the small fire then the crap hits the fan love the tension. Plus has two of three of my fears - being stuck at a great height and being burnt by fire.
I saw this film back in 1976, and on the way home me and my family couldn't stop talking about it.
Great movie. I still have the book
I watched this movie when i was a teen. We lived on the 8th floor.
THIS MOVIE SCARRED MY FOR LIFE!
Saw this as a kid and it scared me to death. I always thought of it when I went into a tall building.
Susan Flannery played Robert Wagner's secretary. She had a role on Dallas in the 1980s, but she's best know for being in the soap operas Days of Our Lives and, most recently, Bold & the Beautiful. She has since retired from acting.
She was way cute!
They were filming this movie in July, and it was ready for release in Dec. 1974. That would be unheard of today. They had three units filming simultaneously.
I saw "The Towering Inferno" on Christmas Day of '74. The filming of the movie ended on September 11 (9-11), 1974.
The receipt that Fred Astaire had on hand in the film was dated 7-4-74
An all-time favorite. What a cast. Robert Wagner fire run is an underrated scene, stunt. What a title.
The Towering Inferno (1974) was released after the World Trade Center (New York City) and
Sears Tower (Chicago) were completed earlier that year.
This film was so big, and expensive it required 2 studios: Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros.
The opening sequence of helicopter across northern California (Marin county) with John Williams score
approaching San Francisco from the north, is still my favorite.
Cinematographers received Oscar for film.
Also loved Earthquake!
Saw it on the big screen..the tension between Newman and McQueen seems very real.
I saw this at the cinema, I'll never forget it
It's better to see these disaster films at the cinema and not on TV. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
I remember seeing this movie in 1974, the theater was packed. When Richard Chamberlain fell to his death, people started to applaud. I have never experienced anything like that since.
I remember watching it with my family and they all cheered as he started to fall I remember cringing at the screams especially after my husband said he would of been screaming just the same as those poor guys.
If I remember correctly, the Towering Inferno was based off of two novels released at about the same time, The Glass Inferno and The Tower. The script took elements of both novels and combined them. In one novel the fire starts with a faulty electrical system and in the other, a disgruntled worker sets off a firebomb. One novel is set in the midwest, the other the East Coast. It's implied that the building on the East Coast is a stand in for the recently completed World Trade Center. In one novel, the fire is put out by blowing up the water tanks above the fire, in the other, the firemen can't do anything to save the people on the top floor and they all die before the fire burns itself out.
I love this movie but i can't believe it's been fifty years since I first saw it..
The “old lady” was one of the biggest stars of the 40s & 50s
This movie with the Poseidon movie were my childhood disaster movies - I mean I never looked at a tall building the same way 😊.
Two books, The Tower and The Glass Inferno, both about fires in skyscrapers, both owned by a different studio who wanted to make them into movies. In a rare bit of Hollywood cooperation, both studios combined the projects into The Towering Inferno.
read 'em both before i saw the movie, reread _The Tower_ (the shorter of the two) a few months ago. ?didn't someone last name of Scortia write, or cowrite, one of them?
I have both books