The Towering Inferno (1974)

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.

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

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

Stars:

Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden

Won 3 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve McQueen	...	Chief Mike O'Hallorhan
Paul Newman	...	Doug Roberts
William Holden	...	Jim Duncan
Faye Dunaway	...	Susan Franklin
Fred Astaire	...	Harlee Claiborne
Susan Blakely	...	Patty
Richard Chamberlain	...	Simmons
Jennifer Jones	...	Lisolette
O.J. Simpson	...	Jernigan
Robert Vaughn	...	Senator Parker
Robert Wagner	...	Bigelow
Susan Flannery	...	Lorrie
Sheila Allen	...	Paula Ramsay (as Sheila Mathews)
Norman Burton	...	Giddings (as Normann Burton)
Jack Collins	...	Mayor Ramsay

Storyline

Doug Roberts, Architect, returns from a long vacation to find work nearly completed on his skyscraper. He goes to the party that night concerned he's found that his wiring specifications have not been followed and that the building continues to develope short circuits. When the fire begins Michael O'Halleran is the chief on duty as a series of daring rescues punctuate the terror of a building too tall to have a fire successfully fought from the ground burns.

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Plot Keywords:

fire | trapped | party | architect | skyscraper | 

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Taglines:

One minute you're attending a party atop the world's tallest skyscraper. The next... you're trapped with 294 other guests in the middle of a fiery hell.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 December 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Flammendes Inferno

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$116,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Irwin Allen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Principal photography was completed on Sept. 11th 1974.

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Goofs

Throughout the movie, it is night time, but many window shots show a dusk sky.

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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!

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Crazy Credits

The 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures logos don't appear in the beginning.

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Connections

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Soundtracks

"The Morning After"
(uncredited)
Written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
Played at the party when Roberts is first reporting the fire to Duncan

User Reviews

Classic star-studded disaster film....

With the likes of INDEPENDENCE DAY and DIE HARD, which were both influenced by THE TOWERING INFERNO, a new awareness of the potential of the disaster film emerged, culminating in the likes of DEEP IMPACT, ARMAGEDDON and the more recent THE CORE.

The definition of 'all-star cast' and 'star-studded' has changed substantially in the last few years and in fact, the true star of THE TOWERING INFERNO wasn't any actor or star, but the late Irwin Allen, whose career in this type of film ended with the poorly-received WHEN TIME RAN OUT.

The film, which was adapted from two source novels, THE GLASS INFERNO and THE TOWER (both of which were bought by rival studios Fox and Warner to compete at the box-office - and then decided at the last minute to pool their resources into creating a single script) is impressive in scope and design.

For the uninitiated, one of the books deals with a disgrunted ex-employee who decides to cause an accident which starts a fire and in some ways that would have made a more intriguing storyline, but the plot of the actual film which involves cost-cutting to electrical circuits which causes the fire int the first place works as it is.

At a running time of 158 minutes some may think the film too long. In this day and age there would have possibly been test screenings and some cutting of the film, but since the success of TITANIC at the box-office longer films have become the norm. Indeed, the more recent HARRY POTTER and LORD OF THE RINGS movies are in this bracket (although the upcoming KILL BILL story that the three-hour film will be split in two may pave the way for shorter lengths!!) Mind you, THE GREAT ESCAPE is of similar length and that film moves at a cracking pace.

Steve McQueen is on screen less than some of the other stars in the film, but his performance is the best and complements others on show.