Steel (1979)

Mike Catton was once a world-renowned construction foreman (at least in the construction world), but an accident left him with a serious fear of heights. Unable to climb the big skyscrapers... See full summary »

Director:

Steve Carver

Writers:

Leigh Chapman, Peter S. Davis (story)

Stars:

Lee Majors, Jennifer O'Neill, Art Carney

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Majors	...	Mike Catton
Jennifer O'Neill	...	Cass Cassidy
Art Carney	...	Pignose Moran
Harris Yulin	...	Eddie Cassidy
George Kennedy	...	Big Lew Cassidy
Redmond Gleeson	...	Harry
Terry Kiser	...	Valentino
Richard Lynch	...	Dancer
Ben Marley	...	The Kid
Roger E. Mosley	...	Lionel
Albert Salmi	...	Tank
Robert Tessier	...	Cherokee
Hunter von Leer	...	Surfer
R.G. Armstrong	...	Kellin
Joe De Nicola	...	Tom

Storyline

Mike Catton was once a world-renowned construction foreman (at least in the construction world), but an accident left him with a serious fear of heights. Unable to climb the big skyscrapers while under construction, he retired and became a truck driver. But when an old friend needs him to help put up a building, and when the old friend gets harassed and threatened by an Evil Corporate Type, he comes out of retirement and assembles the creme de la creme of the construction world. Together, they race against time to finish the building while the Evil Corporate Type tries to stop them.

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Plot Keywords:

construction | building | race against time | truck driver | truck | 

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Taglines:

They Reached For An Impossible Dream... And Built A Miracle.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Look Down and Die

Filming Locations:

Interstate 75 Kentucky river overpass, Clay's Ferry, Kentucky, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fawcett-Majors Productions, Steel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A wooden mock-up set was constructed on the roof of the nearby Patterson Office Tower on the University of Kentucky campus. Most of the top floor scenes were filmed there, as to not interfere with the actual construction in progress at Kincaid Towers (the stand-in for Hayes Plaza Tower depicted in the film).

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Quotes

Mike Catton: Isn't there a law against these guys all being in the same state?

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Connections

Referenced in Alpha to Omega: Exposing 'The Osterman Weekend' (2004)

User Reviews

Jennifer O'Neil was Fantastic

TITLE: STEEL opened in New York City on December 12 1980 starring Lee Majors as Mike Cattan, the very lovely Jennifer O'Neill as Cass Cassidy, Art Carney as Pignose Moran, Harris Yulin as Eddie Cassidy, George Kennedy as Big Lou Cassidy and Redmond Gleeson as Harry.

SUMMARY: Big Lou Cassidy is a millionaire who likes to big tall buildings all the country. This time he's putting up a building in downtown Houston Texas. Big Lou takes no bull **** from anyone especially his workers. One day when he gets to work, he pulls up driving his limo because his driver gets to many tickets only to find his workers ready to fight each other. There to meet him is Pignose Moran who is good friends with Lou and has been helping Lou for years. Therefore, Lou gets on his hard hat, and starts to the top of the building with a new kid and they're going to set some steel pillars. Lou tells someone to get him a welder so he can weld two pieces together because the bolt won't set right. When Lou starts the welding there's and explosion on the top floor which has one man frozen and won't let go. Lou goes over to try to help him when another explosion goes off sending Big Lou to his Death. Along comes Cass Cassidy Big Lou's daughter who comes to the funeral. After the funeral, Cass and Pignose get together to talk about what she's going to do next. Pignose tells Cass that she has three weeks to get nine floors added on to this tower. Along comes Mike Cattan who used to work was a steel worker many years ago until he froze on top of a building and ever since then he's been driving a truck. One day while going down the highway driving his rig, Cattan hears someone beeping a horn at him and they want him to pull over. Therefore, Cattan pulls over only to find out that the gorgeous woman in the red sports car was Big Lou's daughter Cass. Cass tells Mike that she needs his help because Pignose told her that he was the best. Cass tells him that she needs nine more floors added to that building and she has only three weeks to do it.

QUESTIONS: Does Cass get her man? Why is Lou's Brother Eddie upset with his sister Cass? Does Cattan get the men that he needs to get this job done? Finally do they get this steel put together before the banks comes knocking?

MY THOUGHTS: I love this movie because it was field with action, adventure, and drama that kept you on your sits to the very end. I think Lee Majors was great in his role and George Kennedy was as good as ever. However, the person that caught my interest was Jennifer O'Neill. She was gorgeous in this movie and she defiantly can act. She also had spunk when it came to keeping her men in line. Because of Jennifer O'Neill and that beautiful body, I give this movie 10 weasel stars. One bite of trivia from this movie Stuntman A.J. Bacons died while doubling for George Kennedy in a fall that killed Kennedy's character. The scene had been shot safely with the stunt man jumping from the ninth floor of the construction site/shooting location in Lexington, KY. At the time he held the record for high falls, set while doubling Burt Reynolds in Hooper (1978), but when rival Dar Robinson later beat his distance in a helicopter jump at Knott's Berry Farm, A. J. and Lee Majors returned to the star's home state to re-shoot the opening of the movie with Bakunas actually jumping from the top of the building. He fell correctly onto an airbag, but the airbag split on impact. His father was with him at the time of his death, but his mother never visited A. J. on set because she always feared he would be killed. Ironically, the completed structure, Kincaid Towers, became home to a life insurance company that eventually went bankrupt.