Review of The Towering Inferno (1974) by Sherry L — 27 May 2009
What´s the thing with the 1970s and disaster movies? I have never understood why it hitted so hard in the 70s, while in the 80s a disaster movie would almost mean disaster for the filmcompanies...And why are the disaster movies ALWAYS loaded with former screen legends like in.
Cassandra crossing (Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Alida Valli, ect.).
Earthquake (Ava Gardner, Charlton Heston, Walter Matthau).
Airport (Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Helen Hayes (!).
The Swarm (Richard Widmark, Olivia De Havilland, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurrey).
In this disaster movie we have the A-team; Steve MacQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire (!), Jennifer Jones and heaps of more celebrities you probably will recognize. The plot is simple; there´s a big shot party in this San Fransisco hotel and hundreds of people are invited, and even more live on the hotel while there´s a fire spreading. Steve MacQueen stars as the hero fireman, and Paul Newman as another hero that conducts two children from their room that´s on fire.
It feels very high budget, with heaps of ex. superstars and lots of (for that time) advanced special effects. The social intrigues in this movie feels very artificial and unengaging, like they have already got a script; the hotel is on fire, the hotel manager is stupid, and there´s lots of trouble. But hey! We have to make the people in the movie look interesting too...which fails....
It´s worth watching, though, in my opinion, but it´s not a great film.
This review of The Towering Inferno (1974) was written by Sherry L on 27 May 2009.
The Towering Inferno has generally received positive reviews.
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