Review of The Towering Inferno (1974) by Ola G — 30 Oct 2012

Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) returns from a workrelated trip to San Francisco and the completion of his massive skyscraper in the city centre. It´s the opening day and the whole building is working hard to get everything ready for the party and all the guests. Due to a smaller short circuit, Doug discovers inadequate electrical wiring in the building which could result in dangerous concequences. It´s obvious that his wiring specifications have not been followed. Doug reports this to the building owner James Duncan (William Holden), but he discards the problem and decides to go on with the opening ceremony. Eventually a fire begins in the building and this results in unpredictable explosions and fires breaking out everywhere. Suddenly 300 peoples lives are in balance while trapped in the ballroom on the top of the 138 storey skyscraper. Firechief Michael O'Halleran (Steve McQueen) arrives and together with Doug he needs to rescue the people in the ballroom before the fire reaches the top floor....

I can´t believe I haven´t seen this classic 70s disaster movie. I reckon maybe because I have problems with disaster movies. These days they are so realistic I just don´t feel good when watching them. "The Towering Inferno" is pretty ok in terms of realism and effects. The script is pretty straightforward and can be summarized in a few lines, while the strong part of the movie is the character development and the ensemble cast. Two of my favourite actors, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, carries this movie alongside O.J. Simpson, Fred Astaire, William Holden, Richard Chamberlain etc. It´s drama on a high.

Level and seeing the movie today makes it impossible to not relate to 9/11. Both novels the movie is based on were inspired by the construction of the World Trade Center in the early 1970s, and what could happen in fire in a skyscraper. In Richard Martin Stern's novel, "The Tower", the fictional 140-floor building was set next to the north tower of the World Trade Center. The climax of the novel was centered around a rescue mounted from the north tower of the World Trade Center. Yes, the sets are maybe not super in.

Todays standard and the green screens are a bit wobbly. But, in general it´s not too shabby effectwise considering it was made in 1974. Trivia from this production is that, at Steve McQueen's insistence, he and co-star Paul Newman had to have exactly the same number of lines of dialogue in the script. This film marked as well the first ever joint production by two big-name movie companies; Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.