Fans of Leonardo DiCaprio might disagree, but Titanic isn’t the greatest disaster film of all time. That title is more likely to be held by The Towering Inferno, the 1974 film directed by John Guillermin, an undisputed genre classic which featured Hollywood’s finest stars, directors, producers and studios at the top of their game.
The film is based on two novels - The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. Both books were inspired by the recent opening of the World Trade Center building in New York, which became the tallest structure in the world at the time. The script by Stirling Silliphant set the plot in San Francisco and dealt with the opening of the fictitious Glass Tower, the tallest building in the world. Its architect, Doug Roberts (played by Paul Newman), confronts the developer James Duncan (played by William Holden) about inadequate electrical wiring which he suspects might endanger safety. Duncan, nevertheless, is adamant about proceeding with the opening ceremony and the gala which is to be held at the Promenade Room on the 135th floor. Even when a short circuit on the 81st floor causes a fire, Duncan, in a bid to win the favour of powerful politicians, refuses to order an evacuation. When he changes his mind, it is too late; the fire has spread out of control and hundreds of people, including Duncan and party guests, are trapped. As the fire continues to spread, Fire Chief O’Halloran (played by Steve McQueen) must find a way to put it out and, even more importantly, conduct an extremely difficult and dangerous rescue operation.
The main creative force behind the film was Irwin Allen, a.k.a. the “Master of Disaster”, a legendary film producer known for The Poseidon Adventure, an Oscar-awarded and immensely successful disaster film which, like The Towering Inferno, became a genre classic. He had initially started to produce an adaptation of The Tower for Warner Bros., but, after learning about 20th Century Fox's production of The Glass Inferno, managed to talk both studios’ executives into making a single film, sharing their resources and future profits. This co-operation between major studios, unprecedented in Hollywood at the time, would later serve as a model for many ambitious high-budget projects, including Titanic. Allen hired Stirling Silliphant, an Oscar-awarded screenwriter with whom he had collaborated on The Poseidon Adventure, to compress both novels’ plots into the film’s script. Silliphant did an admirable job, making the plot run smoothly and keeping the audience's focus despite a multitude of different characters with their mini-subplots. Silliphant’s main idea was to treat the fire as a sort of main character and painstakingly show its birth, development and spectacular death.
The Towering Inferno, with a $14 million budget, was one of the most expensive films of its time. It shows in the finished product, which featured elaborate miniature models and various special effects, thousands of extras and many impressive sets, including the Promenade Room. Great visuals were accompanied by a good musical soundtrack by John Williams and the song “We May Never Love Like This Again”, performed by Maureen McGovern (who appears in a cameo as a singer at the party) and which would later win the Oscar for Best Original Song. But the greatest attraction for the audience was the cast, and, as in all disaster films, it featured a multitude of stars. The most notable of them were Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, who, despite their rivalry as the most popular actors of the time, got along well on set and made a great team. Although both actors are great, McQueen, as a down-to-earth, hands-on expert, leaves a somewhat better impression, especially in the second part of the film. While some of the stars, like Faye Dunaway in the role of Roberts’s fiancée, might look like nothing more than eye candy, others leave a much better impression, including Richard Chamberlain who, as the cost-cutting subcontractor responsible for the tragedy, plays one of the rare villains in his career. The cast also includes some Classic Hollywood veterans, most notably Fred Astaire in the role of an elderly con man (for which he received his only Oscar nomination) and Jennifer Jones as his ill-fated love interest (for whom that role was her last).
Although some critics complained about some of the characters being underdeveloped, The Towering Inferno nevertheless provided an almost perfect combination of drama, action and breathtaking special effects. As such, it became immensely popular and even influenced a lot of popular culture at the time, including “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps, one of the most iconic songs of the 1970s. Time, on the other hand, wasn’t that kind to this film. Audiences quickly grew bored of disaster films and turned towards science fiction epics like Star Wars, and the failure of Irwin Allen’s subsequent disaster spectacles marred the reputation of his greatest achievement. But probably the worst thing that happened to this film was 9/11, an event that showed the difference between Hollywood fiction and real life in the most horrific way. On the other hand, an audience that is able to watch The Towering Inferno without its historic context is going to enjoy one of the finest pieces of Hollywood craftsmanship.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/5919-the-towering-inferno Critic: AA
