Plot: Classic 1970s disaster movie about a fire that breaks out in a state-of-the-art San Francisco high-rise building during the opening ceremony attended by a host of A-list guests. An overworked fire chief and the building’s architect must cooperate in the struggle to save lives and subdue panic while a corrupt, cost-cutting contractor tries to evade responsibility for the disaster.
I’d only ever seen the occasional clip from The Towering Inferno, but it wasn’t until recently that I sat down and watched the full movie. Widely regarded as one of the best disaster movies of all time, it’s easy to see why with an iconic cast that includes Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughn, William Holden. Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway.
It’s based on the books The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson which were inspired by the building of The World Trade Centre. It’s a little chilling watching it now as that’s all I was thinking about while viewing the movie.
Aside from the impressive cast, The Towering Inferno still holds up with some incredible set-pieces including real explosions and fire. A highlight is survivors of the fire trying to escape the building onto a helicopter; it’s nail-biting stuff and even if there is the occasional bluescreen moment, it still had me on the edge of my seat.
Steve McQueen is at his stoic best as Fire Chief O’Halloran; he’s jaded and cynical and has no time for Newman’s architect Doug Roberts who he essentially blames for The Glass Tower catching fire. The two still work together trying to stop the fire spreading and killing hundreds of people.
As soon as Newman walks on screen you are immediately aware he is a movie star; he just had that charisma where you couldn’t take your eyes off him. He and McQueen obviously are the stars of the show, and the film is at its best when they share the screen. Robert Vaughn made any movie better and I was expecting him to be the sleazy, self-serving politician, but he ends up being a hero.
Richard Chamberlain is the real villain of the piece as it was him cutting corners with the building’s wiring that caused the fire. He’s such an arrogant, hateful character that you know his death will be spectacular… and well deserved.
Fred Astaire plays practically the same character that he would end up playing in Battlestar Galactica where he was a con man with a heart. He was great at those sorts of roles where we still liked him anyway.
At 2 hours and 45 minutes it’s certainly long and does take a while for things to happen, but it establishes the characters nicely and manages to avoid a lot of the usual clichés we get in disaster movies. It still kept me engaged and there is some incredible stunt work with various people catching fire on a regular basis.
What immediately struck me was some of the set design; the offices are large and colourful and I do love how spacious and welcoming The Glass Tower looks. Today most places you go are bland just feeling soulless and corporate, but this building actually had me wanting to work there… once they sort out all the wiring issues obviously.
An interesting piece of trivia is that after viewing this movie author Roderick Thorp had a dream about a man being chased through a burning building by gun wielding terrorists and he ended up writing the novel Nothing Lasts Forever which of course would be made into Die Hard in 1988.
Overall, The Towering Inferno may be long, but it manages to keep things tense with its all-star cast making it one of the great disaster movies that still holds up today.