Rating: 
Summary: Inferno Really Burns
Review: After the success of The Poseidon Adventure, disaster flicks became the rage in Hollywood. Stars lined up left in right to appear in them. While most are laughable and only worth watching for the camp value, Towering Inferno rises above the pack. It is a well-crafted and well-acted movie, with excellent performances. Like most disaster movies, the plot revolves around a state of the art high-rise in San Francisco. Due to faulty wiring, the building catches fire trapping people all throughout. You are kept on the edge of your seat with amazing pyrotechnics, daring helicopter rescues and the fire departments last ditch effort to save the last remaining people on the top floor of the building. Paul Newman plays the architect who designed the building and Steve McQueen is the fire chief who risks his life fighting the fire. They are but two of a mega-watt cast that includes Fred Astaire (who received his only Academy Award nomination for the role), Faye Dunaway, Robert Wagner, Richard Chamberlain (who is cast against type as the villain), Jennifer Jones, OJ Simpson and Robert Vaughan (Mike Lookinland, Bobby Brady from The Brady Bunch has a small part). The film was a huge success and received a nomination for Best Picture in 1974.
Rating: 
Summary: Burning Down Your House
Review: By far the best of the seventies disaster epics. Steve McQueen is O'Halleran, the fire fighter who must save guests from an out of control, four alarm blaze terrorizing the world's tallest skyscraper. Paul Newman plays Doug Roberts, the guilt ridden architect who designed the fire trap. His one comfort; none of the impending doom is the fault of his design, instead, the result of cost cutting and shoddy wiring approved by his boss, James Duncan (William Holden) and his contractor son-in-law (Richard Chamberlain). The rest of the cast reads like a who's who of Hollywood has-beens (O.J. Simpson, Susan Flannery), up and comers (Faye Dunaway, Dabney Colman) and a potpourri of old time studio talent(Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, Robert Vaughn), leading one critic to dub the movie "Grand Hotel in flames!"
Director/producer Irwin Allen came down hard on the fire codes of the day and infused the film with a moral underbelly that still rings true today. The special effects are astounding. I deny anyone to tell me that isn't a real 135 story building going up in flames. Okay, the superstructure actually never really existed. It's the result of seemless editing and the incorporation of six models and various location photography. The flooding of the promenade deck is equally impressive. After nearly 25 years this film continues to give the first time viewer white knuckles.
Unfortunately, Fox Studios has chosen to give us a really disappointing print of this four alarm blaze. While colors are rich and well balanced and black levels and contrast are superb, the inclusion of excessive edge enhancement, shimmering details, aliasing and digital compression artifacts really burn up this transfer. In short, this is the same transfer Fox used to master its laserdisc. The DVD is not even anamorphically enhanced for 16X9 televisions. And guess what? NO EXTRAS! What a shame! Please, Rupert Murdock - a better job and a new transfer and soon. This current version is burning a whole in my patience!
Rating:
Summary: THE GREATEST TOWERING DISASTER OF ALLTIMES!!!!
Review: THE POWERHOUSE OF IRWIN ALLEN'S DISASTER CREATIONS!!!! EXPLOSIVE TOWERING NIGHT OF TERROR, DEATH AND HELL LIKE NO OTHER DISASTER FILM COULD GENERATE, EXCEPT THE UNFORGETTABLE
EXPLOSIVE SPECTACULAR "DANTE'S PEAK!!!!"
LEAD BY AN UNFORGETTABLE ALLSTAR CAST OF GREATS PAUL NEWMAN,
STEVE MCQUEEN, WILLIAM HOLDEN, FAYE DUNAWAY, SUSAN BLAKELY,
RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN, JENNIFER JONES, FRED ASTAIRE, ROBERT WAGNER, SUSAN FLANNERY, A YOUNG MIKE LOOKINLAND (YOUNG BOBBY FROM THE TV SERIES "THE BRADY BUNCH"), YES- EVEN A YOUNGER O.J. SIMPSON. AND A SURPRIZE CAMEO GUEST STAR:
IN A SCENE WITH SUSAN FLANNERY (AS ROBERT WAGNER'S SECRETARY LAURIE) ANOTHER YOUNG SECRETARY NAMED JANET IS FEATURED. THAT YOUNG LADY IS NO OTHER THAN BELIEVE IT OR NOT, MERYL STREEP IN HER FIRST FEATURE FILM APPEARANCE. WATCH FOR HER CLOSELY IN THAT SCENE AFTER THE TOWER DEDICATION!!!!
WHAT STARTS OUT AS SUDDEN SMALL POWER FUSE BURNOUT IN A TRANSFORMER IGNITES INTO AN OUT-OF-CONTROL MAN-MADE INFERNO!!!! FROM THE PREPARATIONS TO THE DEDICATION TO THE CELEBRATION ON THE 135 FLOOR THE WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING KNOWN AS THE "GLASS TOWER", THE TENSION GROWS AS THE TOWER BECOMES WORLD'S TALLEST STRUCTURAL INFERNO IN HISTORY!!!! TRAPPING NOT ONLY THE OVER 300 GUESTS PARTYING ON THE TOP FLOOR, BUT THE LIVES OF THE OTHER PEOPLE TRAPPED INSIDE THE BURING STRUCTURE!!!! ITS A RACE AGAINST THE ODDS, WITH TIME RUNNING OUT AS ARCHITECT NEWMAN, AND FIRE CHIEF MCQUEEN BATTLE THE ELEMENTS AND OTHER UNEXPECTED DANGERS IN A ALMOST FUTAL ATTEMPT TO SAVE ALL FROM DEATH AND DISASTER!!!!
FEATURING THE MOST POWERFUL, DRAMATIC, EMOTIONAL, AND MEMORABLE SOUNDTRACK FROM THE TRUELY FAMOUS FILM COMPOSER OF ALLTIMES, JOHN WILLIAMS (FILM: JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, RAIDERS, E.T., HARRY POTTER; TV: GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, LOST IN SPACE)!!!!
POWERFUL!!!! DYNAMIC!!!! EXPLOSIVE!!!! SUSPENSEFUL!!!! TWISTS AND TURNS AROUND EVERY CORNER!!!! LEAVES YOU WAITING FOR MORE UNEXPECTED SURPRIZES!!!! LEAVES YOU LITERALLY ON THE EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT!!!! THE GREATEST DISASTER FILM OF THE 1970S, AND TRUELY AN OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM HISTORY!!!!
I LOVE THIS MOTION PICTURE!!!! EVERYTIME I SEEN IT I'M ON FIRE!!!! WITH HIGH EMOTION!!!! AND EXCITEMENT!!!!
THIS VERSION I REFER TO IS THE 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT VHS WIDESCREEN THX SERIES!!!!
Rating:
Summary: An epic disaster film! Not to be missed!
Review: I remember first seeing this movie at a very early age. As a child, I loved this movie for it's spectacularity. As an adult (sort of), I love it for the acting performances of it's marvelous cast. This is a disaster movie. During the seventies this type of movie was extremely popular, with timeless hits such as "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Airport".
Disaster films seemed to have lost their appeal during the eighties but recent hits like "Armageddon" and "Titanic" show that this type of movie is still very popular and here to stay. In San Francisco, the tallest building in the world, "The Glass Tower" has finally been completed. An awesome superstructure and the new icon of the city.
On the night of the dedication ceremony on the 130th floor a seemingly harmless fire erupts fifty floors below the partying crowd. When the situation grows out of control their pleasant happening turns into a nightmare struggle for survival. With some of the best actors of that time (Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Fred Astaire to name a few), true drama and an absolutely convincing inferno this movie deservedly took the world by storm!
Rating:
Summary: GREATEST DISASTER MOVIE OF ALL TIME
Review: The absolute BEST! It is best to watch this movie on widescreen. Wish that the VHS edition of this film include scenes which were cut out from the theatrical release, which sometimes TV broadcasts restored...you actually see Fred Astaire gave the flowers to Jennifer Jones, you get to see a lot more of Susan Blakley, for example. As expected, the fire and the building is the real stars of the show. Most of the other characters have thin storylines that you really don't care about. Some of the dialog are really stupid, but who cares? You just want to see if they can make it out to the finale. As expected, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman do most of the acting here while most of the other cast just stood around, trying to act like they are doing something. Special commendation must be made to Jennifer Jones, who gave one of the best performances in the film. Or prehaps because her character is one of the few who actually HAVE something to do other than standing around. The special effects are phenomenal...sometimes you can't tell that what you seeing is not a real building at all. And all done before the advent of computer technology. Now imagine what they can accomplish if they have film the movie today. But Towering Inferno is a classic, and can never be remade. It has its own special brand of magic, special brand of feel and look. It is just special.
Rating:
Summary: A better film than is often assumed
Review: More than 10 years ago, Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel did a special edition of their program that examined "The Early '70s: The Last Golden Age of American Film." It was a great show, with a look at each nominee for the Best Picture Oscar for the years 1970-1974, and then which film Siskel and Ebert would have chosen as the winner. When the duo got to 1974, and a split screen revealed the five Best Picture nominees for that year, Ebert expressed some amusement at "The Towering Inferno's" nomination, when compared with the others ("Chinatown," "The Conversation," "Lenny" and the winner, "The Godfather Part II."). But while it was not the best film in a truly great year for the medium, "Inferno" did deserve to be considered one of the best. This is polished, professional filmmaking. It was not intended to be a scathing expose of construction politics, or an actor's showcase. "The Towering Inferno" never tries to be anything more than an action spectacular, pure and simple, and on that level, it has few equals. The film has been criticized for being almost gleeful in its depiction of various deaths, but I'm not sure what those critics would have had directors John Guillermin and Irwin Allen do. The story is about a giant skyscraper on fire, which means that the primary dangers involved are burning, falling, smoke inhalation and being buried under tons of debris. All of these are horrific, and "Inferno" conveys that horror. The movie takes on a different hue than the Irwin Allen film it's inevitably compared to, "The Poseidon Adventure," the minute Steve McQueen arrives at the scene as the San Francisco Fire Dept.'s battalion chief, O'Hallorhan. Unlike "Poseidon," in which a small band of ship passengers follows a layman toward safety, the "Inferno" disaster is going to be taken on by a competent, experienced professional, leading other professionals. McQueen conveys an authority that anchors the film. None of the acting struck me as truly bad, even in action-oriented scenes that called for broad playing. Aside from McQueen, my favorite performances were those of Susan Flannery and Jennifer Jones. Flannery makes the most of a small but memorable part as Robert Wagner's love interest, while Jones, looking very good for a woman of 55, plays the kind, heroic love of Fred Astaire's con man character. Fred Koenekamp's cinematography received a well-deserved Academy Award, as did L.B. Abbott's special effects. The song "We May Never Love Like This Again," sung by Maureen McGovern, also won an Oscar, though I found it to be forgettable. "The Poseidon Adventure's" similar "The Morning After" is much better (which will certainly be faint praise to some). John Williams' Oscar-nominated score would have been a perfectly reasonable choice as the winner, though Jerry Goldsmith's evocation of film noir classics for "Chinatown" was probably the year's best. Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota wound up winning for "The Godfather Part II." Williams is in majestic form here. The main title is appropriately busy and exciting, the love themes for the Paul Newman/Faye Dunaway and Astaire/Jones duos are poignant, and the finale is one of the masterpieces of the art. This is a justifiably a favorite score among film music buffs, and Williams' greatest triumph, in my opinion, until "Star Wars" in 1977. "The Towering Inferno" is a must for action film fans, and the finest representation of the "disaster film" genre.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic on a budget DVD
Review: Synopsis:
The world's tallest building is nearly complete and a dedication ceremony is held to commemorate it. But the reception turns into a disaster, though it's not because of bad tuna. An electrical fault caused by bad wiring (caused by contractor's cutting corners) creates a fire that threatens to consume all 100+ floors of the building. It becomes a race against time to rescue the trapped guests before it's too late. About the Movie:
The Towering Inferno is one of those films that stands as something of a landmark in film making. The second great disaster film (after Poseidon Adventure), the Towering Inferno helped set the pace for all the big budget disaster films that were to come, both with its spectacular special effects and its cast of big names that includes the likes of Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fay Dunnaway and Fred Astaire. Even now, 30 years later, Towering Inferno still stands up pretty well despite its dated 1970s film conventions. This longevity and appeal probably has something to do with the continued threat that fire poses to tall buildings. Fear of fire is still an innate fear for people who work and live in tall buildings. In a way, this movie has been eerily punctuated by the Twin Tower tragedy in 2001 and how fire took such a tragic toll. But this isn't the only reason. The Towering Inferno also has the distinction that it is simply an entertaining watch. As far as an effects movie, Inferno's makes great use of model and pyrotechnic effects that still stand up fairly well, even against today's generation of computer enhanced imagery. The fire and smoke sequences are pretty harrowing in some scenes and the overall sense of danger is easily conveyed. Other sequences, including a harrowing helicopter rescue, are spectacular. The cast of Inferno is about as star studded as you can get for that time period, though not all actors shine in roles. Notable roles include that of the great Steve McQueen. A superior actor in any film, he really shines here as the matter of factly O'Hallorhan, a San Francisco Fire Chief. He's utterly believable in the role, doing a lot to add credibility to the film's sometimes outlandish sequences. Notable too is Fred Astaire, who was actually nominated for an Academy Award for his role here as an elderly con artist trapped with the rest of the guests. William Holden as the building's owner and Paul Newman as the building's architect, while neither flashy, both act as anchors for the film and give room for other actors to shine. Other roles include Richard Chamberlain in an atypical (and regrettably stereotypically selfish badguy) role for him as the movie's villain. Faye Dunnaway, Robert Vaughn and Robert Wagner also have major roles. This movie also has the distinction of being the first movie that O. J. Simpson had a major role in. He isn't too bad. John Williams (of Star Wars fame) wrote the musical score for this movie, proving that even before Star Wars, his soundtracks were pretty good. It has all of the earmarks of a John Williams score without being obvious about it like some of his later movies are. Certainly in this movie, it does a lot to add to the tension and mood. It's not as memorable as Star Wars or ET, but it has its moments. One major complaint that could be made about this movie is that it starts out so slowly, taking almost 40 minutes before any of the real action begins. This film was made before MTV, and while it drags at the beginning, it can be forgiven as the long opening has the distinction of building up tension. And the tension, once put on, holds true right through to the end sequences. Likewise, another complaint could be made against Inferno is that it's filled with disaster movie clichés. While this may be true, it's not entirely fair to hold it against it. Towering Inferno, along with Poseidon Adventure, created many of the disaster movie clichés that live on today. True, there are a lot of things about this movie that are hokey, like the stereotypical reason for the fire and a couple of the action sequences, but they don't detract from the entertainment factor, or the fact that even 30 years after it debuted, it still can hold an audience riveted. About the DVD:
The Towering Inferno comes in standard hard case on a single-sided DVD in Widescreen format with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound or standard surround sound. The film has no foreign language tracks and has English and Spanish subtitles. The picture in this release is above average. It's not as bad as you'd expect on a video cassette, but it's not as clean as it could have been on DVD, with some noticeable light grain on high resolution screens. The sound is about average as well, though Dolby digital sound pulls out the wonderful power of William's sound track and the crackling of the flames. As far as special features, this DVD has two that are pretty standard for budget DVD releases, the theatrical trailer and a list of cast biographies. They're so standard, it's not accurate to call them special any more. It's a shame there isn't more on this DVD. At the time of this review's writing, this DVD release is the only one out there for this movie. I know there have been documentaries and interviews done about this movie over the years. It would be fascinating to see them now 30 years after the movie was made, especially in respect to the special effects and Fred Astaire's somewhat surprising role. Bottom Line: A fun movie on a budget DVD release. 4 stars
Rating:
Summary: Best Disaster Movie Ever Made
Review: This movie deserved the three Academy Awards that it won back in 1974, especially the Best Special Effects award - the fires were one of the key elements that made THE TOWERING INFERNO into what I think is the best disaster movie ever made.
A dedication ceremony is being held at the Glass Tower, a newly finished building that stretches a hundred and thirty-five floors upward, with a lot of important people (the mayor, his wife, the senator, his wife, etc.). However, despite the building's architect's warnings, a night of celebration turns into a fiery nightmare when a fire caused by "fluky wiring" breaks out and begins spreading rapidly up through the floors, towards where the celebration is being held.
In every disaster movie that I've seen, there are always the same types of characters. There's the hero who predicts what's going to happen, but nobody listens to him (architect Doug Roberts - Paul Newman), the hero's beautiful girlfriend
(Susan - Faye Dunaway), the hardcore veteran of past bad happenings (Chief O'Hallorhan - Steve McQueen), a guy who ignores what the hero says for his own benefit (Jim Duncan - I can't remember who the heck plays him), a guy who's the bad guy of the movie right along with whatever nature is dishing out (Richard Chamberlain, who played an excellant bad guy - I was so glad when he got his near the end), and thousands of desperate people.
In spite of these similiarities to other disaster movies, THE TOWERING INFERNO does a good job of giving the audience a look at the relationships of different people and how their lives
intersect with others' as the disaster takes place. If you're a fan of disaster movies, this is the movie to have in your VHS or DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: A better film than is often assumed
Review: More than 10 years ago, Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel did a special edition of their program that examined "The Early '70s: The Last Golden Age of American Film." It was a great show, with a look at each nominee for the Best Picture Oscar for the years 1970-1974, and then which film Siskel and Ebert would have chosen as the winner. When the duo got to 1974, and a split screen revealed the five Best Picture nominees for that year, Ebert expressed some amusement at "The Towering Inferno's" nomination, when compared with the others ("Chinatown," "The Conversation," "Lenny" and the winner, "The Godfather Part II."). But while it was not the best film in a truly great year for the medium, "Inferno" did deserve to be considered one of the best. This is polished, professional filmmaking. It was not intended to be a scathing expose of construction politics, or an actor's showcase. "The Towering Inferno" never tries to be anything more than an action spectacular, pure and simple, and on that level, it has few equals. The film has been criticized for being almost gleeful in its depiction of various deaths, but I'm not sure what those critics would have had directors John Guillermin and Irwin Allen do. The story is about a giant skyscraper on fire, which means that the primary dangers involved are burning, falling, smoke inhalation and being buried under tons of debris. All of these are horrific, and "Inferno" conveys that horror. The movie takes on a different hue than the Irwin Allen film it's inevitably compared to, "The Poseidon Adventure," the minute Steve McQueen arrives at the scene as the San Francisco Fire Dept.'s battalion chief, O'Hallorhan. Unlike "Poseidon," in which a small band of ship passengers follows a layman toward safety, the "Inferno" disaster is going to be taken on by a competent, experienced professional, leading other professionals. McQueen conveys an authority that anchors the film. None of the acting struck me as truly bad, even in action-oriented scenes that called for broad playing. Aside from McQueen, my favorite performances were those of Susan Flannery and Jennifer Jones. Flannery makes the most of a small but memorable part as Robert Wagner's love interest, while Jones, looking very good for a woman of 55, plays the kind, heroic love of Fred Astaire's con man character. Fred Koenekamp's cinematography received a well-deserved Academy Award, as did L.B. Abbott's special effects. The song "We May Never Love Like This Again," sung by Maureen McGovern, also won an Oscar, though I found it to be forgettable. "The Poseidon Adventure's" similar "The Morning After" is much better (which will certainly be faint praise to some). John Williams' Oscar-nominated score would have been a perfectly reasonable choice as the winner, though Jerry Goldsmith's evocation of film noir classics for "Chinatown" was probably the year's best. Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota wound up winning for "The Godfather Part II." Williams is in majestic form here. The main title is appropriately busy and exciting, the love themes for the Paul Newman/Faye Dunaway and Astaire/Jones duos are poignant, and the finale is one of the masterpieces of the art. This is a justifiably a favorite score among film music buffs, and Williams' greatest triumph, in my opinion, until "Star Wars" in 1977. "The Towering Inferno" is a must for action film fans, and the finest representation of the "disaster film" genre.
Rating: 
Summary: The Glass Tower - tallest building in the world... on fire.
Review: After a long vacation, away from the hectic city life, Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) returns to San Francisco in order to participate in the opening of his newest architectural wonder, The Glass Tower - tallest building in the world. The seemingly perfect skyscraper has one big flaw as James Duncan's (William Holden) son-in-law has received kick backs to ignore Doug's requests on the top-of-the-line electrical circuitry. The installed electrical circuits cannot handle the electrical use of the Glass Tower and on the opening night a fire begins on the 81st floor, which Fire Chief Michael O'Hallorhan's (Steve McQueen) men try to get under control while the opening party is taking place on the 135th floor. Towering Inferno has an immensely talented cast (e.g., Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain and many more), however, the cast cannot enhance the cinematic experience. Overall the film is hurt by the many scenes that go on ceaselessly as the director attempts to create suspense through tedious climbing and rescue scenes. This occurs through occasional lapses in realism in the film, such as the ending, prevent the audience from receiving a top notch suspenseful drama. Instead the audience is left with an epic rescue mission that seems endless, and leaves the audience with a barely acceptable cinematic experience.
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