Rating: 
Summary: The Poseidon Adventure on fire, but not as good....
Review: What made "Poseidon" so compelling was following a small band of characters in their struggle to survive a major disaster. This fiery follow up is overlong and pales in comparison--not only thrusting five times as many characters at us (does anyone really care if OJ Simpson saves a kitty cat?), so we don't care about them...it's just one flailing rag doll plunging to a pitiful death after another! There are also countless "Poseidon" rip offs throughout, proving that it doesn't always work the second time around. You'd think screenwriter Silliphant would have done more than just change some character names! (Robert Wagner "ran the 100 yard dash" much the same way Shelley Winters held a swimming record... Fred Astaire channels Jack Albertson with the addition of a bad toupee... Susan Flannery is dressed like Stella Stevens and suffers the same fate. Sheila (Mrs. Irwin) Allen turns up with a bigger role this time plus gets to survive! Carol Lynley must not have wanted to reprise her role as the willowy pop singer who croons the Oscar-winning best song, so Maureen McGovern dyed her hair blonde. There's Bobby Brady being even more obnoxious than Eric Shea's "Robin." It goes on and on. The DVD offers no exciting special features, although the picture quality of the film is excellent as are the action sequences directed by Allen.
Rating:
Summary: We want a remastering of this title!
Review: This film was the pinnicle of the disaster movie genre. I recall it's release in the UK in 1975. I even have the original film posters, collectable booklet and press kit (long before EPK!). It ran for 26 weeks on the huge screen known as ABC1 in Leeds. Seats were sold out for weeks, even the expensive pullman seats. You couldn't get a booking, you had to queue around the cinema waiting for a cancellation. And the queues would literary snake around the cinema! This was the roadshow 70mm, six-track stereophonic sound presentation. The only thing that knocked it from the number 1 screen was a film called Earthquake and they needed the large hall for a new sound system called "sensurround"......still Towering Inferno went on to play for another 10 weeks to crowded halls in ABC2....I have the edited 8mm 6 reel hightlights, the two laser disc releases (the THX version was realeased in 1995) and the non-anamorphic DVD..... So when are Fox or Warner (both hold rights to this title) going to do the decent thing and restore this classic to it's former 70mm roadshow glory? A two disc special edition would be real nice. By all means include the deleted scenes on disc two, by all means use seamless branching on disc 1 to choose either the regular 35mm version or the 70mm roadshow version (there some different edits between the two, how many can remember that the 70mm roadshow had an intermission as a cliffhanger, just as the stairwell blew up when Jennifer Jones and Paul Newman were trying to escape with the two kids?). Even the soundtrack was mixed differently for the 70mm roadshow as 6-track sterophonic compared to the mono mix and 4 track stereo mix of the 35mm prints (how many remember that in the 70mm version there wasn't any music during Susan Flannery's demise in the apartment and when she broke the window with a chair, falling out of the building, just the sounds of the fire, which made it more horrific?)...... Here's hoping.....One Tiny Spark Becomes A Night Of Blazing Suspense......
Rating: 
Summary: FOX COULD HAVE DONE BETTER WITH DVD
Review: This is an epic film, a true Hollywood Classic with plenty of star power to go around, though the fire is the real star of the film. However, Fox has duplicated some masters off some old copies to give us fairly good picture quality and sound but something I wish they had done is to restore the hatchet job that the film got when it was released on television. An example: I remember watching this movie when it first came out in 1974. I saw it in the theater. In the sequence where Jennifer Jones and the two children are outside the banquet room where their entrance is being blocked by hardened cement around the door....(who left that there so conveniently????), they are waiting for help. To pass the time Jones plays making 'finger figures' with their shadows on the wall. I remember this so well because she diverted the children's attention from the predicament they were in. That part of the scene has been abruptly edited and hasn't been shown since the television showing. There are more cuts which I won't mention here. As for the acting McQueen and Newman have powerful onscreen chemistry with one another. Richard Chamberlain makes a dastardly villain who is responsible for the tragedy. William Holden is a classic actor who has a very annoying character. Another annoying character is Faye Dunaway's whose acting job reminds me of a love-sick calf....the way she looks at Paul Newman in the final scene is enough to make one puke!! She was merely there for decoration, anyway, and in my opinion it should have been she that fell out of the scenic elevator, not Jennifer Jones, who has the biggest female part in the entire film. Jones and Astaire bring class to the proceedings and Jones should have won an oscar nomination along with Astaire. Hers is the character that is most vividly remembered in this movie and one longs to see them reunited at the end but he winds up with her cat instead!! The rest of the cast is adequate. O.J. Simpson proves he's just as bad an actor as he is a liar. The special effects will disappoint no one and the film will keep you in suspense all the way. Truly a classic film, but FOX should really have gone all out and included the dubbing of languages, a running commentary with fans of the film (which there are millions since the surviving stars probably wouldn't have been interested), and of course, the restoration of the deleted scenes. Still a great movie which I give 5 stars to and more!! I give only 4 stars to the DVD which is cheaply made.
Rating:
Summary: An Older Movie With New Meaning.
Review: In the mid and late 1970s, disaster movies became all the rage. Everything from capsized ships to earthquakes to famous disasters became the filmmaking rage. THE TOWERING INFERNO is one of the better disaster films made. It has a decent storyline and some solid acting from a crew of Hollywood heavyweights (including Fred Astaire and Steve McQueen). Some of the dialogue is rather cheesy and for the first third of the movie, the film strolls by like a bad soap opera. But then the fire starts and things pick up. The movie was partially made in honor of firefighters and was dedicated to their heroic efforts. The movie also helped raise awareness about big city building safety in the modern era. New safety and fire codes were enacted in the late 1970s, in part to the awareness brought about by THE TOWERING INFERNO. Looking back on this film nearly thirty years after it's initial release, the movie has also taken on a new meaning. The film seems almost a tribute to the heroes of 9-11 and a homage to all they did. Watching it recently, I couldn't but help see the comparisons between this film and the tragic events of that fateful day. Only true art can do that and though this was once nothing more than a classic Hollywood disaster film, it can now be recognized as something a little more.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Disaster Film
Review: Growing up, I loved disaster movies like Towering Inferno and Poseidan Adventure, so I was thrilled when my wife bought this title. After watching it again, however, I was surprised at how laughable a movie it was. While the cast was first rate, the acting was either lifeless or non-existant. I got the feeling that most of the cast was embarrassed to be on the set. But it was mostly the screen play that had me shaking my head in disbelief. At one point, Paul Newman is leading a woman and two kids down a stairwell when he hears a hissing gas line before an explosion rips the stairwell apart. Who the heck put a gas line in a stairwell in a high rise? There are other oversights as well, but the biggest has to be the simple audacity of building a 130 story building in San Francisco. You'd have to be crazy to work or live there. In it's defense, the special effects are state-of-the-art for 1974, and some of the deaths were unexpected although not necessarily shocking. I appreciate the lack of gore, but it wasn't because of great directing or editing with this film. And the film has a nostalgic charm, with its seventies green and orange decor. The movie also has an eerie, prophetic resemblance to the 911 tragedy that the director could not have foreseen. And the dedication to firefighters at the beginning of the movie and Steve McQueens remarks at the end will give viewers pause to think.
Rating:
Summary: 4 star movie - but very insufficient DVD
Review: As someone previously mentioned, this movie is a reminder of the days of the blockbuster shown in a large, single screen theater. It's huge in every way. The cast, most assuredly, is one of the best. Why then did Fox decide to give it such a poor DVD presentation. Outside of the fact that they at least didn't give it the pan-and-scan treatment, this is as poor as any release out there. If ever a movie screamed to be released in a version enhanced for widescreen TV's, this is it. And wouldn't it be wonderful to have some extras concerning the creation of this movie. Oh well...I guess until someone wakes up and releases a decent DVD package, this is all we have. And even it is worth it, as this is what the word "epic" is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Classic disaster epic.
Review: Flush with the success of The Poseidon Adventure, Irwin Allen found his next disaster spectacle in this joint venture between two major movie studios. Combining two projects into one, The Towering Inferno (a dual adaptation of the skyscraper fire thrillers The Tower and The Glass Inferno) is the disaster movie as epic adventure. Featuring an all star cast, terrific special effects, and harrowing stunt work, the movie was a solid follow up to Allen's previous hit and it remains one the very best disaster movies of the seventies. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: O.J. rescued a kitty, then stabbed it to death.
Review: In short, a high rise catches fire and Steve McQueen and Paul Newman kick its a##. Some other big-name stars join in to get barbequed. Although by today's standards, it is quite dated, but still a treasure from its time. Well paced action and great special effects for early 1970's. My all-time favorite movie, I have watched it well over a hundred times. Three VHS versions later I got smart and bought the DVD. Man I really do hate that freakin' song though...AAGGHH!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Disaster Movie with Class - And Steve McQueen
Review: "The Towering Inferno" is a truly entertaining film which, despite following what has become a clichéd "disaster" plot, manages to hold the attention of the audience despite special effects that have long been improved upon. In fact, as other reviewers have mentioned, these films could not completely rely upon special effects to solidify ticket sales-despite the fact that, for the time, the effects were top-notch. Instead, a solid script, interesting turns of events, and suspense drive this movie. At certain points, I was utterly shocked at the portrayal of death in this film; I could not see several of them coming. Despite the fact that death scenes are far more accurately rendered in more recent films, there is something about a "hidden" death that plays upon our imaginations. Rather than focus upon the gore, a subtle pan of the camera or long shot will bring the audience away from the action and leave our minds to fill in the blanks. This technique, while arising from a lack of ability to render death, actually succeeds far beyond the relatively tame death to which we have become accustomed. Steve McQueen. Need I say more? It is hard to deny the presence that McQueen brings to every film that he is in. Acting ability? Sure...but he's best at playing himself and, quite frankly, that's who I want to see. But what I enjoyed about this movie is that Paul Newman's performance truly rises above McQueen's charisma and holds up the entire film. And yet, at the same time, these two actors are able to work together in what could have been a duel between two great personalities. Like many disaster films of the era, the deaths are to a certain extent predictable. But several people die that you are routing for along the way. And more importantly, several people that you find detestable will not be suitably punished, at least as they are in modern films. For these reason, "The Towering Inferno" is still entertaining and definitely worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: "No way down... no way OUT!"
Review: Oh, boy... they sure as hell don't make 'em like this anymore! "The Towering Inferno" is a nearly 3 hour epic that keeps you glued from the sweeping opening credits to the heart-stopping finale. Although some elements may seem dated (what was with the 70's and orange carpeting?), the grand daddy of all disaster flicks still holds it's place proudly as one of the greatest action films of all-time.
The combination of a phenomenal cast (especially Fred Astaire), a gripping soap-opera screenplay, the beautiful San Francisco setting, one of John Williams' best scores, outstanding cinematography and editing, and dazzling special effects make this a timeless classic. It's a wonderful memory of a time when Hollywood used to pull out all the stops and make a film that gives the audience a truly worthwhile experience. You can keep your "XXX" and "Matrix", but THIS is entertainment!
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