Towering Inferno

Super

Owners of modern office buildings back in the 70’s were understandably concerned about a movie whose main character is a high-rise tower catching fire. One even requested that producer/director Irwin Allen place a disclaimer at the beginning of The Towering Inferno saying that such a disaster could not happen. He would do so only if they would install a placard saying “This Building is not Fire Proof”. They declined of course. This sophomore effort from Irwin Allen, creator of sci-fi TV cult classics such as Lost In Space, Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel, instantly became my absolutely favorite disaster film when my mother took me to see it in 74. It’s perfect ,except for one part involving Robert Wagner (currently starring in the TV disaster mini-series, Category 7- The End Of The World).

As with his predecessor, The Poseidon Adventure ( in remake status) Inferno carries an all star cast including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, with Fred Astaire as a con-man and nominated for best supporting actor that year and O.J. Simpson playing, of all people, head of security for the building. Also, it marked the first time in Hollywood history that two major studios joined forces to make one motion picture, a common practice today.

20th Century Fox had bought the rights to the book, The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank N. Robinson; Warner Brothers had purchased the rights to another book titled, The Tower by Richard Martin Stern. Realizing they were working on the same type of film, they decided to pool their resources.

Allen, who shared directing duties with John Guillermin( 1976’s King Kong remake) ignites your sense of dread within the first fifteen minutes when an electrical flare up in the main power facility causes an overheated wire to burst open a utility room fuse box and start a fire on the 81st floor. This is exacerbated by a grand opening tower lighting of the entire building. Everyone is completely unaware of the fire until a colleague of our architect hero, Doug Roberts Paul Newman) is badly burned. He makes a frantic call to the 138th floor promenade room where his friend, contractor Jim Duncan (William Holden) and company are celebrating. Duncan, who certainly wants no type of fallout especially with the mayor and senator Parker (Robert Vaughn) as special guests, merely tells Doug that a fire on 81 could not possibly reach 138. Not in this building. Needless to say, a tragic misconception.

One major advantage of an all star cast is a 100 % guarantee of strong performances from everyone. And The Towering Inferno delivers handsomely. Fred Asatire is particularly good as the likeable con man selling fake shares to an unsuspecting Jennifer Jones; Faye Dunaway and Susan Blakely portray the toughest of women seemingly able to withstand any nightmare this blaze produces; Richard Chamberlain, who, the following year, played one of my favorite fictional heroes, Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, plays completely opposite as the arrogant son-in-law to Holden’s Duncan and even O.J. Simpson (pre-murder scandal of course) turns a good act as Harry Jernigan, head of building security.

Stirling Silliphant’s melds the two novels into a seamless first rate script giving you as much information as you need to know about these characters and the personal and professional problems they must deal with- even during a crisis. I was quite impressed with the transition of scenes leading up to the major disaster.

I’ve watched this movie dozens of times and the sudden fiery explosions from the tower still make me jump because I’ve either forgotten about them or don’t expect them. This is what makes the climax (I won’t reveal it in case you’ve never seen it) an edge-of -your seater that you won’t forget.