The Towering Inferno (1974)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

So much average

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Seeing this movie reminded me of how funny "Airplane!" is. I know that that movie was more about airplane disaster films, but you could compare it to any disaster film made at the time. We seemed to get tons of disaster movies by the 1990's. The best one was "Titanic" and even that hasn't aged that well. I'm quite impressed at how they get into the fire right away. I just wanted to see how they managed to fill the long running time.I had no idea O. J. Simpson was in so many movies. At least everyone on the Metoo hashtag hasn't been accused of being a murderer. We really do get some really great special effects that hold up. Admittedly, it is too long but given the reputation these films have now, it's very impressive. You could never make this movie nowadays. Well, at least not right after 911. ***

At this point in time Hollywood would come up with an idea and then beat it to death. The Towering Inferno is the story of a fire in a skyscraper and all the implications of it. We have the obligatory ensemble cast. We have good guys and bad guys. If we use "Airport" as a benchmark, there is the person who, despite warnings to the contrary, does things that endanger everyone. There is the old couple who must stay together because they have always loved each other. There is the heroic fellow who was a coward before. There is the guy everyone respected who now is a coward. There is the suspense element with the rescue forces doing their best but realizing they had never anticipated this. The biggest positive is that it keeps one on the edge of his/her seat. It is non-stop action and really long.

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out, 42 years ago. I was only 11 years old at the time, of course. But even then I sensed that this was more than just another disaster epic with flames everywhere and sirens going off and cool explosions and endless thrilling shots of dizzying heights and big and little people plunging to their deaths. Those things were exactly what I wanted as an 11 year old boy. But if you look closely, THE TOWERING INFERNO offers more than that. Much more. Though it's framed as a disaster picture with tons of special effects, the story has the scope and emotional impact of a mini series or a very high class soap opera. There are dozens of relationships being played out with life and death at stake. You see happy marriages, unhappy marriages, committed relationships, adulterous relationships, and more. You see people who are redeemed by love and who sacrifice their lives for love. And you see people who are unworthy of love and incapable of it being destroyed by their own rat-like desire for survival at any price. The raging inferno reveals so much about the human heart!Take the justly celebrated senior romance between Fred Astaire as the dapper conman and Jennifer Jones as the wealthy widow who sees through him. Everyone remembers how charming Astaire was in the role, alternately devious and sincere, humble and courageous. Now here's a spoiler. What really stuck with me as a kid was not the brutal sadness of the love cut short but the final image of Astaire as a man reborn. He's lost his jacket, his career as a crook, and his true love is dead. And yet when he walks out of the blaze carrying his fallen angel's pet cat, you don't feel sorry for him. You feel in awe of him. This is tragedy and he's just experienced catharsis, big time. Love has changed him, and he is not the man he was. The love affair is not cut short, it's actually consummated, in a way you will not forget. Now a lot of people overlook the way other plots threads comment on the supreme beauty of the Astaire/Jones romance. Susan Blakely and Richard Chamberlain are the bickering young couple who don't love each other, yet many viewers miss the point here. She's the rich man's daughter, and her no good husband has caused the fire by cutting costs in an effort to suck up to the old man. But most reviewers say she's a "spoiled princess" who "scolds" her husband. That is completely not true! If you watch Patty closely, she's incredibly warm, patient, trusting and supportive. Watch the scene where the slimy young husband tries to slink away by himself, and sneak downstairs, only to come back charred and filthy dirty and sulk by himself at the bar. Patty doesn't "scold" him at this point. She walks right up to him, and even though he's filthy and she's dressed in diamonds and lace, she takes his face in her hands and asks very gently if he needs her. Prompting his immortal reply, "this is what I need" as he takes another drink! The point is, Patty isn't spoiled, she's practically a saint. Over and over she tells her husband that she's on his side, that she wants to help him live up to his potential and be the man she thinks he could be. Though she's young and a little naive, she's every inch the woman that Jennifer Jones' character is, and she relates to her man in exactly the same way. The only problem is, Richard Chamberlain is no Fred Astaire. When he rejects love, he rejects the possibility of change, and he dies. Kicking and screaming, in a spectacular wipe- out! But when I was 11, I thought, wow, that Patty is so beautiful and so kind and good and so amazingly strong! A spoiled princess she is not, and that's all I have to say about that. Now I give this movie 8 stars out of 10, only because the big, big, big stars -- Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Fay Dunaway -- aren't nearly as interesting as the minor characters. Even at 11 I could see that Newman and Dunaway were phoning it in, and clearly not that interested in the story (or each other.) Now that I'm a grown up, and have seen their earlier films, I can see why. They thought they were slumming here, and it shows. In fact every time Fay Dunaway looks at Paul Newman, I keep expecting her to say, "Forget it, Luke -- it's Chinatown."

The Towering Inferno is a great movie with a well developed storyline and a very professional cast.The movie is without a doubt one of the most memorable disaster movies out there,it is beautifully filmed and for a movie that came out in 1974 it still really holds up today.The best performances without a doubt come from Paul Newman and Steve McQueen,two fantastic actors that were huge at the time and luckily got a chance to do a movie together,I preferred Newman's character,he was more likable and his performance was more inspired.The Towering Inferno is certainly a long movie,and it isn't exciting all the time,but it's still a very enjoyable movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good action or thriller. A fire chief and an architect try to douse the blaze in a 325 story skyscraper where many are trapped.Best Performance: Paul Newman Worst Performance: Jennifer Jones