In the 1970s, disaster films became hot property. After the success of "The Poseidon Adventure", these types of films became popular. In 1974, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers teamed up to create the ultimate disaster movie. Combining two novels "The Tower" and "The Glass Inferno", the result was a fantastic film with a winning formula. The best thing about it was the cast. You could not get a cast like this in a single movie today. Steve McQueen! Paul Newman! William Holden! Faye Dunaway! Fred Astaire! Richard Chamberlain! O.J. Simpson! Robert Vaughn! Robert Wagner!

The film starts with Newman's character, an architect, returning from vacation to his latest just-completed project, a colossal 138 story skyscraper, the world's tallest. He soon discovers that one of the construction men (Richard Chamberlain of "Dr. Kildaire" fame) tried to cut costs and put in cheap wiring throughout the whole building. A short circuit breaks out and starts a small fire in a storage room in the middle of the building. Over a period of several hours, the fire escalates. Around the same time, a party celebrating the premiere of the skyscraper. The fire engulfs the middle of the building and leaves no way for anybody to get to the bottom. The party of 300 is trapped on the 135th floor and something must be done to save them before the entire building becomes consumed in flames and kills everybody. It is up to the Fire Chief (Steve McQueen) and the architect (Paul Newman) to save them.

The first hour and 20 minutes are very suspenseful and increasingly build up. Then, for about the next 40 minutes, everything just stops except for the fires. When the second hour starts, everything picks up again. It is not as suspenseful as the first part of the film but the action sequences directed by the "Master of Disaster" Irwin Allen make up for it. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman make an excellent team and William Holden is fantastic as the owner of the building. A lot of people die in this flick but those who have seen these kinds of movies should expect that sort of thing. Great film overall. Those 2 hours and 45 minutes were very satisfying for me but I don't know if it will satisfy all viewers. I recommend it to anyone who loves disaster flicks and wants to see a movie with a great cast.

3 out of 4 stars from my book.

I've always loved this movie. When it comes on TV, usually on a Saturday afternoon, it sucks me in every time.
Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in one film, at the height of their hunkness lol, was worth the price of admission alone.

Originally posted by Janice
I've always loved this movie. When it comes on TV, usually on a Saturday afternoon, it sucks me in every time.
Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in one film, at the height of their hunkness lol, was worth the price of admission alone.

Paul Newman:grineyes:

I enjoyed that movie a lot. Even though it is a little creepy now after what happened to the World Trade Center.

McQueen was originally going to play Newman's role and vice versa, but they decided to switch roles.
Also, both stars (to sooth their massive egos) have the same number of lines in the film. No lie, it was in the contracts!

Originally posted by TJL
McQueen was originally going to play Newman's role and vice versa, but they decided to switch roles.
Also, both stars (to sooth their massive egos) have the same number of lines in the film. No lie, it was in the contracts!

Not only that, but if you watch the beginning and end credits, you'll notice that no matter which way you look at it, McQueen and Newman each appear to get top billing! This is known as diagonal billing.

Originally posted by BJL


Not only that, but if you watch the beginning and end credits, you'll notice that no matter which way you look at it, McQueen and Newman each appear to get top billing! This is known as diagonal billing.

Yes, that too. Man, those two must have been fun to work with.

Originally posted by TJL


Yes, that too. Man, those two must have been fun to work with.


I have read about this and it was mostly Steve McQueen's doing! He was so jealous of Newman's success and his ultimate goal was to become a bigger star than he. I think he felt that he had attained his goal in this movie. He had a very large ego! He was obsessed!(This was according to his first wife Neile.)
In my humble opinion , as much as I like McQueen, Newman is a far better actor!:p
LET THE ARGUMENT BEGIN!:lol:

I got to see it 3 years ago and i thought it was a good movie, If it ever comes back on i'll have to tape it..

Good Irwin Allen film...almost anything he does is great, but this may in fact be is weakest. The Poseidon Adventure received quite a few academy awards, and deserved them. It was energetic, well-acted, and fast-paced. The Towering Inferno was a bit too slow for me though. Two other good Allen films are Avalanche and Earthquake. But stay away from The Swarm. Has-been TV actors being eaten by killer bees...yuck!

Originally posted by callmetootie
But stay away from The Swarm. Has-been TV actors being eaten by killer bees...yuck!

That movie just plain sucked. Michael Caine overacted and everybody else gave wooden performances all around. The scenes with the bees attacking people weren't even suspenseful.

Originally posted by BJL


Not only that, but if you watch the beginning and end credits, you'll notice that no matter which way you look at it, McQueen and Newman each appear to get top billing! This is known as diagonal billing.

The Odd Couple (tv series) did the same thing with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. This way it gives them equal billing. Great solution!;)

Originally posted by T.a.T.u Gurl18
I got to see it 3 years ago and i thought it was a good movie, If it ever comes back on i'll have to tape it..

The Towering Inferno is coming back to DVD on April 15.

People had sold the old DVD on ebay for upwards of $40.00.
Save your money.

The list price for the new release for stores is $9.98

CD Universe is selling it $6.99.

Here is some info:

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?style=MOVIE&pid=1266336&cart=139984155