The Towering Inferno Movie Review

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Buy The Towering Inferno on Amazon
Written by: Richard Martin Stern (novel), Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson (novel), Stirling Silliphant (screenplay)
Directed by: John Guillermin
Starring: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, O.J. Simpson
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Verdict
This is one of those movies that was  hit at the time, but it's a genre that's been improved. You're only going to watch this if you're interested in film history. While this does have a great cast, it's long. The impressive effects don't make up for the slow action.
Looking at this in the context of 1974, it is a landmark movie. It had the production, cast, and was the right genre.
It depends.

Review
Based on two novels "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern, and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, competing studios joined together to make one movie.

The disaster genre was in after the 1972 film The Poseidan Adventure, and this movie won the box office in 1974. Certainly helped with both Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in leading roles, it's the grandfather of disaster movies, but it's a genre that quickly faded from prominence in the '70s.

This movie isn't easy to find. It's not streaming anywhere or available for DVD rental. The cheapest way to find it is to pay $15 for the physical copy, but I luckily found it at a local library.

This definitely takes it's time getting started. It's a simple setup with a big event, lots people, and a brand new high tech building that can't fail until it does. While this setup may have been novel in '74, I've seen this before. Granted I've only seen that in movies that came out after this. This sets up various characters, bug drags out the action.

This has to be the slowest fire in a movie. It's been burning all day and isn't' even out of the utility room. Part of what slows this down is all the characters, and unfortunately they are filler. The action is the draw and this has good action, it's just not enough or too delayed. It's a long wait to get to that point, but when this kicks off a lot of people die. This had to be crazy at the time. It's crazy watching it now.
Newman and McQueen's characters work together to save everyone. I like that this tries to develop some characters, there are just a lot of them.

This is ripe for a remake. It's a great concept, and while the action is good it's dated. The effects are really good, and CGI would absolutely kill what makes the effects good. My only concern is that a remake would come out looking like Skyscraper (read my review).