epiphany_maria (epiphany_maria) wrote,
epiphany_maria
epiphany_maria

Movie Review: The Towering Inferno (1974)

A really tall (and fake looking) skyscraper is opened and there is a party. The skyscraper naturally goes on fire. So O’Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) and Roberts (Paul Newman) have to save the day.

This is an enjoyable disaster movie that shows off truly HIDEOUS 1970’s décor, hair and clothes. Most of the characters seem to be a pack of very special cretins, but that is just par for the course.

Security guard Jernigan (OJ Simpson) saves a cat, Senator Parker (Robert Vaughn) dies in a blink and you’ll miss it moment, idiots rush the elevators and die and people sit around on the 135th floor waiting for Steve McQueen to save them.

The skyscraper is one badly built building due to baddie Roger (Richard Chamberlain) and he stalks around being fixed of stare and bad. A woman wanders around in a pink polyester nightmare of a dress and wedding cake hairdo being tearful. An annoying brat wears huge headphones with HUGE radio aerial. A woman runs around in a Princess Leia dress and Susan (Faye Dunaway) stands around looking hard faced.

This is much better than ‘Earthquake’, ‘The Swarm’ or ‘The Poseidon Adventure’. Various rescue attempts (helicopter, buoy, scenic elevator) get messed up, women simper over their men, men wear huge bowties, Fred Astaire staggers around looking arthritic, stunt men hurl themselves around the set and William Holden looks morose.

But Steve McQueen will save the day and his tie-pin won’t even get dislodged! McQueen’s final speech about skyscrapers being death traps and what will happen at “the next one” is creepily prophetic. This was good.

Best Line:
“I sure hope that fire’s on the first floor.”
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