"The Towering Inferno" - 1974

With all the fires in France I decided to rent "The Towering Inferno," winner of 3 Oscars, several other awards, and many other nominations. This movie is full of neat trivia. For instance, it was based on two different novels: "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern, and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, each bought by a different film agency. When 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers discovered they might have competing movies in theaters, they decided to team up and combine the scripts. This is unheard of today. Another neat tidbit is how Steve McQueen insisted that he and Paul Newman have exactly the same number of lines in the film. Talk about a diva. They even staggered their names in the 'opening credits, closing credits, and on the posters, so that depending on which way you read it (top to bottom or left to right) both appear to get top billing.' They called this "diagonal billing." Cool. Here is the trailer.

Okay, basic plot: Doug Roberts (Newman) designs a building, the tallest in the world, in downtown San Francisco, then heads of on safari or something. While he's gone the builder, along with his son-in-law the electrician, Roger Simmons (Richard Chamberlain), cut some corners, mainly the electrical system. Roberts returns on opening day to attend the gala celebration on the top floor, when a fire breaks out down below. He and O.J. Simpson, I mean Harry Jernigan the security guard, try to put it out, but are unsuccessful. Now it's up to Chief Michael O'Hallorhan (McQueen) and his fireman buddies to clean up the mess. Check out his mate, Deputy Chief #1, played by... Dabney Coleman! It's always fun looking for today's actors in yesterday's film. Check out some of the supporting cast: Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Robert Wagner (he "ran the 100 in 10 flat"), Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady!), and Gregory Sierra (he was in "Barney Miller" and "Sanford and Son").

Did I like the movie? Yes. Once you get used to the fact that, technically, a movie of today is far superior to movies of yesterday. This means simply this: get over the fact that it's soooo obvious when Robert Wagner's secretary (yeah, he's banging 'er) jumps out the window, that it's a dummy. We know this. News flash for ya, sport: it wouldn't be any more real today either. Just less obvious. But what yesterday's movies lack in special effects they more than make up for in plot and character. I'm not saying this was the best movie of all time, but it had a plot, and it had character. How many Steven Seagal movies can you say that for? Plus, it gave a little insight into the year of my birth. "The Poseidon Adventure" had been a huge hit, so catastrophe movies were all the rage back then. All in all, I think it was a fun movie to watch, if only to give me a look back into movies of old. Might be fun to read the books next. We'll see.