Dunaway Week: The Towering Inferno

And a fine hello and how do you do my readers and enjoy this last day of Dunaway Week and I thought we would end this one in a blaze of glory.  A star studded cast of the likes that 20^th Century Fox liked cramming together to leave us wondering and guessing, “What the heck was their estimated budget on this flick?”  With enough man’s man actors that happen to be pretty to keep the ladies’ attention coupled with some danger, excitement and really wild things, this movie is guaranteed to pull on the heart strings, make your stomach flip flop and ensure your disdain in most politicians.  This is The Towering Inferno.

Now ladies, the fire is actually upstairs.

James Duncan: Everything under control?

Chief O’ Hallorhan: You’ve gotta move all these people out of here.

James Duncan: Aw, now, just how bad is it?

Chief O’ Hallorhan: It’s a spoiler, mister, all fires are bad.

Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman of The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting) get back after an lengthy vacation in time to see his creation, a towering skyscraper nearly complete and there is to be a shindig like no other to pat some backs on its completion. The owner James Duncan (William Holden of Sunset Blvd., The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch and Network) is holding court with the Mayor and several up and comers in San Francisco when a small fire breaks out on the 81^st floor due to faulty wiring.   Roberts and the engineer Giddings go to the 81^st floor and attempt to stop a security guard from getting curious when he opens a door causing a flash fire to break out killing the guard and burning Gidding so badly he could die.  Roberts rushes back to Duncan and tries to get this party evacuated and Duncan dismisses it as not really an issue. 

Ugh, wish that guy would catch on fire.

Typical trusting in sprinklers I guess.  The fire department is alerted and Chief O’ Hallorhan (Steve McQueen of Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Great Escape, Bullit and Junior Bonner) demands evacuation begins now as the building is slowly being engulfed in flames.   At the party, Susan Franklin (Faye Dunaway of Little Big Man, Midnight Crossing, The Gamble and Up to Date) is helping to evacuate the VIPs and herself with an orderly fashion.  Most of the party members have managed to disembark but eventually even the express elevators become too dangerous and there is no easy way out of this now blazing deathtrap in the sky.

I had a few points I wanted to make about this film now.  This hails from the disaster genre producer Irwin Allen whose is known mostly for TV like: Land of the Giants, Swiss Family Robinson, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space.  The common factor in this was people were made almost extraordinary due to insurmountable dangers and how they performed under the pressure.  With his production of The Posiedon Adventure getting less than great input it was a bit of a gamble to put this top notch cast in a film but Allen wanted this to be big.  With amazing scale model work, John Williams’ score to provide scope and no less than 57 separate sets this film is a work up of good story, great cast and some brilliant direction.

Free donuts for firefighters??!!!