{"id":739,"date":"2025-08-01T03:40:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=739"},"modified":"2026-09-13T11:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:28:26","slug":"the-towering-inferno-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=739","title":{"rendered":"The Towering Inferno-1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Towering Inferno-1974<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director John Guillermin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #41<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #194<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1059232\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed November 15, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Towering Inferno (1974) epitomizes the disaster-film craze that swept audiences throughout the 1970s (Airport, Airport ’75 and ’77, The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and Earthquake (1974), to name a few).<\/p>\n

I am (guilt-free) a huge fan of this 1970s movie genre, though some certainly look down on it; I am not one of them, and I think The Towering Inferno is one of the best.<\/p>\n

The film is enormous, with a strong sense of adventure and danger.<\/p>\n

The grand film tells of the trials and tribulations of an enormous cast of characters trapped inside a skyscraper aflame – led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen (fun fact: the two actors reportedly despised each other).<\/p>\n

An incredible skyscraper is erected in San Francisco with 138 floors; it is touted as the tallest building in the world and is incredibly state-of-the-art. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they hold an elaborate party atop the building, overlooking the gorgeous Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

Due to faulty electrical wiring, the building catches fire, and the cast of characters faces one challenge after another to escape the grip of death.<\/p>\n

The stellar cast features William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Robert Wagner, Jennifer Jones, and O.J. Simpson, in addition to Newman and McQueen.<\/p>\n

The film is quite a soap opera style- numerous characters are introduced, many having affairs with each other or suffering some conflict.<\/p>\n

Wagner, having a torrid office romance with his secretary, played by then up-and-coming star Susan Flannery, is deliciously sexy, and I yearned to know more about both characters.<\/p>\n

Holden’s son-in-law is responsible for the faulty electrical system, yet he blames his father-in-law for cutting budgets.<\/p>\n

Another subplot involves Astaire’s character attempting to swindle Jones’s character, only to fall in love with her.<\/p>\n

The plots are so melodramatic that, given the period of the film, it has a definite primetime television soap opera style to it- think Dallas or Dynasty in a state of peril.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the enormous cast and trying to guess who will be killed off next, and in what elaborate way the film will burn them to death is a joy to watch- several victims fall or jump to their deaths, which eerily (and sadly) bring back morbid images of jumpers from the World Trade Center on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

The beginning of the film shows a dedication to firefighters everywhere, and the film has a definite moral and heroic quality to the firefighters sent to rescue the people in the building.<\/p>\n

They are portrayed as heroes and are meant to be remembered amid all the drama of the story. This is admirable.<\/p>\n

The special effects are elaborate and quite impressive- the glass elevator rescue scene is amazing!<\/p>\n

The beautiful set designs are a treat to watch, as each lobby, apartment, or lounge in the skyscraper is exquisitely designed in peak 1970s style.<\/p>\n

Every sofa or carpet featured is plush, colorful, and sophisticated.<\/p>\n

The skyscraper, made of glass, is an amazing element of the film, and the aerial views of the building, especially while ablaze, are impressive, to say the least- remember, 1974 was long before CGI.<\/p>\n

I assume they used small replicas of the building, but what an achievement from a visual perspective.<\/p>\n

The effects certainly champion the syrupy story elements.<\/p>\n

My only small gripe with The Towering Inferno is, assuming it is 138 stories high, the action taking place at the top of the tower- the rooftop- as well as the party scenes on the top floor- do not feel <\/strong>that high.<\/p>\n

The scenic outlook overlooking the water and some land feels about 25 stories high, not 138.<\/p>\n

Some find The Towering Inferno (1974) to be nothing more than schmaltzy drama- I say schmaltz was never done better.<\/p>\n

Enjoy this feast of a big film.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 3 wins<\/strong>-Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor-Fred Astaire, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Song-“We May Never Love Like This Again” (won)<\/strong>, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations: 2 wins-<\/strong>Best Supporting Actor-Fred Astaire (won),<\/strong> Best Supporting Actress-Jennifer Jones, Best Screenplay, Best Original Song-“We May Never Love Like This Again”, New Star of the Year-Actress-Susan Flannery (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Towering Inferno-1974 Director John Guillermin Starring Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway Top 250 Films #41 Scott’s Review #194 Reviewed November 15, 2014 Grade: A The Towering Inferno (1974) epitomizes the disaster-film craze that swept audiences throughout the 1970s (Airport, Airport ’75 and ’77, The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and Earthquake (1974), to name a … Continue reading The Towering Inferno-1974<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,205,185,11668,7530,7464,7465],"tags":[8067,5897,8689,790,9459,582,9655,538,10181,9657,9656,1832,644,9653,5097,6026,9197,669,1573,9654,543],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1974-films","category-adventure-films","category-disasterfilms","category-san-francisco","category-top-100-films","category-top-250-films","category-top-50-films","tag-41-favorite-film","tag-dabney-coleman","tag-don-gordon","tag-faye-dunaway","tag-felton-perry","tag-fred-astaire","tag-gregory-sierra","tag-jennifer-jones","tag-john-guillermin","tag-maureen-mcgovern","tag-mike-lookinland","tag-o-j-simpson","tag-paul-newman","tag-richard-chamberlain","tag-robert-vaughn","tag-robert-wagner","tag-sheila-matthews-allen","tag-steve-mcqueen","tag-susan-blakely","tag-susan-flannery","tag-william-holden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24455,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/24455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}