A huge glass tower block, touted as the tallest building in the world, bursts into flame on its opening night. An all-star cast includes Steve McQueen as Michael O'Hallorhan, the fire chief determined to get the blaze under control, while Paul Newman stars as embarrassed architect Doug Roberts, trapped inside with fellow guests Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain and Robert Wagner. 'The Towering Inferno' became the biggest of the Seventies cycle of disaster movies, which began four years earlier with 'Airport'. AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW
Disaster movies used to work because there was little certainty as to who would survive. Not so in this film, really an amalgam of two original stories, about a group of well-to-do celebrants at the top floor of a skyscraper. Cheapo electrical wiring and bad construction management cause an enormous blaze at the lower floors, steadily rising to consume the revellers. Newman's an architect, McQueen a firefighter and Fred Astaire a kind old gentleman, for which he was Oscar-nominated. OJ Simpson plays a security guard who rescues a cat. Now that's a disaster. -- Keith Simanton,