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Review: The Towering Inferno One of the greatest disaster movies ever made by the "The Master of Disaster" movies Irvin Allen.
A 138 storeyed tower known as the Glass Tower has just claimed to be the world's tallest building has just been erected in downtown San Francisco. The architect is just returning from his vacation to join the dedication ceremony. Unknown to him, his specifications have been altered (downgraded) by the Builder's son in law. This comes to light (literally) when during the pre-dedication ceremony one of the circuit breaker explodes. The whole wiring not capable enough to withstand the electrical load on the system heats up. Meanwhile on the 81st floor a small explosion sets up a fire that remains undetected for long because of the not-yet functional security systems.
Meanwhile the dedication ceremony takes place followed by a party on the top floor.
The fire on the 81st floor has now taken enormous proportions and slowly starts spreading. By the time it is detected, it is beyond control.
The rest of the movie is all about being at wits end to fight the fire.
The movie was a great hit in the 1970s. It was one of the huge multi-starrers of that time. This can be judged from the following pictures:
towering_inferno_star_cast_3a.JPG
From left: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, and Fred Astaire
towering_inferno_star_cast_3b.JPG
From left: Susan Blackey, Richard Chambelain, Jennifer Jones, O J Simpson, Robert Vaughn and Robert Wagner
All of the above were heavyweights of the yesteryears, some of them even superstars.
Irvin Allen directed a few more disaster movies such as The Poseidon Adventure, The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and was creator of the movie genre known as "Disaster".
A must see movie.
Rating: 4/5
Originally Posted by just4kix 
