Towering Inferno, The (US)

A classic disaster movie featuring an all star cast including Steve Mcqueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Newman, William Holden and Richard Chamberlain. The movie starts of slow with people talking about a big party thats taking place in the newly built tallest building in the world. It didnt come as big a shock that they used cutbacks on many electrical and structural supplies and thus a small fire breaks out and goes undetected till the evening.

Paul Newman is the wairy architect who wants to call the party off. William Holden is the ignorant boss who keeps the party going. Steve Mcqueen is the brave and bold fire chief who comes to the rescue.

The movie is very long but very thrilling and it succeeds as a great disaster movie. The acting is very good. Although the film itself looks very dated.

The picture and sound are reasonably good. The film is quite old and whilst it is mainly clean and adequately sharp, very little attempt has been made to bring back the vibrancy of the picture which is a little dull looking. Sound likewise isnt as clear and crisp as it should be.

Extrawise there is only a trailer that is decently remastered. Disapointing really as this is one of the greatest disaster movies ever.

The Towering Inferno is one of the Greatest Disaster movies of all time. The Master Of Disaster Irwin Allen did an excellent job in making this movie. It is taken from two novels, `The Tower` by Richard Martin Stern and `The Glass Inferno` by Thomas N. Scortia. The Movie starts when Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) returns from a holiday to find that the work on the 110 storey skyscraper that he designed is completed. When he gets there, the builder of the Tower, James Duncan (William Holden) says that there is going to be a party on the top floor but when Doug finds out that Duncan`s son-in-law has not followed his electrical specifications, he wants the party to be cancelled but Duncan gives the go-ahead despite the building`s wiring experiencing short circuits. Later, in one room a spark starts a night of blazing fire when it sets fire to the room and afterwards the surrounding areas and later after that, everywhere in the building, trapping all the party guests on the top floor. When the fire department is called, The chief Michael O`Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) does his best to get the people out and to put the fire out. From that point on, the movie is full of action and disaster and roaring of flames and glass smashing. This DVD is fantastic and the audio and picture are great. The only extra features are the trailer and details on the cast but it is all good. They could have added more extras because Of all disaster movies, The Towering Inferno is one of the best ever made, If not, The very best.