The Towering Inferno 1974 123movies

Watch: The Towering Inferno 1974 123movies, Full Movie Online – Doug Roberts, Architect, returns from a long vacation to find work nearly completed on his skyscraper. He goes to the party that night concerned he’s found that his wiring specifications have not been followed and that the building continues to develop short circuits. When the fire begins, Michael O’Halleran is the chief on duty as a series of daring rescues punctuate the terror of a building too tall to have a fire successfully fought from the ground..
Plot: At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
Smart Tags: #firefighter #trapped_in_a_building #party #skyscraper #power_outage #disaster_film #san_francisco_california #race_against_time #smoke #person_on_fire #fear #short_circuit #1970s #tragic_event #child_in_jeopardy #attempted_escape #attempted_rescue #elevator_shaft #guilt #corruption #trapped

Find Alternative – The Towering Inferno 1974, Streaming Links:

123movies | FMmovies | Putlocker | GoMovies | SolarMovie | Soap2day

Ratings:

	7.0/10 Votes: 44,406
	68% | RottenTomatoes
	69/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 730 Popularity: 12.09 | TMDB

Reviews:

Successful 70’s disaster flick isn’t anywhere near as entertaining as “The Poseidon Adventure”

RELEASED IN 1974 and directed by John Guillermin, “The Towering Inferno” details events in San Francisco when the world’s tallest building, The Glass Tower (138 stories), catches aflame due to an electrical short and threatens hundreds of lives during the grand dedication ceremony. Paul Newman plays the architect, Steve McQueen the fire chief, William Holden the wealthy contractor and Richard Chamberlain his arrogant cost-cutting son-in-law.

This overblown disaster flick has a great all-star cast and was a huge success at the box office, but it pales in comparison to “The Poseidon Adventure,” released two years earlier. It lacks the compelling story, the great human interest and iconic score (even though John Williams composed both), plus it’s 48 minutes longer than “Poseidon,” which gives it a tedious vibe; that is, until the engrossing last half hour.

On the female front there’s the striking Faye Dunaway, the architect’s babe; Susan Blakely, who looks great in tight slacks; and Susan Flannery, who’s smokin’ in a shirt & panties. Unfortunately, whereas “Poseidon” knocked it out of the ballpark with its women, “Towering” fails to capitalize on its resources.

The film’s has its attractions and is still worth seeing if you favor the cast and 70’s disaster flicks. It’s just a letdown considering its streamlined predecessor and potential.

THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours, 45 minutes and was shot in San Francisco and Los Angeles. WRITERS: Stirling Silliphant wrote the script based on the books “The Tower” by Richard Martin Stern and “The Glass Inferno” by Thomas N. Scortia & Frank M. Robinson. ADDITIONAL CAST NOTABLES: Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, O.J. Simpson, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner and Mike Lookinland (aka Bobby Brady).

GRADE: B-/C+

The crowning glory of a much maligned genre.

A newly built state of the art high-rise is hosting a big society gathering when a fire starts up on the 81st floor…

Warner Brothers & 20th Century Fox were both keen to cash in on the success of 1972s The Poseidon Adventure, Warner’s buying the rights to The Tower, and Fox buying the rights to The Glass Inferno, both novels about burning skyscrapers and seemingly ripe for a big screen adaptation. Enter producer Irwin Allen who smartly suggested that both studios should come together and produce one blockbusting genre defining film. Splitting the cost down the middle, The Towering Inferno was born and went on to make over $100 million across the globe, a very impressive take for its time, and certainly a shot in the arm for disaster genre enthusiasts.

The Towering Inferno is far from flawless, it contains some cheese sodden dialogue, and the film’s running time doesn’t quite do the film any favours. However, the film’s strengths far outweigh the handful of negatives that are often used to beat it up with. The sets are fabulous (Academy Award Nominated) and all to perish in the fire, the cinematography from Fred J Koenekamp (Academy Award Winner) is lush and puts the fire in the eyes, while the score from John Williams (Academy Award Nominated) is suitably poignant and edgy. What about the action sequences? The set pieces? With many of the illustrious cast doing their own stunts! All impacting sharp on the ears thanks to the brilliant sound from Soderberg & Lewis (Academy Award Nominated), with the cast itself a reminder of a wonderful time when only the big names were considered for the big projects, McQueen, Newman, Holden, Astaire (Academy Award Nominated) & Dunaway rolling off the tongue like a who’s who of entertainment heavyweights.

Some say that The Towering Inferno finally killed off the ailing disaster genre, no it didn’t, it crowned it, and all the others that followed were merely trailing in its wake. The Towering Inferno is a spectacular production that positively booms with high entertainment values, no expense is spared in the pursuit of entertaining the masses, it’s thoughtful in texture and it teaches as it plays and it remains to me a wonderful archaic gem. 9/10

Must see movie within the disaster genre
A San Francisco sky scraper catches fire and the emergency services battle to save the civilians trapped inside.

The Towering Inferno is a spectacle that holds up well against the technology of modern day movies. When you consider what it achieves without the use of computer generated imagery I think it should be considered one of the best of its genre.

Some of the set-pieces truly are amazing, particularly when you see actors and stunt performers doing such ridiculous things for the sake of the perfect shot.

I imagine must have seemed quite fantastical at the time of its release, but considering it within the context of events that have occurred during this century such as the 9-11, Grenfell and Beirut, it is pretty frightening in it’s plausibility.

The film shows total respect to the emergency services who deal with these type of situations, particularly the fire brigade who’s courage and calmness under pressure are epitomised by Steve McQueen’s character. I love the scene where he walks into the party, takes charge of the situation by quietly telling the owner of the building what to do.

The plot and characters (aside from McQueen and Paul Newman) are the aspects of the movie that could have been better. I did feel it’s run-time of 165 minutes. It’s quite slow to get going and at times loses focus on the most compelling parts of the film. Some of the characters and moments feel like they have been lifted from The Poseidon Adventure.

Overall though it is a must see disaster movie and one that will definitely help appreciate the importance of fire safety in the design and construction of buildings.

I watched it recently with my four and a half year old daughter who was gripped by the action when it finished she told me she wants to be a fire-fighter when she grows up.

The Best Of The Disaster Flicks?
“Disaster Movies” were a big hit in this era, with airplane crashes, earthquakes, fires, etc. This one made huge fires and firemen fashionable for awhile. It certainly had people talking, and it may have been the best of those “disaster” flicks.

The movie certainly had an all-star cast: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Susan Blakely, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner and (gulp) O.J. Simpson. Even Jennifer Jones came out of a long retirement to return to films. It was really nice to see her again.

What really surprised me about this film when I watched it earlier this year was that the special effects were still good, and the film is almost 40 years old. It was also good to see Steve McQueen being the good guy again. He was the best character in the film. The worst was William Holden, who turned out to play a lot profane-spewing nasty people as soon as the Hays’ code was totally abolished in 1967. Same thing for Paul Newman. McQueen, meanwhile, kept his class as did Jones, of course, and Astaire.

The film is almost three hours long but, a few soap opera scenes aside, it’s a solid adventure story that holds up well and it served a good purpose, making hotel owners more aware of potential fire hazards.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 2 hr 45 min (165 min)
Budget 14000000
Revenue 116000000
Status Released
Rated PG
Genre Action, Drama, Thriller
Director John Guillermin
Writer Richard Martin Stern, Thomas N. Scortia, Frank M. Robinson
Actors Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden
Country United States
Awards Won 3 Oscars. 12 wins & 13 nominations total
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono (Westrex Recording System), 4-Track Stereo (Japan theatrical release)
Aspect Ratio 2.20 : 1 (70 mm prints), 2.39 : 1
Camera Panavision PSR, Panavision C-Series and Cooke Lenses
Laboratory DeLuxe, Hollywood (CA), USA (color)
Film Length 4,510 m (Sweden)
Negative Format 35 mm (Eastman 100T 5247, 100T 5254)
Cinematographic Process Panavision (anamorphic)
Printed Film Format 35 mm, 70 mm (blow-up)