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The Towering Inferno is a 1974 disaster movie adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. This is a DVD cover. ...
Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916-November 2, 1991) was a television and film producer nicknamed The Master of Disaster for his work in the disaster film genre. ...
Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916-November 2, 1991) was a television and film producer nicknamed The Master of Disaster for his work in the disaster film genre. ...
Stirling Dale Silliphant (16 January 1918 - 26 April 1996), was an American screenwriter and producer. ...
Steve McQueen in The Great Escape Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980) was an American movie actor and one of the most popular and highly-successful box-office superstars of the 1960s and 1970s. ...
Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an American actor and film director. ...
This article is about John Williams the noted film composer. ...
20th Century Fox logo Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ...
December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
A disaster movie is a movie that has an impending disaster (e. ...
Stirling Dale Silliphant (16 January 1918 - 26 April 1996), was an American screenwriter and producer. ...
Richard Martin Stern (born March 17, 1915 in Fresno, California; died October 31, 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) was an American novelist. ...
Thomas N. Scortia (August 29, 1926 - April 29, 1986) is a science fiction author. ...
Frank M. Robinson (born 1926) is a science fiction and techno-thriller writer. ...
History After the success of The Poseidon Adventure, Warner Brothers bought the rights to film The Tower for $390,000. Eight weeks later, Irwin Allen discovered The Glass Inferno and bought the rights for $400,000 for 20th Century Fox. In order to avoid having two similar films produced at the same time, the productions were combined, with a budget of $14 million (staggering for the time). Each studio paid half of the production costs. In return, Fox was given the United States box office receipts, and Warner Brothers got the profits from the rest of the world. The movie's 57 sets and four complete camera crews established records for a single film on the Twentieth Century Fox lot. In addition, songstress Maureen McGovern was hired to sing the love theme for both films (both of which won Academy Awards). The Poseidon Adventure was a 1972 adventure movie based on a novel by Paul Gallico. ...
Warner Bros. ...
20th Century Fox logo Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ...
A former secretary, Maureen McGovern quickly became the new it singer in 1973 with the Oscar-winning Morning After. ...
Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ...
The movie was released a year after the two World Trade Center skyscrapers—at that time, the newest, tallest buildings in the world—were opened in New York City. Both novels upon which this movie was based were inspired by the construction of the World Trade Center towers and concerns over what would happen if a fire broke out in a large tower. Although the two disasters were not alike (in particular, the fictional Glass Tower did not collapse), following the events of September 11, 2001 attacks, the film was often referred to by the media. (Coincidentally, principal photography on The Towering Inferno was completed on September 11, 1974.) The twin towers, photographed from the west The World Trade Center in New York City was a complex of seven buildings leased by Larry Silverstein from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey around a central plaza, near the south end of Manhattan in the downtown financial district. ...
For many millennia the record holder for worlds tallest structure was clearly defined (see table below. ...
Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ...
The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated attacks carried out in the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. ...
September 11 is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years). ...
1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
The atrium of San Francisco's Hyatt Regency Hotel (at 5 Embarcadero Center) was used as the lobby for the fictional Glass Tower. This hotel actually features three glass-walled elevators, identical to the glass-walled "Scenic Elevator" of the fictional Glass Tower. This lobby area and the elevators were prominently featured in Mel Brooks' comedy High Anxiety. Matching the Hyatt Regency, The Glass Tower does have three elevator tracks; in a deleted scene it is explained that cables for only one elevator had been installed at the time of the building's dedication. Hyatt is a hotel chain that operates hotels on all six continually inhabited continents on Earth. ...
The Embarcaderos Ferry Building The Embarcadero is the name given the eastern waterfront of San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay. ...
Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, writer director, and theatrical producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and parodies. ...
High anxiety is a non-technical term referring to a state of extreme fear or apprehension. ...
The Bank of America building at 555 California Street in San Francisco was used to double for the outside facade and plaza of the Glass Tower. Utility areas of the immense Century City complex in Los Angeles (adjacent to the Twentieth Century Fox studios) stood in for the Glass Tower's security control room and water tank area. The Glass Tower itself was a matte painting in the opening shot, and an 80-foot tall "miniature" fitted with propane gas jets for exterior fire scenes. View of the Century City skyline from the Getty Center. ...
The script of the film never names the city in which The Glass Tower stands, though clearly the exterior shots are of San Francisco. Harlee Claiborne says "I decided to come back to the reality of San Fransisco" to Lisolette Mueller during the Tower party, though. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
There are many small parts in the movie played by actors who appeared in The Poseidon Adventure, which Irwin Allen also produced.
This was Jennifer Jones's last film; her role was originally offered to Olivia de Havilland, who turned it down. She gets "killed off" when the scenic elevator becomes stranded; she falls out of it when it's a few floors from the top of the building. Photo still of Olivia de Havilland. ...
This is the third and final film in which both Steve McQueen (Chief Michael O'Hallorhan) and Robert Vaughn (Senator Gary Parker) appear. The other two are The Magnificent Seven and Bullitt. Steve McQueen in The Great Escape Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980) was an American movie actor and one of the most popular and highly-successful box-office superstars of the 1960s and 1970s. ...
Robert Francis Vaughn (born November 22, 1932) is an American actor noted for stage, screen and TV work. ...
The Magnificent Seven is one of the English language titles for the Akira Kurosawa film Shichinin no samurai (1954), also called The Seven Samurai. ...
Bullitt Bullitt is a 1968 Warner Bros. ...
McQueen, Newman, and Holden all tried to obtain top billing; Holden was refused out of hand. However, to provide "dual" top billing and mollify McQueen, the credits were arranged diagonally, with McQueen at the lower-left and Newman at the upper-right. Thus, each actor appeared to have "top billing" depending on whether the poster was read from left-to-right or from top-to-bottom [1], though technically McQueen has "top billing".
Robert Vaughn (Who plays Senator Parker) was extremely upset over his rather low billing. In the shooting script, the part was much larger, but it was cut. Vaughn became upset, and stated that he wanted the character "killed off", which Irwin Allen obliged, and Vaughn vowed never to do another movie with Allen.
Primary cast Steve McQueen in The Great Escape Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980) was an American movie actor and one of the most popular and highly-successful box-office superstars of the 1960s and 1970s. ...
Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an American actor and film director. ...
William Holden William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981, body found November 16, 1981) was an American film actor. ...
Faye Dunaway (1968) Faye Dunaway (born Dorothy Faye Dunaway on January 14, 1941 in Bascom, Florida) is an Academy Award winning actress. ...
Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway ballroom dancer and actor. ...
Susan Blakely (born September 7, 1952) is an American movie actress who has mainly played supporting roles. ...
George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor who first came to prominence in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare. ...
Jennifer Jones (born Phyllis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American actress. ...
O.J. Simpsons mugshot Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947 in San Francisco, California), publicly known by the initials O.J., and nicknamed The Juice, is a Hall of Fame former college and professional football player and film actor. ...
Robert Francis Vaughn (born November 22, 1932) is an American actor noted for stage, screen and TV work. ...
Robert Wagner (born 10 February 1930) is an American actor. ...
Susan Flannery as Stephanie Forrester Susan Flannery (born July 31, 1943 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American soap opera actress. ...
Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. ...
Awards
Award wins The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ...
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...
Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway ballroom dancer and actor. ...
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year. ...
The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...
Susan Flannery as Stephanie Forrester Susan Flannery (born July 31, 1943 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American soap opera actress. ...
The Academy Award for Film Editing was first given for films issued in 1934. ...
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...
This article is about John Williams the noted film composer. ...
Academy Award for Best Song // 1930s 1934 - The Continental from The Gay Divorcee 1935 Lullaby of Broadway from Gold Diggers of 1935 1936 The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time 1937 Sweet Leilani from Waikiki Wedding 1938 - Thanks for the Memory from The Big Broadcast of 1938 1939 Over...
Award nominations The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. ...
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ...
Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway ballroom dancer and actor. ...
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year. ...
Jennifer Jones (born Phyllis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American actress. ...
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ...
From Rule Sixteen of the Special Rules for The Music Awards Original Score: An original score is a substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ...
This article is about John Williams the noted film composer. ...
This is a list of films that have received an Oscar for best sound. ...
The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...
Plot Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. In the film, a new but poorly-constructed office / residential skyscraper — at 138 stories, the world's tallest — catches fire. Fire fighters battle the flames and make many daring attempts to rescue people trapped in the building. This includes a party of 300 dignitaries who were celebrating the building's opening and become trapped in a restaurant on the top floor. Taipei 101, the worlds tallest skyscraper by roof height on high rise. ...
Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ...
Stirling Silliphant was hired to combine both novels, taking seven main characters from each book. Features from the storyline of each book were used as well. In The Tower, a bomb in the main utility room causes a power surge, which sets a janitor's closet on fire; the escape from the top floor is by breeches buoy, and is only partially successful (more than a hundred partygoers die when fire overtakes the restaurant). In The Glass Inferno, a carelessly-discarded cigarette sets the janitor's closet on fire; the escape from the top floor is by helicopter and is more successful (everyone left in the restaurant escapes by helicopter). In The Towering Inferno, a short-circuit during routine pre-dedication testing causes a power surge which sets a janitor's closet on fire (a scenario closer to that of The Tower); escape by helicopter fails due to high winds, but escapes by breeches buoy to a neighboring 100-floor skyscraper, and an exterior "Scenic Elevator" are more successful.
Initially, the fire chief's role was relatively minor; the architect was the lead and hero. Also, Ernest Borgnine (Detective Rogo in Allen's The Poseidon Adventure) was planned to be Fire Chief Mario Infantino to Steve McQueen's architect Doug Roberts. However, when McQueen signed on, he requested the fire chief's role, providing that the roles were made equal (including an equal number of lines and equal pay) and an actor of high caliber was signed to take the architect's role. Enter Paul Newman, who became Doug Roberts as McQueen became Fire Chief Michael O'Hallorhan. Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine (born January 24, 1917) is an American actor. ...
See also Skyscrapers are frequently featured in films for their impressive appearance and potent symbolism. ...
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