The Towering Inferno - (1974)

Carry on, bitches. First thread was great!

Flaming actors -What could be more Datalounge-esque?

Can't we move on to "Meteor" by now?

And they said flaming was just a phase.

In Fame it always confused me that the girl who does O.J. Simpson for her audition gets into the school. The teacher looks so exasperated by the stupidity of her choice of role yet you briefly see her later on rehearsing with another kid.

Sheela Times Square Bunny for 15$ aka Sheila Mathews ("actress") aka Sheila Allen (wife and widow of Irvin Allen) died in 2013. One of her last acting credits was for one episode on FALCON CREST in 1984. She played "Michael's Secretary". But why? Irvin Allen was still alive and she had to play a secretary for Cliff Robertson (Dr. Michael Ranson) while Jane Wyman looked amused, probably thinking "is this Shannon Tweed's replacement?" It must've been a painful humiliation for the former superstar of disaster movies.

An anonymous member of homosexual discussion board Datalounge told the 'Hollywood Reporter' at her funeral "Sheila was the Fay Wray action heroine of our time who never whined about hairstylists as some bitter not-dearest actress does". Her former co-star Faye Dunaway didn't attend the event but shared a tweet remembering "bitch you stole my close-ups and coke stash while filming THE TOWERING INFERNO and never paid back. your comeback is finally canceled!!!"

I always found it interesting that Towering Inferno came out in Dec. 1974, just 19 months after the World Trade Center opening.

It would have been better if they'd interpolated some dance numbers on the top of the roof like Godspell

Or a great, big survivors' dance number -like at the end of Slumdog Millionaire! Astaire would have killed it. And it might have spared us those awful, final lines.

I recently realized that if you watch carefully, after Dan's death and Lorrie's burning exit through the window, the scene that follows immediately shows the firemen fighting the fire on the 65th floor lobby. Right where you saw Dan crash to the floor.

So, it appears that the duo might have died right before the firemen were battling the blaze right outside Dan's office.

Aw fuck it. Let's just dish about Krakatoa, East of Java, shall we?

[quote] So, it appears that the duo might have died right before the firemen were battling the blaze right outside Dan's office.

Yes, I noticed that too. I suppose it was meant as cruel irony. Had he not gone out there, and possibly exacerbated the fire with fresh air, they might have been rescued. Maybe not, maybe so... But they were sinners and deserved to die!

Annie being stoned the whole journey, r12...

If I were stuck on a hydrogen filled zeppelin with George C. Scott and Burgess Meredith, I’d be stoned the whole time, as well.

Well, that's all I got, r12, Annie stoned. That's absolutely the only thing I remember about the movie.

R10 - that one had hot daddy Brian Keith. I saw it in the theater when it first came out.

I did as well, r16, and I think I even got a souvenir book.

[quote] In Fame it always confused me that the girl who does O.J. Simpson for her audition gets into the school. The teacher looks so exasperated by the stupidity of her choice of role yet you briefly see her later on rehearsing with another kid.

I don't remember it that way, I remember him being amused by her. I remember in the novelization, they go into her audition more and the teacher thinks she's clever and funny and has potential.

No r18 he takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes looking fatigued.

You maybe thinking of the teacher who auditions Issac Mizrahhi. (sp?)

He's the one who looks delighted by what his seeing. Forget if it is the same guy.

I may be mixing it up with the book, R19. The book definitely makes a case for her getting into the school. The book has internal monologues from the teacher while he's doing auditions.

oh, ok sounds right r20 must have been the book.

In the book, they also go into the guy who is reading Juliet's part and the teacher sends him to Miss Shine (as in the movie) but before that, he wonders if the guy was sent to him as a practical joke.

Maybe the filmed more of the girl doing O.J. and she actually turned out to be good and made a unique choice.

I saw a reunion on that Stars in the House series and the cast said the filmed tons of extra stuff. Parker would just shoot tons of film and then chip away at it.

There was a whole subplot where Debbie Allen (who only has the one line "wicked") is like the star dancer of the school and Coco is quite competitive with her. That all got cut.

I miss the disaster movies of the 1970s. They were so much fun and they've surprisingly held up quite well, even the bad ones. They gave older actors a chance to return to the big screen for one last hurrah, like Jennifer Jones, Gloria Swanson, Olivia de Havilland, Shelley Winters, Lee Grant and Ava Gardner. Those were golden times.

I remember reading that Paul Newman was showing "The Towering Inferno" to friend Gore Vidal. As they were watching, Vidal remarked "All this movie needs is 'CHILDREN IN JEOPARDY' ".

To which, Newman replied, "Wait."

R25, I love that story. I’m surprised that Towering Intellect Gore Vidal could not figure out that when two children were introduced with a deaf mom that they might pop up again later somewhere while the tower turned into the referenced inferno, but maybe he was so overawed by Faye that he made that comment before their scene!

Spent the last two nights watching Towering Inferno and Earthquake. Never seen either movie the whole way through. Earthquake doesn't take itself as seriously as Towering Inferno, but I prefer Inferno. Better stars and production values. AS for the acting battle between the producers' wives, I prefer Sheila Matthews to Monica Lewis. Sheila can chew scenery when given the chance while Monica Lewis is very deficient and lacks effect on screen. All I could think of was that if Ross Hunter had produced Earthquake instead of Jennings Lang, Virginia Grey would have played Lewis' part of "Barbara, executive secretary who wears extra strength panty hose" with much more verve than Lewis.

BTW, I'm disappointed that Ava Gardner and Genevieve Bujou didn't have a cat fight over Charlton Heston. Ava looked ready for it. Loved her scenery chewing in Earthquake. I wished she had a scene with Marjoe Gornter.

If I recall correctly, r27, Ava gets the first line in Earthquake..."God damn it!"...

R12 - No spoilers! Don't tell me how it ends.

The tense and gripping The Big Bus...

Who can forget Stockard Channing nearly drowning in the root beer?

I actually have The Big Bus on DVD. I think that's why I'm still single...

R33 I saw it on original release, but cannot remember a single fucking thing about it.

I believe I saw it twice in the original release, but I plead extreme youth.

I thought of a good movie to do for a DL thread, and it just hit Amazon Prime- Deep Blue Sea. It's disaster adjacent, pretty fucking campy, and is a lot of fun.

R38 And stars ex male whore, who would suck cock for a sandwich, Thomas Jane.

I haven't watched. Earthquake in decades.....but why didn't they think there could have been aftershocks? Why did they pick up a multi-floors shopping mall for the triage? OK, surgeries and co needs to be done inside. But in the movie it looks like they were caring even for minor injuries inside with risks of more shocks instead of outside.

[quote] The tense and gripping The Big Bus...

I think the DVD is out of print, and haven't seen it streaming anywhere. No, I didn't look on youtube bc watching movies on youtube make my soul cry.

The Big Bus is available to rent on AmazonPrime, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, and Microsoft. Allegedly in HD on all of them.

That's a good indicator, r33.

The Big Bus includes such ever-green DL favorites as Stockard Channing, Richard Mulligan, Lynn Redgrave, Howad Hesseman, Sally Kellerman, Larry Hagman, Harold Gould, Ruth Gordon, Rene Auberjonois, Jose Ferrer, and Bob Dishy. A total camp-fest!

How can you leave out Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Mary Jane Beth Sue, r42?

When she gets her own thread, I'll include her, R43. Until then she can kiss my Billy Bob Joe.

I was 10 when this came out and it had quite an effect at the time. The widescreen photography on the super-large screen, with the cool production design (sets), the truly all-star cast, the fire set pieces....it really worked in terms of bringing the theater goer into a horrifying situation. Of course a lot of it is corny and you could find a thousand plot holes, but it has memorable scenes of peril that I'll never forget unlike the ones from 99% of any other movie I have watched.

I watched The Towering Inferno last night. I never tire of watching this movie. So entertaining. Still holds up.

I thought, though, that Steve McQueen was excellent. I think one of the best scenes is when his character is told that the elevator is hanging and the people on it are in peril. His character is already exhausted from everything that has happened before. McQueen's reaction is perfect - he's resigned but knows he has to do something fast.

I still find Jennifer Jones' character underdeveloped. I don't connect with her the way I did with Shelley Winters or Helen Hayes.

Richard Chamberlain's character is too cartoonish.

It's like a musical with scenes of immolation instead of songs.

A make up gal neighbor of mine worked on The Towering Inferno. She said she’ll never forget the day that they shot the bit where the guests were getting into the elevator and the extras held back from going in when the AD yelled “ACTION!” Because they knew if they got on that elevator they’d miss out on several additional days of work.

An extra's gotta do what an extra's gotta do.

They should have used Disco Inferno as the theme song.

R50, Disco Inferno was inspired by the movie. From Wikipedia:

The song was originally recorded by The Trammps in 1976 and released as a single. It was supposedly inspired by a scene in the 1974 blockbuster film The Towering Inferno.[5]

Yes, and "Don't Rock the Boat" was inspired by the Poseidon Adventure" and "I Feel the Earth Move" by "Earthquake.

Oh yeah? Well...well I inspired a...a sandwich franchise!

[quote] Poseidon, anyone?

R54 - Honey, would love to, but I just ate and need to wait an hour first.

This movie has my favorite Steve McQueen performance.

Of course it's probably the worst movie McQueen ever made, but it's the one movie where he loosened up and visibly had fun with his role. For most of his career he took his roles, and himself, incredibly seriously, so much so that I've never warmed up to him and his ugly little monkey face.

[quote] Of course it's probably the worst movie McQueen ever made

I couldn't disagree more!

They should have had a scene where a woman gets hysterical and Miss Dunaway has to slap her. (that seems to be the treatment back then lots of screaming women get slapped like in The Birds.)

She had a perfect opportunity: she should have slapped the extra who caused the helicopter crash who wore knee pads!

Faye was wasted in this. She just comforted and hugged hysterical women during most of it.

I think most of the movie was shot while Faye was "late" in her dressing rooms. Most of her scenes were likely pick-ups with extras shot later.

Faye was powerful in the scene where she pointed at the helicopter. She must have been exhausted shooting that scene.

[quote] Faye was powerful in the scene where she pointed at the helicopter. She must have been exhausted shooting that scene.

They cut her, "No more helicopters... EVER!"

when is that r62 on the roof or in the scenic elevator

Jennifer Jones' fall is so awkward. They clearly wanted to have her sacrifice her life like Shelley did in Poseidon but the way she spins around with the kid and then the fireman just grabs the kid just seems so staged.

R64, it actually happens in the ballroom as they're looking out the windows seeing the helicopters flying around.

Why do you think she was exhausted?

Coke will do that to you...

[quote] Coke will do that to you...

The Towering Kilo

This is the 9/11 film they're afraid to make. With Marvin Bush, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Colin Powell as the bad guys.

Shake n Bake. "Earthquake" film was the shake part.

There should be a remake set in Dubai or China, where buildings are slapped together by slave labor, with fancy-ass decor on the outside, and faulty wiring and plumbing and no safety measures on the inside.

In between the spectacular effects, ironic deaths of the wicked, camp performances, and general silliness, it's possible to make a point about the price of ruthless capitalism in the modern world.

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