The Towering Inferno (1974)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1974
	Director: John Guillermin (King Kong 1976)
	Actors: Paul Newman (Torn Curtain), Steve McQueen (Bullit, Sand Pebbles, The Great Escape), William Holden
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 14.04.2014, Bluray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The tallest building in the world is being inaugurated in San Francisco and its architect Doug Roberts (Newman) discovers that the electrical circuits could cause a fire.
Review: I have seen several times this big disaster movie of the 70's when I was younger, but I couldn't remember how they could fill its 165 minutes of length. Well it turns out they do it like they always did at that time, by slowly introducing the places and the characters, and the relationship between them, especially the tensions, so that the viewer is ripe when the disaster starts after 30-60 minutes of movie. I didn't remember that the action was taking place in a fictional building that doesn't exist in San Francisco, because the special effects make it very believable. The movie is well shot and the tension slowly rising so that I surprised myself holding my breath when the heroes were rescuing some kids through a thick cloud of smoke, and I felt relieved and refreshed when water flows at the end. The music is very good too, belonging to the best period of John Williams (I had recognized since the first scenes some common tones with Jaws or Jurassik Park). It is pleasant to meet some many known actors: William Holden (The Wild Bunch, The Bridge on the River Kwai), Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde), Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain (Allan Quatermain), O.J. Simpson (The Naked Gun), Robert Vaughn (Bullit), Robert Wagner (Austin Powers), but the movie seems to really have been made so that the two superstars McQueen and Newman meet. Some action scenes seem a bit stretched, and McQueen seems like a super-man (he is everywhere and the only one able to do everything), but in general I appreciated this movie, at the top of its sub-genre. I may soon continue on this series by watching Earthquake with Charlton Heston!
Rating: 7 /10