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<\/a>By Marc \u201cKid Huevos\u201d Livitz<\/strong><\/p>\nOn occasion, we\u2019re graced with movies which showcase an array of today\u2019s stars. Some are old, some are new and some fall somewhere in between. To be honest, many of us may agree that tried and true standouts of the silver screen are in very short supply due to the fact that so many are much about style and little about substance.<\/p>\n
Regardless, attempting to find a parallel to the cast of 1974\u2019s \u201cThe Towering Inferno\u201d would likely be beyond difficult and the salary demands of modern-day Hollywood\u2019s prima donnas and divas could push a comparable film project far past its intended budget. <\/p>\n
In the case of the aforementioned classic, how\u2019s this for a cast? Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Wagner, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn, Susan Blakely, Dabney Coleman Susan Flannery and Fred Astaire, just to name a few.<\/p>\n
The picture is set in San Francisco, as construction tycoon Jim Duncan (played impeccably by Holden) is set to hold the grand opening gala for his 135-story glass tower. The first 80 floors are set to be office space, while the next 50 will be residential spaces. A spectacular view of the Bay Area takes up the opening credits as we follow a helicopter to the landing port atop the gold-colored skyscraper.<\/p>\n
Who emerges from it is none other than the legendary Paul Newman, who assumes the role of Doug Roberts, the building\u2019s architect. He\u2019s just as edgy about the building\u2019s opening as Duncan is, if not more. Doug\u2019s nerves are settled a bit once he meets up with his love interest, the incredibly beautiful Susan, played so gracefully by Faye Dunaway.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t take long for matters to get out of hand. An electrical problem causes a fuse box to blow on the 81st floor, which causes a small fire to erupt. The man in charge of security in the building and one of the first to detect that something is wrong is Harry Jernigan, played by, well, O.J. Simpson. In short time, the cause for the shortages and outages in the gold high rise turns out to be none other than cheap wiring, which is just barely up to code.<\/p>\n
A quick finger of blame is pointed in the direction of Roger Simmons, played ever so dastardly by Richard Chamberlain, who in the film happens to be married to Jim Duncan\u2019s daughter, Patty (portrayed by a then 26 year-old Susan Blakely). I once read that she auditioned for the role of Lois Lane when Superman returned to the big screen in 1978 and for my shekels, Christopher Reeve will always be my number one.<\/p>\n
There are side plots aplenty featuring Robert Wagner, now a young 90 years old, Fred Astaire and a few others. Michael Lookinland, better known to us kids of the 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s as Bobby Brady has a prominent role, as does Robert Vaughn, who plays a heady senator.<\/p>\n
When all hope seems lost, as seems to be the case when partygoers are trapped in the Promenade Room on the 135th floor, who do you call for help? Not just the fire department, but the absolute \u201cKing of Cool\u201d himself, the iconic and baddest of the bad Steve McQueen, who plays Chief O\u2019Hallorhan. This would be one of the last roles McQueen would perform before he was taken from us way too soon in 1980 at the age of 50.<\/p>\n
The movie is a lot of fun, even almost 46 years after its release. \u201cThe Towering Inferno\u201d premiered in cinemas just in time for Christmas in 1974, which meant I\u2019d been on planet Earth for just a few months. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman share a bit of screen time together and their chemistry is pure magic. There\u2019ll be no spoiler alerts here, but the lesson to be learned is that nothing is indestructible and often so, the hubris of men is to blame. The picture stands the test of time and still is a lot of fun, even with O.J. Simpson running around the building as he tries to save people.<\/p>\n
How strange, yet tragic things turned out to be for him, as two decades later, he\u2019d be on the run as a wanted man for a double murder. Neither here nor there, but I never thought he did it. I\u2019ve always been convinced that it was the knife in his hand that did the damage. Nevertheless, \u201cThe Towering Inferno\u201d is a fun, thrill ride of a movie with some very big stars in its cast. It\u2019s great in high definition and much better than I remembered from the time when I watched it on network TV as a young tike.<\/p>\n
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[AdSense-A] By Marc \u201cKid Huevos\u201d Livitz On occasion, we\u2019re graced with movies which showcase an array of today\u2019s stars. Some are old, some are new and some fall somewhere in between. To be honest, many of us may agree that tried and true standouts of the silver screen are in very short supply due to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17984],"tags":[22848],"class_list":["post-90861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment-news","tag-the-towering-inferno-1974-ringside-report-movie-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90861"}],"version-history":[{"count":-1,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}