Saw The Towering Inferno in 1974 as a kid with my family, the cinema was packed so we had to sit near the front. To this day I'll never forget the experience having to turn your head to follow the action, the screaming from hundreds of people in the cinema. When Steve McQueen grabbed the fireman's hand on the elevator to stop him falling the whole cinema went wild. Unforgettable experience I haven't replicated to this day.

The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno should be brought back and shown on the big screen for a couple of weeks. I'm sure many people, myself included, would go and see them!!

An author named Roderick Thorp saw this movie and as a result, he a had dream about terrorists hijacking a huge office building. That was the inspiration for his novel, Nothing Lasts Forever. The novel was eventually adapted for film but the title was changed to Die Hard.

I lived through this period as a kid. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) made us afraid of the ocean. The Towering Inferno (1974) made us afraid of buildings. Earthquake (1974) made us afraid of the ground. Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976) made us afraid of roads. Airport 77 (1977) made us afraid of the air. The Car (1977) made us afraid to ride our bicycles. And Jaws knock-off Grizzly (1976) made us afraid to play in our own back yards! Ah the 70's.

Never use an elevator in a fire is what I learnt from this movie as a kid.

Both the Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure were simply awesome movies!! The actors and actresses were super! This is why these movies are still watched a lot to this day.

This and Airport '77 were the PINNACLE of disaster movies in the '70s.

Watching disaster movies with my granny at Christmas in the 70's. Every death she would comment with "Aww I like him". But when Shelly Winters character died saving the priest in the Poseidon Adventure she was inconsolable.

Seeing this Film back in the day was an "Event". This was not a film, it was a "Disaster Film"! We had Airport, Poseidon and Earthquake to keep us entertained by watching people die in a variety of amusing ways. Terrific fun. Cheers Stam. I had almost forgotten this old classic.

I loved how William Holden not only did not take his jacket off, he didn't even loosen his bowtie! Classy all the way!

I was twelve back in ‘74 when I first saw this, but I remember it well. It was pretty intense. Irwin Allen movies were always so entertaining back in the day.

This and The Poseidon Adventure are the perfect double feature. Love them!

Those closing lines of the film have haunted me ever since 9-11 and the fall of the Twin Towers. I kept thinking of the movie while watching people jump and fall from the Twin Towers, thinking, the movie was right, there is no way to save them. And there wasn't, and then unlike the movie, most of them all died.

Robert Wagner's death is really horrifying. Probably the most graphic in the movie.

I remember in the summer of 1975 they re-released this movie in a double feature with Earthquake. One ticket for both movies. They called the double feature "Shake and Bake"!

I still remember the brilliant Mad Magazine spoof: Paul Newman: "I've a way to rescue them stuck in the elevator" Robert Vaughn: "You mean by releasing the mechanical brakes?", Newman: "Gee, that's better than my plan. I was going to cut the cable".

I saw it a week before Christmas of 1974 with my family. I was just 8 years old then. For weeks the movie previews filled the tv commercial slots adding to the hype. The movie didn’t disappoint. Still one of my favorites.

I LIKE HOW STEVE MCQUEEN SAID ALL FIRES ARE BAD

I hated that Jennifer Jones character, Lisolette, was killed off by falling out of the Glass elevator. In the book, she survived. Shelley Winters character, Belle, did die in the book The Poseidon Adventure. Other than that, it was a great film. Laugh all you want, but they did didn't need CGI in those days to create spectacular movies. Glad the cat survived!

The Towering Inferno is a film that really needs to be seen in a cinema to be appreciated. I can still remember seeing it back in 1974, but I think I've only ever seen it once on TV in all the years since. On TV it was sort of "meh". (Do the kids still say "meh"?) You really need that big, wide screen experience.

McQueen's speech at the end is eerily prophetic.

William Holden played the archetypical powerful leader in so many movies (Network, Towering Inferno, etc.). He was a great actor.

The towering inferno movie still sends chills down my spine to this day! I don't how many times I must have seen it as a kid back in the day, the cast was nothing but pure star power! One of the most memorable and exciting scenes was when the San Francisco Fire Dept. Was responding to the glass tower and the two firefighters on top of the engine were talking about what building was on the corner of Montgomery and what ever the other Cross street was on and then the firefighter remembered and said oh shit! The glass tower and said that he hoped that the fire was on the first floor! I'll never forget that scene it was awesome with the sirens and horns blaring as the were responding to the fire , what a rush! As a matter of fact I actually went on to becoming a firefighter in 1986 for the City of Fort Wayne,Ind Fire Department and served for 27 years and 4 months .The movie the Towering inferno was my inspiration to become a firefighter as well as many other movies and shows about the fire service and it was also my childhood dream.

The unsaid part of this review is that for many of us who were alive at the time of 911, this film became a really difficult watch.

One of my favorite disaster movies. Perfect pacing. Perfect acting. And since I am dead afraid of heights and fire. Yeah. This movie scares the jeebus outta me😊😅

William Holden was 56 here yet looked at least 70. Heavy drinking isn't good for you.

By the time Irwin Allen made “The Swarm” and “When Time Ran Out” the all-star disaster movies had just about played out.

This is my favorite move ever. The acting as you say wasn’t over the top but that is exactly what i love about it. At times you can forget that you’re seeing a film and think the dialogue sound like real people in the middle of a tragic event. Another aspect of this movie i enjoyed is how useful information about how to fight a fire or how to try and survive a fire are sprinkled throughout the film in a semi subtle way. Love this film and the list of celebrities is mind boggling, it’s a who’s who of Hollywood royalty. I was actually watching this film a few days ago, it still stands head and shoulders above the rest for me.

I saw this movie with a friend in a theater when it came out. We both loved it. It's still a favorite and I have it now on Blu-ray.

Of course, you could not be more wrong about John Williams’ score which is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Cheers

I saw 'The Aristocats in the 60s. However, the first three movies that heralded my 'growing up' (I was about 11), were The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and Towering Inferno. Going to the theatre to watch those movies was an event in itself.

An all-time favorite. What a cast. Robert Wagner fire run is an underrated scene, stunt. What a title.

Holy cow what an ensemble cast. Even Dabney Coleman!

I remember seeing this film along with earthquake back in the day and I mean to tell you the enthusiasm over this kind of film was indeed through the roof

One of my favourite movies. Saw it the first time on TV as a kid in the early 90s. The Maureen Maureen McGovern song is so beautiful and always gives me chills.

These movies were so much fun to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the 80s. They just felt like simple, tight, and exciting stories, despite the implausible scenarios and sometime cheesy effects. The great cast just carried you through it with ease.

About the third or fourth time I watched Richard Chamberlain fall, I was laughing pretty hard.

8:16 "Stirling Silliphant" What a name

i saw this at the flicks on Saturday arvo when i was 10. it left life long memories

The movie is also notable for its opening credits. Newman and McQueen were roughly equal in status at that point, although mostly in different directions. In order to give them equal billing, the names were on the screen at the same time, but offset with one name in the Top Right (first if read top to bottom) and the other in the Bottom Left (first if read left to right). The movie was also a joint release of Fox and WB. Each had optioned one of the two books and it was decided to combine the projects to avoid splitting the audience (i.e. avoiding a Tombstone/Wyatt Earp scenario). Also, Bobby from the The Brady Bunch is in the movie.

I think the John Williams music is fantastic. It gave the movie a sense of gravity. Understated. Of course, most of his work has been great. Other than that, great overview. It was the best of the genre (and was nominated for an Oscar if I'm not mistaken). And Richard Chamberlin's character is a great baddie (feels so good when he meets his destiny).

One of the most badass movies I’ve ever seen still keeps me on the edge as to what comes next great all star cast 70s movies definitely rocked

Great movie, all star cast and kept you on the edge of your seat at the time, extremely inventive and realistic

All these movies from my childhood are helping me to understand why I had anxiety and insomnia by 3rd grade 😂

Superior videos this guy makes. Humour is excellent, cuts and editing are superb, and it's written and delivered on point. Love these.

TTI and Earthquake were my go-to disaster movies of my childhood!😁😁

I love disaster movies, especially from the 70s. The Towering Inferno is my favorite. I was 6 years old in 1974 and I remember seeing it at a summer matinee with my mom, probably a year or two after it came out.

3:09 absolutely love seeing Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in same film! Always thought they were so similar, like cousins, but Steve far more "Dangerous." Fun beautifully done film, and excellent Cast.

I loved the disaster movies. The Poseidon Adventure was my ultimate favourite film as a kid but The Towering Inferno is up there with it. Earthquake was alright but that blood splat with the lift scene kills me.

Earthquake, Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure are the triple crown for 70's disaster movies.

I saw this film quite recently on TV and it's still enjoyable as seeing as a kid on TV in the late 80s - where it scared the crap out of me esp when the woman falls from the window. Classic film. Love the slow build up and dismissing the small fire then the crap hits the fan love the tension. Plus has two of three of my fears - being stuck at a great height and being burnt by fire.

I watched this movie when i was a teen. We lived on the 8th floor. THIS MOVIE SCARRED MY FOR LIFE!

O. J. Simpson notwithstanding, this is my formative and favorite disaster movie... so Hollywood epic. Actually this score made John Williams a superstar to me. In the opening and that suspenseful bomb scene near the end, his music syncs with the titles, the editing and the "ticking". Its pretty graphic burn body count for the time had the audience screaming like they were at a horror movie. Love this flick.

The “old lady” was one of the biggest stars of the 40s & 50s

The 70s was the golden era of disaster movies. I remember going to the show to see Earthquake, they promoted the movie by introducing the phrase filmed in Sensurround. Th audience was supposed to feel the effects of the earthquake through the sound of the movie. Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno and Airport started my love of these types of movie which led to end of day’s movies like The Omega man and the Planet of The Apes franchise.

The "mild spoilers" disclaimer is extra hilarious for this video

There isn't anything like a good disaster movie from the 70's!

For me the greatest memory of this film was trying to get into a sold out session. Went across the road and watched the amazing Chinatown. Definitely came out in front that day lol

I paid hard earned money to see this in a walk in theater, they hired all the Star Actors including Bobby Brady. Enjoyed the "International Rescue" shot.

I was a kid in the 70s and loved the disaster genre, especially "The Towering Inferno" and "Earthquake!". Then, of course, came Airplane! and Airplane II, which are all-time classic parodies.

If I remember correctly, the Towering Inferno was based off of two novels released at about the same time, The Glass Inferno and The Tower. The script took elements of both novels and combined them. In one novel the fire starts with a faulty electrical system and in the other, a disgruntled worker sets off a firebomb. One novel is set in the midwest, the other the East Coast. It's implied that the building on the East Coast is a stand in for the recently completed World Trade Center. In one novel, the fire is put out by blowing up the water tanks above the fire, in the other, the firemen can't do anything to save the people on the top floor and they all die before the fire burns itself out.

タワーリングインフェルノは素晴らしい映画です。凄いシーンで、好きです。俳優さんも凄いです。しかし、ロバートワグナーさんのファンです。

I remember Richard Chamberlain being asked on a chat show whether he was concerned about playing a villain and he said "No!,I thought it was fun,the only mistake was showing his bad side too soon!"

Saw it on the big screen..the tension between Newman and McQueen seems very real.

Great video, Stam! I've got an anecdote related to this film that I hope isn't too rambling. In the mid 70's, when I was 4 or 5, one of my earlier memories was being in some department store with my mom and my aunt, and having a meltdown for the ages when my mom said she wasn't going to buy some cheap-assed little set of 3 or 4 plastic fire trucks that I'd latched on to. I was apparently so distraught that I didn't notice my aunt slipping the item in question into her shopping basket. After getting home and being banished to my room for some period of time, no doubt to think about my behaviour, I was then released and two magical things happened. I was plopped down in front of the TV so it could babysit me, as was the style at the time, and what came on was a screening of The Towering Inferno. At the same time, my aunt presented me with the fire truck toy set. Having those crappy toys in my hands, while watching those early high-angle, night time shots of all those fire trucks racing out of that huge station brought me such mind-bending joy that I don't think my brain ever fully recovered from it. And my aunt? She was from that day forth to the day of her passing many decades later, my very favorite aunt.

Great film!. Happy to own this gem on blu ray!

Great movie together with The Poseidon Adventure. Watched both of them during my teenage years on big widescreen cinema with stereo surround sound.

The Towering Inferno (1974) was released after the World Trade Center (New York City) and Sears Tower (Chicago) were completed earlier that year. This film was so big, and expensive it required 2 studios: Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. The opening sequence of helicopter across northern California (Marin county) with John Williams score approaching San Francisco from the north, is still my favorite. Cinematographers received Oscar for film.

I was 4 when I watched it with Mom and Dad at the theatre. I cried my heart out.

This is often shown on daytime TV but then they ruin it by cutting out all the grisly deaths to avoid upsetting the kids. If you want to see it whole you have to watch it on DVD.

Add 58 years old I remember so much Of how great television was and why they call it The And the golden age of television. It really was, and all of the movies some of them wonderful. They are also the limited series and movies that each network made that was shown on Saturday night movies had endless writers and producers and directors. Now we have are the endless number of Reality TV because of it's low production value it absolutely sucks!But I can remember and often tell my nieces and nephews about when television was absolutely wonderful and studios even have big budgets for Saturday morning cartoons.They say they say if you live longer enough everything old is new again and I'm really hoping to see the new return. I'm glad I found your channel it was suggested by KZfaq normally I ignored them but this time I didn't and I'm pretty happy about that.

This movie with the Poseidon movie were my childhood disaster movies - I mean I never looked at a tall building the same way 😊.

It’s just epic when Steve McQueen says “You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill 10,000 in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and bringing out bodies until somebody asks us how to build them”

Never saw a fire without smokebefore

Enjoyed your take on the movie. I remember watching as a kid on TV I think in the 70s. Watched it with my son over the summer ( teenager not little kid). It really holds up like you say. To us the most memorably disturbing parts was elevator opening into the fire( a good lesson on what not to do) and the burning fireman quietly falling down the shaft from seemingly nowhere. I really felt bad for the fireman and the bad fate that he found. Good job.

I saw Towering Inferno on NBC and AMC several times great film

I saw this film back in 1976, and on the way home me and my family couldn't stop talking about it.

My Father was so wise in 1975, family beach trip, 1st night we went to movies, Saw Jaws, didn't go in ocean during entire vacation

The Towering Inferno and the Poseídon Adventure are classic moviese u can watch over and over again.

Just love this movie....once the fire starts. I won't watch the slow build up beginning anymore. Always got a kick out of zero smoke coming from the flames raging in the exterior shots. One of my all time favorite lines in a movie is "It's out of control and coming your way." Thanks for posting this video.

😮 Retro movie greetings from coastal Mississippi. Saw this 50 years ago at the Drive In theater.

Two books, The Tower and The Glass Inferno, both about fires in skyscrapers, both owned by a different studio who wanted to make them into movies. In a rare bit of Hollywood cooperation, both studios combined the projects into The Towering Inferno.

I love disaster movies . This is the reason. I'll even take a ridiculously bad one. I love this movie!

I remember when this came out sitting beside my older sisters friend and I had a towering inferno . Lol

I remember 1974 seeing The Towering Inferno and Earthquake at the theatre! I was 15 years old, loved both movies!

i remember seeing this in a theater when i was 6 with my dad and older sister. i do think the effects hold up well and are in some respects even better than the cartoonishness of excessive CGI we see so much these days but the special effects at this time were completely state of the art. even VCR's were rare and expensive then so going to a movie was a true event it was like you were entering another dimension. even now i still think nothing beats seeing a flick on a big screen with a great sound system however sophisto home systems have become.

They were filming this movie in July, and it was ready for release in Dec. 1974. That would be unheard of today. They had three units filming simultaneously.

Watching Richard Chamberlain falls to his death repeatedly made me laugh.

I saw the Toweing Inferno on is release in 1974 and as a 14 year old it was pretty scary. The cast fascinated me because it contained old Hollywood as well as new. I was in love with movies from childhood and had watched dozens of classic movies. The appearance of Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaie as supporting characters made this film reek with class. I saw it on a rerelease in 1981 and the couple in front of me talked all the way through it. Then it was shown at Christmas time on BBC 1 and I remember the thrill of being able to watch such a prestigious and enjoyable movie on TV. Apparently 28 million people tuned in and on the other side was Earthquake which sadly didn't register. I saw Earthquake in Sensurround a short lived gimick which upped the sound of the Earthquake to as much as human tolerance could stand. It wasn't a success and the only other movie I saw in Sensurround was the film of the TV series, Battlestar Gallactica. Great video I loved it.

I remember seeing this movie in 1974, the theater was packed. When Richard Chamberlain fell to his death, people started to applaud. I have never experienced anything like that since.

Allen did a TV movie (and probable pilot) called City Beneath the Sea. It can be seen as a link between his TV and movie fame. It reuses a lot of old props, especially from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Richared Basehart plays the unnamed President, so it could even be a sequel). It's mainly about Stuart Whitman playing an Admiral called back to oversee the city and everything goes wrong on his first day of work. There's a meteor about to hit, there's a gold robbery (under the ocean had been deemed safer than Fort Knox), radiation, the fact that some past event made everyone hate Whitman, etc.)

Your dry humour and masterful use of irony with your narration here is restoring my lost faith in Americans capacity to entertain, keep in coming please Sir.😂 😂👍🇬🇧👏🇺🇸

This was my jam growing up in 1970's!!! First THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and then THE TOWERING INFERNO. What was it about destruction that tickled this teenager's fancy??? Then when EARTHQUAKE came out I almost lost my mind!!!!

Love that movie

I saw this at the cinema, I'll never forget it

Irwin Allen was the Man. Dude made Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants for television, and disaster spectacles Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno for big screen. I even like the Swarm more than most of the current crap.

I was too young when I watched this movie back in the 80s. I sleep with an extinguisher beside my bed as an adult.

These were great days of film and life in general. I saw these disaster movies in the theater with my parents. The worst (scariest) was in Earthquake when the elevator falls with packed with people and when it hits the bottom blood spashes on the screen in the cinema. Gross and scary!😮

Susan Flannery played Robert Wagner's secretary. She had a role on Dallas in the 1980s, but she's best know for being in the soap operas Days of Our Lives and, most recently, Bold & the Beautiful. She has since retired from acting.

this movie traumatized me when I saw it as a kid