Friday, December 28, 2018

2018 Blind Spot Series: The Towering Inferno


The end of 2018 is quickly approaching, and here I am, still trying to get all of my Blind Spots taken care of. Before we get to this one, let me give a big shout out to our host for the Blind Spot Challenge, Sofia at Returning Videotapes. I'm looking forward to participating in 2019. Wait, what am I saying? Let's get back to 2018...

Why did I pick it? One of the quests that has popped up as a result of me becoming a (sorta) full-fledged cinephile is seeing the greatest movies from as many (sub-)genres as possible. The Towering Inferno has been long touted as one of the best disaster flicks out there. Full disclosure, I have an odd relationship with these types of films. In general, I like them when they are beyond awful. By that, I mean I enjoy them better when they're really stupid, they don't take themselves seriously, and they're either really short, really fast paced, or both. Perhaps that's why I hadn't seen this movie until now. It's nearly three hours long, won five Oscars, and earned three more nominations, including one for Best Picture. This is seemingly the direct opposite of how I like my disaster flicks. Let's see how it turns out.

Things start with Paul Newman, the architect of The Glass Tower, the tallest building in the world. He has returned to San Francisco for it's dedication, a big bash being held in the Promenade Room on the building's 135th floor. In the run-up to this party, we spend a little time with a number of the people who will be in attendance. They all have character names, but it's easier for me to refer to them by the names of the people who play them because, let's be honest, their actual personas is why they're here. Paired with Newman is Faye Dunaway as his fiancee. The rest of our revelers include Robert Wagner, William Holden, Richard Chamberlain, Susan Blakely, Robert Vaughn, Susan Flannery, Fred Astaire, and Jennifer Jones in what would be her final film role. The one and only O.J. Simpson is hanging around as the head of security (don't laugh). The problem is that, thanks to some shortcuts taken by Chamberlain, the electrical engineer, fires start popping up all over the 81st floor. Not realizing how serious the situation is, Holden, the builder, refuses to evacuate his guests. Of course, the fire soon rages out of control and everyone is trying to figure a way out. The fire department is called and Steve McQueen (the actor, obviously, not the director) and Dabney Coleman show up among the firefighters who attempt to put out the blaze.

The early parts of the film require the most patience from viewers because it's a slow burn. Yes, the pun is fully intended because some days I'm lame like that. It's also a true statement. We become aware of the fire almost immediately. Much of the first two acts plays out as follows: We meet some humans and learn a bit about their relationships, go back to the fire to find out it's grown a bit more, have Paul Newman try to get the builder to get those people out before it's too late, then we go on to another set of humans, and repeat the cycle. Unfortunately, the cast is so big it's difficult to get too worked up about any of them. Just when we find ourselves starting to get into the story of one set of characters or another, we don't see them again for a really long time. This forces the movie to rely heavily on the audience's familiarity with it's many famous cast members and whatever love for them we brought into the movie with us. This is fine for those of us old enough to know who all these people are. However, forty plus years after its release that could be a problem for many folks. The overall effect is it inflates the film's runtime while not doing enough to emotionally involve us. The exception to this is the pairing of Fred Astaire and Jennifer Jones. Astaire earned a Best Supporting Actor nod. Jones was not nominated, but was every bit as good. The chemistry between them jumps off the screen. With less screen time than most of the rest of this all-star cast, they manage to effortlessly do something these other great actors struggle to: earn our empathy. It helps that neither of their characters are tasked with anything concerning the construction of the building nor the rescue of others. They're free to focus on each other until the last possible moment. Others have their attentions divided between whatever relationships they're involved in and the disaster at hand, which often includes delivering exposition. It's a game cast and they're all giving it the ol' college try. Unfortunately, much of what they have to work with is merely perfunctory or simply not supported sufficiently by the rest of the film. Moments meant to be heartfelt don't always land because we may not have seen a particular person for twenty or thirty minutes and didn't spend enough time with them when we did.


By the time we reached the third act, the fire is raging out of control, rescue efforts are full steam ahead, and the movie shifts into high gear. This is where we get the most entertainment, as all the characters are in full-on panic mode, flames are everywhere. Adding to the excitement is something we found out earlier in the film: no one is safe. Any character might succumb to mortality regardless of the actor who plays them. This adds an element of unpredictability that helps keep us on the edge of our seats through to the film's climactic moments. The filmmakers, chiefly screenwriter Stirling Silliphant and director John Guillermin, take full advantage of this as the number of on-screen deaths pile up.

Those on-screen deaths lead me to the movie's special fx. They hold up surprisingly well. It's no wonder that this film virtually swept the technical Oscars that year. Most impressively, one character falls from the elevator attached to the outside of the tower and slams into another part of it, then falls dozens of stories to the concrete below. Without doing any actual research, logic tells me this was done with a dummy. However, it's so well done that even forty-plus years later, it's hard to find the seams in this bit of Hollywood magic. Today, this would almost certainly be done with the use CGI. If done properly, it would look great, but what would likely be lost is the sheer impact of what happens to this person. Sure, artificial impact might be put in, such as the camera rattling at the precise moment the body makes contact with the building. It would be an exciting moment, but not a true substitute for a weighted being dragged by gravity into an immovable object. This weight helps us really feel for the victim in a way pixels don't always allow.

Oddly, the moment I describe above is so impactful, literally and figuratively, because of who it is. The only other thing that affects us in a similar way is the follow-up to this event. Stronger writing would've given us plenty of this. Regrettably, we don't get that. We're just dragged through the film's setup stages. Wading through them affords us the reward of the inherent tension of a bunch of people trying to escape imminent death. We root for them out of simple humanity, not personal attachment. By the end of The Towering Inferno we're entertained, possibly amazed by still-good-looking visuals, and despite the brief instants that actually touched us, we've watched a good movie, but we've also been kept at arms length.



18 comments:

  1. This is a film I've only seen bits of but never the whole thing as it's a film that I really need to see as I heard this is one of the finest disaster films ever and that ensemble cast looks great (minus O.J.).

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    1. I agree that it's one of the best disaster films out there. It definitely deserves to be seen.

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  2. This one holds up really well, and the special effects are quite spectacular and surprisingly gory (in a good and crispy way). A big part of the fun is noticing that Steve McQueen had it in his contract that he and Newman would get the same number of lines. With McQueen's character only showing up halfway through the movie, this meant that Newman's architect was present but noticeably quiet through most of the first half of the film!

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    1. I did not know that about McQueen. How petty! I'm sure next time I watch it, I will be looking for Newman's silences. Thanks!

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  3. I've never seen this. I'm always wary with old CGI because it's so distracting at times but it's good to hear this does hold up. I'd watch it if I got the chance.

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    1. I wouldn't call it CGI. It's mostly practical effects. The instances when it's not are really one picture superimposed over another. Occasionally, it's noticeable, but even then it doesn't look terrible.

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  4. It tickles me that its quality was what kept you at bay from watching this all this time!! Not that I don’t get a kick occasionally from taking in some piece of rock bottom garbage too. They can cast their own particular spell.

    I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I LOVE this movie before. It’s part of the ne plus ultra trio of classic disaster movies along with The Poseidon Adventure and the original Airport that really created the catastrophe film as a genre.

    So much of my affection for the film is rooted in memory. First of all since I was still too young to see it without an adult this was a rare excursion to the theatre with just my Dad, who wasn’t much of a moviegoer, and we both loved it. Also even at that tender age I was an avid movie watcher and was familiar with all the performers so it was quite the movie star buffet.

    Your comment about how the film is loaded with superstars of the day (and the era before) and how being familiar with them and their individual personas helped fill in any gaps in the narrative stories of each struck me.

    Though of course I didn’t realize it at the time that casting was purposefully done. When I read Faye Dunaway’s autobiography she told a story about how resentful William Holden was about just that very issue, the lack of character depth by using the player’s reputation as a sort of shorthand to inform the audience of their place. There is some validation to that but when I watch other more slipshod films in the same genre, both from this period and of more current vintage, these characters have at least a modicum of texture. That slow burn start enables you to at the very least to know who these people are, much like Poseidon and Airport, so when the action begins you’re engaged in their plight. It’s imperfect but I’ve seen innumerable films where the disaster strikes almost instantly so you have zero connection to the stick figures involved and the impact of the action is blunted.

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    1. It's weird but my "good" films keeping me away is really unique to disaster flicks. Maybe it's because the premises are usually so ridiculous I prefer the whole movie to follow suit. To that point, the disaster could've been snuffed out in the first few minutes or at least, the loss of human life could have been completely avoided. Of course, none of that happens and we have a movie.

      And yes, I remember your declaration of love for this film.

      Glad to hear that about Holden because it confirms my thoughts. I watched it alone but couldn't help wondering whether my kids would get half as much as me because I know they might not recognize anyone in the movie, save for O.J. And in his case, they have no inkling of what it was like when he was white America's favorite black man.

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  5. Even without being aware of who all the stars are and what they meant at the time the film is loaded with an amazing cast for such an enterprise and the acting even in roles without much depth is solid (well O.J. stinks), and in some cases-Astaire and Jones among them-much better than that. For instance the small scene between Mayor Ramsay and his wife (neither a major star-though the actress playing Mrs. Ramsay was actually producer Irwin Allen’s wife) when she can’t reach their daughter is touching and delicately played. Again something that is extremely rare in most of these pictures.

    That tidbit about Newman and McQueen and the line count is true rooted in a competition that had been ongoing since both were starting out in the 50’s and Newman rose much more quickly than McQueen getting roles both auditioned for. If you notice their billing Paul’s is higher on the right while Steve’s is placed lower but on the left which by habit is what people read first. It was apparently much more important to McQueen who dropped out of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid because he wouldn’t cede top billing which opened the door to Robert Redford, a much more minor star at the time.

    Faye Dunaway is such a knockout in this film. She manages to be imperiled and a fashion plate at the same time! She’s ravishing in that gown and seems such perfect casting for her part I was surprised when I found out she was hardly first choice-that was Natalie Wood, who declined because she was pregnant, followed by Raquel Welch and Katharine Ross but I just can’t envision anyone but Faye as Susan.

    Something else that can’t be replicated I suppose is that having seen it all those years ago on the big screen when its action was much more of a novelty the impact was huge. The explosions and tragedies, including the one you mentioned just knocked you back in your seat. Rewatching it, which I have done many, many times…surprise…surprise I own the special edition, the effects overall do hold up and do feel much more immediate because of the feeling that it’s all really happening and not some computer generated program.

    Well after rambling on, sorry I can’t help myself when it’s a film I have a special affection for, I’m glad you finally watched it and liked it.

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    1. I know nothing about McQueen as a person, but man he sounds petty.

      Faye Dunaway is always knockout, so no surprise there.

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    2. McQueen was a deeply troubled complex man who had a hellish upbringing. His father deserted his mother when he was 6 months old, she was a major alcoholic with a penchant for violent men who would abandon him for long stretches with family members then take him back when she married-always to an abuser who would beat both her and Steve, the last threw him down a flight of stairs.

      Unsurprisingly he drifted into petty crime and gangs until he joined the armed forces, where he was still a hellraiser, then stumbled into acting clawing his way up the ladder to the top which made him very protective and competitive of his status.

      He was apparently fiercely magnetic but quite closed off and defensive and a real challenge to live with. According to his first two wives, Neile Adams & Ali MacGraw he enjoyed the perks of fame but not being famous and being a loner was happiest behind the wheel of a race car-a passion ironically he shared with Paul Newman.

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    3. Wow. Complex sounds right. Yes, I knew about Newman and his thing for racing, at which he forged a very successful second career.

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  6. Can I say...what Joel said...hahahaaaa. He sums it up for me and this is such a fun film along with its great special effects which is before CGI. McQueen was a truly bizarre person who’s ego was as big as his bizarreness. I have to laugh that the OJ character could have put the fire out long time before and that Wagner’s character and his secretary each flame up because of their indiscretions...morals and all. I do love the mayor and his wife like Joel does and my fav is Fred Astaire. I am still fighting a fever and am only up because I slept a good part of the day. Take care

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    1. This entire movie is built on people not listening to people who know better than them. For instance, O.J.'s character tells sevrrse people to get a handle on the fire and nothing happens. By the time he goes to do it himself it's too late. Paul Nemwan tells his boss repeatedly to evacuate only to be shouted down. Sorry, I'm ranting now. Despite those issues this is a fine film.

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  7. I have never seen this. Thinking about it I haven’t seen too may disaster movies. Volcano, The Day after Tomorrow, Armageddon and Twister.

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    1. I feel pretty safe in saying this is better than any of those.

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  8. Good review, the special effects are well done as you say and it's a solid actioner. I have an odd relationship with the Towering Inferno. I watched at the time of the Grenfell Tower disaster, in London in summer 2017, not in a morbid way, but an inner sense of duty to find solutions to high-rise fires. Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, I felt guilty enjoying the suspense of the movie.

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    1. It's funny how we use art to help us through certain things. However, at the end of the day, it is a movie there for your enjoyment. I don't think you should feel guilty doing just that.

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