Now we get to the good stuff. The 70s were the first golden age for disaster movies in Hollywood and I’d always wanted to watch the two most famous such films from that era: Earthquake and The Towering Inferno.
Earthquake turned out to have been critically panned (in fact, I remember my local TV guide giving it a “one star” rating when it aired on TV). The Towering Inferno was very acclaimed though and made much more money, although it was technically less profitable based on revenue-to-cost ratio.
It’s not surprising Inferno cost so much. One reason is the cast. Wow. Two of the biggest movie stars of all time (Steve McQueen and Paul Newman)*, four of the biggest movie stars of their respective eras (William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, and Jennifer Jones), four major TV stars of their eras (Susan Blakely, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn, and Robert Wagner), and a huge sports star (OJ Simpson). Another is the visuals. They aren’t dated at all – either the sets or the effects! Legendary producer Irwin Allen, initially known for his sci-fi TV shows in the 60s, gave us two of the best disaster movies of the 70s between this and The Poseidon Adventure.** This film is so massive in scope partly because it was the first co-production between two major studios in history. We’ve all seen competing movies with similar premises come out soon after one another*** but, when adaptations were simultaneously being made of the similar novels The Tower and The Glass Inferno, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros wisely decided to pool their resources.
The result is a movie that is nearly three hours long but never once boring or slow. Quite the opposite – it’s consistently thrilling! The other elements I mentioned wouldn’t mean much without a great story and characters (and I say that not as a writer but as a film fan) but the setting ropes you in, the conflict is well-established and escalates at a perfect rate, the direction and editing keep you riveted as you oscillate between the different floors of the massive skyscraper, as well as its outside, and you’ll be (forgive the use of a cliché) on the edge of your seat as you wonder who will escape, when, how, and at what cost.
In order to stream the movie I had to buy (not rent, as that wasn’t an option) it off of Amazon. It was well worth it though. I could watch this movie again and again.
Bottom Line: Epic.
Up Next: The 1990s’ turn!
*When I was an adolescent my favorite book was the long-out-of-print (very sadly) If the Other Guy Isn’t Jack Nicholson I’ve Got the Part: Hollywood Tales of Big Breaks, Bad Luck, and Box Office Magic. One of those “tales” was how Steve McQueen resented Paul Newman for getting tough-guy roles at the expense of McQueen, who actually grew up on the streets while Newman had a pampered childhood. When McQueen was offered the role of The Sundance Kid, the holdup was billing, as McQueen wanted his name before Newman’s. This led to hours of negotiation before the producer finally came up with the creative idea of having one man to the left but lower while the other to the right but higher. McQueen at first agreed but suddenly suggested flipping a coin instead as the producer was leaving, leading the latter to get exasperated and just give Robert Redford the part. When, to McQueen’s dismay, Newman got to be costar of this movie, McQueen insisted on getting the exact same number of lines as Newman and not being introduced until over 40 minutes into the movie, by which point Newman would have used up most of his lines. As far as billing, the diagonal billing was utilized for the first time in Hollywood history and it was specifically to accommodate those two. Regarding the rest of the stellar cast, Holden was lower and further to the right than either McQueen or Newman, Dunaway lower and further to the right than Holden, and, after that, the other notable people in alphabetical order.
** That friend Nathan who helped give me the idea for this series of reviews has repeatedly praised the post I wrote about The Poseidon Adventure on Facebook once. Here it is.
So glad I found out about the “Disaster Thursdays” at this theater this month. A few thoughts:
1) I cannot believe how well this movie holds up! This was 20 years before CGI but the work put into elaborate sets and effects still looks wonderful. If these types of visuals were possible by the 1970s it’s no wonder disaster movies were such a trend then.
2) Gene Hackman may not ever have been a traditional leading man but he showed here what a badass he can be in the heroic role!
3) In any such film it should be a guessing game who survives and who doesn’t but here it didn’t feel arbitrary-it felt appropriate for a strong, compelling story.
4) This might be the first film I’ve seen from the initial disaster film boom but I already like it more than the whole similar boom from the 90s. My God, I can’t believe how many people I’ve heard over the years say Independence Day is fabulous “for what is”. Guess what-The Poseidon Adventure shows you can have incredible popcorn thrills without leaving your brain in the trash can!
***Here are two fun videos on the matter:
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