The Towering Inferno (1 Viewer)

[Pete Battista]

What kind of display did you watch this on?

Fairly low budget.... blu-ray player hooked to a 42in hdtv.

 

[AshJW]

Fairly low budget.... blu-ray player hooked to a 42in hdtv.

The bigger the display the better the effect of the movie. Even better projected on a big screen, naturally.
This film works a lot on the visual basis.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Maybe but I wasn't paying attention to the way time worked when I was 10.

You didn't understand the concept of a year until you turned 11, huh?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Also seeing it in a theater on a huge screen I'm sure made it a more enjoyable experience.

Seeing it at home could never replicate that experience.

Being 7 in 1974 made it a more enjoyable experience!

I was so hung up on "Inferno" as a kid that I literally had DREAMS about seeing it on TV. Back in those pre-cable/pre-VHS days, we were at the mercy of TV broadcasts, and it took years for "Inferno" to finally hit a network.

I also wanted to buy the soundtrack album because I was convinced it included every second of the movie's audio. My mom explained it was just the music - and I was crestfallen!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Now THAT is a movie poster!

Thanks! IIRC, it's the Australian poster. The US poster is much "busier" - it has the same image of the tower but it's smaller so they can fit in shots of the actors.

I liked the simplicity of the Aussie version and paid a semi-premium to get it...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Loved all the disaster movies from the 70's, my parents would take us all to see them

There were some stinkers out there, though. I saw some POS Asian movie called "Tidal Wave" that was terrible.

And 1978's "The Swarm" was more "unintentionally funny" than scary. It's genuinely awful:

http://www.dvdmg.com/swarm.shtml

 

[B-ROLL]

Thanks! IIRC, it's the Australian poster. The US poster is much "busier" - it has the same image of the tower but it's smaller so they can fit in shots of the actors.

I liked the simplicity of the Aussie version and paid a semi-premium to get it...

Something like ...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Something like ...

Yup, that's the one! Not a terrible poster, but I do think it crams in too much information.

I get it: they wanted to remind audiences of all the star power involved. It's still not nearly as attractive as the simpler poster...

 

[Tom St Jones]

Well.. this one sure brought up a little bit of a discussion. I definitely enjoyed the film... but I was somehow expecting more from it. I think after hearing about it for years... and seeing all the big names that is in it... my expectations got a little too high. I found it to be a little slow in some parts and it really has a '70s feel to it. Not that it is a bad thing.

Hype and/or hearsay always tend toward the astronomical.

 

[TonyD]

You didn't understand the concept of a year until you turned 11, huh?

That's not what I said.

 

[Matt Hough]

Cool! I think my first DVD review was "Armageddon".

Alas, my original early 1999 review no longer exists. It was such a brief - and IMO crappy - review that I later went back and redid it.

Too bad - I wish I still had access to the original crummy review!

I have tear sheets (now yellowing in filing cabinets) of my newspaper reviews (back in the days when we wrote on a typewriter - oh, the horror) that I haven't looked at in decades, and I suspect I would blush at their lapses if I pulled them out now. I do also remember my second professional review - Young Frankenstein. What a great way to begin a reviewing career with these two interesting and wildly different movies!

My first DVD review, the piece I submitted to land a place on the HTF staff, was for Billy Rose's Jumbo.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I always wondered how one gets a position on staff here.... I should've watched Billy Rose

 

[Tino]

The recent Chinese re-make in 3-D was far superior. It was called OUT OF INFERNO. I did however enjoy THE TOWERING INFERNO when I saw it many times on a giant curved 75 ft screen in 70mm.

Out of Inferno is not a remake of The Towering Inferno.

About the only thing they have in common is a burning skyscraper.

 

[cinemiracle]

I think The Towering Inferno is the "best" out of the Big Three, although I still love The Poseidon Adventure for its cheesiness (and Shelly Winters and "The Morning After"). I think I'd like Earthquake better seeing it in a theater with Sensurround. Speaking of which, has anyone here seen Rollercoaster? I seem to think that was in Sensurround also.

Yes I saw ROLLERCOASTER in 70mm and with Sensurround. I found it to be a big disappointment.

 

[cinemiracle]

Out of Inferno is not a remake of The Towering Inferno.

About the only thing they have in common is a burning skyscraper.

I disagree with you.

 

[JimmyO]

Oh, and this hangs on my living room wall!

As a photographer, I absolutely love this simpler version of the poster. That amazing perspective speaks to me - its pretty awesome.

 

[cinemiracle]

I saw Poseidon Adventure at the movies too. Might be the first or second movie my parents took me to see, I was 8.

Earthquake in Sensurround was amazing.
Saw Rollercoaster to in Sensurround. Not a good movie though.

It was far superior to the dreadful EARTHQUAKE, in my opinion.

 

[David Weicker]

The Mad Magazine parody of The Towering Sterno has one of my favorite gags ever

In case you don't recognize it, that is Charlton Heston from Airport 1975 meeting Steve McQueen

 

[DFurr]

Love this movie. I worked for Malco Theatres back in the 70's and while visiting Memphis Tn (Malco's home office city) I caught a 70mm screening of Towering Inferno at the Crosstown Theatre. After all these years I remember it being a very impressive presentation. After that matinee treat we screened Young Frankenstein at another Malco location that evening. Two great movies in a single day!!

 

[Darby67]

I remember seeing this when it was first released and loved it. I own The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and Earthquake on DVD and they are all enjoyable.