All the right movies. What do we got here, Cathy?
Fire started. 81st floor storage room.
This is a bad Smoke is so thick we can't tell how far it's
spread. What about your exhaust system?
Well, it should have reversed automatically.
It must have been a motor burnout or something.
Sprinklers. They're not working on 81.
Why not? I don't know.
The fire blaze is out of control, threatening the world's
tallest skyscraper and the great and the good who have come to
visit on the night of its grand opening.
As the fire rages, an architect and a Fire Chief must put aside
their differences to save the day.
Owen Allen set Hollywood on fire with the Tower and Inferno in
the mid 70s. He assembled the biggest cast
ever, put them in the biggest disaster movie ever.
Cinema goers blew a fuse that the blockbuster that proved that
one tiny spark could become a night of blaze and suspense.
My name is Luke and the two fellas with me who always wanted
to die in bed are Matt. It's a fire, Mr. and all fires
are bad. And Westie.
What for? We got a fire.
Here, all the right movies are taking the express elevators of
the 135th floor. Hope the wire ends up the court.
Hi everyone, welcome to All the Right Movies, a podcast on
classic and hit films that we figured would never burn.
Nice. Here we are.
Yes.
Telling the story of Hollywood one film at a time.
And this time we're headed to the top floor.
It is Paul Newman. It is Steve McQueen in the
Ultimate Actor face off the Citizen Kane of disaster movies.
It is Towering Inferno. It is, Oh yeah, a very, very,
very big explosion on our hands here.
Very big. But before the party starts,
it's that time. Time to talk about becoming an
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Patreon. Lord of Choices.
One episode per floor. Yeah, exactly.
More floors than the glass tower.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Skip episode 81.
That's where it all starts. I wish this was episode 135.
Imagine. It's 132 I think.
Oh goodness. Oh no.
On top of that, if you signed up on YouTube or Patreon, you also
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Thanks everyone. Yes.
Thank you so much guys. OK, Westie, this one is your
baby. They've referenced it many times
and the pod, you've referenced it even more in the last 25
years that I've known you. Yes.
Why do you want to talk about the Taran Inferno?
I feel like I've already done this podcast, I've talked about
this film that fucking much, and I'm absolutely fine with it.
It's so easy to make notes, so easy to watch again, so easy to
revisit. I I mean The Taran Inferno is
the best film ever made. You've said that before.
Greatest film ever made. It's just wonderful.
It just sits just right with me. I mean, long time listeners will
know that my dad was in the fire brigade for 30 years.
This came out, you got to see it for free because he was in the
fire brigade when it came out. Wonderful.
And it was one of those that was just so relevant in the house.
If it was on, it was on and everyone was watching it.
Everyone had to pay attention to it.
He had a lot of respect for it because he said it was just, it
was very realistic and it just ticked all the boxes and it took
everything very, very seriously. It's a classic Sunday for me.
It's the original yellow credits film.
It's where it all started. Now I see every film with yellow
creditors. A masterpiece.
Not all of them, but the pretty close.
It's a good barometer. It has some huge actors.
At the time when I was a kid, it was like Steve McQueen and Paul
Newman are in this. Yeah, DMA.
William Holden as well at the time, Robert Vaughn.
My dad loved the Man from Uncle series.
We used to watch that. It was all of these things
coming together and it was just one of those that really stuck
with me and it was just a huge, huge influence growing up.
I just loved every single minute of it, and I still do.
I know there's lots of issues with the film.
I know that if I come to it now I'd have a very, very different
opinion. But everything I'm going to say
in the next few hours is for little Westie.
It is for little me who never really had a voice about this
and couldn't really see anything because my dad would boom over
the top of us. So now it's my turn because it
was a long run time, which meant a later bedtime and that was
always a good thing for me. So it's Put the Tower Inferno
on. It was a good little move.
I love this film from start to finish.
I won't suffer any kind of criticism whatsoever from you
guys on it. It's a perfect.
OK, right. No Christmas.
Shall we just tune out now? Just.
Tune out. Let me go for two hours.
There's half me. No, it's gone.
I mean, obviously it's a wonderful thing.
I'm really looking forward to talking about it.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys thinking
about it because I am just baked in nostalgia with this one.
Yes, it's fantastic stuff, but yes, I kind of wait to talk
about it. Grace Yeah, Well, I want to talk
about this one because I really want to know what all the fuss
is about from your point of view.
Westie Fair enough, because of course I've seen it before, but
haven't seen it for many years. Yeah, it was a staple on TV in
the 80s and 90s, particularly around, like, bank holidays.
Like you said, Westie, it's a Sunday film.
It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it never really stuck with me, and I've always been a
Poseidon Adventure kind of guy. Oh, wow, it's standard.
Yes. All right.
Elvis or The Beatles. This isn't it.
Yes, it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's got this huge reputation. Obviously, it's a damn good
adventure film, but has it aged that well?
We'll discuss, of course, Westie, and you know, yeah, take
with a pinch of salt all of our comments.
We don't really go easy. I mean, I know a lot of it's
aged like milk, but we'll see. But what is in no doubt is that
behind the scenes story, it's incredible.
Multiple camera crews, multiple directors, multiple stars,
multiple millions. It really is a landmark film and
it's well deserved of its place on the podcast and I'm very
excited to dive into all of that.
Lovely. Yeah.
I mean, I've got a lot of nostalgia for this as well as he
beats in into screams Bank Holiday Monday afternoon film
when I was a gay just always seem to be beyond.
And the weird thing is it probably shouldn't have been on
during the daytime because like every disaster film, it has
this. It's like reputation of, yeah,
it's a bit cheesy at times. It's a great spectacle, but
there's nothing much below the surface.
Having said that, that's overlooking how brutal this film
does get. I mean, it does have an end to
it. And there's more.
It's genuine and absolute horror in this.
I think that shouldn't be on during the day when kids should
be watching. It's terrifying at times.
Threads. Yeah, exactly.
What a double deal that is. Yeah, sleep tight, everyone.
But then I can watch it as an adult and I can take away the
nostalgia factor and I think there's still lots to talk
about. Me not cast a legend of the
screen in pretty much all the main roles, shattered the
boundaries of what could be captured on screen in terms of
the effects. It defined the genre.
And I can put this on now. And yes, some of it is a bit
soap opera with the dialogue and some performances which we'll
get to, but I don't care because 5 minutes of this, I'm not
turning this off unless there's an actual fire in my house.
Fantastic. OK, I can see what I'm up
against here. I love it.
See how that plays out. Yeah.
Oh God, looks like we're in the scenic elevator.
Magic. Yep.
Hanging on by a fucking. Cable, there's a helicopter
coming for you, Sir. The Towering Inferno was written
by Sterling Sullivans, directed by John Gearman, with a little
help from Owen Allen, who also produced the film for 20th
Century Fox and Warner Brothers. Distributed in theaters on
December 16th, 1974, it was shot on multiple sound stages and at
various locations in San Francisco.
It's as a glitter and who's who of talent including Paul Newman,
Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Jennifer Jones,
Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner,
Robert Vaughn and many more beautiful.
Many, many more. Including he who shall not be
named. Yes, yes, yes, eliminated.
Which is good because he disappears for half of the
fucking film. We don't know where he is.
He does he just when he gets Mrs. Albright right.
I'll see you later. I'm cooking offline, sorry
naughty. So the guests are arriving, the
champagne is flowing, and somewhere on the 81st floor
something is starting to smell a little smoky.
Let's head to the Glass Tower for the orb and act of the Tower
and Inferno. We will never love like this
again. The beginning.
A blister in open end of the film.
Paul Newman in a helicopter sweeping over the skies of San
Francisco, scored by John Williams.
It doesn't get better than this. Doesn't matter.
It certainly doesn't. I mean, this opening credit
sequence is so unnecessarily massive and massively
unnecessary. I mean, it's telling her from
the off this film is going big. Look how massive those titles
are booming that soundtrack. Yes.
And Wesley, I'm so glad you've confirmed This is why your love
of Yellow title started, because it was going to ask you.
Everything is massively. I mean, how fucking long is this
helicopter journey? Where's he coming from?
He's flying over the coast. He's flying over mountains, over
woods, over the Golden Gate Bridge.
And then at one point, just for the sheer ego of this opening
sequence, he's flying next to a boat on the river.
Like, I'm no expert, but flying that close to a board for
absolutely zero reason is surely illegal or at the very least
found upon. And it's like, Nah, get it down
there. Get it in there and it's a
helicopter shooting a helicopter.
Outrageous. 2 helicopters, 0 health and safety concerns here,
and then we get that first shot of the tower.
Newman's huge grain when we see it, and then we're introduced to
Duncan, their convoy. That sets their characters up
really well because we've got 2 tropes here.
This is Doug's last day in the job, and this is the greatest
achievement of Duncan's career. Great and fine.
I know who these two guys are immediately and where their
story's going straight away. But then we go into Doug's
office and he's harassed by everyone there because they've
all got questions. Doug, what about this?
What about that? And this then the secretary is
just, are you taking any calls? Because you know, you know, she
knows what's up. Because then we meet Susan
exactly within two minutes. Just drag them into bed.
And what kind of office is this with the pimps bedroom out the
back? It's absolutely outrageous.
Fantastic. But honestly, if that was me and
I knew, I've got half a dozen people with lots of questions,
I've got a secretary 100 yards here who knows exactly what I'm
doing. Don't think I could concentrate
on the job at hand, even if it is fair done away.
But you know, that's why he's poor and human and I'm not.
Yeah, outraged dialogue as well, where he's being dragged into
the bedroom. I've got about $140 worth of
vulgar underwear for you. Yeah, 140 dollars.
Yeah. Really specific.
Catherine Ross, Raquel Welch and Natalie Wood were all offered
the role of Susan Franlin before Dunaway snagged it.
Wood turned it down because she was pregnant and she said the
script was mediocre. Wow.
Ouch. Yeah.
You know, I can, I can see where she's going.
I. Can see where she's coming from
and being, yeah, I mean being, being pregnant's a problem.
Yes, All right. No, that's not the script, you
know. No, I thought that, yeah, I, I
think it's kind of sorry to start off here, but I think it's
kind of the epitome of too many cooks.
The cast is crowned with talent, and Faye Dunaway is right at the
top of that cast. But this material is, it's weak.
It's weak for her. Yeah, it doesn't serve very
well, does it? Doesn't at all.
In certain promotional material she was even referred to as the
girlfriend. Wow.
Yeah. Crazy, yeah.
And an article published by Warren is at the time of release
claimed that the glass towel was the building of the future.
Not just the exteriors, but the interiors, which are, they said,
dominated by eye-catching geometrical patterns and
designs, feature many of the architectural IDs and plans of
tomorrow in TV. Furnishings are both
contemporary and futuristic. Well, just.
Orange. Yeah, a lot of orange.
Yeah, that's. Orange and brown, Orange and.
Brown fucking get it. So dated it was dating as soon
as it was shot. Yeah, after we get, you know,
the the deeds been done. He's concentrated on.
It's Paul Newman after all. It's going, it's going to get,
it's going to get done probably twice.
Let's be honest with you. Yeah.
And then we get a phone call straight out of there.
A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Can I just say that this film is quintessentially 70s?
It's so 70s. It's ridiculously 70s.
And it's so masculine, it's almost hard to watch with
anybody else. But just me sitting there just
saying this is a great film, right?
And yeah. Yeah, it is Wesley.
I know it is Wesley. It's great watch it with anyone
else and trying to justify it, as I'm going to have to going
through this podcast is going to get progressively more
difficult. But I want to highlight it now
that I am aware of how unbelievably masculine and how
unbelievably stupid most of this film is.
So I'll just leave that there. So he turns up this outfit when
he's walking through. I mean, come on, Flair.
It looks an absolute treat, right?
Still doing his covering straight out of the urgency at
the Duncan's office. It's absolutely fantastic, the
dialogue here. And it's just like, he's so like
condescending and just so brilliant at his job, Doug,
isn't he? He's like, well, how many did
you say? How many?
How many do I have to? You know what I mean?
It's just I want to talk to that son.
And Laurie owes his genius. It's obviously not my problem.
Wagner comes in. Dan Bigelow, right?
What a guy. Dan Bigelow, go wait until you
see this. Just massive scissors.
What's so good about that? The box is more impressive than
this is, as I always thought that.
And then it's like, you get that, but we almost had a fire
and yeah, a fire. But as the audience, you know
for a fact, there's going to be a fucking fire.
So you're like, yes, but there's going to be 1 and everyone's
already annoyed. The fact that there's going to
be a fire, it's amazing. And then Will's really worried
about safety, so you know he's going to be the first one out of
there. We should have put this back a
couple of months. It's like, yeah, well, he's
fucked. What's going on?
So that's absolutely brilliant. Simmons is out.
It can't wait. This is too much of an
emergency. So obviously Doug's just
straight out of there. Gets a taxi.
Classic San Francisco estate class.
Looks a beautiful house. It looks absolutely incredible.
Tells the taxi to wait. He doesn't know how long he's
going to be. There's some of the money this
guy's got. How much stamp this guy's got on
the whole world. Don't go anywhere.
The taxi driver as well, obviously, that's Doug.
The architecture. I'm going fucking no way.
I'm waiting here all night. Absolutely amazing.
And then he has a little bit of a chat, comes in, He's not going
to tell her because she's a woman.
She wouldn't understand. Yeah, even though it's Duncan's
daughter, like the guy who just just very aware of what's going
on. Who's going there tonight as?
Well, yeah, she's going there tonight.
And Simmons is, you know, that's her husband.
She's she was quite aware, but she's just not telling her what
he's doing. What did you do at work today?
You shut the fuck up. It's like, no, I'm not telling
you. Where did you get that wiring
from? B&Q.
I'm not telling you Wicks doesn't go into any event.
You just shoved in the corner. It's absolutely class.
But then it's just this real kind of machismo back and forth
and you're not having a drink right now.
What are you drinking? He's like, that's very far,
isn't he? You bet you.
I love that. But he just, and it's just this
confrontation between the two of them and he just shows Simmons
up right in front of his wife. It's going to take someone with
a little bit more clout than you to make us do my office. 9:00
tomorrow. Bye.
See you later. He's like, oh fuck's sake.
Sitting next to her, he's just shown right up.
He's just made an absolute fool of himself.
And she actually turned. Well, we need some reasons to
stay married. And he just ignores the question
completely. Oh, OK, we're going to be late,
idiot. Of course we're going to stay
married or else you're going to do.
It's just, again, really condescending.
But he just says he doesn't need God's help.
He doesn't need our old man's. I'm not going to jump over time.
Daddy barks. And you can tell this character
is just set up so slimy, but so quickly.
It's like you're not giving a chance.
No point in trying to bond any kind of relationship or any kind
of character depth. You know who everybody is.
It's so on the surface, but I just fucking love that.
Nothing else. No, no bullshit.
He's a Dick. He's a hero.
Gee, that's it. Straight down the line.
No Shades of Grey whatsoever. No, nothing.
What's it's a black and white. It's a catastrophe fill and
orange. You know exactly where you're
coming from. The black, white, orange, brown,
yellow, brown, even the helicopters orange.
Doug's wearing orange. He's wearing aviators.
He's not even flying the thing. I, I mean, I couldn't adore this
anymore. And we're only like, what, 15
minutes in? Yeah, yeah.
So with all of this going on in the background, it's night time.
The gala evening starts. We're told the entire city is in
holiday mood. Leaders of government show up,
stars a screen in television. Robert Vaughan shows up as the
senator. Absolute joy to see that.
Brilliant, He's. Great in this as well he's.
Amazing. So it's all smiles for the
crowds and the camera, but what Gearman does as director and his
cast do very well as well as portrayed the rising concern
that's going on just under the surface.
The relationship between Duncan and Simmons seems strained to
begin with, even without this. Yeah, I guess nobody is good
enough for his daughter. Especially not this greasy idiot
clown. Yeah, greasy is the word.
And that suit, that brand suit. Horrible.
Didn't realize I was on such a tight leash.
Yeah, that bit of licorice in the licorice, all sorts that you
always leave that brown one. That's the guy that's amazing.
So this is a great set of for the for the showdown that they
have in the the third act and the little niggle and arguments
that they have all the way through the narrative.
Really good dialogue. Great delivery from Horton.
When I get the time, I want to ask you a few questions and I
expect some straight answers. Yes.
Come on. No nonsense.
And then Mayor Ramsey shows up with his wife.
His wife is played by Sheila Matthew Allen, Irwin's wife.
That's right, A. Little bit of nepotism in there.
Very. Nice.
And then the big reveal. The lights go on, the skyline is
forever changed and Williams music blows up into something
quite spectacular. It's triumphant, but because we
know what's rumbling under beneath the 135th floor, there's
this horrible sense of dread. These luminaries are effectively
being taken to their doom. Yeah, there's a real sense of
dread building here. And when we do get into the
party, some really wonderful wide shots, which almost feels
like there's something or someone stalking the guests that
they're not aware of. Whether that's intentional or
not, I'm not too sure, but it works an absolute treat.
It does, yeah. I don't, I really don't think
that's intentional. But now you mention it does have
this kind of creeping feeling to it.
It's like, yeah, it's prowling around just in the.
Background It's when all the lights go on, if you turned all
of the lights on in your house before and how unsettling that
feels like all of the big lights.
And the glass tower itself all 138 floors of it was built as a
70 foot miniature at the Fox Ranch in Malibu constructed at
half inch scale and that's roughly the height of A5 story
building, which gives you some sense of the scale that we're
working at evening miniature that's.
Crazy five story building. A miniature of this build that's
that's some construction that's massive.
The centerpiece of the whole production was the the promenade
deck, the rooftop party era where all the party that well,
the 135th floor. Yes, it covered more than 11,000
square feet of sound stage and cost over $300,000 to build.
And it was completely destroyed by thousands of gallons of
Russian water in the final scene, just 300 grand down the
drain. Destroyed the way Destroyed.
I mean, there was everything, but eight of the sets were
destroyed or something. Wasn't that?
Yeah. That's right, just.
Destroyed. What do you think?
And that set being so big, they had to build a 10 foot off the
ground so the water had a run out.
So not only was it that big that had to build a 10, just 10 foot
up. All right, no problem.
Make it even harder. That's crazy.
I mean, there are stories about the construction and the special
effects, which Hollywood firsts all the way through this.
Film Ludicrous. And to give the impression of
being 135 stories above San Francisco, it was encircled by a
340 foot cyclorama painting. And the flickering lights of the
city below were achieved by punching small holes in the back
end and placing the lights behind them.
The shimmer on the water was created by cutting thin slits in
the canvas and hanging silk strips behind them as well.
Moved by actual wind fans. I mean, Thailand has taken an
influence from that of the stars.
Just pin holes in the curtain of night.
That's exactly what he references here.
Who knows? I.
Can't believe, I cannot believe. Westie, you've managed to get a
Highlander quote in the can you not Highlander quote can.
You not. The Matt Payton of San Francisco
skyline created for the film was later reused as the backdrop of
Kirk's apartment in Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, and three,
The Search for Spock, Right, A little shout out for John there.
Yes, he'll love that. His fear for a bit.
Yeah, yeah. In Taught, the film was shot
across 57 sets spread across 8 of Fox's largest sound stages.
I mean, Epic doesn't come near it.
Yeah, it's huge. Massive.
Like we'll keep saying, yeah, everything about this is
massive. So the party in full swing, the
champers is spilling all over the place.
But that's not the only thing. No.
The relative calm of the party isn't mirrored downstairs as
Doug is getting more and more animated.
The fire quickly spreads out of control, and we're talking about
the efforts to stifle the blaze and the introduction to the King
of Cool. Over to you first though, Matt.
Oh right, not me first. Though.
We'll build up to that though, so we'll start at the bottom
with Matt. Fair enough.
That is understandable. Just to be clear though, Matt
the King of Cool isn't on this short.
I'm making reference just in a quick.
Super quit, obviously, yeah. Yeah, it's McQueen.
It's not Westy. Yeah, Although, you know, pretty
cool. Thanks mate, I mean I didn't
expect it to be, that would be ridiculous.
King. Cool.
But firstly you'll have to do with Matt.
Oh yeah, Matt. Here we go, here we go.
That's fair enough. It's how matter of fact this
starts though, because that security guard, it goes to
unlock the door because he sees the smoke coming out the bottom
of it. And you understand him because
if you don't know about these things, you would assume, well,
that looks like it's just going to be a relatively small fire
and it's not going to rush out of the door out yet.
Yeah. And you mentioned like upstairs,
those kind of creeping camera movements.
Like at times it almost feels like this has got the structure
of a slasher. It's like hiding around the
corner to jump out at people. Definitely in this moment.
But the key thing here is it's setting its stall out early as
to what they're going to show you because will, as we've said,
he he's been mocked for death from as soon as we've seen him
and he comes to the rescue to push the guard out the way.
And you get that quote from Norman Burton, who plays well,
then obviously to the stuntman put the stuntman gets set on
fire in the next shot itself. It doesn't cut through him
already been on fire, which is a bit of a cheat, an
understandable one, but is a bit of a cheat in this film is
saying no. Were you going to set people on
fire? In short, to an extent you've
never seen before, and this is only the start of it.
And I think that's just so important to the success of the
film and how impactful it still is.
And then we're into classic disaster movie tropes.
Dog trying to tell Duncan to move the party.
Duncan nor have none of it. He's just got the kind of
corporate concerns. You know, it's outline of
dialogue. I'm not going to concern myself
with the finest story of 81 because it can't possibly affect
us up here. I mean, that's the Hubis for you
that you just know that's going to be punished.
He's going to regret saying that so much.
But you know, is it on the North?
Yes. But I don't really care because
this is the genre. And when it's Paul Newman and
William Holden having this back and forth, they can make
anything work. Yeah, exactly.
Great moment. And now we know we're mean
business as well with that fire blaze, Yeah.
Yeah, so from there, the fire, it started, and it's a real
problem. All fires are bad, but we need
the introduction of the guys who are going to come and try and
fix this horrible problem. So we've got this incredible
moment. Absolutely love it, on the back
of the fire truck where we've got these two that we're going
to follow through the whole film.
Yeah, they're not just these faceless people who are just
going into it and they've actually got a personality and
they set that up from the start. And then we go Halloran coming
in. And every time this happens,
every time that car drove in, my mom would just say he is the
guy. Every single time.
Absolutely love McQueen in this. My dad, my dad, like, shuffle in
the chair. Here he is.
He has the boy. Brilliant.
That's me. That's me on screen.
That's me right there, yeah. That's why your mom liked this.
In Gateshead Dad, it's just absolutely fantastic the way he
comes in and there's just that dynamic he's already got with
Newman, and McQueen and Newman are already paid each other.
There was this real ego clash, but you can see it here.
But I think it really works for the characters because he comes
up, Kathy comes in with this is Roberts, he's the architect.
And he just ignores him completely.
He said what we got and he's wants to talk to his boy and
what I've forgot, you tell me what's going on.
But I do feel sorry for Doug here because it isn't his fault.
No, it's saying he's done everything that he should have
done. But then again, he should have
been off fucking gallivanting wherever he was gallivant.
And you just get that great moment in the lift, that moment
of quiet, and you just get the fact to say there's no way for
us to fight a fire over the 7th floor.
And that just hits home. And just think of how many
buildings have over 7 floors in this world.
And it's like everything's unsafe.
And you get that return line from Doug's that you're here to
take me on the fire, which I think was like, the whole
production is like, who's going to win this?
Is it me or is it you? And it's a real good mirror of,
you know, art reflects life. Life reflects art.
It's really, really brilliant. When they get the 79th floor,
which is like 2 floors below the fire, that's where they're going
to set up the forward base. And he goes down and McQueen
looking over these whole blueprints and I just love that
you saw, look, he's got the actual architects there with
him. Like the architects not in the
party. Like he's actually there with
him. He could go over the full
schematics 12345 and names everything and rattles all this
shit off and you don't know what he's talking about.
They're talking about pipes and the ceiling and all this and
they're just going at each other and you just think this is
great. I don't know what to talk about.
The sound like 2 absolutely professionals, like the
dialogue's brilliant. And then we get that moment with
audio. Simpson comes in and he's like,
well, it's all right, Everyone's been evacuated.
I want to know who they are, not where they are and why is that
important Now this always reminds us of me Dad.
I'm sorry I'm not mentioning that all way through it, but
there's just absolutely reminds us of it when he just, he would
always have an answer for something where it's like, is
there any wool or silk manufacturers will or silk give
off silent gases? Is there any ping pong
manufacturers? Do you give off toxic gas?
Do you want to keep going on the line?
And he always had that answer for something else where he just
think, all right, and you're humbled immediately.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just really hit home,
like the professionalism of this guy, the heroism of this guy.
They both know the jobs that both need to get on.
But there's this conflict between them.
And that's why I really love them both meeting.
Grace yeah, great interplay between the two, really good
setup and you can feel that all the way through the rest of the
film as well. Yeah.
So with O'halleran calling the shots, he goes up to the 135th
floor to speak to Mr. Duncan. The image of him coming out of
that elevator, short sleeve shirt, blue collar worker, he
looks so out of place amongst these rich types, but he's not
fazed by that in the slightest. Duncan, one of the most powerful
men in the city, I would imagine.
Yeah, but O'halloran has him for breakfast.
Yeah, he. Really does great dialogue here
as well. Like we've talked about how bad
is it? It's a fire, Mr. and all fires
are bad, yeah. Brilliant.
Yeah, put that in the trailer. Yeah, O'harran just will not
relent Duncan at all, who's just trying to flex his muscles, and
he basically just dismisses everything.
I see the mayor's out there. Do you want me to pull rank on
you where there's a fire arrow? Everybody here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Really great delivery, no
history. Onyx.
Cool delivery, puts Duncan right in his place.
Yeah, and he concedes to address the crowd, but not before Dragon
Simmons away from his table to give him another going over.
Another grill. But they said, I mean, he's just
as plain as Dave Duncan says is the fires caused by anything
that you did. I'm going to hang you out to dry
and then I'm going to hang you. Different delivery style of
McQueen, but just as memorable. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But Simmons, just admit straight away.
Did you change some of the electrical specs of the
building? Yes, I did.
You know why I. Certainly did.
It's horrible. Isn't he fucking?
Dick drunk already. Prick.
Duncan's rattled, but he addresses the crowd with
absolute confidence. The going to move the party to
the Continental Room, but he promises that dinner will not be
delayed. Yeah.
Don't make promises. You can't keep that.
Yeah. That's gonna be fucking burnt.
Well. Done really well done that
steak. So this is great story beat it
establishes or Halloran is the one in charge of choice.
The cracks in the father son-in-law relationship.
And Duncan's address puts the crowd in the picture as well.
Yeah, some great conflict and images of the party in full
swing upstairs and the fire raging downstairs just to
reinforce the threat. It's common for you.
Yeah. Really, really good.
Yeah, it's brilliant. I love Halloran's intelligence
here as well. He takes off that uniform in the
lift, so he doesn't spark any kind of panic.
He just takes everything off. It just goes in normal.
I love that. So Halloran seems to have the
situation under control, with Duncan eventually listening to
Sense, but at what cost? And what cost indeed the
director? The story of the director on the
Terran Inferno is a complicated 1.
John Gem and his creditors as the official director, with
producer Irwin Allen directing the action sequences.
Quarter of what? Very good laser beam.
So I suppose we're talking about the direction as a whole here
and we'll get into the weeds of the behind the scenes story in a
little while. Yeah.
Firstly, Westy, yeah. Your thoughts on the direction
on the Tower and Inferno? John Gillman, Did he direct it?
Feels to me like a poltergeist situation.
I think he did the best he could with what he had.
I mean, there's not a lot to have a lot of time to develop
characters or relationships or the emotional beats come from
the action sequences. I guess you are the deaths that
are in there, a lot of the aftermath of the action
sequences. So he has to kind of understand
how they've been shot, where they're coming from, so we can
deal with that. I mean, he does really, really
well with some of them. I think the most important
relationship is the one of Fred Astaire with Mrs. Mueller.
I think that's that's a wonderful reflection of that.
You know, they think they're too old for all of this shenanigans
of Dayton and being together. And he's a con man with a heart
of gold and he can't go through with it.
And she's trying to make him into a good person.
And she is naturally. And they've just got this such
like a beautiful bond together immediately that really works
for me as like as a real human relationship in the middle of
them. But then you've got, you know,
Doug's relationship. And like you say, if he had done
away, that's just his girlfriend, that'll do.
You've got just friends with his wife.
She'll do. You know, there's all of these
moments where it just, it feels a little bit convoluted where
these relationships don't really matter because everyone feels
kind of expendable to the point where there's so much going on,
you can't really care about one or the other because they're
not, they're not given enough time.
And I think another really good thing, if this is directed by
two different people, you cannot really see them apart from an
obvious action sequence like an explosion.
Bang right now and stop everything.
He takes over, press play again. I don't think that's the way
it's gone on, but I think with this being 2 DPS as well, the
non action sequences do complement the action sequences
in the way that the look and the way that the feel and the way
that the shot. There is a little bit of moving
camera in there. There is the same, it's the same
lens choice, it's the same kind of wide angle, it's the same
kind of skulk around. It doesn't feel like 2 separate
directors. It doesn't feel like 2 separate
films. I think it's a real, real work
of technical prowess and to be honest, watching it, it probably
needed to direct us. Yeah, yeah, that big.
It's huge, yeah, particularly with the cast.
Richard Chamberlain, who plays Simmons, some of the production,
he said the way Erwin got all the stars is that he paid them a
lot of money. The set was like a perpetual
analyst party. I've never seen so many glitter
people in one place. Nice.
From a cash point of view, it's probably the biggest that
there's ever been up until that point at least.
Up to that point, yeah. It's competing for certain.
Yeah, it's up there. Yeah.
For me, the directing story of the Tower and Inferno is really
a story about what Gammon was up against.
I think very similar what you say in Westie when you lay it
all out. An enormous cast, older man in
their moment, multiple storylines simultaneously affect
sequences of a scale that never really been attempted before,
and the small matter of sharing directorial duties with your
producer. The remarkable thing isn't that
the film's got flaws, it's that it's held together very, very
well considering all of these, like, too many cooks, as we
mentioned earlier. And that, I think, is down to
game. And he's the glue that's
bringing everything together. Yeah, the tension builds
methodically once the fire takes hold, and it never lets up.
He keeps the sticks clear even when we're cutting between half
a dozen different storylines. And.
And he makes the glass tower feel like a real living,
breathing place before a single thing goes wrong.
This feels like a real location. It does, yeah.
It's really important that the geography of it, you need to
understand the building to feel its scale before you can feel
the danger. And I think he nails that before
the fire starts raging. Yeah.
I'm going to skirt around things, Westie.
I'll try and soften the blow, OK?
But I'm going to have to be honest at certain points, all
right? Yes, you are.
I'm I'm aware of that. It is an enormous, bloated toad
of a film, bursting at the seams with actors who really have no
business here. When you've got Newman, McQueen,
Holden, Dunaway, Jones and a Stair all needing their moment
in the sun, something's got to give.
Like I've said, Dunaway feels particularly like she's wandered
in from a slightly different film and there are some sort of
plots that you feel the weird of really, why are they here?
Why are we doing this? The film's 2 1/2 hours, it could
be slimmed down. And I know that's me saying
obviously Mr. 90 Minute, but it could do with a tune up
specifically you seen coming later that that I'll mention.
Yeah, yeah, I can't argue that. I mean, that's absolutely, yeah.
That's the absolute truth. Course it could.
OK, fine. OK.
Exploded. Didn't want to be harsh.
Yeah, but using, you know, references like Toad doesn't
really sit well with me, but that's fine.
Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad.
So I'd argue that the bloated nature of the production, it's
less a directorial failure and more an inevitable consequence
of the deal that had to be made to get this film off the ground.
I think Guillermo was handed a pretty much impossible brief
from Erwin Allen. The fact that the Tarrant
Inferno is as coherent and as tense as it is, given everything
working against it, I think is a real achievement.
John Gammon doesn't get nearly enough credit for that, and I
think it's about bloody town that we give him it so.
Yeah, absolutely. Matt, what about you?
Direction on the film, wherever it's coming from.
Well, that's the thing, it's difficult, isn't it?
Who was exactly responsible for what?
It's tricky to pass it, particularly when you look at
this filmography. You know he's such a journey
when this is such a unusual film on his filmography.
Mean he's doing death on the now, which I like a lot, but
very much also now you've got Shaft in Africa and Tarzan goes
to India. So yeah, we're unlikely to talk
about him again. Yeah, you know.
Don't get your hopes. Well known character goes
somewhere else, yeah. For a poor sequel, Poor.
Sequel. Yeah.
So it's clearly a journeyman, but that's maybe what you need
here. It's not, you know, you don't
need an author here. It's not about imprinting their
particular vision. It's just the type of film this
is. It has a template, and Gullibin
follows that template to AT however much really actually did
or not. The actors look great when it
needs to gather pace. Does the tension really works?
He doesn't go straight in with a huge explosion to kick this
thing off. It starts so innocuously, and it
just gets worse and worse and bigger and bigger until everyone
is in peril. And that's really effective
because he just keeps an audience on a very tight leash.
And you can't overestimate what a grand scale he's working on
here. You know, once that fire gets
out of control, it is set piece after set piece and every single
one of them is nailed, even if it is Owen Allen who had the
kind of bigger control over them.
And it's worth remembering they're genuinely working with
actual fire here. This is not CGI.
It's well before that, so there's no fakery.
So when you see like Dan's office really go up, that first
shot of it is terrifying because it looks so out of control and
it's so big. That wide shot, if the fireman
trying to douse it down, it's incredible.
So no, we're not going to sit and say this is really personal
filmmaking and there's a story to get into, but not every film
has to be personal. What every film has to be
something that stands the test of time.
And if it does, and I think it does, then Guilleman deserves a
lot of prayers for that. Absolutely.
Hear you, hear you. Props at last.
Definitely. Now, we've mentioned them a
number of times and we'll continue to.
Oh, and Alan, producer, director of the action sequences.
He had form in the genre already.
He'd already made a name for himself on TV, creating gems
like Voyage, the Bottom of the Sea in Lost in Space.
And in 1972, he produced The Poseidon Adventure.
You know, classic cruise ship disaster flick Gene Hackman,
Ernest Bognine, a very wet Shelly Windows.
It was a smash. So for his next one, he went
much bigger. But the way the Tower and
Infernal came together is one of the strangest stories in
Hollywood history. I think it's very lucky that it
even exists. So both Fox and Warner Brothers
had independently been developing skyscraper disaster
movies at the same time Warner's had got their first If I Were In
Richard Martin Stearns novel The Tower in April 1973.
After a fierce bidding war, Warner's eventually paid
somewhere between 350,000 and 390,000, depending on which
account you believe. Either way, serious money for an
unpublished book in 1973. Huge money, yeah.
And Fox haven't missed out, submitted a second novel 8 weeks
later, Thomas N Scotia and Frank M Robinson's The Glass Inferno.
Allen was on board to produce, considering his track record,
and when he read the book, he was immediately sucked by the
narrative. He described it as having the
same sort of characters, the same locale, the same story, the
same conclusion as the tower. And Fox paid reported $400,000
for it. Of course, this left Alan with a
headache. 2 Studios, 2 books, both about a skyscraper on fire.
If they both made their films and released them around the
same time, they'd kill each other at the box office.
Yeah, yeah, he'd seen it happen before, he said to Oscar Wilde
Biopics in 1960. Neither of which did the
business either might have done on its.
Own. Yeah, yeah.
So instead of a race, he broke out a partnership, something
Hollywood never seen before. First of its kind.
Fox and Warner's agreed to split the costs evenly, pool both
source novels into a single script in Co produced the film.
Fox took domestic distribution, Warner's got foreign
distribution. Incredible.
Your groundbreaking stuff. It really was, yeah.
Reportedly, Warner studio head Ted Ashley played tennis with
Fox studio head Gordon Stulberg and they broke the deal between
sets. Yeah, nice.
First joint production between two major studios in Hollywood
history. Great stuff.
And Alan wanted to direct the whole thing himself, so he went
to Fox president Gordon Stolberg and asked for that.
But Stolberg refused, aware that directing actors was not his
fault here. But he wasn't offered a
compromise, though. Alan could direct all the action
sequences and a second director would be brought in to handle
the dramatic scenes with the cast.
Yes, that's right. The arrangement was similar to
how the Poseidon Adventure had worked with Alan and Ronald Neem
Sharon duties there as well, right?
Right. So the man brought in as the
official director, as we've discussed, was John Gillman.
He was hired because of his 25 years in the business directing
films like Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, Sky Jacket and as
Matt said, Shaft in Africa. What a classic.
Similar to that Poseidon director Ronald Neem.
He was a no nonsense British director who ran a good tight
ship. So Guilleman directed all
dialogue, character development, drama and non action narrative.
This included the party scenes, the discovery of wiring
problems, Newman and Dunaway's romance, the corporate tension
between Holden in Chamberlain and a stairs courtship of
Jennifer Jones. Yeah, brilliant.
All the boring stuff. Allen, on the other hand, he's
directed all fire sequences, explosions, stunt work, the
elevated disaster, the helicopter crash and the
detonation of the water tanks. I'll do all the good stuff.
Yeah, yeah, while firing a fucking handgun into the
ceiling. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Yeah, he did. I'll get a reaction from you.
Get that underway out of the suitcase.
But the collaboration with Alan left deep scars.
Varieties original review praised the film as a personal
and professional triumph for producer Owen Allen and more
subsequent press treated as an Irwin Allen film.
In the 1977 LA Times interview, Yemen said.
I wanted to fight it because, damn it, I made that picture.
But I let the studio talk me out of it.
They said it would only hurt business.
But I was wrong. I should have fought.
Tricky one. He's been compromised, hasn't
he? Unfortunately, yeah.
And as we're talking about classic disaster movies, we're
talking about the likes of the Tarrant Inferno, the Poseidon
Adventure. We're going to segue into our
first Patreon question, which we mentioned at the top.
Our first one comes from Gareth Binmore.
Hi, Gareth. Gareth.
Gareth says when you compare the classic disaster films like the
Tarrant Inferno to modern spectacle driven movies like San
Andreas or 2012, do improve visual effects actually make the
film better? Or do the old movies feel more
tense and believable because they relied on practical effects
and strong characters? Which style of disaster movies
works best for you? Great question, Gareth.
Yeah, good one. Thank you, Matt, over to you.
What do you think? I mean, I think I know the
answers from all three, but. Yeah, I mean, come on.
Yeah, it's practical all day long because he wanted rooted in
believability. I mean, just saying that the
build the promenade 10 foot off the floor for the water already
the actors are going to be tense because you're going to be like,
oh God, don't get near the edge. I'm 10 foot from the fall.
That's going to feed into the performance.
Not really. And you know, I'm not trying to
be an old farty and just hop on, but the good old days before CJ
because it does just have a place where it has a place where
it needs to be something that can't be done practically or it
doesn't matter if it doesn't have the tangible leave
practical effects or the use of CGI and Lord of the Rings.
So Star Wars, that's fine because that's fantasy.
The clues in the title. So, you know, when I watch
Return of the King, I don't need to believe Dennah thought is on
fire and that in the same way I need to believe Dan Bigelow is
on fire in this. It's two different things.
And that's the key. People here genuinely on fire
because it's practical effects and therefore you know how
dangerous that is. And that's what gives it that
edge and that believability. Similarly, for me, it's
practical effects every time, and I hope my hands up are like
the old fart thing that you said, Matt.
It's almost certainly because of my age, which I grew up in the
80s, and the films I fell in love with were built on
ingenuity and craft. Real locations, real stunts,
real consequences. When something goes wrong on
screen, you feel it because on some level, you know, it
actually happened in front of the camera in some way or
another. There is a wonderful little film
called Roller Coaster Disaster Film.
George Siegel. Yeah.
If you haven't seen it, seek it out.
I mean, it's as rickety as the roller coaster cut themselves,
but every imperfection is visible.
It's a real location, real effects.
And that goes on enormous, where you're genuinely on the edge
because the danger feels tangible.
Yeah. And compare that to something
like San Andreas, where entire cities are crumbling, inglorious
CGI and just don't feel the same tension.
It's spectacular, course, But spectacular intense, I think,
are two different things. Yeah.
When everything is possible, nothing really feels dangerous.
Exactly. What about USC hat Rick?
Yeah, it absolutely is a hat, Rick.
But I think there's reasoning behind this now.
And I don't think it's as simple as to dive back in and say
things aren't the way they used to be and they should be,
because I don't think they can be.
I think there's been, there's been, yeah, there's been gaps
bridged between certain elements of these things actually coming
together and really working and remembering when they really
came together to work were absolutely groundbreaking.
I think the problem is there's just this illusion now of the
practical, and I think that's been overtaken and people don't
quite know where to draw the line.
I think audiences are too savvy now.
They know too much about production.
There's too much behind the scenes going on.
They know that everything is CGI, then everything's VFX.
I think if you use it where it bridges the gap between the two
of them. And the two most notable films
that I can remember see and I was Jurassic Park, which is a
disaster film whether you like it or not.
And that bridges a gap beautifully between computer
effects and practical effects. That works lovely.
And the one that I think was the last great disaster film was
Titanic, which was 97. And that bridges a gap
beautifully between practical and computer effects.
You don't really know what's what and where that works.
And I think there is a place for it, but don't try and world
build, build your world physically and add the elements.
That can't be done because it's too dangerous, not because it's
spectacular visually. There's no reason why they can't
use practical effects up to the point where it's unsafe and then
replace. That was something else.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Great question, Gareth.
Yes, thank you. Yeah, good to be.
Thank you. Yes, a good one, yeah.
And that wraps us up on the director under difficult
circumstances, Junkie Emmon alongside her when Allen created
box office gold with consistency, huge movie stars
and incredible special effects. Indeed, the cast.
The cast of The Terran Inferno is a fascinating mix of the old
and the new face of Hollywood, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones and
William Holden versus McQueen, Newman and Dunaway.
We're covering both camps here, starting with Paul Newman as
Doug Roberts. Over to you, Matt.
I mean, he's Paul fucking Newman.
What else needs to be said? Paul de Vogan Newman, by the
way. I mean.
They're like fucking by. The.
Way, the reason why the custom works so well in terms of the
big names here is because none of them should be here in this
like this type of film should be below them all.
Newman, McQueen, Dunray, Holden, all of them have such critically
acclaimed creates at this point. I mean, obviously apart from I
imagine a sizeable paycheck, you do go a little bit.
Why are they in this? That's the master circle.
Because it's material. They think, well, they wouldn't
normally go near this, but because they do, they bring an
element of weight and class to it.
And that's certainly true of human.
I mean, let's face it, on the page, he's a walk in cliche, you
know, the driven architect, incredibly handsome, beautiful
woman on his arm leaps into action without a second thought
when the shit hits the fan, scrambling up, you know, the
devastated stairwell and all that.
There's nothing new here really. But you give it a human and it's
just magic on screen. Whose Newman is that perfect
combination of? He was a genuinely great actor,
but he was also a true movie star at the same time.
And he could modulate between the two whatever the material
needed. So this is Paul Newman is movie
star rather than great actor because that's what it needs.
He's got such magnetism, such gravitas, like your heart is in
your mouth when he's dangling off that room staircase because
he makes you believe in the peril.
Because if Paul Newman is committing to this, you commit
to it as an audience as well in terms of your investment.
So is this top five in human performances in terms of
complexity or depth? Absolutely not.
But it's iconic and the film wouldn't work without them.
Because this is Paul fucking Human we're talking about.
Absolutely. He takes architecture.
It makes it cool. Like an.
Exactly. Yeah, a friend of mine is an
architect. I mean, Paul Newman runs the
show. We may couldn't run a fucking
bath. I'm telling you, I wouldn't want
it anywhere in the area. Obviously you can't talk about
Paul Newman without talking about Steve McQueen, and we will
be getting to him later, but they are interlocked and there's
a fascinating story. This isn't the first time the
two acting Titans had appeared in a movie together.
McQueen made his uncredited debut in the 1956 box and biopic
Somebody Up There Likes Me, in which Newman played Rocky
Graziano. It was a small blink and you'll
miss it role and McQueen allegedly never forgot being in
Newman's shadow. So when the two of the mended up
as Co leads on the tower and Inferno who was never going to
be. Straightforward.
No. No, because originally McQueen
was set to play Doug Roberts. Through all that eventually went
inhuman and the fight chief has written.
The first draft was a much smaller part and had been
earmarked for Ernest Bognine, fresh off the Poseidon venture.
But McQueen had other ideas. Yes, yes, that's right.
John Kierman said. Steve felt the role of architect
was pierced together. He said if somebody of my
caliber can play the architect, I'll play the Fire Chief, right.
And that's where the idea that has Paul Newman gave me, Yeah.
Before that, though, McQueen had apparently suggested Clint
Eastwood, Jack Nicholson and Robert Redford as possible Co
leads before Newman came aboard. Yeah, just who's the biggest
actor of the time? Yeah.
Who can you think of one of those?
Yeah. Amazing.
By taking the Fire Chief, McQueen insured that his
character didn't appear until about the 45 minute mark.
Newman had burned through almost half of his lines before McQueen
even walked on screen. And from that point on, McQueen
dominated, Calling all the shots, ordering, dug around.
Yeah. Genius move, he.
Orchestrated it all? Yeah, clever.
And Newman later admitted he'd been out manoeuvred, he said.
For the first time I fell for the goddamn numbers.
I did this Turkey for 1,000,010% of the gross but it's the first
and last time I swear. Right.
Calling this a Turkey, it's quite, quite something.
It is like the billing situation was its own diplomatic incident
as well. McQueen demanded.
Equal billing, equal lines, equal pay, $1 million and then
record for both and an equal percentage of the box office
profits, Right. The Sterling Sullivan counting
Newman's lines and wrote McQueen 12 additional ones to match.
Yeah. That's equal for you, apparently
brought him back off vacation to write 12 lines.
Counted the middle of the script.
These trailer, get back here, get me 12 lines.
If you think of the lines McQueen has one of them is.
That's what I'm worried about over there.
All that glass and those beams. That's one of these lines.
Yeah, yeah. Filler.
Lying about ping pong balls. Not King Kong's balls.
I would have loved that in there so it's satisfied.
Both actors in the credits. Mcqueen's name was on the left,
Newman's on the right, but was positioned slightly higher so
the technically they could both claim top spot depending on
whether you read top to bottom, which was Newman, or left to
right which was McQueen. Very explicit memoirs from
Warner's head office spelled out the precise measurements down to
the last millimetre. Wow.
Yeah, for movie marquees. Incredible.
And the post it was called diagonal billing and I think
they use it all the time now. And Newman's friend A A Hochner
in his book Paul and Me, claimed he visited the set and witnessed
Newman. Colin McQueen a chicken shit
because McQueen insisted on having the last line in the
movie regardless of whether it actually made sense in narrative
terms. Don't care what, you're right,
just I'm seeing it all right? It could have been anything.
Made sense in narrative terms off of the town and Ferno.
It's not. It's not a complex narrative.
Not really. I mean you could put anything in
there. See you later mate.
See you later. A Newman's son Scott has a small
role in the film as a young firefighter with a failure of
heights that's. Right.
Yes, yeah, yeah. His only on screen appearance
alongside his father Scott, struggled, unfortunately, with
addiction in the years that followed me.
He did, yeah. Unfortunately, he died of an
overdose in 1970 years. Sad times, yeah.
Yeah, he was young, as well as about his mid 20s.
Yeah, he was. Yeah.
To end on Newman, he is a quote
of his about the Terran Inferno. He called it a very
distinguished junk movie, he said.
I knew he was going to achieve what I wanted to achieve and
that was to frighten people. Was it?
Did it? Did that, Yeah.
Next, it's the cooler King McHugh himself.
The eagle has landed. It's Steve McQueen as
firefighter. Michael o'halloran, this is your
boy. It is my boy.
What a boy legend. Love this performance.
I think he just leaps off the screen.
It's just absolute. Just got this such confidence to
it. And I don't think it's
egotistical either. I think he really puts himself
in the hero's spotlight and knows exactly how to do that and
knows how to put himself in the center of the frame and knows
where the lightness and knows how to move and fill the frame
just with a hand coming up to his head.
You know, that little hand that that thought process of should I
take this uniform off before I go into the promenade?
That's thought process. Just that little bit.
It holds the screen longer. That's great.
So he knows it's going to get an extra couple of seconds of
screen time and it doesn't feel like it's pretentious at all.
I don't want to think it feels that he just really cares about
being on screen and about doing a really good job and being
recognized for being really good at what he is good at.
And I think, but someone like Newman, he feels that is just a
threat not only to his ego, but also to his talent.
And the people might not recognize how talented he is or
how much he's actually putting into the role.
It's really, really good. And it really elevates the
material, as Matt was saying, to have these guys in there because
it is a disaster film at the end of the day.
And having these two guys in these roles and everyone else on
the cast as well, but specifically these two is I
think personally what started putting it up for Oscars.
It started to get recognized. This whole genre changed.
It was all taken a lot more seriously because of the heft
and the weight that these guys brought to it.
But McQueen cannot put a foot wrong in this film at all.
He is just constantly excellent. He's constantly the guy with all
of the answers, and even when he hasn't got the answers, you know
he's going to come up with them eventually.
He's completely selfless, completely fearless.
There's no anxiety in the character.
He's just completely straight down the line and just one of
them characters like hilts. It's like you don't want to be
that guy. He's just the but here he's the
everyman hero. He's not an architect.
He's not as somebody with loads of money.
He's an everyman with a wedding ring on, with a car that he just
drives in and he's like, look, I'm the same as everybody else.
Blue collar guy. I'm married, I've got a family
at home probably. I've got to make all these
decisions. I've got to eat the smoke.
I'm not a big shot. I'm not comfortable in any of
these situations. I'm just like you are, and I'm a
hero. Everything is really understated
performance here. There's no like, overblown
performance. He plays a classic McQueen,
really cool. Yeah, and McQueen had genuine
hero moments on the production. During filming he got word that
the Goldwyn studios had caught fire, so he accompanied the
technical advisors to real fire chiefs who were consultant on
the film up to the scene and without telling his wife, Ali
McGraw put on a helmet and gear and just weirded in to help.
Isn't amazing. Check this out though.
A fireman working alongside OF eventually clocked who he was
and shouted over Steve McQueen. My wife will never believe this.
And then McQueen replied. Neither will mine.
Amazing. Wonderful McQueen, as ever, did
his own stunts. Against Alan's strenuous
objections, he insisted on performing this.
Don't wear his character leaps from the helicopter onto the
roof of the burning building himself.
Of course he did. Yeah, yeah.
Loves it. Yeah.
Alan objected, of course, and McQueen just did it because he's
Steve fucking McQueen. Yeah, exactly.
Classic McQueen loves doing stunts, yeah, and appears to be
slightly narcissistic. Yeah, they were incredibly
similar tales on the production of The Great Escape, if you
remember. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. Thinks quite fragile deep down,
isn't he? Yeah, I think so.
Yeah. Absolutely, and The Tower and
Inferno turned out to be Mcqueen's last film for four
years. The intensity for the
production, combined with burnout and a desire to focus on
his passion for motor racing led him to step away from Hollywood
almost entirely. Yeah, he came back in 1978 in An
Enemy of the People, which isn't huge, and only made two further
films before you start passing the 1980.
Yeah, so this was this was his last great for.
His last great role, yeah. So despite the behind the scenes
reports, McQueen does what he does best in Infernal.
Ultra cool and saving the day without breaking sweat.
Finally, it's the head honcho William Holden as James Duncan.
And you know, we've talked about Newman.
We've talked about McQueen. 2 legends.
Yeah. But the greatest of respect to
both of those, for my money, the best performer in this it's
William Holden. Big bill.
OK, nice. She's thinking about what he's
up against. T and Newman, McQueen, Astaire,
Faye Dunaway, some of the biggest names of the industry is
ever produced. And Holden not only holds his
own, he stands above them. For me, there's a reason he was
one of the defining stars of the golden age of Hollywood.
This film is a real reminder of that old Hollywood very much
alive and kicking here. Yeah, he's got that
authoritative voice, that quiet command that you just you can't
fake. And I don't think anyone has
looked better in a burgundy velvet.
Forget about it. He looks incredible.
Huge glasses as well. Them huge glasses.
The hair if the buildings gotta go up in flames.
He's going out in style. He looks amazing.
That's the best bet about his performance.
He's actually tied to one of the pillars.
There's glass and shit everywhere.
Takes his glasses off safety first.
Fantastic. The character reminds me a
little bit of Mayor Vaughan in Jaws.
Yeah. Duncan's the man who's built
something he's enormously proud of.
And when things start to threaten lives, his first
instinct is to protect his reputation rather than the
people. Yeah.
I think it's a very recognisable kind of vanity.
The key difference is that Duncan comes to a sense as a
whole load sooner than Mayor Whatever did.
Yeah. He does.
Yeah, and he's he's going to make sure he was the last one
out of there as well. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, he made some of the ship. Yeah, you'll.
Get everyone else out first, yeah?
Yeah, that's great. There's a real honour and
nobility in that. Once he realizes and he plays
that transition really, really well, that slow, horrible
dawning of of his own responsibility.
And then there's his interplay with his son-in-law, Roger
Simmons, an absolute slime ball of the highest order.
We've talked about a man who cooked corners and got people
killed. When Duncan finally squares up
to him, we'll talk about it in depth.
And he slugs and one right in the gut.
That's one of the great moments of the film.
Brilliant. Incredible.
So for me, William, holding his own and coming out on top of
you. Very nice, very good.
You write that one. You write that?
One, and believe it or not, William Holden didn't really
want to do the film. He thought the script was lousy,
and his specific complaint about his character was that he spent
the entire film on the telephone.
I mean, there's a lot of it. He's on the floor.
There's a lot of it, yeah. Yeah, he took the part lightly.
For the door. He got $750,000, his biggest
payday in years. Yeah, and he pushed hard for top
villain, but obviously that's never going to happen.
He instead settled for a better percentage of the box office,
which meant he ultimately earned more than any of his core stars.
Smart guy. He lost the battle but won the
war. Yeah, and he allegedly got very
upset with Fate Dunaway on set. She kept in, waiting two hours
for an important scene, and when she arrived, he grabbed her by
the shoulders, shoved her against the soundstage wall and
told her. You do that to me once more and
I'll push you through that wall. Wow, well, that's quite
unpleasant, isn't? It yes.
Come on, William, that is old school.
That is old Hollywood. Don't.
Want that? No set workers noted that done
away his punctuality improved considerably after that.
Right. And she later wrote in her
autobiography that she and Holden had courts brushed up
against each other briefly on The Terran Inferno and.
That had left a bad taste in his mouth.
Right, OK. Right.
But I mean, they did star. I mean there were lovers in
network 2 years later. No, absolutely right.
Of course they are. Yeah.
So a huge cast, the cream of the Hollywood crop.
We'll be talking about Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaire later
with McQueen, Newman and Halden. Inferno has got star power to
burn. Oh, yeah, yeah.
All right, movies. We'll be right back.
Thank you for supporting us by listening to the sponsors for
this episode. Thank you for listening to our
sponsors. And now it's back to the show.
The middle. The second axe sees the fire
taking hold of the 81st floor and those around it.
The party goers are ready in to move downstairs, but the
elevator is out of bounds over the USD.
Out of bounds, the fires move towards the main shaft.
What's going to happen? It could open on the floor where
the fire is, but they don't know how big the fire is.
I mean, this is just, yeah, you would, wouldn't you?
You just if you were right next to elevate, you'd be straight in
there. I'm not listening to anybody at
this point. I'm absolutely going for it.
But this for me, is the moment where it, like, really hits
home. Like, this could happen to
anyone at any time, anywhere. We don't know, really know.
We're not in control of this narrative, as you can call it a
narrative. We're not in control of these
action sequences as we think we are.
It's been an elevator opens on the floor and it's it's
Mcqueen's reaction. There's that slow zoom in.
She's got Mrs. Mueller going in the first elevator and she makes
it and then she's going back on the door.
So you've got that level of tension.
They've called for backups, so there's more of them arriving.
It's getting more and more out of control.
When that elevator opens again, you're kind of forgotten about
what's happening. You don't quite know where it's
going. You just think it's going to
stay there. But that opens again.
Everyone's dead inside of it. That guy's stumbling out of it.
Man. That is absolute nightmare fuel.
It's. Just ridiculous.
And every time I saw that you just as that fall and it seems
like his head's coming off like if you watch it again, the way
that lands, I don't know if it's a piece or something.
I don't know what it is, but it seems like head comes off but
obviously doesn't because we see you later.
But when the state puts his quarter and that's a lovely call
back later when he said me Jack was needed elsewhere.
Absolutely love that. Yeah.
It doesn't play up what he's doing or anything.
You know, we'll talk about the day pays.
But this is probably one of the reasons why it looks a bit like
air by airplane looks like this. And you've got that's this great
moment. But I can't help but be taken
out over the moment slightly because we're just based.
We've got this track and shot and it comes past all of the
people of the party and their reactions to it.
And it's the woman on the floor and they just slap on her face
as if she's passed out. It's really airplane that way.
They're just like a. Baseball bat.
Yeah, just wait. It gets the whole he's just like
this. It does quite come across all of
their expressions. And it's great because you get
this, like, real sense of fear. But it's just her on the floor.
And the tapping on the face kind of pulls out a little bit.
But it does land on Duncan at the end.
And he gets this real sense of like, oh, shit.
Like this is more serious than I gave it any kind of credit for.
We are in trouble now. Yeah, really UPS the stakes.
Yeah. Because of the dangerous working
conditions, over 30 members of San Francisco, Ellie and Fox
Studio fire departments were brought in as consultants.
A dedicated fireman was assigned to each member of the cast for
any scene involved and potentially dangerous effects.
They took it seriously. Yeah, massively.
Stunt coordinator Paul steered and put it plainly.
In most films, if something goes wrong, a stuntman would get
hurt. In the terrain inferno.
If something had gone wrong, a stuntman could have been killed.
Wow. Despite the risks, Alan claimed
that not a single hair on any of these actors was singed.
Pretty remarkable considering the period, if you think of the
injuries on the set of the likes of The Exorcist, for example.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was only a couple of years before, wasn't it?
Yeah. And as we've been talking about
this elevator scene, there was a cut scene which created a big
plot hole because of its excision after the opening
ceremony in the scenic elevator, there's a couple of lines where
Duncan admits to the mayor that will be one of the three scenic
elevators is actually functional.
Yeah. So with those lines not making
the final cut, it's quite confusing why during the
evacuation of the of the promenade room, everyone is
queuing up for a single elevator with a temper capacity when
there are two others sitting right there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, not important.
I've never questioned it, not
until now to be honest. Is that an action sequence?
No, not important. Let's go, let's go.
They won't remember. Not the one.
Yeah, and then we get to the same where it really ramps up
for me when we go back to Dan and his secretary because this
is the only thing. Yeah, this films not messing
around and you're going to see every penny on screen because it
is ruthless and it's harsh and it's horrible, but the build up
to it is so good. That smoke curling under the
doors that they're completely oblivious to until it's too
late. You realize Dan has basically
condemned them both to death because he's had the phone
disconnected so they could have a bit of housey father without
being interrupted. Once you get over that, it's one
of these scenes that just sits in my stomach and you feel sick
for them because you just know there's no way out and it's just
a matter of time. You know, one thing I think
we'll end up seeing a lot, some of the dialogue is very soap
opera, and some of the moments are quite like he.
Like Lori Sin. I did always want to die in bed.
Did you? Not the time to say that.
No. You mean you want to die making
love to Dan Bigelow is what you mean?
Come on Dad, one more time. Dan Bigelow, male gigolo.
Yeah, it's that kind of stuff. Doesn't that like when Dancestra
like or I didn't tell you I disconnected the phones because
I wanted to make it easy for you.
How? How does that make it easy for?
Her. I would have knocked him out.
Yeah, absolutely. Moron, you've killed us both.
And then that bit where he turns back and looks at it for one
last grin before he charges out there, you know that's she's on
toast. But other than that, it's so
brutal. I mean, Dan makes a good
argument about how fast he can run, but it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter that he will know his office so well that in
any other circumstance he could close his eyes and walk from one
end to the other with no issue because this is the circumstance
that just can't control or beat. And the horrific thing is he
doesn't even come close to making it, which would be the
thing. Like he nearly gets to the door,
but he does fall to the last. No, that's it.
It's 1 little stumble into the chair and that's it.
He's fucked, he's gone, he can't recover.
And this is what I mean by putting the money on screen.
I mean the stunt work, the size of the flames he's got to walk
through, the way it just holds on them and it doesn't cut away
like the size of the area, the spread across the ceiling
collapse on them. It's genuinely like jaw-dropping
stuff. How they've pulled this off, how
dangerous it looks and then just prove a lorry.
I mean, it's just a likable character.
And it just feels really sadistic how her death gets
drawn out. And same for done, to be honest.
To me, when the flames burst through that shriek she gives,
it's just pure despair and horror.
And it's so effective. And you can't blame it for that
desperation of just, well, if I smash the window open, I'll get
out that way. I mean, we know what's going to
happen with the fire once it meets all that fresh oxygen.
We've seen it happen. Well, and it's 1000 times where
I say you're like, this scene is genuinely terrifying.
You think it's just taking all prisoners from this moment on.
Yeah. I'll tell you where they did cut
the extra 4 million out of Doug's budget windows because
they're easy fucking put out of them.
Yeah, all of them. Just a chair and then the one in
the elevator just pushed that out and that's no problem.
Just die. People dive and through the
windows, no problem. And.
Apart from that, mean what? A sequence from a stunt?
I'm like, it's unbelievable. It does hit but I'm sounds like
I'm going to be controversial here on my own, but this is what
I was talking about earlier. This seems a little bit like
cheap thrills to me. I think this could have been
rewritten as important characters because I don't know
who the hell these two. People.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's fair.
These people are just fodder. Yeah, he's having an affair and
she's a secretary and that, that's about as deep as advice.
It's soap opera, yeah. It really is.
When I came back to watching this, I was thinking, who the
fuck are these two guys? Well, I'm covering these these.
Scissors didn't even work. Properly when they cut the
fucking thing. I mean, you could basically cut
these characters out of the film and it makes no difference
whatsoever apart from the check and the watch.
That's it. Yeah, but emotionally I do get
it. And it really is brutal.
It really is unexpected from a film like this.
Yeah. Well, I think that's why it's in
there. You need someone to die at that
point in a really nasty way before it gets to the
characters. You.
Care about, Obviously. Robert Wagner plays Dan Bigelow,
named as a tribute to a Fox employee called Don Bigelow.
A miscommunication somewhere along the line meant Don became
Dan. Right.
Easy mistake to make, isn't it? Isn't it?
I love them Dan Brookhimer films.
Dan Corleone, Imagine. Dan.
Dan.
So the news comes through that there's still people on the 87th
floor, Mrs. Albright and her two children.
Doug goes up with the head of security, Harry Jernigan, to
save the day. Not too sure that OJ Simpson is
the person you really need in a crisis such as this.
Nobody seems game and off they go.
And because we've seen Bigelow and Laurie bite the dust, I
think that really feeds into this scene.
We could have more bodies in our hands here as soon as we make it
into that room. Now, you know, moving mechanics
dictate there's no way anybody could die in this scene.
Not in back-to-back scenes, no, when he's thinking about
children, but because it is children and it is a vulnerable
woman. Mrs. Albright is deaf.
The emotion really comes through.
I mean, they do really lay it on thick.
In the earliest scene, she signs to her daughter that she doesn't
go to party since the death of her husband.
Yeah. Give us a break.
It's devastating. Bowler laughs.
Yeah. It is a little too quick how
Mrs. Albright is saved and then just whisked off.
OJ just fucks off after his old tricks, I imagine.
Very convenient for the rest of the plot after this scene, but
Doug clambering through the smoke Riddle bedrooms to save
the helpless kids is a great visual.
It's really affected and like I said, because there's a lot at
stake here and really, really hits, Yeah.
And there's a very familiar face among the younger cast members.
Michael Lookland, better known as Bobby Brady from The Brady
Bunch, played young Philip Albright.
I love him. In the earlier scene where the
talk about not going to parties, he's wearing those cut and edge
cans. You're amazing.
It's great. Yeah.
The aerial. Aerial, yeah.
Massive aerial. Great, so the children are safe
from harm for now, but there's a perilous road ahead.
There is a death defying climb to safety requires stout hearts
and trim waist lines. Good job.
Paul Newman is on the case in that right, Westie.
That's absolutely right. It's a ruptured gas line.
Get back. Amazing, right?
I mean, the sequence, I used to hate it when I was kicked.
It was just so intense, like I just couldn't really take it.
Now I quite enjoy it, even though it's ridiculous.
It's I mean, it's it's, it's the moment when humans like I'm
definitely doing that. I'm definitely part of that.
But the original kind of sliding down the whole metal stairwell
Bannister thing. I mean, that's really slick from
the stuntman. He's given this everything he's
got. He's rolling over it and
bouncing down it and holding on to it.
And then when it gets to the bottom, you just got Newman
holding on to it. It's really good as a setup
because you just think, well, that's the one way down.
He's going to have to get these guys down.
Now, if that was me and Philip shouted down, I could do it.
I wouldn't say get them to try. I'd say sorry guys, I can't help
you. There's no more I can do.
Just wait there. I'll see you.
I can get, because there's no fucking chance I'm getting any
of you 3 down from that. But it's the way that he adds
this maturity to the kids. The character of Dougie trusts
Phil to get down. He trusts them.
Let them try. There's no other choice, you
know? He lets them come down and he
treats them like an adult and that's brilliant.
He does really well to get down that Doug has climbed back up
and he's great with Angela. The way he just moves it around
was like, I was fine getting up and I'm going to have loads of
trouble getting down. Can you help us?
Can you tell us what to do? Makes her feel part of it,
doesn't pull her around, doesn't push her around.
I think that's brilliant. You would have made an
incredible dad. How do you have had the time to
be 1? I think it's just shows how
Karen, the character is. He's absolutely brilliant.
But I mean that metal is going to be hot.
There's a few occasions in this film where I think that metal is
going to be hot. Chamberlain grabs it at the end
when he tries to go down. It's just some kind of takes us
out a little bit and then it's like right, Mrs. Mueller is
going to come down. Can you do it?
I wouldn't get Philip, the young boy to hold me belt.
Like hold on to the pillar. Can you support my weight there,
Brady Munch? I don't think you can grab me
belt. No, just stay there.
I'll see what I can do here. But she comes down, It's
excellent, the way she struggles all the way down it and there's
that tension. She has to.
Swing towards. He's like, can you swing towards
and grabs her and hugs her. And you just realise that you
get so much relief that these guys are OK and it's such a
setup for what happens to her character later on because he's
so unfair that you've had to go through this.
And it lays such a landmine. It's like you're watching them
lay a landmine in front of it. And you think, well, I'm glad
I've avoided that. And then you walk towards it
without knowing that you don't step on it later on and you
don't realize what's going to happen.
And it just, it bonds you to these characters.
It bonds you to these four. It's a really excellent
sequence. And I think the film really,
really needs this in there. But I see what a setup for that
good punch later on. It is, yeah.
It really does feel as though Mrs. Muller could go at any
moment here. It's perilous.
Yeah. Definitely.
Loads of time afforded to this this scene to really ramp that
tension up. Yeah, it's a good 10 minutes.
Easy 10 minutes. Yeah.
So Doug leaves the kids and Mrs.
Mueller at the service door of floor 135 after they make it out
of there. I mean that cement blocking the
door is just plot servicing at the highest order.
Wonderful. What are they building up there?
Yeah. Ridiculous.
Yeah. What do you think they're eating
over there? Really.
Alvida's in pet.
Really. Just leave it.
There's a moment here where Doug leaves him and he climbs through
the air vent, which is a visual right out of Die Hard.
It's really impressive stuff, especially when combined with
John Williamson's kind of like industrial motif playing over
the top. Yeah, which matches the Dead
star as well. And you've got that shot of Alec
Guinness going over the same chasm.
It's got that same type of music design.
Do it. But Doug makes it back to the
party and dials in that the South stairwell is blocked with
cement. It is remarkable that with a
fire agent, the phone lines remain free from damage.
Yes, they really do. And then the saying says the dog
says the dog there, how did you get anything?
I'll give it to you later. Me, I'll be like, well, I've to
say these three fuckers, I'll tell you what happened, right?
So the firemen make it to the top and the blow the door and
the cement, The Smithereens if there weren't enough explosions
and balls of fire in this building.
I know, I know. They're creating some more with
the dynamite. I just don't know about you
guys, but this feels just a little reckless considering
what's rumbling underneath. What do you use for your
explosive? C4 or blow hole in anything?
What the fuck don't do that. And he's like, you've got about
20 seconds understood what a dog's like, not understood, and
he has understood and blows dog away.
I know you've got 20 seconds and that's it.
There's no stopping it. Well, just calm down, yeah?
It's all right, you know. It can be 60 seconds if you
really wanted to. Massive explosion.
Crazy. But it does create a very nice
moment of reunion. Doug's back with Susan, Mrs.
Mueller's back with Claiborne, and there's a really lovely,
romantic, swelling John Williams score.
Yeah. Yeah, it's very nice, Yeah.
And then that's all undercoat when Duncan tells the crowd that
there's absolutely no way of getting now via the stairwell.
And there's a really, really nice sour note in the music that
accompanies, and it's hilarious where Doug delivers that line,
delivers the bad news, and then just fucks off, just walks away,
right? See you later.
If it was me, I'd be going straight Simmons me like, get
out that way if you want to. Yeah, so everyone's reunited.
We're talking about Simmons. He's boozing away, which is the
only relatable thing about him in the entire film.
I'd like, yeah, I'll just be at the Hammond at this point.
Like, no chance to be doing this.
So he decides to make a run for it, even though they've all been
told it's impossible. And I think Richard Chamberlain,
out of everyone in this cast, I think he's the one that sets the
standard of this type of character in this type of film.
You know, the sleazy corporate guy.
He's responsible for it all somehow, and he's going to turn
a code at the end and leave everyone to the fate.
Like you didn't talk about the Poseidon Venture go well, is
Gene Hackman better than Paul Newman in this?
Maybe no one's been better than Richard Chamberlain doing this
type of role in this type of film.
And the great thing is the film could so easily kill him off at
this point when he's going down the stairs because they could
collapse, could debris could fall on him.
And the fact it doesn't happen. That just said, you know,
they've got a really nasty death coming up for him later on and
it's going to be the one death you can feel good about and it's
going to be worth waiting for. So he comes back, he has an
argument with Patty and. And this is one of those ones.
Again, it's just all a bit soap opera at this point.
I mean, she's such a limp lettuce of her character.
And I don't think this this performance by Susan Blakey is
great. I mean, the line deliveries are
a bit wanting from her. You know, I came over to you now
because I thought you might need me.
It's all just a bit, right. Yeah.
OK. Yeah, this.
Is the melodrama what you've got?
In contrast, though, is just this really charming and really
sweet, beautifully acted scene between Fred Astaire and
Jennifer Jones. It's the best acted scene in the
entire film by some distance between these two.
You know, when he says I'm just a cheap tin horn, a 2 bit con
man. And it's great when he's talking
about the fake certificates for those shares that he's
happening. You know, I think you'd have
admired the artwork. Beautiful engraving.
Because even when he's been honest about his dishonesty,
he's still got this little twinkle in his eye.
And the great thing is she doesn't care about him being
dishonest, just still falling for him hook, line and sinker.
And you watch the scene and you just sit there and you go.
I really hope these two make it out OK because they really
deserve a happy ending. But you know, we'll see.
We will see. Don't we?
Will Fred Astaire was over 40 years into his career by this
point and by all accounts was delighted to be on set.
Oh, bless him. Yeah.
He said that his role as con man Harley Claiborne.
If you're going to do a cameo, that was a good one to do
because it stood out. The other guys in the picture
said. Hey, I wish I had that part.
Cameo Well. Yeah.
Suppose if you're not the lead, you're the cameo, yeah?
Well, exactly. Yeah.
How many cameos are in this film 15?
And he was 75 at the time of release, and it became the first
and only Oscar nomination of his career for Best Supporting
Actor. But he did lose out to Robert De
Niro in The Godfather Part 2 which?
That's on balance, yeah, yeah. You're kind of awful at that.
Can you tough? Competition.
Fred Astaire lobby to write a song for the film himself, but
his submission was deemed too old hat.
Alan wasn't having any of it at all, right?
More than we will never love again.
Like, really Contemporary number, Yeah.
Yeah, so Maury Mcgovern's performance of Joel Hirshhorn
and Cashes the Morning After on the Poseidon Adventure won an
Oscar and she was drafted back in to sing another Hirshhorn
Kasher number. We may never love like this
again. This again.
Beautiful. She appeased in the party scene
singing the song, and that song also went on to pick up an
Oscar, right? Yes, good choice.
Yeah, fair enough. And despite a desperate desire
to leave for all involved, we're still on the 135th floor where
fear and emotions are running high.
Absolutely. The crew.
A stacked crew on the Terran Inferno included 3 Oscar
winners, all bona fide legends in their field.
Possibly the most talented crews we've ever had on the shore.
We're starting off with Sterling Sullivan's legendary writer of
small and big screen, who received an Academy Award for
his writing on In the Heat of the Night some years before
this. Amazing.
Yeah. Matt, over to you, the writing
on The Tarrant Inferno. I mean, there's a lot to say
about it, isn't there? I suspect a lot of negativity
will come from you, Luke. I think so, which you know, I
will agree with. I mean, it's also been saying,
look, it is very melodramatic. It is very has been saying it's
so popular this clandestine affairs sleazy some of the
cutting corners nice old couple who are going to be tragically
torn apart. But I'm going to try and put a
more positive spin on it because this is the template and this
establishes the template for the right.
And no, it's not Chinatown, but it's not trying to be in would
be foolish to even attempt to be that and what you've got in Halo
in the right and it's just as a real relatability because every
disaster movie since kind of takes its template.
But what they get wrong is missing that relatability.
You know this is a building on fire.
People are trapped inside and that's all you need in terms of
stakes to understand it. This kind of links into what
Gareth is asking about in his question.
Disaster movies thesis think the skills have to be apocalyptic in
size and the dawn. So you can watch stuff like San
Andreas where the entirety of LA is being destroyed because
there's an earthquake and the tectonic plates are shifting.
You go, but that's not believable.
I'm not worried that that will ever happen to me in my
lifetime. Yeah.
Whereas I watch this and I go working in a building that could
catch fire. That's so relatable because I
have worked in that type of place where I think, God, if I
was on, even if I was on the 4th floor and there's a fire blow,
that's terrifying because I'm trapped.
Yes, I mean very tragically in this country we have the ground
and fell fire a few years ago and you watched that unfold on
television. You go that's terrific and
that's the fear that the tone infernal tops and do.
So that's the main thing about the writing for me.
It's the reliability of it which is so scary, and that's the
aspect that pretty much every disaster movie has missed since.
Yeah, it really hits home I. Think Sterling Sullivan has a
hell of a job to do. He's combining 2 novels.
He's got to make it make sense. He's got pressure from 2
studios, he's got pressure from 2 leads.
He's got a lot of ego to battle with.
He's got some dialogue to come up with in the middle to make it
sellable and make it believable. But a lot of this, I mean, it's,
let's just say it's 80% action sequences and what do you write
in the screenplay? You know, falls, falls down some
stairs and then has to make that something else entirely.
I mean, it's safer to Owen Alan to make.
Exactly. It's like what was Irwin Alan
had to put into this script? And a lot of the feedback that
we got from actors wanting to be in it or we were interested in
it is that the script was lousy. It didn't work.
It was, you know, it wasn't entertaining enough, wasn't
engaging enough. And I think the script in itself
does serve a purpose. But I think that purpose was
just to get the film made and then over and on would take over
and knew for a fact it was going to be very, a very, very visual
film, which it is. It is a very visual film.
You don't take much away from this in regards to characters or
relationships of characters you don't see.
How do you remember that romance in Town Inferno?
Like it doesn't, it doesn't sit, it's not important.
So I think he has a hell of a job of doing.
I think he does all right. I mean, it is the 70s.
It's quintessential 70s. It's not pulling up trees trying
to be something different. He kind of knows exactly what
the tone is and I think the tone does stick and it does deliver
to a certain degree. Yes, it is soap, but watching
this in the cinema in 1974, it would probably land and land
really well. I think the relationships that
know the way they taught each other would have been
believable. I don't think it would have
seemed cheesy. I think it's just a real product
of its time and I think it's a really good product of its time.
I do think the right and serves the purpose of what he was
trying to accomplish with this. And like Matt said, it is the
believability of it, the grounding of the characters, the
human nature of the story, the fact that you can actually
replace any of these characters in any of these situations as
yourself. And I think that is even more
terrifying. I think a lot of it is, look,
we've got this source material, can you make it work so it's
coherent? Can you make it work?
So it's an action film, Can you make this work?
So it's an Irwin Allen film. And that's that job you had to
do. And I think from that viewpoint,
I think he does really well. I think Stern Sullivan's got one
of the hardest jobs on production, if the hardest, and
I think it's worth acknowledging that before we get into it.
There are negatives here, Matt put.
I'm not going to go all in because, you know, I think he
was working with his hands behind his back, very much like
the director. But Sullivan's got to introduce
and service an enormous cast. Multiple storylines build
tension across a single night and keep the audience oriented
in an incredibly complex physical space as well.
Yeah, that he manages all of that without the whole thing
collapsing in on itself is really impressive.
The architecture of the script, the bones of it, they are solid.
Yes. The best writing in the film is
the dynamic between O'halleron and Roberts.
For me, there's a real ideological clash at the heart
of that relationship. The man who builds them and the
man who has to fight them. And I think the right it gives
it real teeth. The final exchange between the
two of them is earned and it lands because the groundwork has
been laid throughout. Yes, but and it's a significant
but. Yeah.
The dialogue we've mentioned is how many in places it is, and I
think we all know that. I've always wanted to die in
bed, dear me. OK.
Cross that out of the script immediately.
That, I mean, that just tells you kind of like what the script
thinks about its characters, that really that's a bad
reflection on like, I don't care about this person, so I'm going
to give them the shittest line that anybody's ever had.
And I don't buy it. I feel as though they're kind of
archetypes rather than people moved around the board with
efficiency, but rarely with genuine emotional depth.
And I think the emotion of the characters should stop you in
your tracks. It really only kind of hits when
Mrs. Mueller dies, I think for me.
Yes, yeah, yeah. There's no room to dwell.
There's no room to grieve, really, because you know, we're
already on to the next part and the next explosion.
And that, I think, is the root of the problem.
You get the sense that certain scenes exist not because the
story demands them, but because a star needs their moment.
The writing is frequently in service of the cast.
Like we say, there's a lot of cast service and plot service
and convenience in the right. Nothing.
Silifon keeps the plates spinning, but there's I think
there's a leaner and a more emotionally resonant version of
this script that could have been written.
As mentioned, the film is based on 2 novels, The Tower and The
Glass Infernal. The Tower centre is on fictional
125 Storey skyscraper. The World Tower building
position right next to the North Tower of the real World Trade
Centre, which was still under construction at the time of
writing. Yes, yeah.
Both books were directly inspired by the World Trade
Centre building. Yeah.
But The Glass Infernal is the one that contributed many of the
film's most memorable plot points.
The cost cutting on building materials and a climax with the
blowing up of the rooftop water tanks to douse the fire.
Yeah. Alan said of the decision to
combine them. It was a sensible solution and
I'm quite sure it's the first of many future films to be created
in tandem by major companies. Yeah, confident in his own, in
his own methods. Absolutely.
Yeah. And Sullivan had the unenviable
job of weaving both novels into a single coherent script, as
we've talked about, while also carving them up mathematically.
The Super Queen's Eagle, as we've talked about, which he
developed over a six to eight-month period.
And he described his work more as logistics than artistry.
What you were not doing is writing.
What you were doing is juggling. And I love this bit because he
called the fire itself my favorite character in the
script. Brilliant.
Yeah, it's brilliant. Yeah.
It is. It's the main antagonist, isn't
it? It's a good bad guy.
He actually spoke quite dismissively of the film, saying
in a group jeopardy film, the person who's most in jeopardy is
the writer. Wow.
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what we thought, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is kind of like a gun
for hire thing, isn't it? Definitely.
I mean, he's done in the heat of the night and then he's doing
this exactly. He's going to be slightly down
on it, isn't he of? Course he is.
That's right. Yeah.
And he held more reverence for his writing on The Poseidon
Adventure because it came from one source novel with more
interesting characters to adapt to the screen.
He said, yeah, OK. But that's the reason that Erwin
Allen recruited him to write this, because of his writing on
The Poseidon Adventure. Of course.
Yeah. He also claimed that he only
read one of the two source novels when writing the script.
Amazing that. And could remember, couldn't
remember which one. That's even better.
But his biographer, Nat Segalov, went through Sullivan's papers
after his death and found extensive research notes drawn
from both books, as well as interviews with firefighting
experts from across the country. Yeah.
So I think he clearly put a lot into it.
Despite his reservations, it is still the best parts of both
books and stripped away the rest, retaining the strongest
characters in the most compelling situations.
He took 7 characters from the novels for the screenplay,
though many of the names were changed along the way,
obviously. You know, we've mentioned Dan
Bigelow, yes? Lovely.
And research conducted for the film made Silly Fan change his
habits. He later admitted that whenever
he ended the building, he would always find a seat directly
beneath the sprinkler head because a firefighter he'd
interviewed doing his research had given him that tip.
I'm going to be taking that forward, absolutely.
Yeah, as long as the work. Yeah, So as we're talking about
the writing and as we're talking about the era, we've got our
final Patreon question. This one comes from Lou
Pellegrino. Lou Lou says, I suppose you
could argue that the disaster films of the 70s were a
reflection of the uncertainties Americans felt about themselves
and the USA during that decade. Vietnam, Watergate, the energy
crisis, etcetera. One of the film genres clearly
reflect the anxieties of the time in which they were made.
Thanks as always for a great podcast.
Thank you for the support. Yes, Thank you, Matt.
Yeah, I think a very thoughtful observation.
I think you're right. There's a strong argument that
the disaster movie is the definitive American genre of the
70s, not just as entertainment, but as a kind of mirror held up
to the nation that was deeply uncertain about himself.
Yeah, I immediately thought of two different genres.
The first would be the paranoid thrillers of the same era, The
Parallax View, All the President's Men, 3 Days of the
Condor, kind of drawn from the same well, as Lou describes, the
enemy isn't a foreign power, It's the government, it's the
corporations, it's the people in the tall buildings making
decisions that get ordinary people killed.
Yeah, it's the little man as well, isn't it?
Yeah. Yes, exactly.
Yes, that's right. Yeah.
And then I think, jump forward a decade in the 80s action movies,
and you see something completely different happening.
Top Gun, Ramble, Red Dawn, These are films about America licking
its wounds over Vietnam, over the Iran Contra debacle and
deciding it's time to feel good about itself again.
Yeah, Aggressively, jingoistically good.
It's almost the equal and opposite reaction to the
paranoia of the 70s. One decade couldn't trust
anymore. The next decade trusted America
above everyone else. Fuck yeah.
Yeah, two sides of the same coin.
Yeah. What about UST?
I think that this is relevant with no matter what genre you
look at or no matter what decade in which you look at the cinema
in which it was made. To be fair, I think there's a
lot that you can tap into. That definitely is one of the
most obvious. And again, like you said, like
the paranoia of, of that time. And I think if you go back the
like 50s and 60s, you've got the sci-fi, the nuclear age and the
communism and space travel. But I do think that ultimately
from the birth of cinema, what they've always addressed is this
fear of technology, this fear of advancement, this fear of where
are we going and what are we actually doing.
And I think one of the best genres that does that, that
always taps into the fear of it is the horror genre without a
shadow of a doubt. I mean, we've got Night the
Living Dead. Yeah.
It's first of all who talks about, you know, racial, racial
tensions over everything else? We are, but what are we doing?
And then Fast forward a little bit and we've got the kind of
zombie post apocalyptic themes of the 2000s.
You know, we've got 28 Days Later, we've got The Purge.
We've got all them kind of fear of, you know, these kind of
social situations that we're getting in.
And then the action genre kind of taps into that as well.
The late 90s and early 2000s, we've got the likes of The
Matrix and Dark City and even Children of Men, which is
ultimate later. But this real paranoia about
technology, where we're going, what we're doing, it's these
fears that we've all got as humans that tap into and make a
really sellable film. And it's gone even further and
it's getting further again. I think a 24 would be nothing
without the paranoia of what is happening right now.
And we think about Get Out and Hereditary, Annihilation X Mac
and you know, Civil War. All of these films are really
tapping into exactly. You're just making it more and
more obvious. I think back in the 70s they
tried to hide it a little bit, the disaster films actually
about that, but you didn't put two and two together.
Now we're actually getting two and two and we're getting four
and we know exactly what the 2 is and what the other two is.
So cinemas using it obviously is more of a reflection on the
time, but I think the audiences are now a lot more aware of
that. Very much self aware.
Your thoughts on that, Matt? Yeah, I think I'm similar in the
fact that I don't think it is a particular genre such.
I just think it's examples of different genres can all do it.
I mean, obviously the 70s film as you all mentioned it, but you
can spill that in the 80s with the likes of Blowout, I think
very much in same field. But yeah, definitely Horace as
well. I mean, if you think of Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, you know, it has that radio sequence at the
start where the news is everything that's going wrong
with society and it's all not feeds into the rest of the film.
It feeds into the betrayal of this horrific all American
family, you know, that family unit which is so messed up
beyond belief. And I think that just, you know,
that reflects a lot of the kind of unease America had with
itself at the time. And I'd also agree with Wesley
mentioned and get out because that, you know, it reflects
racial anxiety. But the twist is, what if the
enemies to be in black that don't come from the right in
America? You know, with the Burma crosses
and the white hoods, whatever comes from the people on the
left who claim that the friends, but they're not.
Actually, that is one of the most perceptive films ever made.
Really. Incredible.
Get out. Yeah.
Because. A great question, Lou.
Thank you very much. Got us thinking.
Yes, very nice. Yes, love that.
Question. Thank you.
And that draws a close to the writing on The Terran Inferno.
Sterling Sullivan working with severe restrictions, he produced
a script that was functional. Good story beats, dialogue,
little bit honey. Yes.
Next, a legend. Before he was a legend, despite
already been an Oscar winner for his work on Fiddler on the Roof.
It's the one and the only John Williams who provided the
musical score for The Tarrant Inferno.
Now, this isn't the John Williams we know and love today.
Mr. Movie Music himself, the man who would go on to give us Joe,
Star Wars, Superman, Raiders, The Last Star, Jurassic Park,
Home Alone, Harry Potter. Yeah, all of that was still
ahead of him in 1974. No.
Yes. Ridiculous.
Yeah. But he was already an Oscar
winner for Fiddler on the Roof. Imagine being an Oscar winner
and still having the most iconic music left in your holster to
pull out over the next 50 years. Yeah.
He's the most ridiculous person ever.
He's just like, how can someone be that good at anything?
It's unbelievable. What he delivers here.
For me, is is one of the strongest elements of the film.
It's not vintage Williams. It doesn't have the iconic
melodic hooks that would later make him the most recognizable
film composer of the planet, but it's tremendously effective
work. It's purposeful, It's
atmospheric. It's very much in service of the
film rather than stealing the spotlight, unlike a lot of the
other elements working in the film.
Yeah. That opening theme in the
credits, Yeah. That is such a high point.
It sets its own beautifully grand sweeping with just a hint
of unease underneath. It tells you what kind of film
we're about to watch, and it does it with so much confidence
in craft. I think he was.
I mean, he was already very good at this point, and it's a real
point in time when he was on the cusp of becoming an bona fide
legend. It's really fascinating point in
his career, this. I mean, I always forget Sean
Williams, to be honest. I have to remind yourself
precisely for those reasons you mentioned.
I think music is really clever because it ties in with the
theme of the film. If it has a theme, it is about
mankind's hubris and how that hue this has taught a lesson.
And the soundtrack really reflects out because I say that
opening is so bombastic. It's so try open it.
So look how big this building is.
Isn't it amazing? Yeah.
But then it brings it down in this moment of real tension in
that and what's investing. And I will always highlight this
in the film because I love it when it does.
This is the music becomes sparing.
And once that fire is out of control, a lot of the set pieces
play out with no music whatsoever.
And I think that's such a smart choice because all that
cockiness and arrogance in that open music that's been wiped
away. And all you can do is watch
these scenes without that music. And the rest of the film just
plays out in this mute horror, and you can only kind of watch
it happen in front of you. And yes, there were the bits and
pieces along there. Some of the romantic sofas may
be laid on a little thick. I know what you mean.
The Orbits I really punch home the music for the countdown to
the water tank explosion, that's incredible.
But yeah, it's almost where the choice to not use music it's
just as important as when it is used.
Absolutely. And when it's somebody like John
Williams who can just create the most beautiful music in the
world, him showing restraint is something else.
Yeah, yeah. Really is.
Wesley, your thoughts on Williams's music?
I think this is John Williams worst score, and that's
something because I do feel like it is quite generic.
I think it's massive. I think it sets the tone.
I think it's perfectly fine. But I think it is very much a
70s disaster film. Like you put this on and it's a
70s, you know, imagine this and first day of coming back,
sticking this on in vinyl and just walking in with a chicken
kebab with that big tune coming on.
It's not going to set the tone, is it?
People are thinking what's what's the house is going to
explode. It's absolutely insane.
But it is an excellent score and it's because he's done so much
more since this is This doesn't feel personal to me as a it
feels like he's. Doesn't have his identity, does.
Not at all. I mean, George is the year after
this. And that is just two notes and
it's his exact tone. And he's like he's telling the
story here. He's not telling a story.
This could be stock, he could have recorded this.
And this could be used on anything in the 70s.
It could be used on any of you know, it could be an episode of
Columbo where he goes up a highlights and there's just that
there on the score. And it works.
It's fantastic. But it's one that you just won't
remember. It's one that's there and it
really sets the tone. And like Matt said, I mean,
you've got the countdown to the explosion.
So when them explosions kick off, there's nothing, there's no
music whatsoever. It sets a precedent, It sets a
tone. It seems to me it just
soundtracks John Gilliman's work, his moments, his drama,
his bits. And then when it comes to and
all, he's like, I've got sound design here.
The fire itself, the sound of the fire itself is terrifying.
It's almost like this kind of squawk and it's all over it.
And I think that's the whole point.
It feels a little cut and paste. It feels a little bit Poseidon
Adventure. It could be, you could put this
on in the pub quiz and people would go on.
Fuck me, Earthquake, Poseidon Venture, Airplane, Media, Media,
the Swarm. You can scratch on your head
think it could be any of those things and it really works and
that's fine. But to me, it's a product of its
time. It's great, but it's not a lot
of trees. No, no, it's not.
It's not. But I mean, we didn't know what
he, what he was really capable of.
Exactly. That's what I mean, doing this
and this, he's falling this in, to be fair, and it's still
massive. And this, if this is his worst
score, I mean, that's not, that's not a bad thing, is it
really? Not to be sniffed out, yeah.
Definitely. Not all.
And Williams actually said the Towering Inferno was a turning
point. Up until then, I'd never been
offered a spectacular 5 minute overture belonging exclusively
to image and music. And for a long time, people
would say to me, ah, see, you're the composer of the town
Inferno. Nice.
A long time. I mean, Jaws came a yearly.
Yearly. Yeah, truly.
It's so you're the composer. Jaws, just those two notes.
I mean, isn't. The tower and what?
Sorry, Yeah, yeah, he said. The opening credits was his best
work on the film, of course, but he did have to fight Owen Allen
for it. Williams insisted that the
ambient sound was stripped back to allow for his music to take
center stage. And then, yeah, I think it
really benefits from. Yeah, and that's his wonderful
story about Allen here and Williams main title for the
first time. Allen listened, declared that
something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on it,
and he ended up storming off the scoring stage.
Yeah. So Lionel Newman, head of Fox's
music department, took Williams to one side and told him the
solution. It bought 86 of the sequence.
When Allen's producer credit appeared on the screen at a
cymbal crash, Williams did it. Allen came back, heard it again
and said, well, that sounds great.
What's different? That's not actually on when they
released the soundtrack. It's not actually on the
soundtrack. You took the cymbal crash off
from the soundtrack. Lovely.
Aside from the main theme, there are love themes in the film that
accompany the scenes between Newman and Dunaway, Astaire and
Jones. Both are introduced early in the
film as kind of gentle background music, almost
incidental, easy listening numbers you'd be given for
missing them. But by the end credits, Williams
transforms them into kind of full orchestral statements,
something he adopted throughout his career.
Yeah, they don't slap you in the face, but they're there if
you're listening. Yeah.
So a legend before he was a legend.
Solid work from John Williams, but he had a lot more to give in
the future. Absolutely.
Yeah. OK, so now it's where it gets
complicated. Yeah.
Officially, the film has two credited DPS, Fred J Conan Camp,
who had been in the movie biz for around 10 years.
Coming off the likes of Patton and Papillon.
Joseph Barack was an old hand going back to his work behind
the camera on It's Wonderful Life all the way up to Airplane.
Six years after this, Yes, yeah, a very career.
We'll get to the story behind their work in a moment, but
first, Westie, your opinion on their cinematography?
I think it's a great combination of talent of old and new of
these two kind of real non egos. And we'll talk about non egos in
the film. I think the crew didn't have
room for any egos. What people need to understand
is most films do have two, especially action films that
will have two DPS. They'll have a second unit, a
lot of action, and they'll have a second unit director, and
they'll have a second unit DP who will communicate a lot with
the main DP on the film. But it's good that they're both
credited for this. It's great, the Oscar for this.
I think it's fantastic. I think there's some really good
interplay between them. Like I've mentioned before, I
think the use of hard light sources, especially on dialogue
sequences at the start of the film, really sets the tone and
sets the contrast. I think the set design and the
light and then the color work is really good because the contrast
ratios remain the same. There's a lot of fire in this
film. Before there's fire, there's a
lot of discussions. There's a lot of orange, there's
a lot of yellow, there's a lot of red.
Even Doug says when the elevator closes, come outside and watches
Burn Me Black Tie. And it's just, you know, at the
end of it all. Then there's all of these little
things that are put in, but they're also put in visually.
I think there's a great movement of the camera.
You don't really feel that the camera is moving in this film.
It feels like a character, feels like an observer.
You feel like you're part of everything that's going on when
you they have to communicate with lens choices, They have to
communicate with, like I've said, camera movements, how fast
or how slow that's going to be put together.
It doesn't feel like it goes to a completely different second
unit and they haven't got a clue what's going on.
I think these guys work very, very well together.
And I think it was a partnership and I think they were, they
would have spent many a night sit and go on.
Look, I know everyone wants this and this is what I'm doing.
How are you going to match it? How are you going to light it?
How are you going to shoot it? Because I'm going to do the same
type of thing. And the credit to both of them
is that you can't tell. This is 2 DPS and I think that's
the best honorary credit you can give to them really.
Because you shouldn't be able to tell and you can't.
I mean, 2 directors, 2 DPS. Really, there were more than two
DPS. We'll get to that in a moment.
On paper, it could be a recipe for visual chaos, like you see
in Westie Colin Camp working with Gammon on the drama Beer
Rock working with her without on the action sequences.
Two different men, two different approaches, two different crews.
The potential for this film that look like it was stitched
together from completely different productions, Enormous
potential for that. Absolutely.
Yeah. It's it's more likely that that
would have happened than not. Yeah.
Absolutely. But it doesn't at all.
And that for me, I think that's one of the most under
appreciated achievements of The Tower and Inferno, pouring all
of all of these elements into this.
This film shouldn't look like this.
No, it should be a mess. But it looks consistent for
beginning around the spectacle of the action sequences.
Feel at one with the drama that surrounds them and crucially,
the effects workers incorporated seamlessly into both.
When the fire is raging, the building is coming apart, you
don't feel the join and I think the practical effects of the
photography are locked in together and that's it.
Really difficult to pull off at this scale as well.
Yeah. And remember, this is 74 in the
shooting film with real fire in front of you.
This is, you know, it's not easy.
It's perfect. Very very very considered this
approach. It is, and I'm not sure,
cinematography. You won't find many frames here
that you'd hang on your wall. Of course.
Conan, Cabin, Barack. I think the obviously understood
the brief. Again, to serve the story, not
to serve themselves, to serve the spectacles and make it feel
all like 1 cohesive film. Job done.
Matt, your thoughts on the cinematography here?
Yeah. Cohesive is the word, isn't it?
I mean, but not just between those two.
I think cohesion with the production design because those
sets are incredible and I think they've obviously designed with
how they're going to be shot in mind because there's so much
depth to them. And as well as depth as levels
like Dan's office, it goes up, there's a second level and then
it goes behind into like his kind of more personal area.
And that just means, you know, this more space for the fire to
spread into gives them better coverage for the shots that they
want to get out of it. And as well, it's the cohesion
of the effects work. I mean, it's such an obvious
thing to say it, but it has to be set for this film.
That's just genuine rage and fire that the shooting there,
it's incredibly dangerous. That should not be underplayed.
And there's so much cohesion with the effects work.
You know, getting close to the fire, those incredible wide
trots of the tower where you see how much of it has gone up.
And then you see all the floors just explode in the flames.
And you've said that you can't see the joints and you can't
like when to go back to when Laurie dies, her dive out of the
window where it's the stunt woman or stuntman.
But then the cut to the effect Rockware must just be a model
plunging down the side seamless Looks incredible.
It really is. Yeah.
Another thing to mention as well in in this bit about the
cinematography, like if you've ever tried shooting fire, like
if you're on the beach and you've got a little fire there
on the night time or if you're at a BBQ or something with the
compression of the lens, with a compression of 35 mil film as
well. If you shoot normal fire, it
looks tiny. You have to make that huge for
it to make an impact through that compression.
It has to be incredible. So on that set, the fire would
have been twice the height of a normal person.
And if you imagine facing that with a camera, I mean, that's
going to be to make it look as impressive as they do.
That's really dangerous stuff. So yeah, that's another job.
That's another thing to mention. It needs to be huge to look
huge, and it must have. Been.
Yeah, of course. Yeah.
We talked about Irwin Allen. He went big all the way along. 2
directors, 2 source novels, 2 DPS, 4 camera crews, and enough
fire to melt the equipments. We said that there are two
credited DPS, but there were actually 4 DPS on production.
Baroque Conan camp. And then Jim Freeman headed up
an aerial crew for helicopter sequences.
And then special effects guru Bill Abbott, who actually came
out of retirement to oversee the special photographic effects and
these included the miniatures, Matt paintings and blue screen
work. Wow, incredible.
The fire scenes were all shot on in closed sets, sealed ceilings,
and at least three walls. The fires themselves were fed by
propane through valve control controlled hoses, and the LA
Fire Department allowed them to burn for a Max of 20 to 30
seconds at a time. Wow.
Under those conditions, Barack was routinely working with up to
8 cameras simultaneously, trying to ensure every angle was
covered in a single take before the set was destroyed.
Wow. Wow yeah the heat was intense
enough to melt 3 matte boxes during filming.
Smoke from plastic curtains and rubber cement used on costumes
built up so quickly it was affecting exposure readings mid
tick. Yeah, yeah, it will do.
Baroque solution and most of these problems was to shoot as
much footage as possible and then just sort it out there.
Fair enough. Fair enough.
Yep. To stretch out the most intense
action sequences, B Rock shot at up to four times the normal
frame rate at 96 frames a second.
A 32nd burn will be stretched to up to two minutes on screen.
And we've mentioned the special effects and there were no mean
feats, probably the greatest special effects in Hollywood at
that time. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. The special effects were the
responsibility of the aforementioned LB Abbott lend to
his friends. He'd been in the game since the
late 20s and spent most of his career at Fox.
He was a four time Oscar winner for visual effects with credits
including Tora Tora Tora Journey, The Center of the Earth
and Logan's Run. Nice Abbott central challenge
was fire at miniature scale. A 138 story building at half
inch scale comes out at 70 feet. Already an enormous model to
build and manage, but fire doesn't scale down to the way a
building does. Obviously miniature flames on
notoriously lazy and transparent.
As Abbott put it, they look fake.
So we engineered a solution from scratch.
Yes. Behind each window of the
miniature he built, a metal firebox 8 inches deep comes in
and three separate jets, 1 emitting a blue butane flame
with no smoke, one emitting Acetylene which gives an orange
flame and black smoke, and one admitting air to agitate the
flame and to stop bunching up. Right, And each jet had its own
spark plug igniter. By adjusting the valves, Abbott
could in the exact colour and smoke density needed for any
given shot. After three days of testing, he
had a formula that worked, which he filmed at 72 frames per
second, three times normal rate. So the miniature fires look
convincing. Amazing.
I mean, ingenious it do. Yeah.
What he hadn't entirely accounted for was what would
happen when the whole system fired at once.
When the time came to shoot the tower fully ablaze, the igniters
didn't respond immediately. And after about 10 seconds, they
did. And the result was, in Abbott's
words, one hell of a big explosion.
So debris flew everywhere, A4 inch by 4 foot piece of l-shaped
metal embedded itself in the ground 6 inches from Abbott's
right foot. Nobody was hurt.
But from that point of the crew made sure there was always a
roof over the heads during effect sequences.
And this explosion was so like visceral and visually stunning
that they kept it in and they've kept it in the trailer and
they've kept in I think the middle part of the film where
that big explosion happens. The gas, it just, it was left
for too long and it just kind of blew out.
So the the best shot in the film is actually this accident.
Wow. Incredible.
Looks amazing It does. Yeah, and outside of the
explosions, Abbott also came up with a great solution for the
shot of Fred Astaire's character looking up at the full height of
the tower from street level, the perspective that was impossible
to achieve by pointing a camera up at a 70 foot model in a
normal way. Instead, he laid an angled
mirror on the ground outside and filmed the miniatures reflection
given a convincing worm's eye view without ever needing to get
a camera beneath the structure. Well, if you could go back and
watch that shot. Yeah, she doesn't notice that.
It's not. It's a miniature.
No, not at all. No channels.
Real. It's.
Incredible the whole day for quite a while as well.
That shot they. Do Yeah, they really do.
And there's something else in the shot as well.
There's another building in the shot as well from the
perspective. It's it's like lean back as well
how far it leans back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that really sells it. It's.
Brilliant. Yeah, it does sell it, You're
right. And Abbott spent the better part
of a month in San Francisco before production began,
shooting the city skyline just after sunset, when the city
lights are on, but there's still enough reflected light in the
sky to give buildings detail and depth.
The magic out. Yes, indeed.
He matted these together with the miniature tower to create
the establishing shots of the building against the real San
Francisco skyline. He has worked for his money
here. He sells the whole thing.
Yeah. So a red hot plot, red hot cast,
red hot crew, the music is wonderful, the cinematography a
miracle, and a decent job at bringing it all under 1
screenplay, yes. The end.
Into the third act and we're playing a game of high rise
roulette. 12 lucky people are the 1st to make it out of there.
But will they make it in one piece?
1 big flat piece? Maybe it's over to you first.
Yeah, well, we'll get to that bit.
I mean, before this all, they've got the plan.
They're going to send a chop rope that's going to send the
line in, which is basically shooting this massive harpoon
into the promenade room. Does no one think to tell Carlos
that's going to happen though? The pure bar?
He's just Fanny and about he's. Just stood there polishing the
glasses and that thing mainly takes his fucking head off.
Carlos. I really appreciate the work
ethic, but you've got bigger things to worry about.
But then you get the bit, which, no pun intended, this has just
been seized under my brain since that first viewing as a kid.
The scenic elevator come in a cropper and Poor and Mrs.
Mueller fall into it. I mean, Jennifer Jones is so
good in this film. What?
This film understands is whatever you want to call it,
Mother Nature, accidents, whatever.
In a film like this, they don't care how good a person you have
been. It doesn't care that you've
spent this entire film looking after two kids.
Whether you're a good person, whether you're a bad person, it
doesn't matter. It'll come for you regardless.
And for a film of this kind to hit as hard as it does, it's got
to kill people if you really like, and it's got to kill them
off horrifically. And as Wesley brilliantly put
it, it's the landmine that's being set up in that early scene
where she comes down the room and stairwell because you think,
oh God, she's okay now. That's it for her.
And it's just that horrible irony that she's only in the
elevator to begin with because Doug insists that she goes
because she's being a good person and rescued the kids.
And it's is everything about that.
Once those explosions happen and that window shatters, her
instinctive reaction is still save the kids, just pushes them
into the fireman's arms out second thought.
And that's it. What makes it hit him extra hard
is it avoids that cliche where, you know, she hangs on for a few
seconds so she can have a goodbye speaking.
Yeah. Tell Harley I'll miss him.
Would have had a good life. None of that.
It's so blinking. You miss it, you have to go.
Does she really falling out if I've just seen that?
Does that really happen? Yeah, it's that cut to the White
show when she hits the buildings.
That's the most horrendous bit of all, hitting that ledge on
the way down. It's just beyond cool.
It's it's unbelievable how tough this scene is to watch.
Yeah, it is. A great The Town Inferno was
Jennifer Jones final film early in her career.
She won the best actress Oscar for The Song of Bernadette in
1944 and she was she was amazed back in the day, absolutely much
amazing than this. Just to be honest.
You were an absolute mess. There's been our last film, To
Be Honest, and the story goes that she was cast because her
husband, millionaire Fox stockholder Norton Simon, had
helped secure the role for her, but also lent 4 Picassos for use
on set decoration. Did they survive?
That's a crazy choice. Yeah, there.
You go. The scenic elevator explosion
sequence is shot at night on the Fox back lot, where the crews
constructed a three story replica of the elevator.
Of course, you know another three stories.
Len Abbott was in charge of the blast and when Allen directed
it, several cast members were inside the elevator for the
shot, including Fate Dunaway, Jennifer Jones and Sheila
Matthews. When the explosion went off, it
was so powerful that it set fire to trees behind the set.
Matthews told Allen that the women in chiffon clothing could
feel the heat coming off the blast.
Thank you. Nailed it in one take.
Right, Because it could have just all been barbecued.
Yeah. Wow.
But an incredible sequence, yeah.
So from there, we've got a bit of a trouble with the scenic
elevator. It's hanging by a cable at
least. Yeah.
And it's the 70s and it's full of women, so they're not going
to be able to do anything about it either.
So we've got to get. Let's get Mike in there.
Let's get back in there. The scenic elevators hanging by
a cable. And he just sits down and he's
like, right. He's.
And then he comes over, he kneels the front.
He's like, how many people are in it?
He's like, Laura, that's about 12.
Is that right? That's exactly right.
And he said, what you're going to do?
He's like, I would just turn around and say, well, you just
get on me fucking face like this has been a really, it's just
been a really long day. You're asking me you're what are
you going to do? What can you help us out here?
What's up? And then he just like shouts at
the guy, right? Can you get us around?
I'll meet him on the PLS building in like 10 minutes.
This is another abuse of time. 10 minutes just to be on the
other building on the other side again on the helicopter.
We're working on the bridges, boy.
We're seeing that. And I'll be honest with you,
you're not going to expect to hear this from me, but this
whole sequence I can do without. Really.
I'm fine with Mrs. Mueller get going out of there, but she
could have died on the breachers boy with Simmons trying to get
in there and invade nut space and her dying tragically because
of that. There's room there for that to
happen. I just think the scenic elevator
is just a huge settle for McQueen needs a set piece.
Newman's gone down the stairs on the on the banister.
He needs something to be center stage and he needs it to be
bigger again. And I could do without this
because I think the effects on this part really suffer a little
bit. It takes you out the film a
little bit and I just think it's just a little bit too
heavy-handed. You could chop all of this
sequence out and it makes no difference because I mean,
Mike's busy enough as it is. He doesn't need to be going up
there. They've got the breachers boy
over there. We're working on that.
That's enough peril. We're singing.
The shots of the overhead shots of that one.
You know, when they're coming out of it is incredible.
It's like, right to get the first one over.
Wow, unreal. But then this bit when he's
hanging with the fireman off it and it's like it comes off the
thing and he's like, right, And he's holding him and it's of
course he's going to be all right when you just see Miss
Mueller died. So it just adds a little bit.
And I could totally do without the sequence.
So I mean, the scene's totally worth it just for Mcqueen's
reaction when he gets to the ground, when he gets on the
ground and he sees the other fire, when he's like looks it
and then shakes his hand and then gives him a nod, and then
he's released back in there, you know, straight.
Back in. There, that would be enough for
anyone just to go home. After that, he's straight back
in there and he's always blow the water tanks later on.
But for me, I think this takes it just a little bit too far
out. Yeah, I think the we've all got
our little gripes about the narrative and some of the scenes
here, haven't we? Yeah, yeah.
And a radio controlled miniature helicopter was used for wide
angles in the scene. But when filming, a sudden gust
of wind sent the Tropic crashing to the ground near the building.
A special effects medic on standby, who was called Dorothy,
sprinted to the crash site, scooped up the Steve McQueen
doll that had been attached to the cable beneath the
helicopter, wrapped it in gauze and cried off.
Don't worry, Steve, I'll save you.
And apparently the entire crew applauded her.
Amazing. Great.
The best part of that thing? Yeah.
So after this, I'm skipping over to a very short but pivotal
scene that follows when the structural engineer tells
O'halloran that they only have around 17 minutes left.
Those people are going to die up there.
Yeah, drastic times call for drastic measures, which everyone
seems to be in on apart from O'halloran.
Even the fireman grunt busts in and says there's a trouble
waiting for to take him to his almost certain doom.
Even on the wiser. Brilliant. 1,000,000 gallons of
water is sitting right at the top of the building, ready to be
released in this very situation. Very, very convenient.
It's a suicide mission, but the decision has already been made.
There's only two people who can do this, and the other fella is
fucked off, so it's down to you. All right mate, see you later.
Outrageous pressure. Guys just brought them down like
10 minutes ago. His tea wasn't ready, man.
But he's got a hospital, hasn't he?
He's smoked off the burns unit. He needs to go selfish.
Put some ice on it. But this is where the film, I
think it lets itself down a little bit because it's set up
here that O'halleran warned me to get out of there.
How will I get back down? And then the Stony silence.
It sees it all. But then I don't feel like this
jeopardy is followed through in the following scenes.
I don't know if I'm alone and thinking that, but this feels as
or you're going to certain doom and if you're going to get out,
you're going to go through a terrible time to get out.
But I don't think it does as much as anybody else really.
That is a bit of a shame for me. But this is a great bit of
backwards and forwards here. McQueen as in Flat Bull as
always, even though he's been sent to a perilous situation.
And there's a nice little cameo from Dabney Coleman in there as
well. Yeah.
He's great. Yeah, another cameo in a list of
long cameos. Yeah.
Yes, loads of cameos. Loads of cameos.
Word up this lovely. Wow.
So options seem to be running out, but there's one more death
to fire and Hail Mary to be thrown.
Yeah. We're wrapping this up with
Newman and McQueen teaming up in the face of adversity.
But first, one of the more satisfying deaths you could
think of. Yes, Westie.
It's fantastic. Everyone knows what I'm going to
talk about. If you've seen the film, it's
Simmons, man. He's squaring up the dunk and
he's giving it the big and he's like, you know what a Dick.
The women are gone. We're going next.
You and who these guys? Yeah, these guys got your back.
They're fucking T birds clicking the fingers right?
West Side Story. Absolutely ridiculous when he
tears his thing up and throws it and then he just looks at him,
stares him down, then just that boom right The gut.
That punch is amazing. Come on.
Turns him into a 7 year old child and just throws him behind
him. You know he deserves to be in
the front view. He's just there whimpering in
the background. There's just no remorse from
Simmons for what he's done. He doesn't try to help anybody.
He doesn't try to to redeem himself at all.
He believes he's made the right decision.
He believes he's cut the corners and that's what he does
regardless. And he's going to do this again,
you know, that he would do it again.
Just self preservation that he has this selfishness.
It's disgusting. Now.
I think that's what really highlights this character and
it's really great because Duncan's still fucking furious
about The Wire. He's still furious.
You are government's way. And I'm the last one with my
son-in-law over there. And I love the way that
son-in-law is just spat by Dougar.
Yours was the electrical engineer and genius, yours.
It's absolutely fantastic. And don't get to the call.
It's out of control. It's coming your way.
I love that line which put in the trailer.
That's all right. You said you've got about 15
minutes. Now, if anything's going to take
the piss out of time, it's this 15 minutes.
But he says in the foot, they want to try something.
Want to try, it's blown the water tanks above you.
And he's given this the dog straight down the phone, like
where you've got about 15 minutes, but they want to blow
the water tanks above you. Someone's going to have to bring
C4 in a helicopter drop on the roof, go down.
You're going to have to meet us up there with the BA set on.
Then we're going to have to bring all the charges.
How long we're going to set that for maybe about 5 minutes and
then we're going to come down. Then we're going to wait to tie
ourselves down and blow the water tanks.
That's going to come back. We've got 15 minutes.
That's going to take an hour and a half.
Mike, that's easy. Going to take an hour and a half
for you to land on the roof. Let's be real about this. 15
minutes. Love it.
Fire then bursts in the back corner.
Simmons loses it, right? We're all out of here.
And what's Vaughn doing? It's always involved.
Stay out the fucking argument. What do you just do?
Crazy bastard. Get that line.
Leave the line. Don't get it.
What you getting it for? Just leave the line.
Let him fall. It's a really good visual
though. It's a.
Brilliant. Thing and.
They're all clean on. You can't all fit on it.
He's pulling them off and he's just kicking and punching
everybody. Simmons just taking everybody
out. He would just really set that
whole room on fire. He could escape just the
selfishness of it. But that death when that line
goes and well, Vaughn goes and you just think, all right, well,
that was a heartbreak up, but maybe you shouldn't have got
involved, you know? Yeah.
But then it's out with when the whole line goes and the bridges
boy goes and they just you hear him screaming all the way down.
To. Say like he's suffering all the
way to the fucking ground, like he gets no remorse or
whatsoever. He's so all the way down and I
just love Wento. Goes back on the phone.
We've lost the breaches, boys. But a panic up here.
It's under control. Everything's absolutely fine.
So a problem. Have you lost anyone?
Doesn't matter. It's under control again.
Airplane, you could just have Mike on the phone.
Right? It's under control now.
OK, I'll bring it up. This body just slams into the
ground behind him. But yeah, great.
Good setup for the end in 15 minutes.
I don't think so. No.
Yeah, so unlikeliness of this 15 minute time limit aside, this is
one of the most stressful scenes in the film for me.
Plant your charges. And it's stressful because I
would be absolutely crap in that situation if I was like, I can't
follow instructions just by listening to them.
I need them written down. I want half an hour to go
through them in the head. Maybe have a little practice one
first. I don't need the deadline of,
well, 10 minutes. Do this or we will all die.
And it gets worse for me because when or Halvan starts giving out
the instructions, you're running instantaneous.
I'm running delayed. Well, first of all, what does
any of that mean? I don't understand yet why do we
have different dead inators when or Halvan pulls the wire out and
then just throw some of it away? Why have you done that?
I don't understand anything you do and that I'm supposed to
mimic here. And he says to him, take your
detonator, pull the plug, toss it.
Got it. Definitely not, no.
Like I've got none of this in any way, shape or form.
Can you just do mine for me, please?
Like, I don't know what I'm doing here.
So it's a good thing humans doing because he can pull this
off. And I just think that it's a
really great countdown sequence. Like the tension is just ramping
up off the scales. That clock is countdown.
As I said, for music, he's incredible and everyone slashed
themselves to something because yeah, this might put out the
fire, but it might also kill everyone.
Yeah, it might sweep everybody to their death.
Exactly. But that's it's like it does
even at this moment, it's still killing people off.
And those explosions mean the sound of them are amazing, mean
massively overactive. I mean, there's about 17
different explosions here. It's.
Not an. Excess.
I mean I'm sure the use Freder says reaction about 3 different
times as well. Yeah.
That gets for use and then, yeah, as we're saying, you know,
it's work, but people are still being thrown through the
windows. The bit that always gets me here
is poor Carlos, that bartender, like a small role, but he's
really memorable. He's been such a stand up,
helpful guy and you think, oh, he's going to be OK, he's going
to get through this. But it's that last minute twist
of the knife that the film has. Like I said, it has no mercy on
anyone, no matter how good they're being.
No, but how helpful. And it's just really good when
you see him. He just gets crushed by that
stunt. You've fallen on him right at
the last minute. So I think he's going to be OK.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Obviously it was a very challenging set piece to pull
off. 12,000 gallons of water held in overhead tanks directed
down through shoots into the set below, controlled by a wheel to
manage the pressure and additional high pressure fire
hoses to extend the flow. Cast obviously shackled the
columns and rear lens below 10 feet above the ground.
Yeah, a camera is in position. None of which could get wet
without risking the electrical equipment.
One drop of water on a hot lens was enough to just shatter the
glass. Yeah, and Joseph, Barack himself
nearly ended up in the short Q in that sequence.
He'd spotted a chair out of position just before Allen
called action and went to move it.
Or he discovered it was made of rawhide and we'd considerably
more than it looked. And Allen had called action
before he could get clear, and Barack took a good sulking.
Yeah, incredibly, the only actual injury or reported injury
on the production was the studio Fire Chief cutting himself on
broken glass, which. Wow.
Right. Yeah.
So yeah, what Matt was saying about that heartbreaker from
Carlos buying at the end, the studio put pressure on for an
important character to buy in the scene for emotional impact,
and they were seriously considering killing off McQueen
Newman Holden's characters. Until storyboard artist John
Musial pointed out that Alan had already killed off Gene Hackman
in The Poseidon Adventure, and the critics would have a field
day if he did it again. Yeah, so Musil's solution was
Carlos the bartender, as he said Matt, sympathetic enough to land
emotionally, disposable enough not to cause a diplomatic
incident with the stars. Yeah, Alan went for it.
And you know, it does hit emotionally as.
Well, yeah, does work. Yeah, and it's a successful
mission and now the final moments where the majority have
made it to safety. But this really is changed with
melancholy because of the lies lost.
Mrs. Mueller's out of there damn big low lorry obviously and any
number of firemen and staff caught up in the blaze.
Loads of people in the burns unit, loads of people on the way
to hospital. This film may have quite a safe
reputation, but really plays for keeps.
All that body bags and shot as well when McQueen turns around.
Exactly. Oh yeah, that's really effective
shot that. Yeah, Yeah, it is.
And when Harley's looking for Mrs. Mueller and he's told that
she didn't make it, your heartbreak and stuff, he's
calling her name out. Yeah, if that wasn't bad enough,
he's now got the responsibility to look after a fucking cat as
well. Delivers.
Selfish little. Yeah.
Unfortunately, though, the film does double down under its
utilization of Fate Dunaway. Newman's got a great line about
leaving it all as a shrine to all the bullshit in the world.
Really good line. But Fate Dunaway doesn't have
one single line. She doesn't utter any words, any
response, anything at all. That is great.
That's great. I just don't understand that
decision. It's.
Criminal. Yeah.
She's just there to comfort them, to comfort the hero at the
end. We mentioned the film once
already, but outside, this really feels like Die Hard,
Clean and power coming together free from harm.
There's clear influence here. Oh, absolutely, yeah.
The animosity is eroded, there's a mutual respect and an
agreement to make a change for the better.
A really nice message to leave on.
Mcqueen's final line does make narrative sense.
It does, but this does feel like a missed opportunity for me.
This is wide open for a sequel. Dugan o'halleran.
Take a down shoddy contractors all along the West Coast and
tune in for that. Sounds amazing.
Yeah, like Backdraft do it on purpose.
Yeah, yeah. So we end with emotional
reunions all over the place, sending the audience out with a
lump and a throat and hope for the future.
So long architect. Nice reception under wards.
Father and son editing team Harold F Kress and Karl Kress
had the job of stitching together footage from 4
different camera crews, two different directors and to make
it look consistent. Their work was praised by
critics and they were rewarded with the Best Editing Oscar.
Very well deserved. Thanks very much though.
And The Tower Inferno premiered on December 16th, 1974 at the
AVCOR Centre in Los Angeles, followed 3 days later by a New
York Premier at the National Theatre.
The New York Fire Department showed up in force with six fire
engines displayed outside for an hour, but this actually drew
some criticism in the press about whether those engines
would have been available to respond to actual emergencies.
Yes, a fair comment. Point.
Yeah, I mean 1. Fair enough.
One for set dressing, Yeah, 6 is excessive, Yeah.
The firefighters union across the US organised screenings of
it as cautionary tale about high rise safety.
Alan himself never want to undersell his work, told the New
York Times that year. I don't make message movies per
SE, but as it turns out, I've got the hottest message in the
world in the Tower and Inferno. Too true.
Yeah, yeah. Following release, the reviews
were a bit of a mixed bag. The New York Times Vincent Canby
acknowledged that the script succeeds in presenting dozens of
incidents without noticeable overlaps and collisions, and
that the cast upgrades a secondary form of movie
melodrama. But The Hollywood Reporter was
less generous, calling it more ordeal than entertainment.
In suggestion, it overwhelms the spectator like a bully playing
on the face of a society trapped in its own burning affluence.
Wow, that's a bit too high bro, to be quite honest.
A little bit, yeah. A.
Little bit Pauline Kael in The New Yorker was the harshest,
saying that a film which bores us and insults our intelligence
for close to three hours shouldn't preen itself on its
own morality. No punches there, Pauline.
Yeah, and as we always end Roger Ebert, what do you think he gave
it out of four chaps? I don't think this went down
well with the critics that I'm going to say 3.
I'll go four. I think it might be the odd one.
I would love to fall 4. Straight in.
Maybe that's ambitious. No, you were right, Wesley.
It's three. Yeah.
He called it a brawny blockbuster of a movie, by far
the best of the mid 70s disaster films and Hollywood commercial
movie making at its finest. He loved it.
Yeah, there you go. And now the film has seven out
of 10 and IMDb and a Rotten Tomatoes 69% from critics, 72%
from audiences. Quite consistent, yeah.
But despite the lukewarm reception at the box office,
Inferno was a massive hit. Blaze and Saddles, also shot by
Joseph Barack and released back in February, was the biggest
grossing film of the year with 119.6 million.
But Inferno, opened in December and running well in 1975,
eventually grossed 203.3 million in total on a 14 million budget.
The investment in Star power and cutting edge effects work had
paid off considerably. It certainly had, yes.
And at the Oscars, in a year dominated by The Godfather Part
2, The Taran Infernal held its own with eight nominations,
including Best Pitcher and Best Supporting Actor, which was
never going to win. No, but it did pick up three
that we've talked about. Best Cinematography, Best Film
Editing, and Best Original Song. Yeah, and Fred Astaire did win
best supporting at the Baftas and the Golden Globes.
John Williams picked up a BAFTA for his work here, coupled with
his work on Jaws as well. I think Inferno maybe was the
tag along on that award. Yeah.
And Susan Flannery playing Paddy
Simmons Duncan starter, was awarded new start of the the
Golden Globes despite being in movies and TV for over 10 years
at that point. Yeah, a little behind the times
there, just a bit. Yeah.
So someone expected awards recognition.
Made. Maybe, but there's no surprise
that a film on the cutting edge of special effects tapping into
audience and societal fears swept the box office despite a
mixed reception from critics. Yeah, sequels and influence.
A number of Hollywood firsts for the Terran Infernal.
Some immediate impacts the film had before we go into its long
term legacy. The film triggered genuine
change, stricter building codes, upgraded fire safety regulations
and the re examination of sprinkler requirements in tall
buildings across multiple cities.
I mean, that's an impact. Huge.
And the film had a more personal effect on a few people directly
involved as well. Allen moved his New York hotel
suite from the 30th floor to the fifth.
Newman allegedly stopped visiting his dentist, whose
office was on the 14th floor, and McQueen was made an honorary
Los Angeles firefighter for his troubles.
Very nice, yeah. Very nice.
So in the since its release, where have we seen the Tower
Inferno's influence and legacy? Wesley, what are your thoughts?
I mean influence and legacy, there's a lot.
I don't think anything of this scale is ever going to be done
again. But the ensembles again,
bringing together big names, the combination of studios, the use
of miniatures. I don't think Lord of the Rings
will be go without the miniatures that we used here.
I think it pioneered that. It had a lot of visual, visual
effects. It pioneered a lot of people
working together. I think Urban Island was a real
pioneer not only of the disaster genre but also like the huge
epic sweep of the film of cinema and how to make that big and
engaging and powerful and human. This really said, this is what a
big film is, hasn't been touched since.
I think it has, but not to this degree of like real danger.
I think it's a brilliant thing. Yeah, real balls to the wall.
Film it is, absolutely. Yeah, it really is.
Yeah. I mean, it's legacy as this is
how you do this type of film, this is how you do with that
tactile physicality. It has fired genuinely out there
on set, not added in post, which makes so much difference.
But I think there's really individual little bits that
remind me as well. I mean, we've mentioned, you
know, if you Die Hard references already, but the helicopter
exploding on the roof, that is what happens to Johnson and
Johnson in Die Hard. Yeah, it looks like the Nakatomi
building, doesn't it? Looks.
Like it? Yeah, and I think on James
Cameron as well, I think that bit after they've planted the
charges and they've kind of rushed through the fire when or
Halloran has to take his suit off because it's burning.
That always reminds me if you know when aliens when Hicks
shoots the. Aliens on.
His arm, and Ripley has to take it off for him.
I think that feels like it, and it has to be a deliberate
reference. But the bit we've talked about,
about Mrs. Mueller falling out the elevator and then hitting
the ledge in Titanic, you've got the bit where the person falls
off, hits the propeller and spins into one in exactly the
same way. That can't be a coincidence.
No, not at all. That has to be a direct
reference, I think, to Jennifer Jones.
In terms of legacy, I think you've got to start with what
this film represents is just a Hollywood landmark because the
list of first is is extraordinary. 2 Studios Co
producing a film together, two source novels combining or a
single screenplay, 2 directors splitting duties, and a budget
that at the time was the largest ever committed to a single film.
Yeah, and diagonal building as well.
That was the AS. Well, yeah, absolutely.
So any one of those things would make the Tarrant Inferno
noteworthy. But five of them making one of
the most audition productions in Hollywood history?
Yeah. And I think that doesn't get
remembered. No, it doesn't know.
But the legacy goes beyond the logistics.
For better or worse, every superhero film, every action
spectacular, every disaster move you've seen the last 50 years
has the Tarrant Infernals fingerprints somewhere on it.
Definitely. I mean, Roland Emmerich is
covered in And finally, we've talked about this a number of
Times Now, but novelist Roderick Thorpe saw The Tower and
Inferno, and that same night had a dream about a man being chased
through a skyscraper by armed assailants.
That dream became his 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever.
Nothing Lasts Forever was adapted for the big screen
that's Die Hard in 1988. Legacy Nailed Forever.
And if you want even more evidence of that influence,
there's an exchange between Holly and John Mcclane in the
bathroom right at the start. He's talking about Kathy Roberts
retiring out here. That is a direct reference to
Doug Roberts, who's called Kathy in this film.
Paul and his character. Yeah.
Pomona.
Pomona, Pomona. Pomona, Pomona.
So yes, a film with a huge reputation, a film with a huge
legacy, one that maybe doesn't get talked about as much as it
should, and I think we've righted a few wrongs here with
that. Absolutely all the right movies
ranking. OK, it's time to give our
summary and score for the Tower and Inferno.
Wesley, you chose it, so why don't you go first?
I have a lot of love for this film.
I have a lot of admiration for this film.
I have a lot of time, a lot of emotion, a lot of nostalgia.
It's the ultimate film that I'll just put on.
If I'm doing something, it's just there.
It's long enough that I can always come back to it.
There's always a sequence that I want to watch in it.
There's some I had to put the academic head on and the kind
of, you know, the technical head and go, yeah, you know, as a
film, it's not one that I'm going to recommend to everybody.
I know it's aged like milk. I know for a fact that there's
problems with it. I know that it's not a perfect
film by any stretch of the imagination.
I'm not going to give a perfect score, even though I'd love to.
Me hard. It is A10.
If it was, you know, little Wesley sitting here, it's at 8
and nine years old, they'd be like that's a 10 on 10.
I've not seen anything better. Maybe Commando, but that's the
definitely A10. It really feels like home.
This whole film. It's got it's got a lot attached
to it. I really, really do love it.
But I can understand where all the issues come from it and I'm
not going to defend it. I do love it and I do love it
with all my heart. It only loses 1 mark for all of
the things that was spoken about.
It definitely gets up there for me.
It's a nine on 10 for me. 9 out of 10.
Very nice. What about you, Matt?
Yeah, I mean, this is one that is on rotation a lot for me and
Weedley, considering everything that happens in it, it's a bit
of a comfort watch for me. And I think even nostalgia sites
how much this still hits the mark.
I mean, in terms of the actors nor no one's put in any of their
work here in a top five of whoever you pick.
But just the sheer movie star presence of Newman McQueen,
Holden Dunaway, Astaire gives a real level of dramatic weight
that really needs to think the set pieces still really work.
This will put my heart my mouth at times.
Special effects are horrifying and the stunt work is still
spectacular. And everyone's really plugged
into what this film is trying to deliver.
But as we've been seeing some of the dialogue, some of the plot
lines, the, you know, the constraint from a daytime soap
opera in Saudi or some of the other kind of support
performances. And obviously this genre does
come with certain boundaries or limits to it that a con really
suffered or overcome to that extent.
But it's getting an extra half. Mark me for nostalgia and the X
half mark is because this is for me.
It's still the best in class for this genre.
Nothing in need respect for that.
So I'm also giving it A9. Wow, 2 nines.
Well, I said at the start I preferred Poseidon when I came
to revisit in this, and I still do by some distance.
It just feels a lot more whole less bloated.
It feels there's more at stake and I just a better film for me.
OK, but there's a lot to love about Inferno, an amazing
spectacle with incredible talent on each either side of the
camera. But it's in front of the camera
that I've got probably the biggest problem with.
I've mentioned that the character Dan Bigelow and his
mistress Snip. Get that out or apply that to
somebody that I care about. Right, OK.
Yeah. Faye Dunaway.
I mean, come on, I've said enough and I'm broke the record.
I agree. Unforgivable.
Not to give her any lines in the last scene or not.
To be acknowledged by Stephen Mcqueen's character is crazy.
Yeah. So the writing, although I think
it was a poisoned chalice from the outset, that could have been
much better, much tighter, more emotionally resonant with
characters we care about. Maybe was the leading actor ego
trip that caused a ripple effect throughout.
Possibly talked about the restrictions.
Yeah, there's a lot of control here.
Yeah, make no mistake though, John Williams score is a
highlights, as are the special effects John Glaman's should be
singled out for. Prayers for keeping everything
afloat and God bless Irwin Allen.
He's been a bit of a laughable figure, but God the balls on
this man. Absolutely.
He had in mind what he wanted and he went after it like a
crazy man and he pulled it off. Pioneer of the blockbuster?
Incredible. Biggest ever budget at the time
as well. Completely unfair.
Is 200 million of the box office just like that.
It's a real success story despite things are going against
it, but the behind the scenes story doesn't necessarily give
the film high marks. It's jumbled and spectacular.
Great to look at but bloated to bursting point.
This is the definition of a mixed bag for me, but I've very
much admire the craft. I'm going for a 7 out of 10.
OK, that's too low. That's fine though.
I mean. Is it fine?
Okay, great. I'm glad.
It's fine, yeah.
It's fine. We'll do it beside an adventure
next month. See what happens then.
Yeah, 66.5 Our 4th and final score for The Tarrant Inferno
comes from our Patreon community.
They've had plenty to say. Here are some thoughts.
First, OK, Daryl Van Horn said a disaster flick that actually has
some edge. Characters actually die button
versions played safe. So in the context of the genre,
9 out of 10 plus Newman and McQueen, yes yeah, yeah, fair
enough. David Barry said this is the
granddaddy of disaster movies. Always a blast.
What a cast. Super cool McQueen and human
effects that still look great. Thrilling John Williams score 9
out of 10. Understood.
Bismarck said. I grew up on 70s disaster
movies, Poseidon, Adventure, Earthquake, etcetera and for the
longest time Tower and Inferno was my favorite.
But having recently rewatched it, I was disappointed in most
of the scenes that didn't have fire effects and stunts.
I didn't care about most of the characters aside from Steve
McQueen who was fantastic Fire Chief.
Haven't grown up with Tower and Inferno as a 10.
I'm sad to say it is now a six. Wow, okay, that's what I mean.
You say it hasn't aged well. No.
Yeah, watch it once a week from when you're 7.
Years old as a kid. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Then then tonight. Then it's tonight.
Easy, yeah. So there's an honest spread of
opinions. Thanks Bismarck for keeping us
on our tours as well. Don't think the Bismarck
whatever you do. So what do you think that
averages out of 10 from our Patreon community?
Definitely think it's going to be more on your end to be
honest. I'm going to be optimistic
though and saying 8. I'll say 7.5.
Oh, Wester, you're right is 8 out of 10.
OK, enough. I'm happy with that.
Yeah, yeah. Meaning that overall, Italian
Infernal scores 33 out of 40, right?
A solid score. Very solid, very understandable.
Yeah, respectable. Good.
Yeah. All the right movies will be
back in two weeks when John Westy and Matt will be going
behind the scenes on Back to the Future Part 2.
Hoverboards, power laces and all.
That one is going to be an awful lot of fun, for sure.
Yeah, it's gonna. Be great that one.
Look forward to that. For that, for our studio head
and directors chair patrons, the latest episode of The Watchlist
came out last week. 6 great reviews there.
And next week we'll put an Alan Rickman in the double feature
chair with Galaxy Quest and Dogma.
That's going to be a very good episode.
Very nice. Love Rickman.
Who doesn't? Yeah.
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Take care. Easy guys.
Make sure them sprinklers work.