1
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,560
All the right movies. 
What do we got here, Cathy? 

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00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,200
Fire started. 81st floor storage
room. 

3
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,680
This is a bad Smoke is so thick 
we can't tell how far it's 

4
00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,280
spread. 
What about your exhaust system? 

5
00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:17,960
Well, it should have reversed 
automatically. 

6
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:19,360
It must have been a motor 
burnout or something. 

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00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:21,760
Sprinklers. 
They're not working on 81. 

8
00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:24,680
Why not? 
I don't know. 

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00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,520
The fire blaze is out of 
control, threatening the world's

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00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,480
tallest skyscraper and the great
and the good who have come to 

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00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,160
visit on the night of its grand 
opening. 

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As the fire rages, an architect 
and a Fire Chief must put aside 

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00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,800
their differences to save the 
day. 

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00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,280
Owen Allen set Hollywood on fire
with the Tower and Inferno in 

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00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,600
the mid 70s. 
He assembled the biggest cast 

16
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:48,840
ever, put them in the biggest 
disaster movie ever. 

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Cinema goers blew a fuse that 
the blockbuster that proved that

18
00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,720
one tiny spark could become a 
night of blaze and suspense. 

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My name is Luke and the two 
fellas with me who always wanted

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to die in bed are Matt. 
It's a fire, Mr. and all fires 

21
00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:03,280
are bad. 
And Westie. 

22
00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,200
What for? 
We got a fire. 

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00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,520
Here, all the right movies are 
taking the express elevators of 

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the 135th floor. 
Hope the wire ends up the court.

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00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,960
Hi everyone, welcome to All the 
Right Movies, a podcast on 

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00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:35,320
classic and hit films that we 
figured would never burn. 

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Nice. 
Here we are. 

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Here we are. 
Yes. 

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Telling the story of Hollywood 
one film at a time. 

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And this time we're headed to 
the top floor. 

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It is Paul Newman. 
It is Steve McQueen in the 

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Ultimate Actor face off the 
Citizen Kane of disaster movies.

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It is Towering Inferno. 
It is, Oh yeah, a very, very, 

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very big explosion on our hands 
here. 

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Very big. 
But before the party starts, 

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it's that time. 
Time to talk about becoming an 

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00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:02,680
ATRM patron. 
Let's do it. 

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00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,560
Every two weeks we put out a 
brand new episode of this show, 

39
00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,400
a deep dive into a classic or 
hit film, the most recent 20 

40
00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,400
year available wherever you 
listen to podcasts. 

41
00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,120
And beyond that, we have an 
archive of over 110 episodes 

42
00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,880
that you can unlock by becoming 
an ATRM patron. 

43
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,200
You can do that on Apple 
Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and 

44
00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,040
Patreon. 
Lord of Choices. 

45
00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,720
One episode per floor. 
Yeah, exactly. 

46
00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:26,160
More floors than the glass 
tower. 

47
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,040
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Skip episode 81. 

48
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,200
That's where it all starts. 
I wish this was episode 135. 

49
00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:36,360
Imagine. 
It's 132 I think. 

50
00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:38,640
Oh goodness. 
Oh no. 

51
00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,200
On top of that, if you signed up
on YouTube or Patreon, you also 

52
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,520
get access to two additional 
podcasts every month. 

53
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,680
That's the watch list, where we 
review new releases and Double 

54
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,960
Feature, where we cover films 
that haven't quite made it to 

55
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,560
the main show yet. 
They're on their way. 

56
00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:53,440
They're. 
On their way. 

57
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,000
Think of it as the penthouse 
suite of podcast content. 

58
00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,280
Yeah, and unlike the glass 
tower, everything completely 

59
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,760
above board. 
Yes, absolutely no shortcuts. 

60
00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:04,440
No, it's all the. 
Code yeah. 

61
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,400
Sign up at patreon.com/all the 
right Movies, where you can also

62
00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,080
vote for the films that we talk 
about, the scores that they get.

63
00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,600
And you can also ask us 
questions which will answer live

64
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,960
on the show, and you'll be here 
in a few of those later on. 

65
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:18,680
Yeah. 
You will indeed. 

66
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,120
So if you can support us, we'd 
love to have you. 

67
00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:22,360
Thanks everyone. 
Yes. 

68
00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,840
Thank you so much guys. 
OK, Westie, this one is your 

69
00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,440
baby. 
They've referenced it many times

70
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,000
and the pod, you've referenced 
it even more in the last 25 

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00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,480
years that I've known you. 
Yes. 

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00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,000
Why do you want to talk about 
the Taran Inferno? 

73
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,120
I feel like I've already done 
this podcast, I've talked about 

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00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,920
this film that fucking much, and
I'm absolutely fine with it. 

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00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,880
It's so easy to make notes, so 
easy to watch again, so easy to 

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00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,520
revisit. 
I I mean The Taran Inferno is 

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00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:55,280
the best film ever made. 
You've said that before. 

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Greatest film ever made. 
It's just wonderful. 

79
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,440
It just sits just right with me.
I mean, long time listeners will

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00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,880
know that my dad was in the fire
brigade for 30 years. 

81
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,680
This came out, you got to see it
for free because he was in the 

82
00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:08,320
fire brigade when it came out. 
Wonderful. 

83
00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,440
And it was one of those that was
just so relevant in the house. 

84
00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,040
If it was on, it was on and 
everyone was watching it. 

85
00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:16,399
Everyone had to pay attention to
it. 

86
00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,120
He had a lot of respect for it 
because he said it was just, it 

87
00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,760
was very realistic and it just 
ticked all the boxes and it took

88
00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,760
everything very, very seriously.
It's a classic Sunday for me. 

89
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,280
It's the original yellow credits
film. 

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It's where it all started. 
Now I see every film with yellow

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00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:31,600
creditors. 
A masterpiece. 

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00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:33,280
Not all of them, but the pretty 
close. 

93
00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,760
It's a good barometer. 
It has some huge actors. 

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00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,520
At the time when I was a kid, it
was like Steve McQueen and Paul 

95
00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:40,520
Newman are in this. 
Yeah, DMA. 

96
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:42,760
William Holden as well at the 
time, Robert Vaughn. 

97
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:44,400
My dad loved the Man from Uncle 
series. 

98
00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,480
We used to watch that. 
It was all of these things 

99
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,920
coming together and it was just 
one of those that really stuck 

100
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,240
with me and it was just a huge, 
huge influence growing up. 

101
00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,680
I just loved every single minute
of it, and I still do. 

102
00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,560
I know there's lots of issues 
with the film. 

103
00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,040
I know that if I come to it now 
I'd have a very, very different 

104
00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:00,640
opinion. 
But everything I'm going to say 

105
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,040
in the next few hours is for 
little Westie. 

106
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,360
It is for little me who never 
really had a voice about this 

107
00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,840
and couldn't really see anything
because my dad would boom over 

108
00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:11,160
the top of us. 
So now it's my turn because it 

109
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,560
was a long run time, which meant
a later bedtime and that was 

110
00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,240
always a good thing for me. 
So it's Put the Tower Inferno 

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00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:18,680
on. 
It was a good little move. 

112
00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:20,680
I love this film from start to 
finish. 

113
00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,480
I won't suffer any kind of 
criticism whatsoever from you 

114
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,120
guys on it. 
It's a perfect. 

115
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:28,680
OK, right. 
No Christmas. 

116
00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:30,400
Shall we just tune out now? 
Just. 

117
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:31,920
Tune out. 
Let me go for two hours. 

118
00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:33,080
There's half me. 
No, it's gone. 

119
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:36,320
I mean, obviously it's a 
wonderful thing. 

120
00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:37,560
I'm really looking forward to 
talking about it. 

121
00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:39,120
I'm really looking forward to 
seeing what you guys thinking 

122
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,960
about it because I am just baked
in nostalgia with this one. 

123
00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,240
Yes, it's fantastic stuff, but 
yes, I kind of wait to talk 

124
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,480
about it. 
Grace Yeah, Well, I want to talk

125
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,760
about this one because I really 
want to know what all the fuss 

126
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:49,920
is about from your point of 
view. 

127
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,800
Westie Fair enough, because of 
course I've seen it before, but 

128
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,480
haven't seen it for many years. 
Yeah, it was a staple on TV in 

129
00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:58,720
the 80s and 90s, particularly 
around, like, bank holidays. 

130
00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:00,440
Like you said, Westie, it's a 
Sunday film. 

131
00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:01,440
It is. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

132
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,520
But it never really stuck with 
me, and I've always been a 

133
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,480
Poseidon Adventure kind of guy. 
Oh, wow, it's standard. 

134
00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:08,160
Yes. 
All right. 

135
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:09,640
Elvis or The Beatles. 
This isn't it. 

136
00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:11,480
Yes, it is. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

137
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,680
It's got this huge reputation. 
Obviously, it's a damn good 

138
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,560
adventure film, but has it aged 
that well? 

139
00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,120
We'll discuss, of course, 
Westie, and you know, yeah, take

140
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,080
with a pinch of salt all of our 
comments. 

141
00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,040
We don't really go easy. 
I mean, I know a lot of it's 

142
00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:34,840
aged like milk, but we'll see. 
But what is in no doubt is that 

143
00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:36,760
behind the scenes story, it's 
incredible. 

144
00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,360
Multiple camera crews, multiple 
directors, multiple stars, 

145
00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,840
multiple millions. 
It really is a landmark film and

146
00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:45,880
it's well deserved of its place 
on the podcast and I'm very 

147
00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:47,760
excited to dive into all of 
that. 

148
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:48,840
Lovely. 
Yeah. 

149
00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:51,120
I mean, I've got a lot of 
nostalgia for this as well as he

150
00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,200
beats in into screams Bank 
Holiday Monday afternoon film 

151
00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:56,560
when I was a gay just always 
seem to be beyond. 

152
00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,320
And the weird thing is it 
probably shouldn't have been on 

153
00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,440
during the daytime because like 
every disaster film, it has 

154
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,280
this. 
It's like reputation of, yeah, 

155
00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:07,000
it's a bit cheesy at times. 
It's a great spectacle, but 

156
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:08,760
there's nothing much below the 
surface. 

157
00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,520
Having said that, that's 
overlooking how brutal this film

158
00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:13,240
does get. 
I mean, it does have an end to 

159
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:14,080
it. 
And there's more. 

160
00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,440
It's genuine and absolute horror
in this. 

161
00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,240
I think that shouldn't be on 
during the day when kids should 

162
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,480
be watching. 
It's terrifying at times. 

163
00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:24,280
Threads. 
Yeah, exactly. 

164
00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,600
What a double deal that is. 
Yeah, sleep tight, everyone. 

165
00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,400
But then I can watch it as an 
adult and I can take away the 

166
00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,080
nostalgia factor and I think 
there's still lots to talk 

167
00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,080
about. 
Me not cast a legend of the 

168
00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,080
screen in pretty much all the 
main roles, shattered the 

169
00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,560
boundaries of what could be 
captured on screen in terms of 

170
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,200
the effects. 
It defined the genre. 

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00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,720
And I can put this on now. 
And yes, some of it is a bit 

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00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,280
soap opera with the dialogue and
some performances which we'll 

173
00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,520
get to, but I don't care because
5 minutes of this, I'm not 

174
00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,080
turning this off unless there's 
an actual fire in my house. 

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00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,960
Fantastic. 
OK, I can see what I'm up 

176
00:07:57,960 --> 00:07:59,080
against here. 
I love it. 

177
00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:01,040
See how that plays out. 
Yeah. 

178
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:07,440
Oh God, looks like we're in the 
scenic elevator. 

179
00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:08,520
Magic. 
Yep. 

180
00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:12,360
Hanging on by a fucking. 
Cable, there's a helicopter 

181
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:17,400
coming for you, Sir. 
The Towering Inferno was written

182
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,160
by Sterling Sullivans, directed 
by John Gearman, with a little 

183
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,880
help from Owen Allen, who also 
produced the film for 20th 

184
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,440
Century Fox and Warner Brothers.
Distributed in theaters on 

185
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,320
December 16th, 1974, it was shot
on multiple sound stages and at 

186
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,120
various locations in San 
Francisco. 

187
00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,200
It's as a glitter and who's who 
of talent including Paul Newman,

188
00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,919
Steve McQueen, William Holden, 
Faye Dunaway, Jennifer Jones, 

189
00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:41,919
Fred Astaire, Richard 
Chamberlain, Robert Wagner, 

190
00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:44,200
Robert Vaughn and many more 
beautiful. 

191
00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:46,480
Many, many more. 
Including he who shall not be 

192
00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,280
named. 
Yes, yes, yes, eliminated. 

193
00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,160
Which is good because he 
disappears for half of the 

194
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:52,320
fucking film. 
We don't know where he is. 

195
00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,880
He does he just when he gets 
Mrs. Albright right. 

196
00:08:55,880 --> 00:09:00,440
I'll see you later. 
I'm cooking offline, sorry 

197
00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,120
naughty. 
So the guests are arriving, the 

198
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,920
champagne is flowing, and 
somewhere on the 81st floor 

199
00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:07,960
something is starting to smell a
little smoky. 

200
00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,120
Let's head to the Glass Tower 
for the orb and act of the Tower

201
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,440
and Inferno. 
We will never love like this 

202
00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:21,520
again. 
The beginning. 

203
00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:25,840
A blister in open end of the 
film. 

204
00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,760
Paul Newman in a helicopter 
sweeping over the skies of San 

205
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:30,800
Francisco, scored by John 
Williams. 

206
00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,280
It doesn't get better than this.
Doesn't matter. 

207
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,840
It certainly doesn't. 
I mean, this opening credit 

208
00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,560
sequence is so unnecessarily 
massive and massively 

209
00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:42,720
unnecessary. 
I mean, it's telling her from 

210
00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,360
the off this film is going big. 
Look how massive those titles 

211
00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,600
are booming that soundtrack. 
Yes. 

212
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:50,880
And Wesley, I'm so glad you've 
confirmed This is why your love 

213
00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,280
of Yellow title started, because
it was going to ask you. 

214
00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,280
Everything is massively. 
I mean, how fucking long is this

215
00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,320
helicopter journey? 
Where's he coming from? 

216
00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,560
He's flying over the coast. 
He's flying over mountains, over

217
00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:03,440
woods, over the Golden Gate 
Bridge. 

218
00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,000
And then at one point, just for 
the sheer ego of this opening 

219
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,120
sequence, he's flying next to a 
boat on the river. 

220
00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,960
Like, I'm no expert, but flying 
that close to a board for 

221
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,560
absolutely zero reason is surely
illegal or at the very least 

222
00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:19,000
found upon. 
And it's like, Nah, get it down 

223
00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:20,600
there. 
Get it in there and it's a 

224
00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,880
helicopter shooting a 
helicopter. 

225
00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,120
Outrageous. 2 helicopters, 0 
health and safety concerns here,

226
00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,000
and then we get that first shot 
of the tower. 

227
00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,240
Newman's huge grain when we see 
it, and then we're introduced to

228
00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,080
Duncan, their convoy. 
That sets their characters up 

229
00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:36,920
really well because we've got 2 
tropes here. 

230
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,920
This is Doug's last day in the 
job, and this is the greatest 

231
00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,480
achievement of Duncan's career. 
Great and fine. 

232
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,760
I know who these two guys are 
immediately and where their 

233
00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,000
story's going straight away. 
But then we go into Doug's 

234
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,520
office and he's harassed by 
everyone there because they've 

235
00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,200
all got questions. 
Doug, what about this? 

236
00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,440
What about that? 
And this then the secretary is 

237
00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,240
just, are you taking any calls? 
Because you know, you know, she 

238
00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,200
knows what's up. 
Because then we meet Susan 

239
00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,640
exactly within two minutes. 
Just drag them into bed. 

240
00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,080
And what kind of office is this 
with the pimps bedroom out the 

241
00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,960
back? 
It's absolutely outrageous. 

242
00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,200
Fantastic. 
But honestly, if that was me and

243
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,000
I knew, I've got half a dozen 
people with lots of questions, 

244
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,840
I've got a secretary 100 yards 
here who knows exactly what I'm 

245
00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:20,880
doing. 
Don't think I could concentrate 

246
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,080
on the job at hand, even if it 
is fair done away. 

247
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,240
But you know, that's why he's 
poor and human and I'm not. 

248
00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,920
Yeah, outraged dialogue as well,
where he's being dragged into 

249
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,600
the bedroom. 
I've got about $140 worth of 

250
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,320
vulgar underwear for you. 
Yeah, 140 dollars. 

251
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:37,920
Yeah. 
Really specific. 

252
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,640
Catherine Ross, Raquel Welch and
Natalie Wood were all offered 

253
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,280
the role of Susan Franlin before
Dunaway snagged it. 

254
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,720
Wood turned it down because she 
was pregnant and she said the 

255
00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:49,360
script was mediocre. 
Wow. 

256
00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:51,240
Ouch. 
Yeah. 

257
00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,400
You know, I can, I can see where
she's going. 

258
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:54,440
I. 
Can see where she's coming from 

259
00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:56,480
and being, yeah, I mean being, 
being pregnant's a problem. 

260
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,440
Yes, All right. 
No, that's not the script, you 

261
00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:03,440
know. 
No, I thought that, yeah, I, I 

262
00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,760
think it's kind of sorry to 
start off here, but I think it's

263
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,680
kind of the epitome of too many 
cooks. 

264
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,880
The cast is crowned with talent,
and Faye Dunaway is right at the

265
00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:15,160
top of that cast. 
But this material is, it's weak.

266
00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,400
It's weak for her. 
Yeah, it doesn't serve very 

267
00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,080
well, does it? 
Doesn't at all. 

268
00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,480
In certain promotional material 
she was even referred to as the 

269
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,280
girlfriend. 
Wow. 

270
00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,160
Yeah. 
Crazy, yeah. 

271
00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,640
And an article published by 
Warren is at the time of release

272
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,320
claimed that the glass towel was
the building of the future. 

273
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,680
Not just the exteriors, but the 
interiors, which are, they said,

274
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,720
dominated by eye-catching 
geometrical patterns and 

275
00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,720
designs, feature many of the 
architectural IDs and plans of 

276
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,840
tomorrow in TV. 
Furnishings are both 

277
00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,080
contemporary and futuristic. 
Well, just. 

278
00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:51,760
Orange. 
Yeah, a lot of orange. 

279
00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:53,760
Yeah, that's. 
Orange and brown, Orange and. 

280
00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:59,440
Brown fucking get it. 
So dated it was dating as soon 

281
00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:02,440
as it was shot. 
Yeah, after we get, you know, 

282
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,480
the the deeds been done. 
He's concentrated on. 

283
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:06,880
It's Paul Newman after all. 
It's going, it's going to get, 

284
00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:08,640
it's going to get done probably 
twice. 

285
00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,400
Let's be honest with you. 
Yeah. 

286
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,360
And then we get a phone call 
straight out of there. 

287
00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:15,000
A man's got to do what a man's 
got to do. 

288
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,840
Can I just say that this film is
quintessentially 70s? 

289
00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,400
It's so 70s. 
It's ridiculously 70s. 

290
00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:24,000
And it's so masculine, it's 
almost hard to watch with 

291
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,120
anybody else. 
But just me sitting there just 

292
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:27,400
saying this is a great film, 
right? 

293
00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:28,640
And yeah. 
Yeah, it is Wesley. 

294
00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,320
I know it is Wesley. 
It's great watch it with anyone 

295
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,480
else and trying to justify it, 
as I'm going to have to going 

296
00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,600
through this podcast is going to
get progressively more 

297
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,400
difficult. 
But I want to highlight it now 

298
00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,400
that I am aware of how 
unbelievably masculine and how 

299
00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,240
unbelievably stupid most of this
film is. 

300
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,640
So I'll just leave that there. 
So he turns up this outfit when 

301
00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,760
he's walking through. 
I mean, come on, Flair. 

302
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,440
It looks an absolute treat, 
right? 

303
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,600
Still doing his covering 
straight out of the urgency at 

304
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,080
the Duncan's office. 
It's absolutely fantastic, the 

305
00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,120
dialogue here. 
And it's just like, he's so like

306
00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,120
condescending and just so 
brilliant at his job, Doug, 

307
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:01,600
isn't he? 
He's like, well, how many did 

308
00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:02,240
you say? 
How many? 

309
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:03,880
How many do I have to? 
You know what I mean? 

310
00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:04,960
It's just I want to talk to that
son. 

311
00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,480
And Laurie owes his genius. 
It's obviously not my problem. 

312
00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,760
Wagner comes in. 
Dan Bigelow, right? 

313
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:15,480
What a guy. 
Dan Bigelow, go wait until you 

314
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,360
see this. 
Just massive scissors. 

315
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:21,920
What's so good about that? 
The box is more impressive than 

316
00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,200
this is, as I always thought 
that. 

317
00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,160
And then it's like, you get 
that, but we almost had a fire 

318
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,640
and yeah, a fire. 
But as the audience, you know 

319
00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,040
for a fact, there's going to be 
a fucking fire. 

320
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,480
So you're like, yes, but there's
going to be 1 and everyone's 

321
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:33,960
already annoyed. 
The fact that there's going to 

322
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,600
be a fire, it's amazing. 
And then Will's really worried 

323
00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,800
about safety, so you know he's 
going to be the first one out of

324
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:40,240
there. 
We should have put this back a 

325
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:41,680
couple of months. 
It's like, yeah, well, he's 

326
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,040
fucked. 
What's going on? 

327
00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:47,720
So that's absolutely brilliant. 
Simmons is out. 

328
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,600
It can't wait. 
This is too much of an 

329
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,120
emergency. 
So obviously Doug's just 

330
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:54,360
straight out of there. 
Gets a taxi. 

331
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,040
Classic San Francisco estate 
class. 

332
00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,520
Looks a beautiful house. 
It looks absolutely incredible. 

333
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,160
Tells the taxi to wait. 
He doesn't know how long he's 

334
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:02,520
going to be. 
There's some of the money this 

335
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:04,240
guy's got. 
How much stamp this guy's got on

336
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:05,840
the whole world. 
Don't go anywhere. 

337
00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,400
The taxi driver as well, 
obviously, that's Doug. 

338
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:08,920
The architecture. 
I'm going fucking no way. 

339
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,440
I'm waiting here all night. 
Absolutely amazing. 

340
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,760
And then he has a little bit of 
a chat, comes in, He's not going

341
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,280
to tell her because she's a 
woman. 

342
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,320
She wouldn't understand. 
Yeah, even though it's Duncan's 

343
00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,760
daughter, like the guy who just 
just very aware of what's going 

344
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,080
on. 
Who's going there tonight as? 

345
00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:27,240
Well, yeah, she's going there 
tonight. 

346
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,600
And Simmons is, you know, that's
her husband. 

347
00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,840
She's she was quite aware, but 
she's just not telling her what 

348
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,040
he's doing. 
What did you do at work today? 

349
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,560
You shut the fuck up. 
It's like, no, I'm not telling 

350
00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:37,720
you. 
Where did you get that wiring 

351
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:38,480
from? 
B&Q. 

352
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,160
I'm not telling you Wicks 
doesn't go into any event. 

353
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,440
You just shoved in the corner. 
It's absolutely class. 

354
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,960
But then it's just this real 
kind of machismo back and forth 

355
00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:49,560
and you're not having a drink 
right now. 

356
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,720
What are you drinking? 
He's like, that's very far, 

357
00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:52,680
isn't he? 
You bet you. 

358
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,760
I love that. 
But he just, and it's just this 

359
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,760
confrontation between the two of
them and he just shows Simmons 

360
00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,200
up right in front of his wife. 
It's going to take someone with 

361
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,800
a little bit more clout than you
to make us do my office. 9:00 

362
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:04,640
tomorrow. 
Bye. 

363
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,400
See you later. 
He's like, oh fuck's sake. 

364
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,880
Sitting next to her, he's just 
shown right up. 

365
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,640
He's just made an absolute fool 
of himself. 

366
00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:13,000
And she actually turned. 
Well, we need some reasons to 

367
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,240
stay married. 
And he just ignores the question

368
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,320
completely. 
Oh, OK, we're going to be late, 

369
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:19,800
idiot. 
Of course we're going to stay 

370
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:21,600
married or else you're going to 
do. 

371
00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,640
It's just, again, really 
condescending. 

372
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,280
But he just says he doesn't need
God's help. 

373
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,280
He doesn't need our old man's. 
I'm not going to jump over time.

374
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,200
Daddy barks. 
And you can tell this character 

375
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,640
is just set up so slimy, but so 
quickly. 

376
00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:34,720
It's like you're not giving a 
chance. 

377
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,320
No point in trying to bond any 
kind of relationship or any kind

378
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,560
of character depth. 
You know who everybody is. 

379
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,680
It's so on the surface, but I 
just fucking love that. 

380
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,080
Nothing else. 
No, no bullshit. 

381
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:48,760
He's a Dick. 
He's a hero. 

382
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,240
Gee, that's it. 
Straight down the line. 

383
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,840
No Shades of Grey whatsoever. 
No, nothing. 

384
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,920
What's it's a black and white. 
It's a catastrophe fill and 

385
00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:57,040
orange. 
You know exactly where you're 

386
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:58,880
coming from. 
The black, white, orange, brown,

387
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,560
yellow, brown, even the 
helicopters orange. 

388
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,480
Doug's wearing orange. 
He's wearing aviators. 

389
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,680
He's not even flying the thing. 
I, I mean, I couldn't adore this

390
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,359
anymore. 
And we're only like, what, 15 

391
00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:09,640
minutes in? 
Yeah, yeah. 

392
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,000
So with all of this going on in 
the background, it's night time.

393
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,760
The gala evening starts. 
We're told the entire city is in

394
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,079
holiday mood. 
Leaders of government show up, 

395
00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,319
stars a screen in television. 
Robert Vaughan shows up as the 

396
00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:25,680
senator. 
Absolute joy to see that. 

397
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,800
Brilliant, He's. 
Great in this as well he's. 

398
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,000
Amazing. 
So it's all smiles for the 

399
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:35,000
crowds and the camera, but what 
Gearman does as director and his

400
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,880
cast do very well as well as 
portrayed the rising concern 

401
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,080
that's going on just under the 
surface. 

402
00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,440
The relationship between Duncan 
and Simmons seems strained to 

403
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,280
begin with, even without this. 
Yeah, I guess nobody is good 

404
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,480
enough for his daughter. 
Especially not this greasy idiot

405
00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:52,920
clown. 
Yeah, greasy is the word. 

406
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,040
And that suit, that brand suit. 
Horrible. 

407
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,080
Didn't realize I was on such a 
tight leash. 

408
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,320
Yeah, that bit of licorice in 
the licorice, all sorts that you

409
00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:11,840
always leave that brown one. 
That's the guy that's amazing. 

410
00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,760
So this is a great set of for 
the for the showdown that they 

411
00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,720
have in the the third act and 
the little niggle and arguments 

412
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,480
that they have all the way 
through the narrative. 

413
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,360
Really good dialogue. 
Great delivery from Horton. 

414
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,160
When I get the time, I want to 
ask you a few questions and I 

415
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,520
expect some straight answers. 
Yes. 

416
00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:30,120
Come on. 
No nonsense. 

417
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:32,840
And then Mayor Ramsey shows up 
with his wife. 

418
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,040
His wife is played by Sheila 
Matthew Allen, Irwin's wife. 

419
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,640
That's right, A. 
Little bit of nepotism in there.

420
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:39,480
Very. 
Nice. 

421
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,920
And then the big reveal. 
The lights go on, the skyline is

422
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,040
forever changed and Williams 
music blows up into something 

423
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,560
quite spectacular. 
It's triumphant, but because we 

424
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,800
know what's rumbling under 
beneath the 135th floor, there's

425
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,280
this horrible sense of dread. 
These luminaries are effectively

426
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,200
being taken to their doom. 
Yeah, there's a real sense of 

427
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,680
dread building here. 
And when we do get into the 

428
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,920
party, some really wonderful 
wide shots, which almost feels 

429
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,280
like there's something or 
someone stalking the guests that

430
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,440
they're not aware of. 
Whether that's intentional or 

431
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,560
not, I'm not too sure, but it 
works an absolute treat. 

432
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:15,440
It does, yeah. 
I don't, I really don't think 

433
00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:17,120
that's intentional. 
But now you mention it does have

434
00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:18,720
this kind of creeping feeling to
it. 

435
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:20,840
It's like, yeah, it's prowling 
around just in the. 

436
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,280
Background It's when all the 
lights go on, if you turned all 

437
00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,720
of the lights on in your house 
before and how unsettling that 

438
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,280
feels like all of the big 
lights. 

439
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,240
And the glass tower itself all 
138 floors of it was built as a 

440
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,680
70 foot miniature at the Fox 
Ranch in Malibu constructed at 

441
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,800
half inch scale and that's 
roughly the height of A5 story 

442
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,280
building, which gives you some 
sense of the scale that we're 

443
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,120
working at evening miniature 
that's. 

444
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,760
Crazy five story building. 
A miniature of this build that's

445
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:51,320
that's some construction that's 
massive. 

446
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,040
The centerpiece of the whole 
production was the the promenade

447
00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,440
deck, the rooftop party era 
where all the party that well, 

448
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,680
the 135th floor. 
Yes, it covered more than 11,000

449
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:06,120
square feet of sound stage and 
cost over $300,000 to build. 

450
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,160
And it was completely destroyed 
by thousands of gallons of 

451
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,480
Russian water in the final 
scene, just 300 grand down the 

452
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,600
drain. 
Destroyed the way Destroyed. 

453
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:17,760
I mean, there was everything, 
but eight of the sets were 

454
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,000
destroyed or something. 
Wasn't that? 

455
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,080
Yeah. 
That's right, just. 

456
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:21,320
Destroyed. 
What do you think? 

457
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,480
And that set being so big, they 
had to build a 10 foot off the 

458
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,080
ground so the water had a run 
out. 

459
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,200
So not only was it that big that
had to build a 10, just 10 foot 

460
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:30,720
up. 
All right, no problem. 

461
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,000
Make it even harder. 
That's crazy. 

462
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,080
I mean, there are stories about 
the construction and the special

463
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,840
effects, which Hollywood firsts 
all the way through this. 

464
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,360
Film Ludicrous. 
And to give the impression of 

465
00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:47,360
being 135 stories above San 
Francisco, it was encircled by a

466
00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:52,440
340 foot cyclorama painting. 
And the flickering lights of the

467
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,520
city below were achieved by 
punching small holes in the back

468
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,120
end and placing the lights 
behind them. 

469
00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,920
The shimmer on the water was 
created by cutting thin slits in

470
00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:02,320
the canvas and hanging silk 
strips behind them as well. 

471
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,200
Moved by actual wind fans. 
I mean, Thailand has taken an 

472
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,800
influence from that of the 
stars. 

473
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,440
Just pin holes in the curtain of
night. 

474
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,120
That's exactly what he 
references here. 

475
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:12,680
Who knows? 
I. 

476
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,640
Can't believe, I cannot believe.
Westie, you've managed to get a 

477
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,080
Highlander quote in the can you 
not Highlander quote can. 

478
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:26,640
You not. 
The Matt Payton of San Francisco

479
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,240
skyline created for the film was
later reused as the backdrop of 

480
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,400
Kirk's apartment in Star Trek 2,
The Wrath of Khan, and three, 

481
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,120
The Search for Spock, Right, A 
little shout out for John there.

482
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,080
Yes, he'll love that. 
His fear for a bit. 

483
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,000
Yeah, yeah. 
In Taught, the film was shot 

484
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,080
across 57 sets spread across 8 
of Fox's largest sound stages. 

485
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,600
I mean, Epic doesn't come near 
it. 

486
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:51,600
Yeah, it's huge. 
Massive. 

487
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,560
Like we'll keep saying, yeah, 
everything about this is 

488
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,920
massive. 
So the party in full swing, the 

489
00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,920
champers is spilling all over 
the place. 

490
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:00,920
But that's not the only thing. 
No. 

491
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,520
The relative calm of the party 
isn't mirrored downstairs as 

492
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,280
Doug is getting more and more 
animated. 

493
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,320
The fire quickly spreads out of 
control, and we're talking about

494
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,120
the efforts to stifle the blaze 
and the introduction to the King

495
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,360
of Cool. 
Over to you first though, Matt. 

496
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:18,800
Oh right, not me first. 
Though. 

497
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,680
We'll build up to that though, 
so we'll start at the bottom 

498
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:25,240
with Matt. 
Fair enough. 

499
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,760
That is understandable. 
Just to be clear though, Matt 

500
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,560
the King of Cool isn't on this 
short. 

501
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:32,040
I'm making reference just in a 
quick. 

502
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,000
Super quit, obviously, yeah. 
Yeah, it's McQueen. 

503
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,760
It's not Westy. 
Yeah, Although, you know, pretty

504
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,040
cool. 
Thanks mate, I mean I didn't 

505
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:39,840
expect it to be, that would be 
ridiculous. 

506
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:42,280
King. 
Cool. 

507
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,200
But firstly you'll have to do 
with Matt. 

508
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,600
Oh yeah, Matt. 
Here we go, here we go. 

509
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,680
That's fair enough. 
It's how matter of fact this 

510
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,840
starts though, because that 
security guard, it goes to 

511
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,560
unlock the door because he sees 
the smoke coming out the bottom 

512
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,880
of it. 
And you understand him because 

513
00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,400
if you don't know about these 
things, you would assume, well, 

514
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,840
that looks like it's just going 
to be a relatively small fire 

515
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,280
and it's not going to rush out 
of the door out yet. 

516
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,560
Yeah. 
And you mentioned like upstairs,

517
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,160
those kind of creeping camera 
movements. 

518
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,960
Like at times it almost feels 
like this has got the structure 

519
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,040
of a slasher. 
It's like hiding around the 

520
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,200
corner to jump out at people. 
Definitely in this moment. 

521
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,560
But the key thing here is it's 
setting its stall out early as 

522
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,400
to what they're going to show 
you because will, as we've said,

523
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,840
he he's been mocked for death 
from as soon as we've seen him 

524
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:28,640
and he comes to the rescue to 
push the guard out the way. 

525
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,520
And you get that quote from 
Norman Burton, who plays well, 

526
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,240
then obviously to the stuntman 
put the stuntman gets set on 

527
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,240
fire in the next shot itself. 
It doesn't cut through him 

528
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,640
already been on fire, which is a
bit of a cheat, an 

529
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,120
understandable one, but is a bit
of a cheat in this film is 

530
00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:46,360
saying no. 
Were you going to set people on 

531
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:48,160
fire? 
In short, to an extent you've 

532
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,680
never seen before, and this is 
only the start of it. 

533
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,920
And I think that's just so 
important to the success of the 

534
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:55,680
film and how impactful it still 
is. 

535
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,360
And then we're into classic 
disaster movie tropes. 

536
00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:00,520
Dog trying to tell Duncan to 
move the party. 

537
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,560
Duncan nor have none of it. 
He's just got the kind of 

538
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,360
corporate concerns. 
You know, it's outline of 

539
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:07,480
dialogue. 
I'm not going to concern myself 

540
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,520
with the finest story of 81 
because it can't possibly affect

541
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,600
us up here. 
I mean, that's the Hubis for you

542
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,920
that you just know that's going 
to be punished. 

543
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,720
He's going to regret saying that
so much. 

544
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,240
But you know, is it on the 
North? 

545
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,120
Yes. 
But I don't really care because 

546
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:23,440
this is the genre. 
And when it's Paul Newman and 

547
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,000
William Holden having this back 
and forth, they can make 

548
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,760
anything work. 
Yeah, exactly. 

549
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,680
Great moment. 
And now we know we're mean 

550
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,960
business as well with that fire 
blaze, Yeah. 

551
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,400
Yeah, so from there, the fire, 
it started, and it's a real 

552
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,440
problem. 
All fires are bad, but we need 

553
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,240
the introduction of the guys who
are going to come and try and 

554
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,040
fix this horrible problem. 
So we've got this incredible 

555
00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:44,320
moment. 
Absolutely love it, on the back 

556
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,200
of the fire truck where we've 
got these two that we're going 

557
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:47,280
to follow through the whole 
film. 

558
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,720
Yeah, they're not just these 
faceless people who are just 

559
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,080
going into it and they've 
actually got a personality and 

560
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,200
they set that up from the start.
And then we go Halloran coming 

561
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:57,800
in. 
And every time this happens, 

562
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,640
every time that car drove in, my
mom would just say he is the 

563
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,080
guy. 
Every single time. 

564
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,320
Absolutely love McQueen in this.
My dad, my dad, like, shuffle in

565
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:09,280
the chair. 
Here he is. 

566
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,320
He has the boy. 
Brilliant. 

567
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:12,640
That's me. 
That's me on screen. 

568
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,200
That's me right there, yeah. 
That's why your mom liked this. 

569
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:24,400
In Gateshead Dad, it's just 
absolutely fantastic the way he 

570
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,400
comes in and there's just that 
dynamic he's already got with 

571
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,280
Newman, and McQueen and Newman 
are already paid each other. 

572
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,920
There was this real ego clash, 
but you can see it here. 

573
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,720
But I think it really works for 
the characters because he comes 

574
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,000
up, Kathy comes in with this is 
Roberts, he's the architect. 

575
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:40,360
And he just ignores him 
completely. 

576
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,600
He said what we got and he's 
wants to talk to his boy and 

577
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,480
what I've forgot, you tell me 
what's going on. 

578
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,240
But I do feel sorry for Doug 
here because it isn't his fault.

579
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,520
No, it's saying he's done 
everything that he should have 

580
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:50,520
done. 
But then again, he should have 

581
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,560
been off fucking gallivanting 
wherever he was gallivant. 

582
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,000
And you just get that great 
moment in the lift, that moment 

583
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,400
of quiet, and you just get the 
fact to say there's no way for 

584
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,200
us to fight a fire over the 7th 
floor. 

585
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,040
And that just hits home. 
And just think of how many 

586
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,520
buildings have over 7 floors in 
this world. 

587
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,480
And it's like everything's 
unsafe. 

588
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,080
And you get that return line 
from Doug's that you're here to 

589
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,640
take me on the fire, which I 
think was like, the whole 

590
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,200
production is like, who's going 
to win this? 

591
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,000
Is it me or is it you? 
And it's a real good mirror of, 

592
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,840
you know, art reflects life. 
Life reflects art. 

593
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,840
It's really, really brilliant. 
When they get the 79th floor, 

594
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:23,840
which is like 2 floors below the
fire, that's where they're going

595
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,000
to set up the forward base. 
And he goes down and McQueen 

596
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,440
looking over these whole 
blueprints and I just love that 

597
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,880
you saw, look, he's got the 
actual architects there with 

598
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,320
him. 
Like the architects not in the 

599
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,040
party. 
Like he's actually there with 

600
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:36,480
him. 
He could go over the full 

601
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,400
schematics 12345 and names 
everything and rattles all this 

602
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,120
shit off and you don't know what
he's talking about. 

603
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:44,280
They're talking about pipes and 
the ceiling and all this and 

604
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,360
they're just going at each other
and you just think this is 

605
00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:47,520
great. 
I don't know what to talk about.

606
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,760
The sound like 2 absolutely 
professionals, like the 

607
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,240
dialogue's brilliant. 
And then we get that moment with

608
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:53,880
audio. 
Simpson comes in and he's like, 

609
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:55,320
well, it's all right, Everyone's
been evacuated. 

610
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:57,400
I want to know who they are, not
where they are and why is that 

611
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,480
important Now this always 
reminds us of me Dad. 

612
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,480
I'm sorry I'm not mentioning 
that all way through it, but 

613
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,040
there's just absolutely reminds 
us of it when he just, he would 

614
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,120
always have an answer for 
something where it's like, is 

615
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:08,120
there any wool or silk 
manufacturers will or silk give 

616
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:09,440
off silent gases? 
Is there any ping pong 

617
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:10,760
manufacturers? 
Do you give off toxic gas? 

618
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:11,880
Do you want to keep going on the
line? 

619
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,400
And he always had that answer 
for something else where he just

620
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:15,960
think, all right, and you're 
humbled immediately. 

621
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,560
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
And it just really hit home, 

622
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,800
like the professionalism of this
guy, the heroism of this guy. 

623
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,720
They both know the jobs that 
both need to get on. 

624
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:25,080
But there's this conflict 
between them. 

625
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:26,920
And that's why I really love 
them both meeting. 

626
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,160
Grace yeah, great interplay 
between the two, really good 

627
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,760
setup and you can feel that all 
the way through the rest of the 

628
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:34,320
film as well. 
Yeah. 

629
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:38,360
So with O'halleran calling the 
shots, he goes up to the 135th 

630
00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:41,440
floor to speak to Mr. Duncan. 
The image of him coming out of 

631
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,920
that elevator, short sleeve 
shirt, blue collar worker, he 

632
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,320
looks so out of place amongst 
these rich types, but he's not 

633
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,280
fazed by that in the slightest. 
Duncan, one of the most powerful

634
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:53,960
men in the city, I would 
imagine. 

635
00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:56,520
Yeah, but O'halloran has him for
breakfast. 

636
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:58,920
Yeah, he. 
Really does great dialogue here 

637
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:00,560
as well. 
Like we've talked about how bad 

638
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:02,240
is it? 
It's a fire, Mr. and all fires 

639
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:03,680
are bad, yeah. 
Brilliant. 

640
00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:07,440
Yeah, put that in the trailer. 
Yeah, O'harran just will not 

641
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,960
relent Duncan at all, who's just
trying to flex his muscles, and 

642
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,800
he basically just dismisses 
everything. 

643
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,640
I see the mayor's out there. 
Do you want me to pull rank on 

644
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,440
you where there's a fire arrow? 
Everybody here. 

645
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,760
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Really great delivery, no 

646
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:20,520
history. 
Onyx. 

647
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,800
Cool delivery, puts Duncan right
in his place. 

648
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,280
Yeah, and he concedes to address
the crowd, but not before Dragon

649
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,160
Simmons away from his table to 
give him another going over. 

650
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,480
Another grill. 
But they said, I mean, he's just

651
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,680
as plain as Dave Duncan says is 
the fires caused by anything 

652
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:38,120
that you did. 
I'm going to hang you out to dry

653
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,240
and then I'm going to hang you. 
Different delivery style of 

654
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,840
McQueen, but just as memorable. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

655
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:45,680
But Simmons, just admit straight
away. 

656
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:47,680
Did you change some of the 
electrical specs of the 

657
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:48,480
building? 
Yes, I did. 

658
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,840
You know why I. 
Certainly did. 

659
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,680
It's horrible. 
Isn't he fucking? 

660
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,920
Dick drunk already. 
Prick. 

661
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,080
Duncan's rattled, but he 
addresses the crowd with 

662
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,760
absolute confidence. 
The going to move the party to 

663
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,360
the Continental Room, but he 
promises that dinner will not be

664
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:06,440
delayed. 
Yeah. 

665
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,040
Don't make promises. 
You can't keep that. 

666
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,720
Yeah. 
That's gonna be fucking burnt. 

667
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,000
Well. 
Done really well done that 

668
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,960
steak. 
So this is great story beat it 

669
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,120
establishes or Halloran is the 
one in charge of choice. 

670
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,240
The cracks in the father 
son-in-law relationship. 

671
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,800
And Duncan's address puts the 
crowd in the picture as well. 

672
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,720
Yeah, some great conflict and 
images of the party in full 

673
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,640
swing upstairs and the fire 
raging downstairs just to 

674
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,880
reinforce the threat. 
It's common for you. 

675
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:33,800
Yeah. 
Really, really good. 

676
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,400
Yeah, it's brilliant. 
I love Halloran's intelligence 

677
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,680
here as well. 
He takes off that uniform in the

678
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,240
lift, so he doesn't spark any 
kind of panic. 

679
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,120
He just takes everything off. 
It just goes in normal. 

680
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,520
I love that. 
So Halloran seems to have the 

681
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,560
situation under control, with 
Duncan eventually listening to 

682
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:56,240
Sense, but at what cost? 
And what cost indeed the 

683
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:01,080
director? 
The story of the director on the

684
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,560
Terran Inferno is a complicated 
1. 

685
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,200
John Gem and his creditors as 
the official director, with 

686
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,720
producer Irwin Allen directing 
the action sequences. 

687
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,040
Quarter of what? 
Very good laser beam. 

688
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,440
So I suppose we're talking about
the direction as a whole here 

689
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,640
and we'll get into the weeds of 
the behind the scenes story in a

690
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:23,760
little while. 
Yeah. 

691
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,240
Firstly, Westy, yeah. 
Your thoughts on the direction 

692
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,400
on the Tower and Inferno? 
John Gillman, Did he direct it? 

693
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,440
Feels to me like a poltergeist 
situation. 

694
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,680
I think he did the best he could
with what he had. 

695
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,360
I mean, there's not a lot to 
have a lot of time to develop 

696
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,120
characters or relationships or 
the emotional beats come from 

697
00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:44,400
the action sequences. 
I guess you are the deaths that 

698
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,400
are in there, a lot of the 
aftermath of the action 

699
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,200
sequences. 
So he has to kind of understand 

700
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,480
how they've been shot, where 
they're coming from, so we can 

701
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,640
deal with that. 
I mean, he does really, really 

702
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,840
well with some of them. 
I think the most important 

703
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,760
relationship is the one of Fred 
Astaire with Mrs. Mueller. 

704
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,360
I think that's that's a 
wonderful reflection of that. 

705
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,840
You know, they think they're too
old for all of this shenanigans 

706
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,400
of Dayton and being together. 
And he's a con man with a heart 

707
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,040
of gold and he can't go through 
with it. 

708
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:13,960
And she's trying to make him 
into a good person. 

709
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,400
And she is naturally. 
And they've just got this such 

710
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,440
like a beautiful bond together 
immediately that really works 

711
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,720
for me as like as a real human 
relationship in the middle of 

712
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,120
them. 
But then you've got, you know, 

713
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,600
Doug's relationship. 
And like you say, if he had done

714
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,920
away, that's just his 
girlfriend, that'll do. 

715
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,280
You've got just friends with his
wife. 

716
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,000
She'll do. 
You know, there's all of these 

717
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,280
moments where it just, it feels 
a little bit convoluted where 

718
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,400
these relationships don't really
matter because everyone feels 

719
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,600
kind of expendable to the point 
where there's so much going on, 

720
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,840
you can't really care about one 
or the other because they're 

721
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,000
not, they're not given enough 
time. 

722
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,200
And I think another really good 
thing, if this is directed by 

723
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,600
two different people, you cannot
really see them apart from an 

724
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:55,640
obvious action sequence like an 
explosion. 

725
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,600
Bang right now and stop 
everything. 

726
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,280
He takes over, press play again.
I don't think that's the way 

727
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,800
it's gone on, but I think with 
this being 2 DPS as well, the 

728
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,240
non action sequences do 
complement the action sequences 

729
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,320
in the way that the look and the
way that the feel and the way 

730
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:10,000
that the shot. 
There is a little bit of moving 

731
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,560
camera in there. 
There is the same, it's the same

732
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,840
lens choice, it's the same kind 
of wide angle, it's the same 

733
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,280
kind of skulk around. 
It doesn't feel like 2 separate 

734
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:18,760
directors. 
It doesn't feel like 2 separate 

735
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:20,840
films. 
I think it's a real, real work 

736
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,840
of technical prowess and to be 
honest, watching it, it probably

737
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,880
needed to direct us. 
Yeah, yeah, that big. 

738
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:30,200
It's huge, yeah, particularly 
with the cast. 

739
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,840
Richard Chamberlain, who plays 
Simmons, some of the production,

740
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,920
he said the way Erwin got all 
the stars is that he paid them a

741
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,480
lot of money. 
The set was like a perpetual 

742
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,920
analyst party. 
I've never seen so many glitter 

743
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:43,560
people in one place. 
Nice. 

744
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,160
From a cash point of view, it's 
probably the biggest that 

745
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,640
there's ever been up until that 
point at least. 

746
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,440
Up to that point, yeah. 
It's competing for certain. 

747
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:53,960
Yeah, it's up there. 
Yeah. 

748
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,080
For me, the directing story of 
the Tower and Inferno is really 

749
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,480
a story about what Gammon was up
against. 

750
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,360
I think very similar what you 
say in Westie when you lay it 

751
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,280
all out. 
An enormous cast, older man in 

752
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,440
their moment, multiple 
storylines simultaneously affect

753
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,440
sequences of a scale that never 
really been attempted before, 

754
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,600
and the small matter of sharing 
directorial duties with your 

755
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,640
producer. 
The remarkable thing isn't that 

756
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,040
the film's got flaws, it's that 
it's held together very, very 

757
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,640
well considering all of these, 
like, too many cooks, as we 

758
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,480
mentioned earlier. 
And that, I think, is down to 

759
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,240
game. 
And he's the glue that's 

760
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,720
bringing everything together. 
Yeah, the tension builds 

761
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,240
methodically once the fire takes
hold, and it never lets up. 

762
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,600
He keeps the sticks clear even 
when we're cutting between half 

763
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:37,120
a dozen different storylines. 
And. 

764
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,080
And he makes the glass tower 
feel like a real living, 

765
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,400
breathing place before a single 
thing goes wrong. 

766
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,240
This feels like a real location.
It does, yeah. 

767
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,320
It's really important that the 
geography of it, you need to 

768
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,960
understand the building to feel 
its scale before you can feel 

769
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,880
the danger. 
And I think he nails that before

770
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:55,520
the fire starts raging. 
Yeah. 

771
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,240
I'm going to skirt around 
things, Westie. 

772
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,240
I'll try and soften the blow, 
OK? 

773
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,320
But I'm going to have to be 
honest at certain points, all 

774
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:03,200
right? 
Yes, you are. 

775
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:11,000
I'm I'm aware of that. 
It is an enormous, bloated toad 

776
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,719
of a film, bursting at the seams
with actors who really have no 

777
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,480
business here. 
When you've got Newman, McQueen,

778
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,199
Holden, Dunaway, Jones and a 
Stair all needing their moment 

779
00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:21,880
in the sun, something's got to 
give. 

780
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,480
Like I've said, Dunaway feels 
particularly like she's wandered

781
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,600
in from a slightly different 
film and there are some sort of 

782
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,560
plots that you feel the weird of
really, why are they here? 

783
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,239
Why are we doing this? 
The film's 2 1/2 hours, it could

784
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,440
be slimmed down. 
And I know that's me saying 

785
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,120
obviously Mr. 90 Minute, but it 
could do with a tune up 

786
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,120
specifically you seen coming 
later that that I'll mention. 

787
00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:48,080
Yeah, yeah, I can't argue that. 
I mean, that's absolutely, yeah.

788
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:49,679
That's the absolute truth. 
Course it could. 

789
00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:50,600
OK, fine. 
OK. 

790
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,199
Exploded. 
Didn't want to be harsh. 

791
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,199
Yeah, but using, you know, 
references like Toad doesn't 

792
00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:56,880
really sit well with me, but 
that's fine. 

793
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,720
Mr. Toad. 
Mr. Toad. 

794
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,840
So I'd argue that the bloated 
nature of the production, it's 

795
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,920
less a directorial failure and 
more an inevitable consequence 

796
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,360
of the deal that had to be made 
to get this film off the ground.

797
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,120
I think Guillermo was handed a 
pretty much impossible brief 

798
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,160
from Erwin Allen. 
The fact that the Tarrant 

799
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:20,720
Inferno is as coherent and as 
tense as it is, given everything

800
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:22,600
working against it, I think is a
real achievement. 

801
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,040
John Gammon doesn't get nearly 
enough credit for that, and I 

802
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,440
think it's about bloody town 
that we give him it so. 

803
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,520
Yeah, absolutely. 
Matt, what about you? 

804
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:32,960
Direction on the film, wherever 
it's coming from. 

805
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:34,800
Well, that's the thing, it's 
difficult, isn't it? 

806
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,040
Who was exactly responsible for 
what? 

807
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,200
It's tricky to pass it, 
particularly when you look at 

808
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,240
this filmography. 
You know he's such a journey 

809
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:44,240
when this is such a unusual film
on his filmography. 

810
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:47,200
Mean he's doing death on the 
now, which I like a lot, but 

811
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,840
very much also now you've got 
Shaft in Africa and Tarzan goes 

812
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,160
to India. 
So yeah, we're unlikely to talk 

813
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,520
about him again. 
Yeah, you know. 

814
00:35:57,640 --> 00:35:59,760
Don't get your hopes. 
Well known character goes 

815
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:04,920
somewhere else, yeah. 
For a poor sequel, Poor. 

816
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:05,840
Sequel. 
Yeah. 

817
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,480
So it's clearly a journeyman, 
but that's maybe what you need 

818
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:10,960
here. 
It's not, you know, you don't 

819
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,360
need an author here. 
It's not about imprinting their 

820
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,440
particular vision. 
It's just the type of film this 

821
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,160
is. 
It has a template, and Gullibin 

822
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,160
follows that template to AT 
however much really actually did

823
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,440
or not. 
The actors look great when it 

824
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,240
needs to gather pace. 
Does the tension really works? 

825
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,280
He doesn't go straight in with a
huge explosion to kick this 

826
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:31,760
thing off. 
It starts so innocuously, and it

827
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,840
just gets worse and worse and 
bigger and bigger until everyone

828
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:36,360
is in peril. 
And that's really effective 

829
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,360
because he just keeps an 
audience on a very tight leash. 

830
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,400
And you can't overestimate what 
a grand scale he's working on 

831
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:43,880
here. 
You know, once that fire gets 

832
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,360
out of control, it is set piece 
after set piece and every single

833
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:49,960
one of them is nailed, even if 
it is Owen Allen who had the 

834
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,360
kind of bigger control over 
them. 

835
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,960
And it's worth remembering 
they're genuinely working with 

836
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,040
actual fire here. 
This is not CGI. 

837
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,920
It's well before that, so 
there's no fakery. 

838
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,560
So when you see like Dan's 
office really go up, that first 

839
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,280
shot of it is terrifying because
it looks so out of control and 

840
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,000
it's so big. 
That wide shot, if the fireman 

841
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,600
trying to douse it down, it's 
incredible. 

842
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,920
So no, we're not going to sit 
and say this is really personal 

843
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,320
filmmaking and there's a story 
to get into, but not every film 

844
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,560
has to be personal. 
What every film has to be 

845
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,200
something that stands the test 
of time. 

846
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,160
And if it does, and I think it 
does, then Guilleman deserves a 

847
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:25,920
lot of prayers for that. 
Absolutely. 

848
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,400
Hear you, hear you. 
Props at last. 

849
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,160
Definitely. 
Now, we've mentioned them a 

850
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,120
number of times and we'll 
continue to. 

851
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,320
Oh, and Alan, producer, director
of the action sequences. 

852
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:38,480
He had form in the genre 
already. 

853
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,280
He'd already made a name for 
himself on TV, creating gems 

854
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:43,680
like Voyage, the Bottom of the 
Sea in Lost in Space. 

855
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:46,480
And in 1972, he produced The 
Poseidon Adventure. 

856
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,560
You know, classic cruise ship 
disaster flick Gene Hackman, 

857
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,520
Ernest Bognine, a very wet 
Shelly Windows. 

858
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,840
It was a smash. 
So for his next one, he went 

859
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:57,560
much bigger. 
But the way the Tower and 

860
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,760
Infernal came together is one of
the strangest stories in 

861
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,000
Hollywood history. 
I think it's very lucky that it 

862
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,840
even exists. 
So both Fox and Warner Brothers 

863
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:10,440
had independently been 
developing skyscraper disaster 

864
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,680
movies at the same time Warner's
had got their first If I Were In

865
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:17,480
Richard Martin Stearns novel The
Tower in April 1973. 

866
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,400
After a fierce bidding war, 
Warner's eventually paid 

867
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,800
somewhere between 350,000 and 
390,000, depending on which 

868
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:27,520
account you believe. 
Either way, serious money for an

869
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,520
unpublished book in 1973. 
Huge money, yeah. 

870
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,200
And Fox haven't missed out, 
submitted a second novel 8 weeks

871
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,480
later, Thomas N Scotia and Frank
M Robinson's The Glass Inferno. 

872
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,200
Allen was on board to produce, 
considering his track record, 

873
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,680
and when he read the book, he 
was immediately sucked by the 

874
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:45,680
narrative. 
He described it as having the 

875
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,760
same sort of characters, the 
same locale, the same story, the

876
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:53,000
same conclusion as the tower. 
And Fox paid reported $400,000 

877
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000
for it. 
Of course, this left Alan with a

878
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,840
headache. 2 Studios, 2 books, 
both about a skyscraper on fire.

879
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,160
If they both made their films 
and released them around the 

880
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,480
same time, they'd kill each 
other at the box office. 

881
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,960
Yeah, yeah, he'd seen it happen 
before, he said to Oscar Wilde 

882
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,440
Biopics in 1960. 
Neither of which did the 

883
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,200
business either might have done 
on its. 

884
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:12,160
Own. 
Yeah, yeah. 

885
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,560
So instead of a race, he broke 
out a partnership, something 

886
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,160
Hollywood never seen before. 
First of its kind. 

887
00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:21,640
Fox and Warner's agreed to split
the costs evenly, pool both 

888
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,800
source novels into a single 
script in Co produced the film. 

889
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,360
Fox took domestic distribution, 
Warner's got foreign 

890
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:28,760
distribution. 
Incredible. 

891
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,240
Your groundbreaking stuff. 
It really was, yeah. 

892
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,480
Reportedly, Warner studio head 
Ted Ashley played tennis with 

893
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,040
Fox studio head Gordon Stulberg 
and they broke the deal between 

894
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:39,520
sets. 
Yeah, nice. 

895
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,800
First joint production between 
two major studios in Hollywood 

896
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:44,200
history. 
Great stuff. 

897
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,320
And Alan wanted to direct the 
whole thing himself, so he went 

898
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:49,720
to Fox president Gordon Stolberg
and asked for that. 

899
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,280
But Stolberg refused, aware that
directing actors was not his 

900
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,240
fault here. 
But he wasn't offered a 

901
00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:57,600
compromise, though. 
Alan could direct all the action

902
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,320
sequences and a second director 
would be brought in to handle 

903
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,840
the dramatic scenes with the 
cast. 

904
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,040
Yes, that's right. 
The arrangement was similar to 

905
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,320
how the Poseidon Adventure had 
worked with Alan and Ronald Neem

906
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:09,960
Sharon duties there as well, 
right? 

907
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,000
Right. 
So the man brought in as the 

908
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,520
official director, as we've 
discussed, was John Gillman. 

909
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,640
He was hired because of his 25 
years in the business directing 

910
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,080
films like Tarzan's Greatest 
Adventure, Sky Jacket and as 

911
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,240
Matt said, Shaft in Africa. 
What a classic. 

912
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:26,960
Similar to that Poseidon 
director Ronald Neem. 

913
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,960
He was a no nonsense British 
director who ran a good tight 

914
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,200
ship. 
So Guilleman directed all 

915
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,560
dialogue, character development,
drama and non action narrative. 

916
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:38,200
This included the party scenes, 
the discovery of wiring 

917
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,520
problems, Newman and Dunaway's 
romance, the corporate tension 

918
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,440
between Holden in Chamberlain 
and a stairs courtship of 

919
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,000
Jennifer Jones. 
Yeah, brilliant. 

920
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,480
All the boring stuff. 
Allen, on the other hand, he's 

921
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,920
directed all fire sequences, 
explosions, stunt work, the 

922
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,280
elevated disaster, the 
helicopter crash and the 

923
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,720
detonation of the water tanks. 
I'll do all the good stuff. 

924
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:01,240
Yeah, yeah, while firing a 
fucking handgun into the 

925
00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:03,760
ceiling. 
Yeah, yeah, that's right. 

926
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,160
Yeah, he did. 
I'll get a reaction from you. 

927
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:08,960
Get that underway out of the 
suitcase. 

928
00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,840
But the collaboration with Alan 
left deep scars. 

929
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,480
Varieties original review 
praised the film as a personal 

930
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,280
and professional triumph for 
producer Owen Allen and more 

931
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,960
subsequent press treated as an 
Irwin Allen film. 

932
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,440
In the 1977 LA Times interview, 
Yemen said. 

933
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,320
I wanted to fight it because, 
damn it, I made that picture. 

934
00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:36,560
But I let the studio talk me out
of it. 

935
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:38,200
They said it would only hurt 
business. 

936
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:39,960
But I was wrong. 
I should have fought. 

937
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,200
Tricky one. 
He's been compromised, hasn't 

938
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:44,600
he? 
Unfortunately, yeah. 

939
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,200
And as we're talking about 
classic disaster movies, we're 

940
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:50,360
talking about the likes of the 
Tarrant Inferno, the Poseidon 

941
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,720
Adventure. 
We're going to segue into our 

942
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,160
first Patreon question, which we
mentioned at the top. 

943
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,280
Our first one comes from Gareth 
Binmore. 

944
00:41:57,280 --> 00:41:58,280
Hi, Gareth. 
Gareth. 

945
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,480
Gareth says when you compare the
classic disaster films like the 

946
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,400
Tarrant Inferno to modern 
spectacle driven movies like San

947
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:08,440
Andreas or 2012, do improve 
visual effects actually make the

948
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:10,680
film better? 
Or do the old movies feel more 

949
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,120
tense and believable because 
they relied on practical effects

950
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,120
and strong characters? 
Which style of disaster movies 

951
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,840
works best for you? 
Great question, Gareth. 

952
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:22,960
Yeah, good one. 
Thank you, Matt, over to you. 

953
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:24,920
What do you think? 
I mean, I think I know the 

954
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,960
answers from all three, but. 
Yeah, I mean, come on. 

955
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,600
Yeah, it's practical all day 
long because he wanted rooted in

956
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,440
believability. 
I mean, just saying that the 

957
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,080
build the promenade 10 foot off 
the floor for the water already 

958
00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:38,960
the actors are going to be tense
because you're going to be like,

959
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:41,640
oh God, don't get near the edge.
I'm 10 foot from the fall. 

960
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:43,200
That's going to feed into the 
performance. 

961
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:44,680
Not really. 
And you know, I'm not trying to 

962
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:48,240
be an old farty and just hop on,
but the good old days before CJ 

963
00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:50,800
because it does just have a 
place where it has a place where

964
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,400
it needs to be something that 
can't be done practically or it 

965
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:55,480
doesn't matter if it doesn't 
have the tangible leave 

966
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,240
practical effects or the use of 
CGI and Lord of the Rings. 

967
00:42:58,240 --> 00:43:00,120
So Star Wars, that's fine 
because that's fantasy. 

968
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,480
The clues in the title. 
So, you know, when I watch 

969
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,480
Return of the King, I don't need
to believe Dennah thought is on 

970
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:08,840
fire and that in the same way I 
need to believe Dan Bigelow is 

971
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:10,680
on fire in this. 
It's two different things. 

972
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,160
And that's the key. 
People here genuinely on fire 

973
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,960
because it's practical effects 
and therefore you know how 

974
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:18,680
dangerous that is. 
And that's what gives it that 

975
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:21,120
edge and that believability. 
Similarly, for me, it's 

976
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,680
practical effects every time, 
and I hope my hands up are like 

977
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:25,400
the old fart thing that you 
said, Matt. 

978
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:28,520
It's almost certainly because of
my age, which I grew up in the 

979
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,000
80s, and the films I fell in 
love with were built on 

980
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,520
ingenuity and craft. 
Real locations, real stunts, 

981
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,800
real consequences. 
When something goes wrong on 

982
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,160
screen, you feel it because on 
some level, you know, it 

983
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,320
actually happened in front of 
the camera in some way or 

984
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:43,280
another. 
There is a wonderful little film

985
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:45,440
called Roller Coaster Disaster 
Film. 

986
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:47,680
George Siegel. 
Yeah. 

987
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:49,520
If you haven't seen it, seek it 
out. 

988
00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,600
I mean, it's as rickety as the 
roller coaster cut themselves, 

989
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:54,840
but every imperfection is 
visible. 

990
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:56,640
It's a real location, real 
effects. 

991
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,280
And that goes on enormous, where
you're genuinely on the edge 

992
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,120
because the danger feels 
tangible. 

993
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,000
Yeah. 
And compare that to something 

994
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,280
like San Andreas, where entire 
cities are crumbling, inglorious

995
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,880
CGI and just don't feel the same
tension. 

996
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:12,120
It's spectacular, course, But 
spectacular intense, I think, 

997
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:13,560
are two different things. 
Yeah. 

998
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,400
When everything is possible, 
nothing really feels dangerous. 

999
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:18,960
Exactly. 
What about USC hat Rick? 

1000
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:20,760
Yeah, it absolutely is a hat, 
Rick. 

1001
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:22,640
But I think there's reasoning 
behind this now. 

1002
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,040
And I don't think it's as simple
as to dive back in and say 

1003
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:26,840
things aren't the way they used 
to be and they should be, 

1004
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:28,200
because I don't think they can 
be. 

1005
00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,960
I think there's been, there's 
been, yeah, there's been gaps 

1006
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,400
bridged between certain elements
of these things actually coming 

1007
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:37,960
together and really working and 
remembering when they really 

1008
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,160
came together to work were 
absolutely groundbreaking. 

1009
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,440
I think the problem is there's 
just this illusion now of the 

1010
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,240
practical, and I think that's 
been overtaken and people don't 

1011
00:44:46,240 --> 00:44:47,320
quite know where to draw the 
line. 

1012
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,160
I think audiences are too savvy 
now. 

1013
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:50,400
They know too much about 
production. 

1014
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,040
There's too much behind the 
scenes going on. 

1015
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:54,920
They know that everything is 
CGI, then everything's VFX. 

1016
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,720
I think if you use it where it 
bridges the gap between the two 

1017
00:44:57,720 --> 00:44:59,400
of them. 
And the two most notable films 

1018
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,920
that I can remember see and I 
was Jurassic Park, which is a 

1019
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:03,360
disaster film whether you like 
it or not. 

1020
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,280
And that bridges a gap 
beautifully between computer 

1021
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,600
effects and practical effects. 
That works lovely. 

1022
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,400
And the one that I think was the
last great disaster film was 

1023
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:14,640
Titanic, which was 97. 
And that bridges a gap 

1024
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,400
beautifully between practical 
and computer effects. 

1025
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:19,720
You don't really know what's 
what and where that works. 

1026
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,560
And I think there is a place for
it, but don't try and world 

1027
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,120
build, build your world 
physically and add the elements.

1028
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:29,480
That can't be done because it's 
too dangerous, not because it's 

1029
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,560
spectacular visually. 
There's no reason why they can't

1030
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,560
use practical effects up to the 
point where it's unsafe and then

1031
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:36,680
replace. 
That was something else. 

1032
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,920
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 
Great question, Gareth. 

1033
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:41,400
Yes, thank you. 
Yeah, good to be. 

1034
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:42,880
Thank you. 
Yes, a good one, yeah. 

1035
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,920
And that wraps us up on the 
director under difficult 

1036
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,000
circumstances, Junkie Emmon 
alongside her when Allen created

1037
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,920
box office gold with 
consistency, huge movie stars 

1038
00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:58,120
and incredible special effects. 
Indeed, the cast. 

1039
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:04,400
The cast of The Terran Inferno 
is a fascinating mix of the old 

1040
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,200
and the new face of Hollywood, 
Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones and

1041
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:09,560
William Holden versus McQueen, 
Newman and Dunaway. 

1042
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:13,240
We're covering both camps here, 
starting with Paul Newman as 

1043
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:15,240
Doug Roberts. 
Over to you, Matt. 

1044
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:17,120
I mean, he's Paul fucking 
Newman. 

1045
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,520
What else needs to be said? 
Paul de Vogan Newman, by the 

1046
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:21,520
way. 
I mean. 

1047
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:24,320
They're like fucking by. 
The. 

1048
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:31,920
Way, the reason why the custom 
works so well in terms of the 

1049
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:34,880
big names here is because none 
of them should be here in this 

1050
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,400
like this type of film should be
below them all. 

1051
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:41,520
Newman, McQueen, Dunray, Holden,
all of them have such critically

1052
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:44,640
acclaimed creates at this point.
I mean, obviously apart from I 

1053
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:47,120
imagine a sizeable paycheck, you
do go a little bit. 

1054
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:51,360
Why are they in this? 
That's the master circle. 

1055
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,200
Because it's material. 
They think, well, they wouldn't 

1056
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:55,640
normally go near this, but 
because they do, they bring an 

1057
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,000
element of weight and class to 
it. 

1058
00:46:58,240 --> 00:46:59,640
And that's certainly true of 
human. 

1059
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:02,760
I mean, let's face it, on the 
page, he's a walk in cliche, you

1060
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:05,880
know, the driven architect, 
incredibly handsome, beautiful 

1061
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,920
woman on his arm leaps into 
action without a second thought 

1062
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,520
when the shit hits the fan, 
scrambling up, you know, the 

1063
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,400
devastated stairwell and all 
that. 

1064
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:16,720
There's nothing new here really.
But you give it a human and it's

1065
00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:19,800
just magic on screen. 
Whose Newman is that perfect 

1066
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:22,280
combination of? 
He was a genuinely great actor, 

1067
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,800
but he was also a true movie 
star at the same time. 

1068
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:27,560
And he could modulate between 
the two whatever the material 

1069
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,040
needed. 
So this is Paul Newman is movie 

1070
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,360
star rather than great actor 
because that's what it needs. 

1071
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:36,000
He's got such magnetism, such 
gravitas, like your heart is in 

1072
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,600
your mouth when he's dangling 
off that room staircase because 

1073
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:40,160
he makes you believe in the 
peril. 

1074
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,480
Because if Paul Newman is 
committing to this, you commit 

1075
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:45,840
to it as an audience as well in 
terms of your investment. 

1076
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:49,400
So is this top five in human 
performances in terms of 

1077
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:51,440
complexity or depth? 
Absolutely not. 

1078
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,440
But it's iconic and the film 
wouldn't work without them. 

1079
00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:56,640
Because this is Paul fucking 
Human we're talking about. 

1080
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:59,000
Absolutely. 
He takes architecture. 

1081
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:00,200
It makes it cool. 
Like an. 

1082
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,160
Exactly. 
Yeah, a friend of mine is an 

1083
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:04,720
architect. 
I mean, Paul Newman runs the 

1084
00:48:04,720 --> 00:48:05,960
show. 
We may couldn't run a fucking 

1085
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:07,200
bath. 
I'm telling you, I wouldn't want

1086
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:12,560
it anywhere in the area. 
Obviously you can't talk about 

1087
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:15,080
Paul Newman without talking 
about Steve McQueen, and we will

1088
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:18,320
be getting to him later, but 
they are interlocked and there's

1089
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:20,880
a fascinating story. 
This isn't the first time the 

1090
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,240
two acting Titans had appeared 
in a movie together. 

1091
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:27,560
McQueen made his uncredited 
debut in the 1956 box and biopic

1092
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,360
Somebody Up There Likes Me, in 
which Newman played Rocky 

1093
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:32,760
Graziano. 
It was a small blink and you'll 

1094
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:35,480
miss it role and McQueen 
allegedly never forgot being in 

1095
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:38,760
Newman's shadow. 
So when the two of the mended up

1096
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,160
as Co leads on the tower and 
Inferno who was never going to 

1097
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:42,120
be. 
Straightforward. 

1098
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:44,320
No. 
No, because originally McQueen 

1099
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:46,720
was set to play Doug Roberts. 
Through all that eventually went

1100
00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:48,840
inhuman and the fight chief has 
written. 

1101
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,240
The first draft was a much 
smaller part and had been 

1102
00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:54,080
earmarked for Ernest Bognine, 
fresh off the Poseidon venture. 

1103
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,360
But McQueen had other ideas. 
Yes, yes, that's right. 

1104
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,720
John Kierman said. 
Steve felt the role of architect

1105
00:49:00,720 --> 00:49:02,960
was pierced together. 
He said if somebody of my 

1106
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:06,560
caliber can play the architect, 
I'll play the Fire Chief, right.

1107
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,000
And that's where the idea that 
has Paul Newman gave me, Yeah. 

1108
00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:11,680
Before that, though, McQueen had
apparently suggested Clint 

1109
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,800
Eastwood, Jack Nicholson and 
Robert Redford as possible Co 

1110
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,960
leads before Newman came aboard.
Yeah, just who's the biggest 

1111
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:19,240
actor of the time? 
Yeah. 

1112
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:20,640
Who can you think of one of 
those? 

1113
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:21,600
Yeah. 
Amazing. 

1114
00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:24,280
By taking the Fire Chief, 
McQueen insured that his 

1115
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,080
character didn't appear until 
about the 45 minute mark. 

1116
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:30,640
Newman had burned through almost
half of his lines before McQueen

1117
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,000
even walked on screen. 
And from that point on, McQueen 

1118
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,040
dominated, Calling all the 
shots, ordering, dug around. 

1119
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:37,520
Yeah. 
Genius move, he. 

1120
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:39,400
Orchestrated it all? 
Yeah, clever. 

1121
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:42,560
And Newman later admitted he'd 
been out manoeuvred, he said. 

1122
00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:45,080
For the first time I fell for 
the goddamn numbers. 

1123
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:49,080
I did this Turkey for 1,000,010%
of the gross but it's the first 

1124
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:51,080
and last time I swear. 
Right. 

1125
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:54,000
Calling this a Turkey, it's 
quite, quite something. 

1126
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:59,360
It is like the billing situation
was its own diplomatic incident 

1127
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:00,960
as well. 
McQueen demanded. 

1128
00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:05,520
Equal billing, equal lines, 
equal pay, $1 million and then 

1129
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,000
record for both and an equal 
percentage of the box office 

1130
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,120
profits, Right. 
The Sterling Sullivan counting 

1131
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,640
Newman's lines and wrote McQueen
12 additional ones to match. 

1132
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:18,800
Yeah. 
That's equal for you, apparently

1133
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,160
brought him back off vacation to
write 12 lines. 

1134
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:24,400
Counted the middle of the 
script. 

1135
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:26,480
These trailer, get back here, 
get me 12 lines. 

1136
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:28,840
If you think of the lines 
McQueen has one of them is. 

1137
00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:30,040
That's what I'm worried about 
over there. 

1138
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:32,160
All that glass and those beams. 
That's one of these lines. 

1139
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:34,400
Yeah, yeah. 
Filler. 

1140
00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,840
Lying about ping pong balls. 
Not King Kong's balls. 

1141
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:49,560
I would have loved that in there
so it's satisfied. 

1142
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:52,200
Both actors in the credits. 
Mcqueen's name was on the left, 

1143
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,480
Newman's on the right, but was 
positioned slightly higher so 

1144
00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:58,560
the technically they could both 
claim top spot depending on 

1145
00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:01,560
whether you read top to bottom, 
which was Newman, or left to 

1146
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,440
right which was McQueen. 
Very explicit memoirs from 

1147
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,200
Warner's head office spelled out
the precise measurements down to

1148
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:09,360
the last millimetre. 
Wow. 

1149
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:11,800
Yeah, for movie marquees. 
Incredible. 

1150
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,200
And the post it was called 
diagonal billing and I think 

1151
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:18,240
they use it all the time now. 
And Newman's friend A A Hochner 

1152
00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:22,040
in his book Paul and Me, claimed
he visited the set and witnessed

1153
00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:24,120
Newman. 
Colin McQueen a chicken shit 

1154
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:26,920
because McQueen insisted on 
having the last line in the 

1155
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:29,920
movie regardless of whether it 
actually made sense in narrative

1156
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,800
terms. 
Don't care what, you're right, 

1157
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:35,160
just I'm seeing it all right? 
It could have been anything. 

1158
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,280
Made sense in narrative terms 
off of the town and Ferno. 

1159
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,320
It's not. 
It's not a complex narrative. 

1160
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:42,280
Not really. 
I mean you could put anything in

1161
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:43,640
there. 
See you later mate. 

1162
00:51:45,120 --> 00:51:50,800
See you later. 
A Newman's son Scott has a small

1163
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:53,400
role in the film as a young 
firefighter with a failure of 

1164
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:54,440
heights that's. 
Right. 

1165
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:56,800
Yes, yeah, yeah. 
His only on screen appearance 

1166
00:51:56,800 --> 00:51:59,520
alongside his father Scott, 
struggled, unfortunately, with 

1167
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:00,960
addiction in the years that 
followed me. 

1168
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:02,560
He did, yeah. 
Unfortunately, he died of an 

1169
00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:04,960
overdose in 1970 years. 
Sad times, yeah. 

1170
00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:07,560
Yeah, he was young, as well as 
about his mid 20s. 

1171
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:08,680
Yeah, he was. 
Yeah. 

1172
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:10,880
Yeah. 
To end on Newman, he is a quote 

1173
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:13,280
of his about the Terran Inferno.
He called it a very 

1174
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:15,720
distinguished junk movie, he 
said. 

1175
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,480
I knew he was going to achieve 
what I wanted to achieve and 

1176
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:20,960
that was to frighten people. 
Was it? 

1177
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:22,120
Did it? 
Did that, Yeah. 

1178
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:27,320
Next, it's the cooler King 
McHugh himself. 

1179
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:29,880
The eagle has landed. 
It's Steve McQueen as 

1180
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:33,720
firefighter. 
Michael o'halloran, this is your

1181
00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:35,320
boy. 
It is my boy. 

1182
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:37,480
What a boy legend. 
Love this performance. 

1183
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:39,240
I think he just leaps off the 
screen. 

1184
00:52:39,240 --> 00:52:41,560
It's just absolute. 
Just got this such confidence to

1185
00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:42,480
it. 
And I don't think it's 

1186
00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:45,120
egotistical either. 
I think he really puts himself 

1187
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:48,640
in the hero's spotlight and 
knows exactly how to do that and

1188
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,040
knows how to put himself in the 
center of the frame and knows 

1189
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:54,000
where the lightness and knows 
how to move and fill the frame 

1190
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:55,520
just with a hand coming up to 
his head. 

1191
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,800
You know, that little hand that 
that thought process of should I

1192
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:01,000
take this uniform off before I 
go into the promenade? 

1193
00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:03,280
That's thought process. 
Just that little bit. 

1194
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:04,880
It holds the screen longer. 
That's great. 

1195
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,440
So he knows it's going to get an
extra couple of seconds of 

1196
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:10,560
screen time and it doesn't feel 
like it's pretentious at all. 

1197
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:12,920
I don't want to think it feels 
that he just really cares about 

1198
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:17,040
being on screen and about doing 
a really good job and being 

1199
00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:20,080
recognized for being really good
at what he is good at. 

1200
00:53:20,080 --> 00:53:22,440
And I think, but someone like 
Newman, he feels that is just a 

1201
00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:25,440
threat not only to his ego, but 
also to his talent. 

1202
00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:28,160
And the people might not 
recognize how talented he is or 

1203
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:29,920
how much he's actually putting 
into the role. 

1204
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,720
It's really, really good. 
And it really elevates the 

1205
00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:35,400
material, as Matt was saying, to
have these guys in there because

1206
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:37,120
it is a disaster film at the end
of the day. 

1207
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:41,120
And having these two guys in 
these roles and everyone else on

1208
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:44,040
the cast as well, but 
specifically these two is I 

1209
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:47,160
think personally what started 
putting it up for Oscars. 

1210
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:49,760
It started to get recognized. 
This whole genre changed. 

1211
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:53,600
It was all taken a lot more 
seriously because of the heft 

1212
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:55,200
and the weight that these guys 
brought to it. 

1213
00:53:55,600 --> 00:53:59,000
But McQueen cannot put a foot 
wrong in this film at all. 

1214
00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:03,680
He is just constantly excellent.
He's constantly the guy with all

1215
00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:06,040
of the answers, and even when he
hasn't got the answers, you know

1216
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:07,480
he's going to come up with them 
eventually. 

1217
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:09,880
He's completely selfless, 
completely fearless. 

1218
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:12,000
There's no anxiety in the 
character. 

1219
00:54:12,240 --> 00:54:14,840
He's just completely straight 
down the line and just one of 

1220
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,280
them characters like hilts. 
It's like you don't want to be 

1221
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:20,240
that guy. 
He's just the but here he's the 

1222
00:54:20,240 --> 00:54:23,240
everyman hero. 
He's not an architect. 

1223
00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:25,080
He's not as somebody with loads 
of money. 

1224
00:54:25,080 --> 00:54:28,640
He's an everyman with a wedding 
ring on, with a car that he just

1225
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,600
drives in and he's like, look, 
I'm the same as everybody else. 

1226
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,800
Blue collar guy. 
I'm married, I've got a family 

1227
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:35,320
at home probably. 
I've got to make all these 

1228
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:36,720
decisions. 
I've got to eat the smoke. 

1229
00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:39,040
I'm not a big shot. 
I'm not comfortable in any of 

1230
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:41,560
these situations. 
I'm just like you are, and I'm a

1231
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:43,680
hero. 
Everything is really understated

1232
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:45,840
performance here. 
There's no like, overblown 

1233
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,640
performance. 
He plays a classic McQueen, 

1234
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:50,360
really cool. 
Yeah, and McQueen had genuine 

1235
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,880
hero moments on the production. 
During filming he got word that 

1236
00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:57,080
the Goldwyn studios had caught 
fire, so he accompanied the 

1237
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,800
technical advisors to real fire 
chiefs who were consultant on 

1238
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:03,480
the film up to the scene and 
without telling his wife, Ali 

1239
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:06,360
McGraw put on a helmet and gear 
and just weirded in to help. 

1240
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:08,880
Isn't amazing. 
Check this out though. 

1241
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:11,680
A fireman working alongside OF 
eventually clocked who he was 

1242
00:55:11,720 --> 00:55:15,400
and shouted over Steve McQueen. 
My wife will never believe this.

1243
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:17,240
And then McQueen replied. 
Neither will mine. 

1244
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:23,560
Amazing. 
Wonderful McQueen, as ever, did 

1245
00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:25,960
his own stunts. 
Against Alan's strenuous 

1246
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:27,720
objections, he insisted on 
performing this. 

1247
00:55:27,720 --> 00:55:29,760
Don't wear his character leaps 
from the helicopter onto the 

1248
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:31,360
roof of the burning building 
himself. 

1249
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:33,320
Of course he did. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1250
00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:34,840
Loves it. 
Yeah. 

1251
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:38,200
Alan objected, of course, and 
McQueen just did it because he's

1252
00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:39,840
Steve fucking McQueen. 
Yeah, exactly. 

1253
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:43,760
Classic McQueen loves doing 
stunts, yeah, and appears to be 

1254
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,080
slightly narcissistic. 
Yeah, they were incredibly 

1255
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:49,720
similar tales on the production 
of The Great Escape, if you 

1256
00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:50,760
remember. 
Yeah, exactly. 

1257
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:53,840
Yeah, yeah. 
Thinks quite fragile deep down, 

1258
00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:55,240
isn't he? 
Yeah, I think so. 

1259
00:55:55,480 --> 00:55:57,200
Yeah. 
Absolutely, and The Tower and 

1260
00:55:57,200 --> 00:55:59,800
Inferno turned out to be 
Mcqueen's last film for four 

1261
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:01,080
years. 
The intensity for the 

1262
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:04,080
production, combined with 
burnout and a desire to focus on

1263
00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:07,080
his passion for motor racing led
him to step away from Hollywood 

1264
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:11,240
almost entirely. 
Yeah, he came back in 1978 in An

1265
00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:15,360
Enemy of the People, which isn't
huge, and only made two further 

1266
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:17,400
films before you start passing 
the 1980. 

1267
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:20,720
Yeah, so this was this was his 
last great for. 

1268
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,440
His last great role, yeah. 
So despite the behind the scenes

1269
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:27,040
reports, McQueen does what he 
does best in Infernal. 

1270
00:56:27,240 --> 00:56:29,840
Ultra cool and saving the day 
without breaking sweat. 

1271
00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:36,480
Finally, it's the head honcho 
William Holden as James Duncan. 

1272
00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:38,160
And you know, we've talked about
Newman. 

1273
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:40,200
We've talked about McQueen. 2 
legends. 

1274
00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:42,640
Yeah. 
But the greatest of respect to 

1275
00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:45,840
both of those, for my money, the
best performer in this it's 

1276
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:47,160
William Holden. 
Big bill. 

1277
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:49,600
OK, nice. 
She's thinking about what he's 

1278
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:51,680
up against. 
T and Newman, McQueen, Astaire, 

1279
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:54,480
Faye Dunaway, some of the 
biggest names of the industry is

1280
00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:57,960
ever produced. 
And Holden not only holds his 

1281
00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:01,160
own, he stands above them. 
For me, there's a reason he was 

1282
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:04,080
one of the defining stars of the
golden age of Hollywood. 

1283
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:08,120
This film is a real reminder of 
that old Hollywood very much 

1284
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:10,800
alive and kicking here. 
Yeah, he's got that 

1285
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:14,320
authoritative voice, that quiet 
command that you just you can't 

1286
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:16,240
fake. 
And I don't think anyone has 

1287
00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:18,520
looked better in a burgundy 
velvet. 

1288
00:57:19,160 --> 00:57:20,720
Forget about it. 
He looks incredible. 

1289
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:23,840
Huge glasses as well. 
Them huge glasses. 

1290
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:26,920
The hair if the buildings gotta 
go up in flames. 

1291
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:29,040
He's going out in style. 
He looks amazing. 

1292
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:30,760
That's the best bet about his 
performance. 

1293
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:32,560
He's actually tied to one of the
pillars. 

1294
00:57:32,640 --> 00:57:34,120
There's glass and shit 
everywhere. 

1295
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:35,560
Takes his glasses off safety 
first. 

1296
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,400
Fantastic. 
The character reminds me a 

1297
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:44,320
little bit of Mayor Vaughan in 
Jaws. 

1298
00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:46,160
Yeah. 
Duncan's the man who's built 

1299
00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:47,400
something he's enormously proud 
of. 

1300
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:50,000
And when things start to 
threaten lives, his first 

1301
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:52,160
instinct is to protect his 
reputation rather than the 

1302
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:53,240
people. 
Yeah. 

1303
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:55,840
I think it's a very recognisable
kind of vanity. 

1304
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:57,880
The key difference is that 
Duncan comes to a sense as a 

1305
00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:00,160
whole load sooner than Mayor 
Whatever did. 

1306
00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:01,120
Yeah. 
He does. 

1307
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:03,480
Yeah, and he's he's going to 
make sure he was the last one 

1308
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:05,200
out of there as well. 
Yeah, exactly. 

1309
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:07,320
Yeah, he made some of the ship. 
Yeah, you'll. 

1310
00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:09,240
Get everyone else out first, 
yeah? 

1311
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,720
Yeah, that's great. 
There's a real honour and 

1312
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:15,000
nobility in that. 
Once he realizes and he plays 

1313
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,520
that transition really, really 
well, that slow, horrible 

1314
00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:19,640
dawning of of his own 
responsibility. 

1315
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,120
And then there's his interplay 
with his son-in-law, Roger 

1316
00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:24,680
Simmons, an absolute slime ball 
of the highest order. 

1317
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:27,440
We've talked about a man who 
cooked corners and got people 

1318
00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:30,840
killed. 
When Duncan finally squares up 

1319
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:32,360
to him, we'll talk about it in 
depth. 

1320
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:33,880
And he slugs and one right in 
the gut. 

1321
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:36,360
That's one of the great moments 
of the film. 

1322
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:38,600
Brilliant. 
Incredible. 

1323
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:42,720
So for me, William, holding his 
own and coming out on top of 

1324
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:45,680
you. 
Very nice, very good. 

1325
00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:47,760
You write that one. 
You write that? 

1326
00:58:50,480 --> 00:58:53,040
One, and believe it or not, 
William Holden didn't really 

1327
00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:55,800
want to do the film. 
He thought the script was lousy,

1328
00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:58,760
and his specific complaint about
his character was that he spent 

1329
00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:00,600
the entire film on the 
telephone. 

1330
00:59:01,560 --> 00:59:03,080
I mean, there's a lot of it. 
He's on the floor. 

1331
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:06,360
There's a lot of it, yeah. 
Yeah, he took the part lightly. 

1332
00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:10,160
For the door. 
He got $750,000, his biggest 

1333
00:59:10,160 --> 00:59:13,600
payday in years. 
Yeah, and he pushed hard for top

1334
00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:17,160
villain, but obviously that's 
never going to happen. 

1335
00:59:19,800 --> 00:59:22,160
He instead settled for a better 
percentage of the box office, 

1336
00:59:22,160 --> 00:59:24,920
which meant he ultimately earned
more than any of his core stars.

1337
00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:27,960
Smart guy. 
He lost the battle but won the 

1338
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:30,440
war. 
Yeah, and he allegedly got very 

1339
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:33,920
upset with Fate Dunaway on set. 
She kept in, waiting two hours 

1340
00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:36,640
for an important scene, and when
she arrived, he grabbed her by 

1341
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:39,120
the shoulders, shoved her 
against the soundstage wall and 

1342
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:41,120
told her. 
You do that to me once more and 

1343
00:59:41,120 --> 00:59:43,720
I'll push you through that wall.
Wow, well, that's quite 

1344
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:45,600
unpleasant, isn't? 
It yes. 

1345
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:47,560
Come on, William, that is old 
school. 

1346
00:59:47,560 --> 00:59:49,160
That is old Hollywood. 
Don't. 

1347
00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:51,640
Want that? 
No set workers noted that done 

1348
00:59:51,640 --> 00:59:54,560
away his punctuality improved 
considerably after that. 

1349
00:59:54,840 --> 00:59:56,600
Right. 
And she later wrote in her 

1350
00:59:56,600 --> 00:59:59,960
autobiography that she and 
Holden had courts brushed up 

1351
00:59:59,960 --> 01:00:02,400
against each other briefly on 
The Terran Inferno and. 

1352
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:04,240
That had left a bad taste in his
mouth. 

1353
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:06,360
Right, OK. 
Right. 

1354
01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:08,720
But I mean, they did star. 
I mean there were lovers in 

1355
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:10,760
network 2 years later. 
No, absolutely right. 

1356
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:11,560
Of course they are. 
Yeah. 

1357
01:00:12,480 --> 01:00:15,000
So a huge cast, the cream of the
Hollywood crop. 

1358
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:17,440
We'll be talking about Jennifer 
Jones and Fred Astaire later 

1359
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:21,280
with McQueen, Newman and Halden.
Inferno has got star power to 

1360
01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:29,730
burn. 
Oh, yeah, yeah. 

1361
01:00:29,730 --> 01:00:31,410
All right, movies. 
We'll be right back. 

1362
01:00:31,570 --> 01:00:34,010
Thank you for supporting us by 
listening to the sponsors for 

1363
01:00:34,010 --> 01:00:37,040
this episode. 
Thank you for listening to our 

1364
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:39,440
sponsors. 
And now it's back to the show. 

1365
01:00:42,720 --> 01:00:47,320
The middle. 
The second axe sees the fire 

1366
01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:49,640
taking hold of the 81st floor 
and those around it. 

1367
01:00:49,840 --> 01:00:52,560
The party goers are ready in to 
move downstairs, but the 

1368
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:55,200
elevator is out of bounds over 
the USD. 

1369
01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:58,200
Out of bounds, the fires move 
towards the main shaft. 

1370
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:02,120
What's going to happen? 
It could open on the floor where

1371
01:01:02,120 --> 01:01:04,160
the fire is, but they don't know
how big the fire is. 

1372
01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:05,760
I mean, this is just, yeah, you 
would, wouldn't you? 

1373
01:01:05,840 --> 01:01:08,320
You just if you were right next 
to elevate, you'd be straight in

1374
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:09,680
there. 
I'm not listening to anybody at 

1375
01:01:09,680 --> 01:01:11,440
this point. 
I'm absolutely going for it. 

1376
01:01:11,640 --> 01:01:14,000
But this for me, is the moment 
where it, like, really hits 

1377
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:15,600
home. 
Like, this could happen to 

1378
01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:18,200
anyone at any time, anywhere. 
We don't know, really know. 

1379
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:20,320
We're not in control of this 
narrative, as you can call it a 

1380
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:21,560
narrative. 
We're not in control of these 

1381
01:01:21,560 --> 01:01:23,520
action sequences as we think we 
are. 

1382
01:01:23,840 --> 01:01:26,320
It's been an elevator opens on 
the floor and it's it's 

1383
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:29,640
Mcqueen's reaction. 
There's that slow zoom in. 

1384
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:32,480
She's got Mrs. Mueller going in 
the first elevator and she makes

1385
01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:34,560
it and then she's going back on 
the door. 

1386
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:35,960
So you've got that level of 
tension. 

1387
01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:38,480
They've called for backups, so 
there's more of them arriving. 

1388
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:40,680
It's getting more and more out 
of control. 

1389
01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:43,680
When that elevator opens again, 
you're kind of forgotten about 

1390
01:01:43,680 --> 01:01:45,320
what's happening. 
You don't quite know where it's 

1391
01:01:45,320 --> 01:01:46,760
going. 
You just think it's going to 

1392
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:48,480
stay there. 
But that opens again. 

1393
01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:50,960
Everyone's dead inside of it. 
That guy's stumbling out of it. 

1394
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:52,920
Man. 
That is absolute nightmare fuel.

1395
01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:55,320
It's. 
Just ridiculous. 

1396
01:01:55,320 --> 01:01:58,320
And every time I saw that you 
just as that fall and it seems 

1397
01:01:58,320 --> 01:02:01,520
like his head's coming off like 
if you watch it again, the way 

1398
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:03,520
that lands, I don't know if it's
a piece or something. 

1399
01:02:03,520 --> 01:02:05,760
I don't know what it is, but it 
seems like head comes off but 

1400
01:02:05,760 --> 01:02:07,120
obviously doesn't because we see
you later. 

1401
01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:09,800
But when the state puts his 
quarter and that's a lovely call

1402
01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:11,720
back later when he said me Jack 
was needed elsewhere. 

1403
01:02:11,840 --> 01:02:13,240
Absolutely love that. 
Yeah. 

1404
01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:15,160
It doesn't play up what he's 
doing or anything. 

1405
01:02:15,160 --> 01:02:16,640
You know, we'll talk about the 
day pays. 

1406
01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:18,840
But this is probably one of the 
reasons why it looks a bit like 

1407
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:22,240
air by airplane looks like this.
And you've got that's this great

1408
01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:23,800
moment. 
But I can't help but be taken 

1409
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:26,280
out over the moment slightly 
because we're just based. 

1410
01:02:26,280 --> 01:02:29,120
We've got this track and shot 
and it comes past all of the 

1411
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:31,040
people of the party and their 
reactions to it. 

1412
01:02:31,040 --> 01:02:33,120
And it's the woman on the floor 
and they just slap on her face 

1413
01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:36,440
as if she's passed out. 
It's really airplane that way. 

1414
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:38,000
They're just like a. 
Baseball bat. 

1415
01:02:38,480 --> 01:02:41,680
Yeah, just wait. 
It gets the whole he's just like

1416
01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:47,360
this. 
It does quite come across all of

1417
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:48,880
their expressions. 
And it's great because you get 

1418
01:02:48,880 --> 01:02:50,920
this, like, real sense of fear. 
But it's just her on the floor. 

1419
01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:53,000
And the tapping on the face kind
of pulls out a little bit. 

1420
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:55,480
But it does land on Duncan at 
the end. 

1421
01:02:55,880 --> 01:02:58,120
And he gets this real sense of 
like, oh, shit. 

1422
01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:01,120
Like this is more serious than I
gave it any kind of credit for. 

1423
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:04,320
We are in trouble now. 
Yeah, really UPS the stakes. 

1424
01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:06,200
Yeah. 
Because of the dangerous working

1425
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:09,640
conditions, over 30 members of 
San Francisco, Ellie and Fox 

1426
01:03:09,640 --> 01:03:12,080
Studio fire departments were 
brought in as consultants. 

1427
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:16,040
A dedicated fireman was assigned
to each member of the cast for 

1428
01:03:16,040 --> 01:03:18,520
any scene involved and 
potentially dangerous effects. 

1429
01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:21,440
They took it seriously. 
Yeah, massively. 

1430
01:03:21,640 --> 01:03:24,640
Stunt coordinator Paul steered 
and put it plainly. 

1431
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:28,200
In most films, if something goes
wrong, a stuntman would get 

1432
01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:29,920
hurt. 
In the terrain inferno. 

1433
01:03:29,920 --> 01:03:32,480
If something had gone wrong, a 
stuntman could have been killed.

1434
01:03:32,920 --> 01:03:34,840
Wow. 
Despite the risks, Alan claimed 

1435
01:03:34,840 --> 01:03:37,320
that not a single hair on any of
these actors was singed. 

1436
01:03:37,400 --> 01:03:39,720
Pretty remarkable considering 
the period, if you think of the 

1437
01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:42,120
injuries on the set of the likes
of The Exorcist, for example. 

1438
01:03:42,280 --> 01:03:43,480
Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

1439
01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:45,240
That was only a couple of years 
before, wasn't it? 

1440
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:47,360
Yeah. 
And as we've been talking about 

1441
01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:50,360
this elevator scene, there was a
cut scene which created a big 

1442
01:03:50,360 --> 01:03:52,800
plot hole because of its 
excision after the opening 

1443
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,600
ceremony in the scenic elevator,
there's a couple of lines where 

1444
01:03:55,600 --> 01:03:58,480
Duncan admits to the mayor that 
will be one of the three scenic 

1445
01:03:58,480 --> 01:03:59,920
elevators is actually 
functional. 

1446
01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:01,920
Yeah. 
So with those lines not making 

1447
01:04:01,920 --> 01:04:04,240
the final cut, it's quite 
confusing why during the 

1448
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:06,960
evacuation of the of the 
promenade room, everyone is 

1449
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:09,960
queuing up for a single elevator
with a temper capacity when 

1450
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:11,880
there are two others sitting 
right there. 

1451
01:04:11,880 --> 01:04:14,160
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Yeah, not important. 

1452
01:04:14,520 --> 01:04:16,840
Yeah, not important. 
I've never questioned it, not 

1453
01:04:16,880 --> 01:04:19,320
until now to be honest. 
Is that an action sequence? 

1454
01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:22,840
No, not important. 
Let's go, let's go. 

1455
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:24,600
They won't remember. 
Not the one. 

1456
01:04:27,120 --> 01:04:29,720
Yeah, and then we get to the 
same where it really ramps up 

1457
01:04:29,720 --> 01:04:33,880
for me when we go back to Dan 
and his secretary because this 

1458
01:04:33,880 --> 01:04:35,600
is the only thing. 
Yeah, this films not messing 

1459
01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:38,680
around and you're going to see 
every penny on screen because it

1460
01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:43,360
is ruthless and it's harsh and 
it's horrible, but the build up 

1461
01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:46,360
to it is so good. 
That smoke curling under the 

1462
01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:48,920
doors that they're completely 
oblivious to until it's too 

1463
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,120
late. 
You realize Dan has basically 

1464
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:53,280
condemned them both to death 
because he's had the phone 

1465
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:56,040
disconnected so they could have 
a bit of housey father without 

1466
01:04:56,040 --> 01:04:58,680
being interrupted. 
Once you get over that, it's one

1467
01:04:58,680 --> 01:05:01,040
of these scenes that just sits 
in my stomach and you feel sick 

1468
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:03,880
for them because you just know 
there's no way out and it's just

1469
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:05,880
a matter of time. 
You know, one thing I think 

1470
01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:08,360
we'll end up seeing a lot, some 
of the dialogue is very soap 

1471
01:05:08,360 --> 01:05:11,000
opera, and some of the moments 
are quite like he. 

1472
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:14,040
Like Lori Sin. 
I did always want to die in bed.

1473
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:16,960
Did you? 
Not the time to say that. 

1474
01:05:17,240 --> 01:05:19,400
No. 
You mean you want to die making 

1475
01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:21,200
love to Dan Bigelow is what you 
mean? 

1476
01:05:21,640 --> 01:05:26,160
Come on Dad, one more time. 
Dan Bigelow, male gigolo. 

1477
01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:33,480
Yeah, it's that kind of stuff. 
Doesn't that like when Dancestra

1478
01:05:33,480 --> 01:05:35,800
like or I didn't tell you I 
disconnected the phones because 

1479
01:05:35,800 --> 01:05:37,000
I wanted to make it easy for 
you. 

1480
01:05:37,120 --> 01:05:39,200
How? 
How does that make it easy for? 

1481
01:05:39,200 --> 01:05:40,400
Her. 
I would have knocked him out. 

1482
01:05:41,840 --> 01:05:45,080
Yeah, absolutely. 
Moron, you've killed us both. 

1483
01:05:45,200 --> 01:05:47,720
And then that bit where he turns
back and looks at it for one 

1484
01:05:47,720 --> 01:05:50,480
last grin before he charges out 
there, you know that's she's on 

1485
01:05:50,480 --> 01:05:53,360
toast. 
But other than that, it's so 

1486
01:05:53,360 --> 01:05:54,960
brutal. 
I mean, Dan makes a good 

1487
01:05:54,960 --> 01:05:57,960
argument about how fast he can 
run, but it doesn't matter. 

1488
01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:01,120
It doesn't matter that he will 
know his office so well that in 

1489
01:06:01,120 --> 01:06:04,240
any other circumstance he could 
close his eyes and walk from one

1490
01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:06,960
end to the other with no issue 
because this is the circumstance

1491
01:06:06,960 --> 01:06:10,960
that just can't control or beat.
And the horrific thing is he 

1492
01:06:10,960 --> 01:06:14,840
doesn't even come close to 
making it, which would be the 

1493
01:06:14,840 --> 01:06:17,120
thing. 
Like he nearly gets to the door,

1494
01:06:17,120 --> 01:06:21,560
but he does fall to the last. 
No, that's it. 

1495
01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:23,800
It's 1 little stumble into the 
chair and that's it. 

1496
01:06:23,840 --> 01:06:25,400
He's fucked, he's gone, he can't
recover. 

1497
01:06:26,920 --> 01:06:29,080
And this is what I mean by 
putting the money on screen. 

1498
01:06:29,080 --> 01:06:32,240
I mean the stunt work, the size 
of the flames he's got to walk 

1499
01:06:32,240 --> 01:06:34,800
through, the way it just holds 
on them and it doesn't cut away 

1500
01:06:35,080 --> 01:06:37,880
like the size of the area, the 
spread across the ceiling 

1501
01:06:37,880 --> 01:06:40,600
collapse on them. 
It's genuinely like jaw-dropping

1502
01:06:40,600 --> 01:06:41,920
stuff. 
How they've pulled this off, how

1503
01:06:41,920 --> 01:06:44,440
dangerous it looks and then just
prove a lorry. 

1504
01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:46,000
I mean, it's just a likable 
character. 

1505
01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:48,920
And it just feels really 
sadistic how her death gets 

1506
01:06:48,920 --> 01:06:50,320
drawn out. 
And same for done, to be honest.

1507
01:06:50,320 --> 01:06:53,680
To me, when the flames burst 
through that shriek she gives, 

1508
01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:55,680
it's just pure despair and 
horror. 

1509
01:06:55,960 --> 01:06:59,280
And it's so effective. 
And you can't blame it for that 

1510
01:06:59,280 --> 01:07:02,760
desperation of just, well, if I 
smash the window open, I'll get 

1511
01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:04,640
out that way. 
I mean, we know what's going to 

1512
01:07:04,640 --> 01:07:06,920
happen with the fire once it 
meets all that fresh oxygen. 

1513
01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:10,280
We've seen it happen. 
Well, and it's 1000 times where 

1514
01:07:10,280 --> 01:07:12,680
I say you're like, this scene is
genuinely terrifying. 

1515
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:15,480
You think it's just taking all 
prisoners from this moment on. 

1516
01:07:15,640 --> 01:07:17,560
Yeah. 
I'll tell you where they did cut

1517
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:20,800
the extra 4 million out of 
Doug's budget windows because 

1518
01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:22,320
they're easy fucking put out of 
them. 

1519
01:07:22,760 --> 01:07:26,200
Yeah, all of them. 
Just a chair and then the one in

1520
01:07:26,200 --> 01:07:28,880
the elevator just pushed that 
out and that's no problem. 

1521
01:07:29,280 --> 01:07:30,800
Just die. 
People dive and through the 

1522
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:31,840
windows, no problem. 
And. 

1523
01:07:32,760 --> 01:07:35,000
Apart from that, mean what? 
A sequence from a stunt? 

1524
01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:40,400
I'm like, it's unbelievable. 
It does hit but I'm sounds like 

1525
01:07:40,400 --> 01:07:43,560
I'm going to be controversial 
here on my own, but this is what

1526
01:07:43,560 --> 01:07:46,240
I was talking about earlier. 
This seems a little bit like 

1527
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:48,720
cheap thrills to me. 
I think this could have been 

1528
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:51,480
rewritten as important 
characters because I don't know 

1529
01:07:51,480 --> 01:07:53,000
who the hell these two. 
People. 

1530
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:54,640
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Yeah, it's fair. 

1531
01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:58,000
These people are just fodder. 
Yeah, he's having an affair and 

1532
01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:00,680
she's a secretary and that, 
that's about as deep as advice. 

1533
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:02,840
It's soap opera, yeah. 
It really is. 

1534
01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:05,240
When I came back to watching 
this, I was thinking, who the 

1535
01:08:05,240 --> 01:08:08,760
fuck are these two guys? 
Well, I'm covering these these. 

1536
01:08:08,760 --> 01:08:11,080
Scissors didn't even work. 
Properly when they cut the 

1537
01:08:11,160 --> 01:08:13,240
fucking thing. 
I mean, you could basically cut 

1538
01:08:13,240 --> 01:08:15,000
these characters out of the film
and it makes no difference 

1539
01:08:15,000 --> 01:08:17,080
whatsoever apart from the check 
and the watch. 

1540
01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:20,279
That's it. 
Yeah, but emotionally I do get 

1541
01:08:20,279 --> 01:08:21,720
it. 
And it really is brutal. 

1542
01:08:21,720 --> 01:08:23,960
It really is unexpected from a 
film like this. 

1543
01:08:23,960 --> 01:08:25,520
Yeah. 
Well, I think that's why it's in

1544
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:26,880
there. 
You need someone to die at that 

1545
01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:29,840
point in a really nasty way 
before it gets to the 

1546
01:08:29,840 --> 01:08:31,200
characters. 
You. 

1547
01:08:31,200 --> 01:08:34,680
Care about, Obviously. 
Robert Wagner plays Dan Bigelow,

1548
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:38,560
named as a tribute to a Fox 
employee called Don Bigelow. 

1549
01:08:38,920 --> 01:08:42,040
A miscommunication somewhere 
along the line meant Don became 

1550
01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:43,160
Dan. 
Right. 

1551
01:08:44,200 --> 01:08:46,240
Easy mistake to make, isn't it? 
Isn't it? 

1552
01:08:46,840 --> 01:08:48,399
I love them Dan Brookhimer 
films. 

1553
01:08:51,760 --> 01:08:55,240
Dan Corleone, Imagine. 
Dan. 

1554
01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:58,200
Dan. 
Dan. 

1555
01:09:01,880 --> 01:09:04,600
So the news comes through that 
there's still people on the 87th

1556
01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:07,200
floor, Mrs. Albright and her two
children. 

1557
01:09:07,319 --> 01:09:10,000
Doug goes up with the head of 
security, Harry Jernigan, to 

1558
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:12,279
save the day. 
Not too sure that OJ Simpson is 

1559
01:09:12,279 --> 01:09:14,800
the person you really need in a 
crisis such as this. 

1560
01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:16,640
Nobody seems game and off they 
go. 

1561
01:09:17,439 --> 01:09:20,399
And because we've seen Bigelow 
and Laurie bite the dust, I 

1562
01:09:20,399 --> 01:09:22,160
think that really feeds into 
this scene. 

1563
01:09:22,439 --> 01:09:25,080
We could have more bodies in our
hands here as soon as we make it

1564
01:09:25,080 --> 01:09:27,439
into that room. 
Now, you know, moving mechanics 

1565
01:09:27,439 --> 01:09:29,920
dictate there's no way anybody 
could die in this scene. 

1566
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:32,880
Not in back-to-back scenes, no, 
when he's thinking about 

1567
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:35,720
children, but because it is 
children and it is a vulnerable 

1568
01:09:35,720 --> 01:09:37,319
woman. 
Mrs. Albright is deaf. 

1569
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:39,359
The emotion really comes 
through. 

1570
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:41,720
I mean, they do really lay it on
thick. 

1571
01:09:41,720 --> 01:09:44,080
In the earliest scene, she signs
to her daughter that she doesn't

1572
01:09:44,080 --> 01:09:45,920
go to party since the death of 
her husband. 

1573
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:47,279
Yeah. 
Give us a break. 

1574
01:09:47,279 --> 01:09:48,920
It's devastating. 
Bowler laughs. 

1575
01:09:49,040 --> 01:09:50,960
Yeah. 
It is a little too quick how 

1576
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:53,640
Mrs. Albright is saved and then 
just whisked off. 

1577
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,520
OJ just fucks off after his old 
tricks, I imagine. 

1578
01:09:59,480 --> 01:10:02,120
Very convenient for the rest of 
the plot after this scene, but 

1579
01:10:02,120 --> 01:10:04,880
Doug clambering through the 
smoke Riddle bedrooms to save 

1580
01:10:04,880 --> 01:10:07,080
the helpless kids is a great 
visual. 

1581
01:10:07,080 --> 01:10:10,360
It's really affected and like I 
said, because there's a lot at 

1582
01:10:10,360 --> 01:10:12,920
stake here and really, really 
hits, Yeah. 

1583
01:10:13,520 --> 01:10:16,560
And there's a very familiar face
among the younger cast members. 

1584
01:10:16,840 --> 01:10:19,720
Michael Lookland, better known 
as Bobby Brady from The Brady 

1585
01:10:19,720 --> 01:10:21,360
Bunch, played young Philip 
Albright. 

1586
01:10:21,760 --> 01:10:23,600
I love him. 
In the earlier scene where the 

1587
01:10:23,600 --> 01:10:27,960
talk about not going to parties,
he's wearing those cut and edge 

1588
01:10:27,960 --> 01:10:29,520
cans. 
You're amazing. 

1589
01:10:29,760 --> 01:10:31,000
It's great. 
Yeah. 

1590
01:10:31,040 --> 01:10:33,920
The aerial. 
Aerial, yeah. 

1591
01:10:34,480 --> 01:10:37,400
Massive aerial. 
Great, so the children are safe 

1592
01:10:37,400 --> 01:10:40,200
from harm for now, but there's a
perilous road ahead. 

1593
01:10:40,640 --> 01:10:46,360
There is a death defying climb 
to safety requires stout hearts 

1594
01:10:46,360 --> 01:10:48,040
and trim waist lines. 
Good job. 

1595
01:10:48,040 --> 01:10:50,120
Paul Newman is on the case in 
that right, Westie. 

1596
01:10:50,240 --> 01:10:51,960
That's absolutely right. 
It's a ruptured gas line. 

1597
01:10:51,960 --> 01:10:53,640
Get back. 
Amazing, right? 

1598
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:58,400
I mean, the sequence, I used to 
hate it when I was kicked. 

1599
01:10:58,400 --> 01:11:01,440
It was just so intense, like I 
just couldn't really take it. 

1600
01:11:01,440 --> 01:11:03,880
Now I quite enjoy it, even 
though it's ridiculous. 

1601
01:11:04,680 --> 01:11:06,920
It's I mean, it's it's, it's the
moment when humans like I'm 

1602
01:11:06,920 --> 01:11:09,200
definitely doing that. 
I'm definitely part of that. 

1603
01:11:09,480 --> 01:11:13,040
But the original kind of sliding
down the whole metal stairwell 

1604
01:11:13,040 --> 01:11:14,920
Bannister thing. 
I mean, that's really slick from

1605
01:11:14,920 --> 01:11:17,080
the stuntman. 
He's given this everything he's 

1606
01:11:17,080 --> 01:11:18,960
got. 
He's rolling over it and 

1607
01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:20,960
bouncing down it and holding on 
to it. 

1608
01:11:20,960 --> 01:11:22,600
And then when it gets to the 
bottom, you just got Newman 

1609
01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:26,320
holding on to it. 
It's really good as a setup 

1610
01:11:26,320 --> 01:11:28,080
because you just think, well, 
that's the one way down. 

1611
01:11:28,080 --> 01:11:29,520
He's going to have to get these 
guys down. 

1612
01:11:29,520 --> 01:11:33,280
Now, if that was me and Philip 
shouted down, I could do it. 

1613
01:11:33,560 --> 01:11:37,760
I wouldn't say get them to try. 
I'd say sorry guys, I can't help

1614
01:11:37,760 --> 01:11:42,160
you. 
There's no more I can do. 

1615
01:11:42,160 --> 01:11:43,560
Just wait there. 
I'll see you. 

1616
01:11:43,560 --> 01:11:46,000
I can get, because there's no 
fucking chance I'm getting any 

1617
01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:49,280
of you 3 down from that. 
But it's the way that he adds 

1618
01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:52,200
this maturity to the kids. 
The character of Dougie trusts 

1619
01:11:52,200 --> 01:11:53,520
Phil to get down. 
He trusts them. 

1620
01:11:53,520 --> 01:11:55,360
Let them try. 
There's no other choice, you 

1621
01:11:55,360 --> 01:11:56,600
know? 
He lets them come down and he 

1622
01:11:56,600 --> 01:11:58,880
treats them like an adult and 
that's brilliant. 

1623
01:11:58,880 --> 01:12:01,680
He does really well to get down 
that Doug has climbed back up 

1624
01:12:01,680 --> 01:12:04,680
and he's great with Angela. 
The way he just moves it around 

1625
01:12:04,680 --> 01:12:06,560
was like, I was fine getting up 
and I'm going to have loads of 

1626
01:12:06,560 --> 01:12:07,840
trouble getting down. 
Can you help us? 

1627
01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:09,960
Can you tell us what to do? 
Makes her feel part of it, 

1628
01:12:09,960 --> 01:12:11,760
doesn't pull her around, doesn't
push her around. 

1629
01:12:12,040 --> 01:12:13,360
I think that's brilliant. 
You would have made an 

1630
01:12:13,360 --> 01:12:15,240
incredible dad. 
How do you have had the time to 

1631
01:12:15,240 --> 01:12:17,240
be 1? 
I think it's just shows how 

1632
01:12:17,240 --> 01:12:19,520
Karen, the character is. 
He's absolutely brilliant. 

1633
01:12:19,560 --> 01:12:21,000
But I mean that metal is going 
to be hot. 

1634
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:23,440
There's a few occasions in this 
film where I think that metal is

1635
01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:25,800
going to be hot. 
Chamberlain grabs it at the end 

1636
01:12:25,800 --> 01:12:28,480
when he tries to go down. 
It's just some kind of takes us 

1637
01:12:28,480 --> 01:12:31,000
out a little bit and then it's 
like right, Mrs. Mueller is 

1638
01:12:31,000 --> 01:12:32,360
going to come down. 
Can you do it? 

1639
01:12:32,400 --> 01:12:36,640
I wouldn't get Philip, the young
boy to hold me belt. 

1640
01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:40,880
Like hold on to the pillar. 
Can you support my weight there,

1641
01:12:40,880 --> 01:12:45,080
Brady Munch? 
I don't think you can grab me 

1642
01:12:45,080 --> 01:12:46,400
belt. 
No, just stay there. 

1643
01:12:46,400 --> 01:12:48,960
I'll see what I can do here. 
But she comes down, It's 

1644
01:12:49,040 --> 01:12:51,760
excellent, the way she struggles
all the way down it and there's 

1645
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:52,920
that tension. 
She has to. 

1646
01:12:53,320 --> 01:12:55,400
Swing towards. 
He's like, can you swing towards

1647
01:12:55,400 --> 01:12:58,840
and grabs her and hugs her. 
And you just realise that you 

1648
01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:02,920
get so much relief that these 
guys are OK and it's such a 

1649
01:13:02,920 --> 01:13:06,040
setup for what happens to her 
character later on because he's 

1650
01:13:06,400 --> 01:13:09,160
so unfair that you've had to go 
through this. 

1651
01:13:09,680 --> 01:13:12,440
And it lays such a landmine. 
It's like you're watching them 

1652
01:13:12,440 --> 01:13:15,080
lay a landmine in front of it. 
And you think, well, I'm glad 

1653
01:13:15,080 --> 01:13:17,080
I've avoided that. 
And then you walk towards it 

1654
01:13:17,080 --> 01:13:19,440
without knowing that you don't 
step on it later on and you 

1655
01:13:19,440 --> 01:13:20,800
don't realize what's going to 
happen. 

1656
01:13:20,800 --> 01:13:22,680
And it just, it bonds you to 
these characters. 

1657
01:13:22,680 --> 01:13:25,000
It bonds you to these four. 
It's a really excellent 

1658
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:26,360
sequence. 
And I think the film really, 

1659
01:13:26,360 --> 01:13:29,600
really needs this in there. 
But I see what a setup for that 

1660
01:13:29,600 --> 01:13:31,600
good punch later on. 
It is, yeah. 

1661
01:13:31,920 --> 01:13:34,080
It really does feel as though 
Mrs. Muller could go at any 

1662
01:13:34,080 --> 01:13:35,520
moment here. 
It's perilous. 

1663
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:36,360
Yeah. 
Definitely. 

1664
01:13:36,520 --> 01:13:41,000
Loads of time afforded to this 
this scene to really ramp that 

1665
01:13:41,000 --> 01:13:43,040
tension up. 
Yeah, it's a good 10 minutes. 

1666
01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:44,880
Easy 10 minutes. 
Yeah. 

1667
01:13:45,400 --> 01:13:47,360
Yeah. 
So Doug leaves the kids and Mrs.

1668
01:13:47,360 --> 01:13:51,600
Mueller at the service door of 
floor 135 after they make it out

1669
01:13:51,600 --> 01:13:53,800
of there. 
I mean that cement blocking the 

1670
01:13:53,800 --> 01:13:56,800
door is just plot servicing at 
the highest order. 

1671
01:13:57,200 --> 01:13:59,040
Wonderful. 
What are they building up there?

1672
01:13:59,240 --> 01:14:00,600
Yeah. 
Ridiculous. 

1673
01:14:00,600 --> 01:14:01,760
Yeah. 
What do you think they're eating

1674
01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:02,320
over there? 
Really. 

1675
01:14:03,280 --> 01:14:05,120
Really. 
Alvida's in pet. 

1676
01:14:06,280 --> 01:14:08,080
Really. 
Just leave it. 

1677
01:14:11,240 --> 01:14:13,320
There's a moment here where Doug
leaves him and he climbs through

1678
01:14:13,320 --> 01:14:16,240
the air vent, which is a visual 
right out of Die Hard. 

1679
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:18,760
It's really impressive stuff, 
especially when combined with 

1680
01:14:18,760 --> 01:14:21,960
John Williamson's kind of like 
industrial motif playing over 

1681
01:14:21,960 --> 01:14:23,720
the top. 
Yeah, which matches the Dead 

1682
01:14:23,720 --> 01:14:25,320
star as well. 
And you've got that shot of Alec

1683
01:14:25,320 --> 01:14:26,600
Guinness going over the same 
chasm. 

1684
01:14:26,600 --> 01:14:28,680
It's got that same type of music
design. 

1685
01:14:28,680 --> 01:14:30,920
Do it. 
But Doug makes it back to the 

1686
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:34,320
party and dials in that the 
South stairwell is blocked with 

1687
01:14:34,320 --> 01:14:36,560
cement. 
It is remarkable that with a 

1688
01:14:36,560 --> 01:14:39,000
fire agent, the phone lines 
remain free from damage. 

1689
01:14:39,520 --> 01:14:41,800
Yes, they really do. 
And then the saying says the dog

1690
01:14:42,160 --> 01:14:43,480
says the dog there, how did you 
get anything? 

1691
01:14:43,480 --> 01:14:47,200
I'll give it to you later. 
Me, I'll be like, well, I've to 

1692
01:14:47,200 --> 01:14:49,760
say these three fuckers, I'll 
tell you what happened, right? 

1693
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:54,600
So the firemen make it to the 
top and the blow the door and 

1694
01:14:54,600 --> 01:14:57,560
the cement, The Smithereens if 
there weren't enough explosions 

1695
01:14:57,560 --> 01:14:59,400
and balls of fire in this 
building. 

1696
01:14:59,400 --> 01:15:00,960
I know, I know. 
They're creating some more with 

1697
01:15:00,960 --> 01:15:02,480
the dynamite. 
I just don't know about you 

1698
01:15:02,480 --> 01:15:05,680
guys, but this feels just a 
little reckless considering 

1699
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:08,240
what's rumbling underneath. 
What do you use for your 

1700
01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:10,800
explosive? 
C4 or blow hole in anything? 

1701
01:15:10,960 --> 01:15:15,280
What the fuck don't do that. 
And he's like, you've got about 

1702
01:15:15,280 --> 01:15:18,840
20 seconds understood what a 
dog's like, not understood, and 

1703
01:15:18,840 --> 01:15:20,920
he has understood and blows dog 
away. 

1704
01:15:21,880 --> 01:15:23,960
I know you've got 20 seconds and
that's it. 

1705
01:15:23,960 --> 01:15:26,400
There's no stopping it. 
Well, just calm down, yeah? 

1706
01:15:26,840 --> 01:15:29,480
It's all right, you know. 
It can be 60 seconds if you 

1707
01:15:29,480 --> 01:15:33,120
really wanted to. 
Massive explosion. 

1708
01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:35,880
Crazy. 
But it does create a very nice 

1709
01:15:35,880 --> 01:15:38,840
moment of reunion. 
Doug's back with Susan, Mrs. 

1710
01:15:38,840 --> 01:15:41,880
Mueller's back with Claiborne, 
and there's a really lovely, 

1711
01:15:41,880 --> 01:15:43,920
romantic, swelling John Williams
score. 

1712
01:15:44,000 --> 01:15:45,400
Yeah. 
Yeah, it's very nice, Yeah. 

1713
01:15:45,560 --> 01:15:47,840
And then that's all undercoat 
when Duncan tells the crowd that

1714
01:15:47,840 --> 01:15:50,720
there's absolutely no way of 
getting now via the stairwell. 

1715
01:15:51,200 --> 01:15:53,480
And there's a really, really 
nice sour note in the music that

1716
01:15:53,480 --> 01:15:56,360
accompanies, and it's hilarious 
where Doug delivers that line, 

1717
01:15:56,360 --> 01:15:59,600
delivers the bad news, and then 
just fucks off, just walks away,

1718
01:15:59,640 --> 01:16:00,320
right? 
See you later. 

1719
01:16:02,480 --> 01:16:05,320
If it was me, I'd be going 
straight Simmons me like, get 

1720
01:16:05,360 --> 01:16:10,640
out that way if you want to. 
Yeah, so everyone's reunited. 

1721
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:13,400
We're talking about Simmons. 
He's boozing away, which is the 

1722
01:16:13,400 --> 01:16:15,480
only relatable thing about him 
in the entire film. 

1723
01:16:15,480 --> 01:16:17,560
I'd like, yeah, I'll just be at 
the Hammond at this point. 

1724
01:16:17,560 --> 01:16:20,440
Like, no chance to be doing 
this. 

1725
01:16:20,480 --> 01:16:22,960
So he decides to make a run for 
it, even though they've all been

1726
01:16:22,960 --> 01:16:25,440
told it's impossible. 
And I think Richard Chamberlain,

1727
01:16:25,440 --> 01:16:29,200
out of everyone in this cast, I 
think he's the one that sets the

1728
01:16:29,200 --> 01:16:32,400
standard of this type of 
character in this type of film. 

1729
01:16:32,560 --> 01:16:34,680
You know, the sleazy corporate 
guy. 

1730
01:16:34,840 --> 01:16:37,280
He's responsible for it all 
somehow, and he's going to turn 

1731
01:16:37,280 --> 01:16:39,640
a code at the end and leave 
everyone to the fate. 

1732
01:16:39,640 --> 01:16:42,640
Like you didn't talk about the 
Poseidon Venture go well, is 

1733
01:16:42,640 --> 01:16:44,480
Gene Hackman better than Paul 
Newman in this? 

1734
01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:48,160
Maybe no one's been better than 
Richard Chamberlain doing this 

1735
01:16:48,160 --> 01:16:50,480
type of role in this type of 
film. 

1736
01:16:51,000 --> 01:16:53,960
And the great thing is the film 
could so easily kill him off at 

1737
01:16:53,960 --> 01:16:56,400
this point when he's going down 
the stairs because they could 

1738
01:16:56,400 --> 01:16:58,640
collapse, could debris could 
fall on him. 

1739
01:16:58,640 --> 01:17:01,160
And the fact it doesn't happen. 
That just said, you know, 

1740
01:17:01,160 --> 01:17:05,200
they've got a really nasty death
coming up for him later on and 

1741
01:17:05,200 --> 01:17:08,520
it's going to be the one death 
you can feel good about and it's

1742
01:17:08,520 --> 01:17:12,120
going to be worth waiting for. 
So he comes back, he has an 

1743
01:17:12,120 --> 01:17:14,360
argument with Patty and. 
And this is one of those ones. 

1744
01:17:14,360 --> 01:17:17,160
Again, it's just all a bit soap 
opera at this point. 

1745
01:17:17,160 --> 01:17:19,800
I mean, she's such a limp 
lettuce of her character. 

1746
01:17:19,800 --> 01:17:22,520
And I don't think this this 
performance by Susan Blakey is 

1747
01:17:22,520 --> 01:17:24,360
great. 
I mean, the line deliveries are 

1748
01:17:24,360 --> 01:17:26,920
a bit wanting from her. 
You know, I came over to you now

1749
01:17:26,920 --> 01:17:28,440
because I thought you might need
me. 

1750
01:17:28,520 --> 01:17:30,840
It's all just a bit, right. 
Yeah. 

1751
01:17:30,840 --> 01:17:33,760
OK. 
Yeah, this. 

1752
01:17:33,760 --> 01:17:35,680
Is the melodrama what you've 
got? 

1753
01:17:35,680 --> 01:17:39,520
In contrast, though, is just 
this really charming and really 

1754
01:17:39,520 --> 01:17:42,000
sweet, beautifully acted scene 
between Fred Astaire and 

1755
01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:44,480
Jennifer Jones. 
It's the best acted scene in the

1756
01:17:44,480 --> 01:17:47,080
entire film by some distance 
between these two. 

1757
01:17:47,440 --> 01:17:50,520
You know, when he says I'm just 
a cheap tin horn, a 2 bit con 

1758
01:17:50,520 --> 01:17:52,080
man. 
And it's great when he's talking

1759
01:17:52,080 --> 01:17:54,440
about the fake certificates for 
those shares that he's 

1760
01:17:54,440 --> 01:17:56,040
happening. 
You know, I think you'd have 

1761
01:17:56,040 --> 01:17:58,000
admired the artwork. 
Beautiful engraving. 

1762
01:17:58,360 --> 01:18:00,920
Because even when he's been 
honest about his dishonesty, 

1763
01:18:00,920 --> 01:18:03,000
he's still got this little 
twinkle in his eye. 

1764
01:18:03,160 --> 01:18:05,360
And the great thing is she 
doesn't care about him being 

1765
01:18:05,360 --> 01:18:08,320
dishonest, just still falling 
for him hook, line and sinker. 

1766
01:18:08,720 --> 01:18:10,760
And you watch the scene and you 
just sit there and you go. 

1767
01:18:11,080 --> 01:18:14,200
I really hope these two make it 
out OK because they really 

1768
01:18:14,200 --> 01:18:16,640
deserve a happy ending. 
But you know, we'll see. 

1769
01:18:17,720 --> 01:18:19,000
We will see. 
Don't we? 

1770
01:18:19,000 --> 01:18:22,800
Will Fred Astaire was over 40 
years into his career by this 

1771
01:18:22,800 --> 01:18:25,240
point and by all accounts was 
delighted to be on set. 

1772
01:18:25,240 --> 01:18:26,400
Oh, bless him. 
Yeah. 

1773
01:18:26,720 --> 01:18:29,120
He said that his role as con man
Harley Claiborne. 

1774
01:18:29,240 --> 01:18:32,080
If you're going to do a cameo, 
that was a good one to do 

1775
01:18:32,200 --> 01:18:34,200
because it stood out. 
The other guys in the picture 

1776
01:18:34,200 --> 01:18:35,800
said. 
Hey, I wish I had that part. 

1777
01:18:36,560 --> 01:18:38,920
Cameo Well. 
Yeah. 

1778
01:18:39,480 --> 01:18:41,360
Suppose if you're not the lead, 
you're the cameo, yeah? 

1779
01:18:41,640 --> 01:18:42,720
Well, exactly. 
Yeah. 

1780
01:18:42,880 --> 01:18:44,600
How many cameos are in this film
15? 

1781
01:18:46,760 --> 01:18:50,080
And he was 75 at the time of 
release, and it became the first

1782
01:18:50,080 --> 01:18:52,800
and only Oscar nomination of his
career for Best Supporting 

1783
01:18:52,800 --> 01:18:55,040
Actor. 
But he did lose out to Robert De

1784
01:18:55,040 --> 01:18:57,320
Niro in The Godfather Part 2 
which? 

1785
01:18:58,200 --> 01:19:00,880
That's on balance, yeah, yeah. 
You're kind of awful at that. 

1786
01:19:00,960 --> 01:19:01,880
Can you tough? 
Competition. 

1787
01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:05,280
Fred Astaire lobby to write a 
song for the film himself, but 

1788
01:19:05,280 --> 01:19:07,440
his submission was deemed too 
old hat. 

1789
01:19:08,400 --> 01:19:10,120
Alan wasn't having any of it at 
all, right? 

1790
01:19:10,440 --> 01:19:11,920
More than we will never love 
again. 

1791
01:19:12,520 --> 01:19:14,600
Like, really Contemporary 
number, Yeah. 

1792
01:19:16,040 --> 01:19:18,920
Yeah, so Maury Mcgovern's 
performance of Joel Hirshhorn 

1793
01:19:18,920 --> 01:19:22,320
and Cashes the Morning After on 
the Poseidon Adventure won an 

1794
01:19:22,320 --> 01:19:25,760
Oscar and she was drafted back 
in to sing another Hirshhorn 

1795
01:19:25,760 --> 01:19:28,400
Kasher number. 
We may never love like this 

1796
01:19:28,400 --> 01:19:29,680
again. 
This again. 

1797
01:19:30,960 --> 01:19:32,880
Beautiful. 
She appeased in the party scene 

1798
01:19:32,880 --> 01:19:35,600
singing the song, and that song 
also went on to pick up an 

1799
01:19:35,600 --> 01:19:37,560
Oscar, right? 
Yes, good choice. 

1800
01:19:37,760 --> 01:19:40,520
Yeah, fair enough. 
And despite a desperate desire 

1801
01:19:40,520 --> 01:19:44,200
to leave for all involved, we're
still on the 135th floor where 

1802
01:19:44,200 --> 01:19:46,320
fear and emotions are running 
high. 

1803
01:19:46,880 --> 01:19:51,520
Absolutely. 
The crew. 

1804
01:19:54,200 --> 01:19:57,280
A stacked crew on the Terran 
Inferno included 3 Oscar 

1805
01:19:57,280 --> 01:19:59,800
winners, all bona fide legends 
in their field. 

1806
01:20:00,080 --> 01:20:02,920
Possibly the most talented crews
we've ever had on the shore. 

1807
01:20:03,600 --> 01:20:06,600
We're starting off with Sterling
Sullivan's legendary writer of 

1808
01:20:06,600 --> 01:20:08,880
small and big screen, who 
received an Academy Award for 

1809
01:20:08,880 --> 01:20:11,280
his writing on In the Heat of 
the Night some years before 

1810
01:20:11,280 --> 01:20:12,440
this. 
Amazing. 

1811
01:20:12,440 --> 01:20:15,080
Yeah. 
Matt, over to you, the writing 

1812
01:20:15,360 --> 01:20:17,440
on The Tarrant Inferno. 
I mean, there's a lot to say 

1813
01:20:17,440 --> 01:20:21,120
about it, isn't there? 
I suspect a lot of negativity 

1814
01:20:21,120 --> 01:20:25,480
will come from you, Luke. 
I think so, which you know, I 

1815
01:20:25,480 --> 01:20:27,600
will agree with. 
I mean, it's also been saying, 

1816
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:30,600
look, it is very melodramatic. 
It is very has been saying it's 

1817
01:20:30,600 --> 01:20:34,040
so popular this clandestine 
affairs sleazy some of the 

1818
01:20:34,040 --> 01:20:36,680
cutting corners nice old couple 
who are going to be tragically 

1819
01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:38,720
torn apart. 
But I'm going to try and put a 

1820
01:20:38,720 --> 01:20:41,560
more positive spin on it because
this is the template and this 

1821
01:20:41,560 --> 01:20:43,400
establishes the template for the
right. 

1822
01:20:43,400 --> 01:20:46,840
And no, it's not Chinatown, but 
it's not trying to be in would 

1823
01:20:46,840 --> 01:20:50,600
be foolish to even attempt to be
that and what you've got in Halo

1824
01:20:50,600 --> 01:20:53,520
in the right and it's just as a 
real relatability because every 

1825
01:20:53,520 --> 01:20:56,360
disaster movie since kind of 
takes its template. 

1826
01:20:56,360 --> 01:20:59,360
But what they get wrong is 
missing that relatability. 

1827
01:20:59,360 --> 01:21:01,040
You know this is a building on 
fire. 

1828
01:21:01,120 --> 01:21:03,840
People are trapped inside and 
that's all you need in terms of 

1829
01:21:03,840 --> 01:21:06,760
stakes to understand it. 
This kind of links into what 

1830
01:21:06,760 --> 01:21:08,920
Gareth is asking about in his 
question. 

1831
01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:12,920
Disaster movies thesis think the
skills have to be apocalyptic in

1832
01:21:12,920 --> 01:21:15,880
size and the dawn. 
So you can watch stuff like San 

1833
01:21:15,880 --> 01:21:19,040
Andreas where the entirety of LA
is being destroyed because 

1834
01:21:19,040 --> 01:21:21,640
there's an earthquake and the 
tectonic plates are shifting. 

1835
01:21:21,640 --> 01:21:23,400
You go, but that's not 
believable. 

1836
01:21:23,560 --> 01:21:26,200
I'm not worried that that will 
ever happen to me in my 

1837
01:21:26,200 --> 01:21:27,560
lifetime. 
Yeah. 

1838
01:21:28,040 --> 01:21:31,000
Whereas I watch this and I go 
working in a building that could

1839
01:21:31,000 --> 01:21:33,080
catch fire. 
That's so relatable because I 

1840
01:21:33,080 --> 01:21:35,720
have worked in that type of 
place where I think, God, if I 

1841
01:21:35,720 --> 01:21:38,800
was on, even if I was on the 4th
floor and there's a fire blow, 

1842
01:21:38,880 --> 01:21:40,400
that's terrifying because I'm 
trapped. 

1843
01:21:40,440 --> 01:21:43,880
Yes, I mean very tragically in 
this country we have the ground 

1844
01:21:43,960 --> 01:21:46,840
and fell fire a few years ago 
and you watched that unfold on 

1845
01:21:46,920 --> 01:21:48,840
television. 
You go that's terrific and 

1846
01:21:48,840 --> 01:21:51,160
that's the fear that the tone 
infernal tops and do. 

1847
01:21:51,160 --> 01:21:53,520
So that's the main thing about 
the writing for me. 

1848
01:21:53,720 --> 01:21:56,760
It's the reliability of it which
is so scary, and that's the 

1849
01:21:56,760 --> 01:22:00,120
aspect that pretty much every 
disaster movie has missed since.

1850
01:22:00,920 --> 01:22:03,840
Yeah, it really hits home I. 
Think Sterling Sullivan has a 

1851
01:22:03,840 --> 01:22:06,000
hell of a job to do. 
He's combining 2 novels. 

1852
01:22:06,080 --> 01:22:08,760
He's got to make it make sense. 
He's got pressure from 2 

1853
01:22:08,760 --> 01:22:10,840
studios, he's got pressure from 
2 leads. 

1854
01:22:10,960 --> 01:22:12,560
He's got a lot of ego to battle 
with. 

1855
01:22:12,880 --> 01:22:15,640
He's got some dialogue to come 
up with in the middle to make it

1856
01:22:15,640 --> 01:22:18,640
sellable and make it believable.
But a lot of this, I mean, it's,

1857
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:22,480
let's just say it's 80% action 
sequences and what do you write 

1858
01:22:22,480 --> 01:22:26,520
in the screenplay? 
You know, falls, falls down some

1859
01:22:26,520 --> 01:22:30,080
stairs and then has to make that
something else entirely. 

1860
01:22:30,080 --> 01:22:32,160
I mean, it's safer to Owen Alan 
to make. 

1861
01:22:32,400 --> 01:22:34,720
Exactly. 
It's like what was Irwin Alan 

1862
01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:37,360
had to put into this script? 
And a lot of the feedback that 

1863
01:22:37,360 --> 01:22:40,560
we got from actors wanting to be
in it or we were interested in 

1864
01:22:40,560 --> 01:22:42,480
it is that the script was lousy.
It didn't work. 

1865
01:22:42,480 --> 01:22:44,520
It was, you know, it wasn't 
entertaining enough, wasn't 

1866
01:22:44,520 --> 01:22:46,600
engaging enough. 
And I think the script in itself

1867
01:22:46,600 --> 01:22:49,240
does serve a purpose. 
But I think that purpose was 

1868
01:22:49,240 --> 01:22:52,160
just to get the film made and 
then over and on would take over

1869
01:22:52,160 --> 01:22:54,680
and knew for a fact it was going
to be very, a very, very visual 

1870
01:22:54,680 --> 01:22:56,920
film, which it is. 
It is a very visual film. 

1871
01:22:57,120 --> 01:22:59,720
You don't take much away from 
this in regards to characters or

1872
01:22:59,720 --> 01:23:01,720
relationships of characters you 
don't see. 

1873
01:23:01,720 --> 01:23:03,960
How do you remember that romance
in Town Inferno? 

1874
01:23:03,960 --> 01:23:06,640
Like it doesn't, it doesn't sit,
it's not important. 

1875
01:23:06,640 --> 01:23:08,160
So I think he has a hell of a 
job of doing. 

1876
01:23:08,160 --> 01:23:10,440
I think he does all right. 
I mean, it is the 70s. 

1877
01:23:10,440 --> 01:23:13,160
It's quintessential 70s. 
It's not pulling up trees trying

1878
01:23:13,160 --> 01:23:16,160
to be something different. 
He kind of knows exactly what 

1879
01:23:16,160 --> 01:23:19,120
the tone is and I think the tone
does stick and it does deliver 

1880
01:23:19,120 --> 01:23:22,040
to a certain degree. 
Yes, it is soap, but watching 

1881
01:23:22,040 --> 01:23:25,360
this in the cinema in 1974, it 
would probably land and land 

1882
01:23:25,360 --> 01:23:27,960
really well. 
I think the relationships that 

1883
01:23:27,960 --> 01:23:29,760
know the way they taught each 
other would have been 

1884
01:23:29,760 --> 01:23:31,440
believable. 
I don't think it would have 

1885
01:23:31,440 --> 01:23:33,400
seemed cheesy. 
I think it's just a real product

1886
01:23:33,400 --> 01:23:36,120
of its time and I think it's a 
really good product of its time.

1887
01:23:36,160 --> 01:23:38,960
I do think the right and serves 
the purpose of what he was 

1888
01:23:38,960 --> 01:23:41,280
trying to accomplish with this. 
And like Matt said, it is the 

1889
01:23:41,280 --> 01:23:44,200
believability of it, the 
grounding of the characters, the

1890
01:23:44,200 --> 01:23:47,280
human nature of the story, the 
fact that you can actually 

1891
01:23:47,280 --> 01:23:50,440
replace any of these characters 
in any of these situations as 

1892
01:23:50,440 --> 01:23:52,160
yourself. 
And I think that is even more 

1893
01:23:52,160 --> 01:23:54,720
terrifying. 
I think a lot of it is, look, 

1894
01:23:54,720 --> 01:23:57,280
we've got this source material, 
can you make it work so it's 

1895
01:23:57,280 --> 01:23:58,600
coherent? 
Can you make it work? 

1896
01:23:58,600 --> 01:24:00,480
So it's an action film, Can you 
make this work? 

1897
01:24:00,480 --> 01:24:03,800
So it's an Irwin Allen film. 
And that's that job you had to 

1898
01:24:03,800 --> 01:24:05,680
do. 
And I think from that viewpoint,

1899
01:24:05,680 --> 01:24:10,200
I think he does really well. 
I think Stern Sullivan's got one

1900
01:24:10,200 --> 01:24:14,920
of the hardest jobs on 
production, if the hardest, and 

1901
01:24:14,920 --> 01:24:17,120
I think it's worth acknowledging
that before we get into it. 

1902
01:24:17,240 --> 01:24:19,160
There are negatives here, Matt 
put. 

1903
01:24:19,680 --> 01:24:22,760
I'm not going to go all in 
because, you know, I think he 

1904
01:24:22,760 --> 01:24:25,640
was working with his hands 
behind his back, very much like 

1905
01:24:25,640 --> 01:24:29,000
the director. 
But Sullivan's got to introduce 

1906
01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:32,880
and service an enormous cast. 
Multiple storylines build 

1907
01:24:32,880 --> 01:24:37,040
tension across a single night 
and keep the audience oriented 

1908
01:24:37,040 --> 01:24:40,000
in an incredibly complex 
physical space as well. 

1909
01:24:40,240 --> 01:24:42,360
Yeah, that he manages all of 
that without the whole thing 

1910
01:24:42,360 --> 01:24:44,640
collapsing in on itself is 
really impressive. 

1911
01:24:44,960 --> 01:24:47,960
The architecture of the script, 
the bones of it, they are solid.

1912
01:24:48,640 --> 01:24:50,360
Yes. 
The best writing in the film is 

1913
01:24:50,360 --> 01:24:52,880
the dynamic between O'halleron 
and Roberts. 

1914
01:24:52,880 --> 01:24:55,520
For me, there's a real 
ideological clash at the heart 

1915
01:24:55,520 --> 01:24:57,680
of that relationship. 
The man who builds them and the 

1916
01:24:57,680 --> 01:25:00,680
man who has to fight them. 
And I think the right it gives 

1917
01:25:00,680 --> 01:25:03,040
it real teeth. 
The final exchange between the 

1918
01:25:03,040 --> 01:25:05,760
two of them is earned and it 
lands because the groundwork has

1919
01:25:05,760 --> 01:25:09,960
been laid throughout. 
Yes, but and it's a significant 

1920
01:25:09,960 --> 01:25:11,320
but. 
Yeah. 

1921
01:25:11,480 --> 01:25:15,400
The dialogue we've mentioned is 
how many in places it is, and I 

1922
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:18,320
think we all know that. 
I've always wanted to die in 

1923
01:25:18,320 --> 01:25:20,880
bed, dear me. 
OK. 

1924
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:23,480
Cross that out of the script 
immediately. 

1925
01:25:24,080 --> 01:25:27,120
That, I mean, that just tells 
you kind of like what the script

1926
01:25:27,160 --> 01:25:30,480
thinks about its characters, 
that really that's a bad 

1927
01:25:30,480 --> 01:25:33,280
reflection on like, I don't care
about this person, so I'm going 

1928
01:25:33,280 --> 01:25:36,200
to give them the shittest line 
that anybody's ever had. 

1929
01:25:36,760 --> 01:25:39,880
And I don't buy it. 
I feel as though they're kind of

1930
01:25:39,880 --> 01:25:42,760
archetypes rather than people 
moved around the board with 

1931
01:25:42,760 --> 01:25:45,600
efficiency, but rarely with 
genuine emotional depth. 

1932
01:25:46,480 --> 01:25:48,640
And I think the emotion of the 
characters should stop you in 

1933
01:25:48,640 --> 01:25:51,560
your tracks. 
It really only kind of hits when

1934
01:25:51,560 --> 01:25:53,200
Mrs. Mueller dies, I think for 
me. 

1935
01:25:53,200 --> 01:25:55,480
Yes, yeah, yeah. 
There's no room to dwell. 

1936
01:25:55,480 --> 01:25:57,440
There's no room to grieve, 
really, because you know, we're 

1937
01:25:57,440 --> 01:25:59,520
already on to the next part and 
the next explosion. 

1938
01:25:59,720 --> 01:26:01,600
And that, I think, is the root 
of the problem. 

1939
01:26:01,600 --> 01:26:03,640
You get the sense that certain 
scenes exist not because the 

1940
01:26:03,640 --> 01:26:07,080
story demands them, but because 
a star needs their moment. 

1941
01:26:07,440 --> 01:26:09,480
The writing is frequently in 
service of the cast. 

1942
01:26:09,480 --> 01:26:12,320
Like we say, there's a lot of 
cast service and plot service 

1943
01:26:12,320 --> 01:26:14,320
and convenience in the right. 
Nothing. 

1944
01:26:15,680 --> 01:26:18,480
Silifon keeps the plates 
spinning, but there's I think 

1945
01:26:18,480 --> 01:26:21,320
there's a leaner and a more 
emotionally resonant version of 

1946
01:26:21,320 --> 01:26:22,880
this script that could have been
written. 

1947
01:26:23,160 --> 01:26:26,240
As mentioned, the film is based 
on 2 novels, The Tower and The 

1948
01:26:26,240 --> 01:26:28,520
Glass Infernal. 
The Tower centre is on fictional

1949
01:26:28,520 --> 01:26:32,320
125 Storey skyscraper. 
The World Tower building 

1950
01:26:32,520 --> 01:26:35,360
position right next to the North
Tower of the real World Trade 

1951
01:26:35,360 --> 01:26:37,560
Centre, which was still under 
construction at the time of 

1952
01:26:37,560 --> 01:26:38,600
writing. 
Yes, yeah. 

1953
01:26:38,600 --> 01:26:41,240
Both books were directly 
inspired by the World Trade 

1954
01:26:41,240 --> 01:26:42,440
Centre building. 
Yeah. 

1955
01:26:42,560 --> 01:26:45,560
But The Glass Infernal is the 
one that contributed many of the

1956
01:26:45,680 --> 01:26:47,320
film's most memorable plot 
points. 

1957
01:26:47,560 --> 01:26:50,280
The cost cutting on building 
materials and a climax with the 

1958
01:26:50,280 --> 01:26:53,080
blowing up of the rooftop water 
tanks to douse the fire. 

1959
01:26:53,280 --> 01:26:55,000
Yeah. 
Alan said of the decision to 

1960
01:26:55,000 --> 01:26:57,200
combine them. 
It was a sensible solution and 

1961
01:26:57,200 --> 01:27:00,080
I'm quite sure it's the first of
many future films to be created 

1962
01:27:00,080 --> 01:27:03,760
in tandem by major companies. 
Yeah, confident in his own, in 

1963
01:27:03,760 --> 01:27:05,320
his own methods. 
Absolutely. 

1964
01:27:05,320 --> 01:27:07,400
Yeah. 
And Sullivan had the unenviable 

1965
01:27:07,400 --> 01:27:10,760
job of weaving both novels into 
a single coherent script, as 

1966
01:27:10,760 --> 01:27:13,680
we've talked about, while also 
carving them up mathematically. 

1967
01:27:13,680 --> 01:27:16,080
The Super Queen's Eagle, as 
we've talked about, which he 

1968
01:27:16,080 --> 01:27:18,320
developed over a six to 
eight-month period. 

1969
01:27:18,520 --> 01:27:21,800
And he described his work more 
as logistics than artistry. 

1970
01:27:21,920 --> 01:27:23,400
What you were not doing is 
writing. 

1971
01:27:23,440 --> 01:27:26,440
What you were doing is juggling.
And I love this bit because he 

1972
01:27:26,440 --> 01:27:28,800
called the fire itself my 
favorite character in the 

1973
01:27:28,800 --> 01:27:30,200
script. 
Brilliant. 

1974
01:27:30,600 --> 01:27:31,640
Yeah, it's brilliant. 
Yeah. 

1975
01:27:31,880 --> 01:27:33,960
It is. 
It's the main antagonist, isn't 

1976
01:27:34,000 --> 01:27:35,400
it? 
It's a good bad guy. 

1977
01:27:35,520 --> 01:27:38,440
He actually spoke quite 
dismissively of the film, saying

1978
01:27:38,840 --> 01:27:42,120
in a group jeopardy film, the 
person who's most in jeopardy is

1979
01:27:42,120 --> 01:27:43,640
the writer. 
Wow. 

1980
01:27:43,960 --> 01:27:46,160
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly 
what we thought, isn't it? 

1981
01:27:46,480 --> 01:27:48,560
Yeah, it is. 
Yeah, it is kind of like a gun 

1982
01:27:48,560 --> 01:27:50,240
for hire thing, isn't it? 
Definitely. 

1983
01:27:50,440 --> 01:27:53,040
I mean, he's done in the heat of
the night and then he's doing 

1984
01:27:53,040 --> 01:27:55,440
this exactly. 
He's going to be slightly down 

1985
01:27:55,440 --> 01:27:56,840
on it, isn't he of? 
Course he is. 

1986
01:27:56,840 --> 01:27:57,760
That's right. 
Yeah. 

1987
01:27:57,920 --> 01:28:00,400
And he held more reverence for 
his writing on The Poseidon 

1988
01:28:00,400 --> 01:28:02,720
Adventure because it came from 
one source novel with more 

1989
01:28:02,720 --> 01:28:04,720
interesting characters to adapt 
to the screen. 

1990
01:28:04,720 --> 01:28:07,320
He said, yeah, OK. 
But that's the reason that Erwin

1991
01:28:07,320 --> 01:28:10,320
Allen recruited him to write 
this, because of his writing on 

1992
01:28:10,320 --> 01:28:11,840
The Poseidon Adventure. 
Of course. 

1993
01:28:12,440 --> 01:28:14,280
Yeah. 
He also claimed that he only 

1994
01:28:14,280 --> 01:28:16,720
read one of the two source 
novels when writing the script. 

1995
01:28:16,720 --> 01:28:18,640
Amazing that. 
And could remember, couldn't 

1996
01:28:18,640 --> 01:28:20,200
remember which one. 
That's even better. 

1997
01:28:20,840 --> 01:28:23,640
But his biographer, Nat Segalov,
went through Sullivan's papers 

1998
01:28:23,640 --> 01:28:26,600
after his death and found 
extensive research notes drawn 

1999
01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:29,360
from both books, as well as 
interviews with firefighting 

2000
01:28:29,360 --> 01:28:31,200
experts from across the country.
Yeah. 

2001
01:28:31,200 --> 01:28:32,800
So I think he clearly put a lot 
into it. 

2002
01:28:32,800 --> 01:28:35,680
Despite his reservations, it is 
still the best parts of both 

2003
01:28:35,680 --> 01:28:38,040
books and stripped away the 
rest, retaining the strongest 

2004
01:28:38,040 --> 01:28:39,920
characters in the most 
compelling situations. 

2005
01:28:40,560 --> 01:28:42,840
He took 7 characters from the 
novels for the screenplay, 

2006
01:28:43,040 --> 01:28:44,920
though many of the names were 
changed along the way, 

2007
01:28:44,920 --> 01:28:47,080
obviously. 
You know, we've mentioned Dan 

2008
01:28:47,080 --> 01:28:48,480
Bigelow, yes? 
Lovely. 

2009
01:28:48,800 --> 01:28:51,840
And research conducted for the 
film made Silly Fan change his 

2010
01:28:51,840 --> 01:28:54,040
habits. 
He later admitted that whenever 

2011
01:28:54,040 --> 01:28:56,680
he ended the building, he would 
always find a seat directly 

2012
01:28:56,680 --> 01:28:59,200
beneath the sprinkler head 
because a firefighter he'd 

2013
01:28:59,200 --> 01:29:01,480
interviewed doing his research 
had given him that tip. 

2014
01:29:01,920 --> 01:29:04,640
I'm going to be taking that 
forward, absolutely. 

2015
01:29:04,880 --> 01:29:10,720
Yeah, as long as the work. 
Yeah, So as we're talking about 

2016
01:29:10,720 --> 01:29:13,560
the writing and as we're talking
about the era, we've got our 

2017
01:29:13,560 --> 01:29:15,800
final Patreon question. 
This one comes from Lou 

2018
01:29:15,800 --> 01:29:19,520
Pellegrino. 
Lou Lou says, I suppose you 

2019
01:29:19,520 --> 01:29:21,760
could argue that the disaster 
films of the 70s were a 

2020
01:29:21,760 --> 01:29:24,800
reflection of the uncertainties 
Americans felt about themselves 

2021
01:29:24,800 --> 01:29:28,720
and the USA during that decade. 
Vietnam, Watergate, the energy 

2022
01:29:28,720 --> 01:29:31,520
crisis, etcetera. 
One of the film genres clearly 

2023
01:29:31,520 --> 01:29:34,160
reflect the anxieties of the 
time in which they were made. 

2024
01:29:34,520 --> 01:29:36,280
Thanks as always for a great 
podcast. 

2025
01:29:36,680 --> 01:29:38,960
Thank you for the support. 
Yes, Thank you, Matt. 

2026
01:29:39,200 --> 01:29:41,600
Yeah, I think a very thoughtful 
observation. 

2027
01:29:41,600 --> 01:29:43,840
I think you're right. 
There's a strong argument that 

2028
01:29:43,840 --> 01:29:46,400
the disaster movie is the 
definitive American genre of the

2029
01:29:46,400 --> 01:29:49,560
70s, not just as entertainment, 
but as a kind of mirror held up 

2030
01:29:49,720 --> 01:29:52,000
to the nation that was deeply 
uncertain about himself. 

2031
01:29:52,160 --> 01:29:54,880
Yeah, I immediately thought of 
two different genres. 

2032
01:29:55,400 --> 01:29:59,040
The first would be the paranoid 
thrillers of the same era, The 

2033
01:29:59,040 --> 01:30:01,560
Parallax View, All the 
President's Men, 3 Days of the 

2034
01:30:01,560 --> 01:30:05,360
Condor, kind of drawn from the 
same well, as Lou describes, the

2035
01:30:05,360 --> 01:30:07,600
enemy isn't a foreign power, 
It's the government, it's the 

2036
01:30:07,600 --> 01:30:10,240
corporations, it's the people in
the tall buildings making 

2037
01:30:10,240 --> 01:30:12,320
decisions that get ordinary 
people killed. 

2038
01:30:12,560 --> 01:30:14,080
Yeah, it's the little man as 
well, isn't it? 

2039
01:30:14,080 --> 01:30:15,800
Yeah. 
Yes, exactly. 

2040
01:30:15,800 --> 01:30:16,800
Yes, that's right. 
Yeah. 

2041
01:30:17,160 --> 01:30:20,760
And then I think, jump forward a
decade in the 80s action movies,

2042
01:30:20,760 --> 01:30:22,760
and you see something completely
different happening. 

2043
01:30:23,040 --> 01:30:26,080
Top Gun, Ramble, Red Dawn, These
are films about America licking 

2044
01:30:26,080 --> 01:30:30,440
its wounds over Vietnam, over 
the Iran Contra debacle and 

2045
01:30:30,440 --> 01:30:32,960
deciding it's time to feel good 
about itself again. 

2046
01:30:33,280 --> 01:30:35,720
Yeah, Aggressively, 
jingoistically good. 

2047
01:30:36,200 --> 01:30:38,320
It's almost the equal and 
opposite reaction to the 

2048
01:30:38,320 --> 01:30:40,560
paranoia of the 70s. 
One decade couldn't trust 

2049
01:30:40,560 --> 01:30:42,440
anymore. 
The next decade trusted America 

2050
01:30:42,440 --> 01:30:44,160
above everyone else. 
Fuck yeah. 

2051
01:30:44,440 --> 01:30:46,200
Yeah, two sides of the same 
coin. 

2052
01:30:46,560 --> 01:30:47,880
Yeah. 
What about UST? 

2053
01:30:48,040 --> 01:30:50,920
I think that this is relevant 
with no matter what genre you 

2054
01:30:50,920 --> 01:30:54,040
look at or no matter what decade
in which you look at the cinema 

2055
01:30:54,080 --> 01:30:56,280
in which it was made. 
To be fair, I think there's a 

2056
01:30:56,280 --> 01:30:58,480
lot that you can tap into. 
That definitely is one of the 

2057
01:30:58,480 --> 01:31:00,400
most obvious. 
And again, like you said, like 

2058
01:31:00,400 --> 01:31:03,640
the paranoia of, of that time. 
And I think if you go back the 

2059
01:31:03,640 --> 01:31:07,640
like 50s and 60s, you've got the
sci-fi, the nuclear age and the 

2060
01:31:07,640 --> 01:31:10,880
communism and space travel. 
But I do think that ultimately 

2061
01:31:10,880 --> 01:31:13,680
from the birth of cinema, what 
they've always addressed is this

2062
01:31:13,680 --> 01:31:17,000
fear of technology, this fear of
advancement, this fear of where 

2063
01:31:17,000 --> 01:31:18,840
are we going and what are we 
actually doing. 

2064
01:31:18,840 --> 01:31:21,200
And I think one of the best 
genres that does that, that 

2065
01:31:21,200 --> 01:31:23,720
always taps into the fear of it 
is the horror genre without a 

2066
01:31:23,720 --> 01:31:25,400
shadow of a doubt. 
I mean, we've got Night the 

2067
01:31:25,400 --> 01:31:27,000
Living Dead. 
Yeah. 

2068
01:31:27,040 --> 01:31:29,600
It's first of all who talks 
about, you know, racial, racial 

2069
01:31:29,600 --> 01:31:32,120
tensions over everything else? 
We are, but what are we doing? 

2070
01:31:32,120 --> 01:31:34,800
And then Fast forward a little 
bit and we've got the kind of 

2071
01:31:34,800 --> 01:31:37,360
zombie post apocalyptic themes 
of the 2000s. 

2072
01:31:37,360 --> 01:31:39,880
You know, we've got 28 Days 
Later, we've got The Purge. 

2073
01:31:40,120 --> 01:31:42,880
We've got all them kind of fear 
of, you know, these kind of 

2074
01:31:42,880 --> 01:31:44,600
social situations that we're 
getting in. 

2075
01:31:44,640 --> 01:31:47,640
And then the action genre kind 
of taps into that as well. 

2076
01:31:47,640 --> 01:31:50,000
The late 90s and early 2000s, 
we've got the likes of The 

2077
01:31:50,000 --> 01:31:52,640
Matrix and Dark City and even 
Children of Men, which is 

2078
01:31:52,640 --> 01:31:55,480
ultimate later. 
But this real paranoia about 

2079
01:31:55,480 --> 01:31:58,080
technology, where we're going, 
what we're doing, it's these 

2080
01:31:58,080 --> 01:32:00,600
fears that we've all got as 
humans that tap into and make a 

2081
01:32:00,600 --> 01:32:03,640
really sellable film. 
And it's gone even further and 

2082
01:32:03,640 --> 01:32:06,000
it's getting further again. 
I think a 24 would be nothing 

2083
01:32:06,000 --> 01:32:08,200
without the paranoia of what is 
happening right now. 

2084
01:32:08,200 --> 01:32:11,120
And we think about Get Out and 
Hereditary, Annihilation X Mac 

2085
01:32:11,120 --> 01:32:13,960
and you know, Civil War. 
All of these films are really 

2086
01:32:13,960 --> 01:32:16,120
tapping into exactly. 
You're just making it more and 

2087
01:32:16,120 --> 01:32:18,400
more obvious. 
I think back in the 70s they 

2088
01:32:18,400 --> 01:32:21,440
tried to hide it a little bit, 
the disaster films actually 

2089
01:32:21,440 --> 01:32:23,680
about that, but you didn't put 
two and two together. 

2090
01:32:24,000 --> 01:32:26,320
Now we're actually getting two 
and two and we're getting four 

2091
01:32:26,320 --> 01:32:28,600
and we know exactly what the 2 
is and what the other two is. 

2092
01:32:28,600 --> 01:32:32,720
So cinemas using it obviously is
more of a reflection on the 

2093
01:32:32,720 --> 01:32:35,200
time, but I think the audiences 
are now a lot more aware of 

2094
01:32:35,200 --> 01:32:37,120
that. 
Very much self aware. 

2095
01:32:37,880 --> 01:32:40,760
Your thoughts on that, Matt? 
Yeah, I think I'm similar in the

2096
01:32:40,760 --> 01:32:43,240
fact that I don't think it is a 
particular genre such. 

2097
01:32:43,240 --> 01:32:47,560
I just think it's examples of 
different genres can all do it. 

2098
01:32:48,200 --> 01:32:51,120
I mean, obviously the 70s film 
as you all mentioned it, but you

2099
01:32:51,120 --> 01:32:54,080
can spill that in the 80s with 
the likes of Blowout, I think 

2100
01:32:54,200 --> 01:32:58,240
very much in same field. 
But yeah, definitely Horace as 

2101
01:32:58,240 --> 01:32:59,640
well. 
I mean, if you think of Texas 

2102
01:32:59,640 --> 01:33:02,280
Chainsaw Massacre, you know, it 
has that radio sequence at the 

2103
01:33:02,280 --> 01:33:05,240
start where the news is 
everything that's going wrong 

2104
01:33:05,240 --> 01:33:08,520
with society and it's all not 
feeds into the rest of the film.

2105
01:33:08,520 --> 01:33:11,560
It feeds into the betrayal of 
this horrific all American 

2106
01:33:11,560 --> 01:33:14,760
family, you know, that family 
unit which is so messed up 

2107
01:33:14,760 --> 01:33:17,160
beyond belief. 
And I think that just, you know,

2108
01:33:17,160 --> 01:33:19,560
that reflects a lot of the kind 
of unease America had with 

2109
01:33:19,560 --> 01:33:22,120
itself at the time. 
And I'd also agree with Wesley 

2110
01:33:22,120 --> 01:33:25,200
mentioned and get out because 
that, you know, it reflects 

2111
01:33:25,200 --> 01:33:27,560
racial anxiety. 
But the twist is, what if the 

2112
01:33:27,560 --> 01:33:30,760
enemies to be in black that 
don't come from the right in 

2113
01:33:30,760 --> 01:33:32,840
America? 
You know, with the Burma crosses

2114
01:33:33,040 --> 01:33:34,840
and the white hoods, whatever 
comes from the people on the 

2115
01:33:34,840 --> 01:33:36,800
left who claim that the friends,
but they're not. 

2116
01:33:36,800 --> 01:33:40,080
Actually, that is one of the 
most perceptive films ever made.

2117
01:33:40,800 --> 01:33:41,560
Really. 
Incredible. 

2118
01:33:41,560 --> 01:33:42,200
Get out. 
Yeah. 

2119
01:33:42,320 --> 01:33:44,400
Because. 
A great question, Lou. 

2120
01:33:44,400 --> 01:33:45,920
Thank you very much. 
Got us thinking. 

2121
01:33:46,280 --> 01:33:47,720
Yes, very nice. 
Yes, love that. 

2122
01:33:47,720 --> 01:33:48,560
Question. 
Thank you. 

2123
01:33:49,000 --> 01:33:52,160
And that draws a close to the 
writing on The Terran Inferno. 

2124
01:33:52,360 --> 01:33:55,600
Sterling Sullivan working with 
severe restrictions, he produced

2125
01:33:55,600 --> 01:33:59,000
a script that was functional. 
Good story beats, dialogue, 

2126
01:33:59,160 --> 01:34:00,600
little bit honey. 
Yes. 

2127
01:34:03,920 --> 01:34:07,000
Next, a legend. 
Before he was a legend, despite 

2128
01:34:07,000 --> 01:34:09,880
already been an Oscar winner for
his work on Fiddler on the Roof.

2129
01:34:10,240 --> 01:34:13,200
It's the one and the only John 
Williams who provided the 

2130
01:34:13,200 --> 01:34:15,360
musical score for The Tarrant 
Inferno. 

2131
01:34:15,880 --> 01:34:18,880
Now, this isn't the John 
Williams we know and love today.

2132
01:34:19,240 --> 01:34:23,040
Mr. Movie Music himself, the man
who would go on to give us Joe, 

2133
01:34:23,040 --> 01:34:26,480
Star Wars, Superman, Raiders, 
The Last Star, Jurassic Park, 

2134
01:34:26,480 --> 01:34:29,840
Home Alone, Harry Potter. 
Yeah, all of that was still 

2135
01:34:29,840 --> 01:34:31,600
ahead of him in 1974. 
No. 

2136
01:34:31,680 --> 01:34:32,560
Yes. 
Ridiculous. 

2137
01:34:32,600 --> 01:34:34,120
Yeah. 
But he was already an Oscar 

2138
01:34:34,120 --> 01:34:36,720
winner for Fiddler on the Roof. 
Imagine being an Oscar winner 

2139
01:34:36,720 --> 01:34:39,960
and still having the most iconic
music left in your holster to 

2140
01:34:39,960 --> 01:34:42,560
pull out over the next 50 years.
Yeah. 

2141
01:34:43,240 --> 01:34:44,840
He's the most ridiculous person 
ever. 

2142
01:34:45,120 --> 01:34:49,560
He's just like, how can someone 
be that good at anything? 

2143
01:34:49,760 --> 01:34:52,480
It's unbelievable. 
What he delivers here. 

2144
01:34:52,480 --> 01:34:54,920
For me, is is one of the 
strongest elements of the film. 

2145
01:34:55,080 --> 01:34:57,600
It's not vintage Williams. 
It doesn't have the iconic 

2146
01:34:57,600 --> 01:35:00,960
melodic hooks that would later 
make him the most recognizable 

2147
01:35:00,960 --> 01:35:03,920
film composer of the planet, but
it's tremendously effective 

2148
01:35:03,920 --> 01:35:05,560
work. 
It's purposeful, It's 

2149
01:35:05,560 --> 01:35:07,600
atmospheric. 
It's very much in service of the

2150
01:35:07,600 --> 01:35:11,440
film rather than stealing the 
spotlight, unlike a lot of the 

2151
01:35:11,440 --> 01:35:13,120
other elements working in the 
film. 

2152
01:35:13,400 --> 01:35:15,360
Yeah. 
That opening theme in the 

2153
01:35:15,360 --> 01:35:18,440
credits, Yeah. 
That is such a high point. 

2154
01:35:18,760 --> 01:35:22,120
It sets its own beautifully 
grand sweeping with just a hint 

2155
01:35:22,120 --> 01:35:24,360
of unease underneath. 
It tells you what kind of film 

2156
01:35:24,360 --> 01:35:27,320
we're about to watch, and it 
does it with so much confidence 

2157
01:35:27,320 --> 01:35:30,360
in craft. 
I think he was. 

2158
01:35:30,440 --> 01:35:33,400
I mean, he was already very good
at this point, and it's a real 

2159
01:35:33,400 --> 01:35:37,640
point in time when he was on the
cusp of becoming an bona fide 

2160
01:35:37,640 --> 01:35:40,440
legend. 
It's really fascinating point in

2161
01:35:40,440 --> 01:35:43,440
his career, this. 
I mean, I always forget Sean 

2162
01:35:43,440 --> 01:35:45,400
Williams, to be honest. 
I have to remind yourself 

2163
01:35:45,920 --> 01:35:47,640
precisely for those reasons you 
mentioned. 

2164
01:35:47,800 --> 01:35:50,240
I think music is really clever 
because it ties in with the 

2165
01:35:50,240 --> 01:35:52,400
theme of the film. 
If it has a theme, it is about 

2166
01:35:52,400 --> 01:35:56,000
mankind's hubris and how that 
hue this has taught a lesson. 

2167
01:35:56,160 --> 01:35:58,440
And the soundtrack really 
reflects out because I say that 

2168
01:35:58,440 --> 01:36:01,600
opening is so bombastic. 
It's so try open it. 

2169
01:36:01,600 --> 01:36:05,040
So look how big this building 
is. 

2170
01:36:05,440 --> 01:36:07,400
Isn't it amazing? 
Yeah. 

2171
01:36:07,480 --> 01:36:10,040
But then it brings it down in 
this moment of real tension in 

2172
01:36:10,040 --> 01:36:12,720
that and what's investing. 
And I will always highlight this

2173
01:36:12,720 --> 01:36:14,080
in the film because I love it 
when it does. 

2174
01:36:14,080 --> 01:36:16,800
This is the music becomes 
sparing. 

2175
01:36:16,800 --> 01:36:19,640
And once that fire is out of 
control, a lot of the set pieces

2176
01:36:19,640 --> 01:36:21,520
play out with no music 
whatsoever. 

2177
01:36:22,160 --> 01:36:24,400
And I think that's such a smart 
choice because all that 

2178
01:36:24,400 --> 01:36:28,480
cockiness and arrogance in that 
open music that's been wiped 

2179
01:36:28,480 --> 01:36:29,920
away. 
And all you can do is watch 

2180
01:36:29,920 --> 01:36:32,880
these scenes without that music.
And the rest of the film just 

2181
01:36:32,880 --> 01:36:35,240
plays out in this mute horror, 
and you can only kind of watch 

2182
01:36:35,240 --> 01:36:37,680
it happen in front of you. 
And yes, there were the bits and

2183
01:36:37,680 --> 01:36:40,360
pieces along there. 
Some of the romantic sofas may 

2184
01:36:40,360 --> 01:36:42,800
be laid on a little thick. 
I know what you mean. 

2185
01:36:43,080 --> 01:36:46,280
The Orbits I really punch home 
the music for the countdown to 

2186
01:36:46,280 --> 01:36:48,360
the water tank explosion, that's
incredible. 

2187
01:36:48,560 --> 01:36:51,280
But yeah, it's almost where the 
choice to not use music it's 

2188
01:36:51,280 --> 01:36:52,800
just as important as when it is 
used. 

2189
01:36:53,000 --> 01:36:55,520
Absolutely. 
And when it's somebody like John

2190
01:36:55,520 --> 01:36:58,200
Williams who can just create the
most beautiful music in the 

2191
01:36:58,200 --> 01:37:01,000
world, him showing restraint is 
something else. 

2192
01:37:01,280 --> 01:37:02,320
Yeah, yeah. 
Really is. 

2193
01:37:02,680 --> 01:37:04,640
Wesley, your thoughts on 
Williams's music? 

2194
01:37:05,120 --> 01:37:08,080
I think this is John Williams 
worst score, and that's 

2195
01:37:08,280 --> 01:37:12,280
something because I do feel like
it is quite generic. 

2196
01:37:12,920 --> 01:37:15,200
I think it's massive. 
I think it sets the tone. 

2197
01:37:15,200 --> 01:37:18,920
I think it's perfectly fine. 
But I think it is very much a 

2198
01:37:19,040 --> 01:37:22,960
70s disaster film. 
Like you put this on and it's a 

2199
01:37:22,960 --> 01:37:29,080
70s, you know, imagine this and 
first day of coming back, 

2200
01:37:29,080 --> 01:37:31,160
sticking this on in vinyl and 
just walking in with a chicken 

2201
01:37:31,160 --> 01:37:33,200
kebab with that big tune coming 
on. 

2202
01:37:33,200 --> 01:37:35,200
It's not going to set the tone, 
is it? 

2203
01:37:35,200 --> 01:37:37,080
People are thinking what's 
what's the house is going to 

2204
01:37:37,080 --> 01:37:38,760
explode. 
It's absolutely insane. 

2205
01:37:39,160 --> 01:37:42,680
But it is an excellent score and
it's because he's done so much 

2206
01:37:42,680 --> 01:37:46,360
more since this is This doesn't 
feel personal to me as a it 

2207
01:37:46,680 --> 01:37:49,240
feels like he's. 
Doesn't have his identity, does.

2208
01:37:49,240 --> 01:37:51,160
Not at all. 
I mean, George is the year after

2209
01:37:51,160 --> 01:37:53,520
this. 
And that is just two notes and 

2210
01:37:53,520 --> 01:37:56,920
it's his exact tone. 
And he's like he's telling the 

2211
01:37:56,920 --> 01:37:58,640
story here. 
He's not telling a story. 

2212
01:37:58,640 --> 01:38:00,720
This could be stock, he could 
have recorded this. 

2213
01:38:00,720 --> 01:38:02,440
And this could be used on 
anything in the 70s. 

2214
01:38:02,440 --> 01:38:05,080
It could be used on any of you 
know, it could be an episode of 

2215
01:38:05,080 --> 01:38:08,120
Columbo where he goes up a 
highlights and there's just that

2216
01:38:08,120 --> 01:38:09,600
there on the score. 
And it works. 

2217
01:38:09,680 --> 01:38:11,720
It's fantastic. 
But it's one that you just won't

2218
01:38:11,720 --> 01:38:13,520
remember. 
It's one that's there and it 

2219
01:38:13,520 --> 01:38:15,200
really sets the tone. 
And like Matt said, I mean, 

2220
01:38:15,200 --> 01:38:16,760
you've got the countdown to the 
explosion. 

2221
01:38:16,760 --> 01:38:19,240
So when them explosions kick 
off, there's nothing, there's no

2222
01:38:19,240 --> 01:38:21,600
music whatsoever. 
It sets a precedent, It sets a 

2223
01:38:21,600 --> 01:38:23,120
tone. 
It seems to me it just 

2224
01:38:23,120 --> 01:38:27,960
soundtracks John Gilliman's 
work, his moments, his drama, 

2225
01:38:28,360 --> 01:38:30,080
his bits. 
And then when it comes to and 

2226
01:38:30,080 --> 01:38:31,520
all, he's like, I've got sound 
design here. 

2227
01:38:31,560 --> 01:38:34,520
The fire itself, the sound of 
the fire itself is terrifying. 

2228
01:38:34,520 --> 01:38:40,280
It's almost like this kind of 
squawk and it's all over it. 

2229
01:38:40,720 --> 01:38:41,960
And I think that's the whole 
point. 

2230
01:38:41,960 --> 01:38:44,600
It feels a little cut and paste.
It feels a little bit Poseidon 

2231
01:38:44,600 --> 01:38:45,960
Adventure. 
It could be, you could put this 

2232
01:38:45,960 --> 01:38:47,360
on in the pub quiz and people 
would go on. 

2233
01:38:47,360 --> 01:38:53,200
Fuck me, Earthquake, Poseidon 
Venture, Airplane, Media, Media,

2234
01:38:53,200 --> 01:38:55,120
the Swarm. 
You can scratch on your head 

2235
01:38:55,120 --> 01:38:57,960
think it could be any of those 
things and it really works and 

2236
01:38:57,960 --> 01:38:59,880
that's fine. 
But to me, it's a product of its

2237
01:38:59,880 --> 01:39:02,560
time. 
It's great, but it's not a lot 

2238
01:39:02,560 --> 01:39:03,920
of trees. 
No, no, it's not. 

2239
01:39:03,920 --> 01:39:05,960
It's not. 
But I mean, we didn't know what 

2240
01:39:05,960 --> 01:39:07,600
he, what he was really capable 
of. 

2241
01:39:07,680 --> 01:39:09,360
Exactly. 
That's what I mean, doing this 

2242
01:39:09,360 --> 01:39:12,200
and this, he's falling this in, 
to be fair, and it's still 

2243
01:39:12,200 --> 01:39:14,200
massive. 
And this, if this is his worst 

2244
01:39:14,200 --> 01:39:17,080
score, I mean, that's not, 
that's not a bad thing, is it 

2245
01:39:17,080 --> 01:39:18,640
really? 
Not to be sniffed out, yeah. 

2246
01:39:18,880 --> 01:39:19,920
Definitely. 
Not all. 

2247
01:39:20,160 --> 01:39:22,880
And Williams actually said the 
Towering Inferno was a turning 

2248
01:39:22,880 --> 01:39:24,760
point. 
Up until then, I'd never been 

2249
01:39:24,760 --> 01:39:28,760
offered a spectacular 5 minute 
overture belonging exclusively 

2250
01:39:28,760 --> 01:39:31,040
to image and music. 
And for a long time, people 

2251
01:39:31,040 --> 01:39:33,640
would say to me, ah, see, you're
the composer of the town 

2252
01:39:33,640 --> 01:39:34,840
Inferno. 
Nice. 

2253
01:39:35,600 --> 01:39:37,880
A long time. 
I mean, Jaws came a yearly. 

2254
01:39:37,880 --> 01:39:39,960
Yearly. 
Yeah, truly. 

2255
01:39:39,960 --> 01:39:43,640
It's so you're the composer. 
Jaws, just those two notes. 

2256
01:39:43,640 --> 01:39:44,920
I mean, isn't. 
The tower and what? 

2257
01:39:44,920 --> 01:39:48,440
Sorry, Yeah, yeah, he said. 
The opening credits was his best

2258
01:39:48,440 --> 01:39:51,440
work on the film, of course, but
he did have to fight Owen Allen 

2259
01:39:51,440 --> 01:39:53,200
for it. 
Williams insisted that the 

2260
01:39:53,200 --> 01:39:56,000
ambient sound was stripped back 
to allow for his music to take 

2261
01:39:56,000 --> 01:39:58,080
center stage. 
And then, yeah, I think it 

2262
01:39:58,080 --> 01:40:00,960
really benefits from. 
Yeah, and that's his wonderful 

2263
01:40:00,960 --> 01:40:03,520
story about Allen here and 
Williams main title for the 

2264
01:40:03,520 --> 01:40:06,000
first time. 
Allen listened, declared that 

2265
01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:08,040
something wasn't right, but he 
couldn't put his finger on it, 

2266
01:40:08,280 --> 01:40:10,440
and he ended up storming off the
scoring stage. 

2267
01:40:10,800 --> 01:40:12,800
Yeah. 
So Lionel Newman, head of Fox's 

2268
01:40:12,800 --> 01:40:15,400
music department, took Williams 
to one side and told him the 

2269
01:40:15,400 --> 01:40:18,360
solution. 
It bought 86 of the sequence. 

2270
01:40:18,360 --> 01:40:21,520
When Allen's producer credit 
appeared on the screen at a 

2271
01:40:21,520 --> 01:40:25,920
cymbal crash, Williams did it. 
Allen came back, heard it again 

2272
01:40:25,920 --> 01:40:27,400
and said, well, that sounds 
great. 

2273
01:40:27,400 --> 01:40:34,240
What's different? 
That's not actually on when they

2274
01:40:34,240 --> 01:40:36,120
released the soundtrack. 
It's not actually on the 

2275
01:40:36,120 --> 01:40:37,640
soundtrack. 
You took the cymbal crash off 

2276
01:40:37,640 --> 01:40:44,960
from the soundtrack. 
Lovely. 

2277
01:40:45,280 --> 01:40:47,920
Aside from the main theme, there
are love themes in the film that

2278
01:40:47,920 --> 01:40:50,680
accompany the scenes between 
Newman and Dunaway, Astaire and 

2279
01:40:50,680 --> 01:40:52,880
Jones. 
Both are introduced early in the

2280
01:40:52,880 --> 01:40:55,120
film as kind of gentle 
background music, almost 

2281
01:40:55,120 --> 01:40:58,080
incidental, easy listening 
numbers you'd be given for 

2282
01:40:58,080 --> 01:41:00,080
missing them. 
But by the end credits, Williams

2283
01:41:00,200 --> 01:41:03,320
transforms them into kind of 
full orchestral statements, 

2284
01:41:03,640 --> 01:41:05,800
something he adopted throughout 
his career. 

2285
01:41:06,040 --> 01:41:08,280
Yeah, they don't slap you in the
face, but they're there if 

2286
01:41:08,280 --> 01:41:09,240
you're listening. 
Yeah. 

2287
01:41:09,760 --> 01:41:12,520
So a legend before he was a 
legend. 

2288
01:41:13,040 --> 01:41:16,440
Solid work from John Williams, 
but he had a lot more to give in

2289
01:41:16,440 --> 01:41:17,760
the future. 
Absolutely. 

2290
01:41:17,760 --> 01:41:22,640
Yeah. 
OK, so now it's where it gets 

2291
01:41:22,640 --> 01:41:23,960
complicated. 
Yeah. 

2292
01:41:23,960 --> 01:41:28,080
Officially, the film has two 
credited DPS, Fred J Conan Camp,

2293
01:41:28,200 --> 01:41:30,280
who had been in the movie biz 
for around 10 years. 

2294
01:41:30,280 --> 01:41:33,280
Coming off the likes of Patton 
and Papillon. 

2295
01:41:34,040 --> 01:41:37,440
Joseph Barack was an old hand 
going back to his work behind 

2296
01:41:37,440 --> 01:41:41,480
the camera on It's Wonderful 
Life all the way up to Airplane.

2297
01:41:41,760 --> 01:41:45,320
Six years after this, Yes, yeah,
a very career. 

2298
01:41:45,400 --> 01:41:47,840
We'll get to the story behind 
their work in a moment, but 

2299
01:41:47,840 --> 01:41:51,520
first, Westie, your opinion on 
their cinematography? 

2300
01:41:51,600 --> 01:41:56,960
I think it's a great combination
of talent of old and new of 

2301
01:41:57,040 --> 01:42:00,760
these two kind of real non egos.
And we'll talk about non egos in

2302
01:42:00,760 --> 01:42:02,120
the film. 
I think the crew didn't have 

2303
01:42:02,120 --> 01:42:04,960
room for any egos. 
What people need to understand 

2304
01:42:04,960 --> 01:42:08,760
is most films do have two, 
especially action films that 

2305
01:42:08,760 --> 01:42:11,240
will have two DPS. 
They'll have a second unit, a 

2306
01:42:11,480 --> 01:42:13,640
lot of action, and they'll have 
a second unit director, and 

2307
01:42:13,640 --> 01:42:17,040
they'll have a second unit DP 
who will communicate a lot with 

2308
01:42:17,040 --> 01:42:19,520
the main DP on the film. 
But it's good that they're both 

2309
01:42:19,520 --> 01:42:22,040
credited for this. 
It's great, the Oscar for this. 

2310
01:42:22,040 --> 01:42:24,560
I think it's fantastic. 
I think there's some really good

2311
01:42:25,120 --> 01:42:27,000
interplay between them. 
Like I've mentioned before, I 

2312
01:42:27,000 --> 01:42:29,440
think the use of hard light 
sources, especially on dialogue 

2313
01:42:29,440 --> 01:42:31,720
sequences at the start of the 
film, really sets the tone and 

2314
01:42:31,720 --> 01:42:34,080
sets the contrast. 
I think the set design and the 

2315
01:42:34,080 --> 01:42:36,680
light and then the color work is
really good because the contrast

2316
01:42:36,680 --> 01:42:39,360
ratios remain the same. 
There's a lot of fire in this 

2317
01:42:39,360 --> 01:42:41,120
film. 
Before there's fire, there's a 

2318
01:42:41,120 --> 01:42:43,720
lot of discussions. 
There's a lot of orange, there's

2319
01:42:43,720 --> 01:42:45,160
a lot of yellow, there's a lot 
of red. 

2320
01:42:45,560 --> 01:42:48,400
Even Doug says when the elevator
closes, come outside and watches

2321
01:42:48,400 --> 01:42:50,760
Burn Me Black Tie. 
And it's just, you know, at the 

2322
01:42:50,760 --> 01:42:52,480
end of it all. 
Then there's all of these little

2323
01:42:52,480 --> 01:42:54,840
things that are put in, but 
they're also put in visually. 

2324
01:42:55,080 --> 01:42:56,880
I think there's a great movement
of the camera. 

2325
01:42:56,880 --> 01:42:59,080
You don't really feel that the 
camera is moving in this film. 

2326
01:42:59,080 --> 01:43:01,200
It feels like a character, feels
like an observer. 

2327
01:43:01,520 --> 01:43:04,320
You feel like you're part of 
everything that's going on when 

2328
01:43:04,320 --> 01:43:06,400
you they have to communicate 
with lens choices, They have to 

2329
01:43:06,400 --> 01:43:08,840
communicate with, like I've 
said, camera movements, how fast

2330
01:43:08,840 --> 01:43:10,280
or how slow that's going to be 
put together. 

2331
01:43:10,280 --> 01:43:12,960
It doesn't feel like it goes to 
a completely different second 

2332
01:43:12,960 --> 01:43:14,640
unit and they haven't got a clue
what's going on. 

2333
01:43:15,040 --> 01:43:17,480
I think these guys work very, 
very well together. 

2334
01:43:17,840 --> 01:43:20,040
And I think it was a partnership
and I think they were, they 

2335
01:43:20,040 --> 01:43:21,880
would have spent many a night 
sit and go on. 

2336
01:43:21,880 --> 01:43:24,880
Look, I know everyone wants this
and this is what I'm doing. 

2337
01:43:25,040 --> 01:43:26,960
How are you going to match it? 
How are you going to light it? 

2338
01:43:26,960 --> 01:43:28,760
How are you going to shoot it? 
Because I'm going to do the same

2339
01:43:28,760 --> 01:43:31,480
type of thing. 
And the credit to both of them 

2340
01:43:31,480 --> 01:43:33,800
is that you can't tell. 
This is 2 DPS and I think that's

2341
01:43:33,800 --> 01:43:36,560
the best honorary credit you can
give to them really. 

2342
01:43:36,560 --> 01:43:38,360
Because you shouldn't be able to
tell and you can't. 

2343
01:43:39,960 --> 01:43:44,640
I mean, 2 directors, 2 DPS. 
Really, there were more than two

2344
01:43:44,640 --> 01:43:46,320
DPS. 
We'll get to that in a moment. 

2345
01:43:46,800 --> 01:43:50,400
On paper, it could be a recipe 
for visual chaos, like you see 

2346
01:43:50,400 --> 01:43:54,760
in Westie Colin Camp working 
with Gammon on the drama Beer 

2347
01:43:54,760 --> 01:43:57,040
Rock working with her without on
the action sequences. 

2348
01:43:57,040 --> 01:43:59,920
Two different men, two different
approaches, two different crews.

2349
01:44:00,120 --> 01:44:01,920
The potential for this film that
look like it was stitched 

2350
01:44:01,920 --> 01:44:04,440
together from completely 
different productions, Enormous 

2351
01:44:04,440 --> 01:44:05,840
potential for that. 
Absolutely. 

2352
01:44:05,840 --> 01:44:07,560
Yeah. 
It's it's more likely that that 

2353
01:44:07,560 --> 01:44:09,160
would have happened than not. 
Yeah. 

2354
01:44:09,680 --> 01:44:12,440
Absolutely. 
But it doesn't at all. 

2355
01:44:12,440 --> 01:44:14,240
And that for me, I think that's 
one of the most under 

2356
01:44:14,240 --> 01:44:18,040
appreciated achievements of The 
Tower and Inferno, pouring all 

2357
01:44:18,080 --> 01:44:19,960
of all of these elements into 
this. 

2358
01:44:20,560 --> 01:44:22,120
This film shouldn't look like 
this. 

2359
01:44:22,320 --> 01:44:26,000
No, it should be a mess. 
But it looks consistent for 

2360
01:44:26,000 --> 01:44:28,520
beginning around the spectacle 
of the action sequences. 

2361
01:44:28,520 --> 01:44:30,880
Feel at one with the drama that 
surrounds them and crucially, 

2362
01:44:30,880 --> 01:44:33,760
the effects workers incorporated
seamlessly into both. 

2363
01:44:34,440 --> 01:44:37,320
When the fire is raging, the 
building is coming apart, you 

2364
01:44:37,320 --> 01:44:40,560
don't feel the join and I think 
the practical effects of the 

2365
01:44:40,560 --> 01:44:42,560
photography are locked in 
together and that's it. 

2366
01:44:42,560 --> 01:44:45,240
Really difficult to pull off at 
this scale as well. 

2367
01:44:45,560 --> 01:44:47,240
Yeah. 
And remember, this is 74 in the 

2368
01:44:47,240 --> 01:44:49,200
shooting film with real fire in 
front of you. 

2369
01:44:49,360 --> 01:44:50,880
This is, you know, it's not 
easy. 

2370
01:44:51,640 --> 01:44:55,800
It's perfect. 
Very very very considered this 

2371
01:44:55,800 --> 01:44:58,520
approach. 
It is, and I'm not sure, 

2372
01:44:58,560 --> 01:45:01,080
cinematography. 
You won't find many frames here 

2373
01:45:01,080 --> 01:45:03,120
that you'd hang on your wall. 
Of course. 

2374
01:45:03,760 --> 01:45:06,480
Conan, Cabin, Barack. 
I think the obviously understood

2375
01:45:06,480 --> 01:45:08,880
the brief. 
Again, to serve the story, not 

2376
01:45:08,880 --> 01:45:12,080
to serve themselves, to serve 
the spectacles and make it feel 

2377
01:45:12,160 --> 01:45:14,800
all like 1 cohesive film. 
Job done. 

2378
01:45:15,160 --> 01:45:17,560
Matt, your thoughts on the 
cinematography here? 

2379
01:45:18,080 --> 01:45:19,840
Yeah. 
Cohesive is the word, isn't it? 

2380
01:45:19,840 --> 01:45:21,640
I mean, but not just between 
those two. 

2381
01:45:22,160 --> 01:45:24,360
I think cohesion with the 
production design because those 

2382
01:45:24,360 --> 01:45:27,720
sets are incredible and I think 
they've obviously designed with 

2383
01:45:27,720 --> 01:45:29,600
how they're going to be shot in 
mind because there's so much 

2384
01:45:29,600 --> 01:45:31,880
depth to them. 
And as well as depth as levels 

2385
01:45:31,880 --> 01:45:34,960
like Dan's office, it goes up, 
there's a second level and then 

2386
01:45:34,960 --> 01:45:37,440
it goes behind into like his 
kind of more personal area. 

2387
01:45:37,840 --> 01:45:40,160
And that just means, you know, 
this more space for the fire to 

2388
01:45:40,160 --> 01:45:42,440
spread into gives them better 
coverage for the shots that they

2389
01:45:42,440 --> 01:45:44,920
want to get out of it. 
And as well, it's the cohesion 

2390
01:45:44,920 --> 01:45:47,320
of the effects work. 
I mean, it's such an obvious 

2391
01:45:47,320 --> 01:45:49,600
thing to say it, but it has to 
be set for this film. 

2392
01:45:50,000 --> 01:45:53,000
That's just genuine rage and 
fire that the shooting there, 

2393
01:45:53,880 --> 01:45:57,040
it's incredibly dangerous. 
That should not be underplayed. 

2394
01:45:57,600 --> 01:45:59,880
And there's so much cohesion 
with the effects work. 

2395
01:45:59,880 --> 01:46:02,760
You know, getting close to the 
fire, those incredible wide 

2396
01:46:02,760 --> 01:46:05,040
trots of the tower where you see
how much of it has gone up. 

2397
01:46:05,040 --> 01:46:08,080
And then you see all the floors 
just explode in the flames. 

2398
01:46:08,520 --> 01:46:11,360
And you've said that you can't 
see the joints and you can't 

2399
01:46:11,360 --> 01:46:14,920
like when to go back to when 
Laurie dies, her dive out of the

2400
01:46:14,920 --> 01:46:17,080
window where it's the stunt 
woman or stuntman. 

2401
01:46:17,160 --> 01:46:20,120
But then the cut to the effect 
Rockware must just be a model 

2402
01:46:20,120 --> 01:46:23,280
plunging down the side seamless 
Looks incredible. 

2403
01:46:23,280 --> 01:46:24,440
It really is. 
Yeah. 

2404
01:46:25,160 --> 01:46:27,800
Another thing to mention as well
in in this bit about the 

2405
01:46:27,800 --> 01:46:30,560
cinematography, like if you've 
ever tried shooting fire, like 

2406
01:46:30,560 --> 01:46:32,440
if you're on the beach and 
you've got a little fire there 

2407
01:46:32,440 --> 01:46:34,920
on the night time or if you're 
at a BBQ or something with the 

2408
01:46:34,920 --> 01:46:38,000
compression of the lens, with a 
compression of 35 mil film as 

2409
01:46:38,000 --> 01:46:39,840
well. 
If you shoot normal fire, it 

2410
01:46:39,840 --> 01:46:43,320
looks tiny. 
You have to make that huge for 

2411
01:46:43,320 --> 01:46:45,280
it to make an impact through 
that compression. 

2412
01:46:45,360 --> 01:46:48,720
It has to be incredible. 
So on that set, the fire would 

2413
01:46:48,720 --> 01:46:51,000
have been twice the height of a 
normal person. 

2414
01:46:51,360 --> 01:46:53,600
And if you imagine facing that 
with a camera, I mean, that's 

2415
01:46:53,600 --> 01:46:56,400
going to be to make it look as 
impressive as they do. 

2416
01:46:56,400 --> 01:46:58,960
That's really dangerous stuff. 
So yeah, that's another job. 

2417
01:46:58,960 --> 01:47:01,800
That's another thing to mention.
It needs to be huge to look 

2418
01:47:01,800 --> 01:47:03,160
huge, and it must have. 
Been. 

2419
01:47:03,160 --> 01:47:04,480
Yeah, of course. 
Yeah. 

2420
01:47:04,720 --> 01:47:08,280
We talked about Irwin Allen. 
He went big all the way along. 2

2421
01:47:08,280 --> 01:47:12,120
directors, 2 source novels, 2 
DPS, 4 camera crews, and enough 

2422
01:47:12,120 --> 01:47:15,520
fire to melt the equipments. 
We said that there are two 

2423
01:47:15,560 --> 01:47:19,520
credited DPS, but there were 
actually 4 DPS on production. 

2424
01:47:20,040 --> 01:47:23,600
Baroque Conan camp. 
And then Jim Freeman headed up 

2425
01:47:23,600 --> 01:47:25,720
an aerial crew for helicopter 
sequences. 

2426
01:47:25,880 --> 01:47:28,760
And then special effects guru 
Bill Abbott, who actually came 

2427
01:47:28,760 --> 01:47:32,400
out of retirement to oversee the
special photographic effects and

2428
01:47:32,400 --> 01:47:35,200
these included the miniatures, 
Matt paintings and blue screen 

2429
01:47:35,200 --> 01:47:36,640
work. 
Wow, incredible. 

2430
01:47:36,840 --> 01:47:39,960
The fire scenes were all shot on
in closed sets, sealed ceilings,

2431
01:47:39,960 --> 01:47:42,920
and at least three walls. 
The fires themselves were fed by

2432
01:47:42,920 --> 01:47:46,000
propane through valve control 
controlled hoses, and the LA 

2433
01:47:46,000 --> 01:47:48,640
Fire Department allowed them to 
burn for a Max of 20 to 30 

2434
01:47:48,640 --> 01:47:50,080
seconds at a time. 
Wow. 

2435
01:47:50,400 --> 01:47:53,640
Under those conditions, Barack 
was routinely working with up to

2436
01:47:53,640 --> 01:47:56,640
8 cameras simultaneously, trying
to ensure every angle was 

2437
01:47:56,640 --> 01:47:59,120
covered in a single take before 
the set was destroyed. 

2438
01:47:59,480 --> 01:48:03,000
Wow. 
Wow yeah the heat was intense 

2439
01:48:03,000 --> 01:48:05,440
enough to melt 3 matte boxes 
during filming. 

2440
01:48:05,920 --> 01:48:08,800
Smoke from plastic curtains and 
rubber cement used on costumes 

2441
01:48:08,800 --> 01:48:11,640
built up so quickly it was 
affecting exposure readings mid 

2442
01:48:11,640 --> 01:48:13,280
tick. 
Yeah, yeah, it will do. 

2443
01:48:13,440 --> 01:48:16,240
Baroque solution and most of 
these problems was to shoot as 

2444
01:48:16,240 --> 01:48:18,840
much footage as possible and 
then just sort it out there. 

2445
01:48:19,800 --> 01:48:20,640
Fair enough. 
Fair enough. 

2446
01:48:20,720 --> 01:48:22,720
Yep. 
To stretch out the most intense 

2447
01:48:22,720 --> 01:48:25,600
action sequences, B Rock shot at
up to four times the normal 

2448
01:48:25,600 --> 01:48:27,720
frame rate at 96 frames a 
second. 

2449
01:48:28,000 --> 01:48:30,800
A 32nd burn will be stretched to
up to two minutes on screen. 

2450
01:48:31,040 --> 01:48:34,960
And we've mentioned the special 
effects and there were no mean 

2451
01:48:34,960 --> 01:48:37,920
feats, probably the greatest 
special effects in Hollywood at 

2452
01:48:37,920 --> 01:48:40,240
that time. 
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 

2453
01:48:40,240 --> 01:48:41,600
Yeah. 
The special effects were the 

2454
01:48:41,600 --> 01:48:44,640
responsibility of the 
aforementioned LB Abbott lend to

2455
01:48:44,640 --> 01:48:46,720
his friends. 
He'd been in the game since the 

2456
01:48:46,720 --> 01:48:49,560
late 20s and spent most of his 
career at Fox. 

2457
01:48:49,640 --> 01:48:52,640
He was a four time Oscar winner 
for visual effects with credits 

2458
01:48:52,640 --> 01:48:55,320
including Tora Tora Tora 
Journey, The Center of the Earth

2459
01:48:55,320 --> 01:48:58,160
and Logan's Run. 
Nice Abbott central challenge 

2460
01:48:58,160 --> 01:49:02,280
was fire at miniature scale. 
A 138 story building at half 

2461
01:49:02,280 --> 01:49:05,920
inch scale comes out at 70 feet.
Already an enormous model to 

2462
01:49:05,920 --> 01:49:08,720
build and manage, but fire 
doesn't scale down to the way a 

2463
01:49:08,720 --> 01:49:11,480
building does. 
Obviously miniature flames on 

2464
01:49:11,600 --> 01:49:13,760
notoriously lazy and 
transparent. 

2465
01:49:13,760 --> 01:49:15,320
As Abbott put it, they look 
fake. 

2466
01:49:15,360 --> 01:49:17,120
So we engineered a solution from
scratch. 

2467
01:49:17,400 --> 01:49:19,000
Yes. 
Behind each window of the 

2468
01:49:19,000 --> 01:49:22,440
miniature he built, a metal 
firebox 8 inches deep comes in 

2469
01:49:22,440 --> 01:49:26,120
and three separate jets, 1 
emitting a blue butane flame 

2470
01:49:26,120 --> 01:49:29,800
with no smoke, one emitting 
Acetylene which gives an orange 

2471
01:49:29,800 --> 01:49:32,720
flame and black smoke, and one 
admitting air to agitate the 

2472
01:49:32,720 --> 01:49:36,800
flame and to stop bunching up. 
Right, And each jet had its own 

2473
01:49:36,800 --> 01:49:40,160
spark plug igniter. 
By adjusting the valves, Abbott 

2474
01:49:40,160 --> 01:49:43,160
could in the exact colour and 
smoke density needed for any 

2475
01:49:43,160 --> 01:49:45,560
given shot. 
After three days of testing, he 

2476
01:49:45,560 --> 01:49:48,840
had a formula that worked, which
he filmed at 72 frames per 

2477
01:49:48,840 --> 01:49:52,120
second, three times normal rate.
So the miniature fires look 

2478
01:49:52,120 --> 01:49:53,440
convincing. 
Amazing. 

2479
01:49:53,520 --> 01:49:55,080
I mean, ingenious it do. 
Yeah. 

2480
01:49:55,480 --> 01:49:57,800
What he hadn't entirely 
accounted for was what would 

2481
01:49:57,800 --> 01:49:59,880
happen when the whole system 
fired at once. 

2482
01:50:00,000 --> 01:50:02,960
When the time came to shoot the 
tower fully ablaze, the igniters

2483
01:50:02,960 --> 01:50:05,560
didn't respond immediately. 
And after about 10 seconds, they

2484
01:50:05,560 --> 01:50:07,640
did. 
And the result was, in Abbott's 

2485
01:50:07,640 --> 01:50:09,960
words, one hell of a big 
explosion. 

2486
01:50:12,000 --> 01:50:15,640
So debris flew everywhere, A4 
inch by 4 foot piece of l-shaped

2487
01:50:15,640 --> 01:50:18,520
metal embedded itself in the 
ground 6 inches from Abbott's 

2488
01:50:18,520 --> 01:50:20,240
right foot. 
Nobody was hurt. 

2489
01:50:20,240 --> 01:50:23,240
But from that point of the crew 
made sure there was always a 

2490
01:50:23,240 --> 01:50:25,280
roof over the heads during 
effect sequences. 

2491
01:50:25,480 --> 01:50:28,800
And this explosion was so like 
visceral and visually stunning 

2492
01:50:28,800 --> 01:50:30,880
that they kept it in and they've
kept it in the trailer and 

2493
01:50:30,880 --> 01:50:32,960
they've kept in I think the 
middle part of the film where 

2494
01:50:32,960 --> 01:50:37,000
that big explosion happens. 
The gas, it just, it was left 

2495
01:50:37,000 --> 01:50:38,640
for too long and it just kind of
blew out. 

2496
01:50:39,000 --> 01:50:41,760
So the the best shot in the film
is actually this accident. 

2497
01:50:42,360 --> 01:50:43,760
Wow. 
Incredible. 

2498
01:50:43,800 --> 01:50:46,360
Looks amazing It does. 
Yeah, and outside of the 

2499
01:50:46,360 --> 01:50:49,400
explosions, Abbott also came up 
with a great solution for the 

2500
01:50:49,400 --> 01:50:52,360
shot of Fred Astaire's character
looking up at the full height of

2501
01:50:52,360 --> 01:50:55,440
the tower from street level, the
perspective that was impossible 

2502
01:50:55,440 --> 01:50:58,720
to achieve by pointing a camera 
up at a 70 foot model in a 

2503
01:50:58,720 --> 01:51:01,080
normal way. 
Instead, he laid an angled 

2504
01:51:01,080 --> 01:51:04,440
mirror on the ground outside and
filmed the miniatures reflection

2505
01:51:04,480 --> 01:51:07,440
given a convincing worm's eye 
view without ever needing to get

2506
01:51:07,440 --> 01:51:11,120
a camera beneath the structure. 
Well, if you could go back and 

2507
01:51:11,120 --> 01:51:14,320
watch that shot. 
Yeah, she doesn't notice that. 

2508
01:51:14,320 --> 01:51:15,800
It's not. 
It's a miniature. 

2509
01:51:15,960 --> 01:51:17,360
No, not at all. 
No channels. 

2510
01:51:17,440 --> 01:51:17,880
Real. 
It's. 

2511
01:51:17,880 --> 01:51:19,720
Incredible the whole day for 
quite a while as well. 

2512
01:51:19,720 --> 01:51:21,440
That shot they. 
Do Yeah, they really do. 

2513
01:51:21,440 --> 01:51:23,640
And there's something else in 
the shot as well. 

2514
01:51:23,640 --> 01:51:25,800
There's another building in the 
shot as well from the 

2515
01:51:25,840 --> 01:51:29,200
perspective. 
It's it's like lean back as well

2516
01:51:29,200 --> 01:51:31,440
how far it leans back. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

2517
01:51:31,440 --> 01:51:32,600
So that really sells it. 
It's. 

2518
01:51:32,600 --> 01:51:33,920
Brilliant. 
Yeah, it does sell it, You're 

2519
01:51:33,920 --> 01:51:35,960
right. 
And Abbott spent the better part

2520
01:51:35,960 --> 01:51:38,600
of a month in San Francisco 
before production began, 

2521
01:51:38,600 --> 01:51:41,360
shooting the city skyline just 
after sunset, when the city 

2522
01:51:41,360 --> 01:51:43,960
lights are on, but there's still
enough reflected light in the 

2523
01:51:43,960 --> 01:51:46,080
sky to give buildings detail and
depth. 

2524
01:51:46,240 --> 01:51:48,200
The magic out. 
Yes, indeed. 

2525
01:51:48,280 --> 01:51:50,960
He matted these together with 
the miniature tower to create 

2526
01:51:50,960 --> 01:51:53,360
the establishing shots of the 
building against the real San 

2527
01:51:53,360 --> 01:51:56,840
Francisco skyline. 
He has worked for his money 

2528
01:51:56,840 --> 01:51:59,240
here. 
He sells the whole thing. 

2529
01:51:59,680 --> 01:52:02,560
Yeah. 
So a red hot plot, red hot cast,

2530
01:52:02,560 --> 01:52:05,640
red hot crew, the music is 
wonderful, the cinematography a 

2531
01:52:05,640 --> 01:52:08,960
miracle, and a decent job at 
bringing it all under 1 

2532
01:52:08,960 --> 01:52:14,320
screenplay, yes. 
The end. 

2533
01:52:17,000 --> 01:52:19,480
Into the third act and we're 
playing a game of high rise 

2534
01:52:19,480 --> 01:52:22,640
roulette. 12 lucky people are 
the 1st to make it out of there.

2535
01:52:22,760 --> 01:52:24,280
But will they make it in one 
piece? 

2536
01:52:25,040 --> 01:52:28,200
1 big flat piece? 
Maybe it's over to you first. 

2537
01:52:30,120 --> 01:52:31,920
Yeah, well, we'll get to that 
bit. 

2538
01:52:32,440 --> 01:52:34,680
I mean, before this all, they've
got the plan. 

2539
01:52:34,680 --> 01:52:36,920
They're going to send a chop 
rope that's going to send the 

2540
01:52:36,920 --> 01:52:40,280
line in, which is basically 
shooting this massive harpoon 

2541
01:52:40,280 --> 01:52:44,000
into the promenade room. 
Does no one think to tell Carlos

2542
01:52:44,040 --> 01:52:45,720
that's going to happen though? 
The pure bar? 

2543
01:52:45,720 --> 01:52:49,800
He's just Fanny and about he's. 
Just stood there polishing the 

2544
01:52:49,800 --> 01:52:52,560
glasses and that thing mainly 
takes his fucking head off. 

2545
01:52:54,200 --> 01:52:57,840
Carlos. 
I really appreciate the work 

2546
01:52:57,840 --> 01:52:59,920
ethic, but you've got bigger 
things to worry about. 

2547
01:53:00,160 --> 01:53:03,520
But then you get the bit, which,
no pun intended, this has just 

2548
01:53:03,520 --> 01:53:07,520
been seized under my brain since
that first viewing as a kid. 

2549
01:53:07,520 --> 01:53:10,760
The scenic elevator come in a 
cropper and Poor and Mrs. 

2550
01:53:10,760 --> 01:53:14,440
Mueller fall into it. 
I mean, Jennifer Jones is so 

2551
01:53:14,440 --> 01:53:16,880
good in this film. 
What? 

2552
01:53:16,880 --> 01:53:19,440
This film understands is 
whatever you want to call it, 

2553
01:53:19,440 --> 01:53:21,360
Mother Nature, accidents, 
whatever. 

2554
01:53:21,400 --> 01:53:24,360
In a film like this, they don't 
care how good a person you have 

2555
01:53:24,360 --> 01:53:26,040
been. 
It doesn't care that you've 

2556
01:53:26,040 --> 01:53:28,800
spent this entire film looking 
after two kids. 

2557
01:53:28,880 --> 01:53:31,560
Whether you're a good person, 
whether you're a bad person, it 

2558
01:53:31,560 --> 01:53:33,520
doesn't matter. 
It'll come for you regardless. 

2559
01:53:33,600 --> 01:53:37,480
And for a film of this kind to 
hit as hard as it does, it's got

2560
01:53:37,480 --> 01:53:40,400
to kill people if you really 
like, and it's got to kill them 

2561
01:53:40,400 --> 01:53:43,720
off horrifically. 
And as Wesley brilliantly put 

2562
01:53:43,720 --> 01:53:46,640
it, it's the landmine that's 
being set up in that early scene

2563
01:53:46,640 --> 01:53:49,080
where she comes down the room 
and stairwell because you think,

2564
01:53:49,240 --> 01:53:51,200
oh God, she's okay now. 
That's it for her. 

2565
01:53:51,640 --> 01:53:54,440
And it's just that horrible 
irony that she's only in the 

2566
01:53:54,440 --> 01:53:58,040
elevator to begin with because 
Doug insists that she goes 

2567
01:53:58,480 --> 01:54:00,880
because she's being a good 
person and rescued the kids. 

2568
01:54:01,320 --> 01:54:03,120
And it's is everything about 
that. 

2569
01:54:03,120 --> 01:54:06,000
Once those explosions happen and
that window shatters, her 

2570
01:54:06,000 --> 01:54:09,880
instinctive reaction is still 
save the kids, just pushes them 

2571
01:54:09,880 --> 01:54:11,880
into the fireman's arms out 
second thought. 

2572
01:54:12,160 --> 01:54:15,560
And that's it. 
What makes it hit him extra hard

2573
01:54:15,560 --> 01:54:19,440
is it avoids that cliche where, 
you know, she hangs on for a few

2574
01:54:19,440 --> 01:54:21,360
seconds so she can have a 
goodbye speaking. 

2575
01:54:21,840 --> 01:54:23,480
Yeah. 
Tell Harley I'll miss him. 

2576
01:54:23,600 --> 01:54:25,720
Would have had a good life. 
None of that. 

2577
01:54:25,920 --> 01:54:27,800
It's so blinking. 
You miss it, you have to go. 

2578
01:54:28,040 --> 01:54:30,800
Does she really falling out if 
I've just seen that? 

2579
01:54:30,960 --> 01:54:33,480
Does that really happen? 
Yeah, it's that cut to the White

2580
01:54:33,480 --> 01:54:34,800
show when she hits the 
buildings. 

2581
01:54:36,040 --> 01:54:38,840
That's the most horrendous bit 
of all, hitting that ledge on 

2582
01:54:38,840 --> 01:54:40,600
the way down. 
It's just beyond cool. 

2583
01:54:40,600 --> 01:54:43,120
It's it's unbelievable how tough
this scene is to watch. 

2584
01:54:43,760 --> 01:54:46,200
Yeah, it is. 
A great The Town Inferno was 

2585
01:54:46,200 --> 01:54:48,720
Jennifer Jones final film early 
in her career. 

2586
01:54:48,720 --> 01:54:51,720
She won the best actress Oscar 
for The Song of Bernadette in 

2587
01:54:51,720 --> 01:54:55,720
1944 and she was she was amazed 
back in the day, absolutely much

2588
01:54:55,720 --> 01:54:57,640
amazing than this. 
Just to be honest. 

2589
01:54:57,640 --> 01:54:59,880
You were an absolute mess. 
There's been our last film, To 

2590
01:54:59,880 --> 01:55:03,640
Be Honest, and the story goes 
that she was cast because her 

2591
01:55:03,640 --> 01:55:07,560
husband, millionaire Fox 
stockholder Norton Simon, had 

2592
01:55:07,560 --> 01:55:11,080
helped secure the role for her, 
but also lent 4 Picassos for use

2593
01:55:11,080 --> 01:55:12,920
on set decoration. 
Did they survive? 

2594
01:55:16,600 --> 01:55:18,640
That's a crazy choice. 
Yeah, there. 

2595
01:55:19,760 --> 01:55:23,160
You go. 
The scenic elevator explosion 

2596
01:55:23,160 --> 01:55:26,400
sequence is shot at night on the
Fox back lot, where the crews 

2597
01:55:26,400 --> 01:55:29,120
constructed a three story 
replica of the elevator. 

2598
01:55:29,120 --> 01:55:30,600
Of course, you know another 
three stories. 

2599
01:55:32,400 --> 01:55:34,920
Len Abbott was in charge of the 
blast and when Allen directed 

2600
01:55:34,920 --> 01:55:37,400
it, several cast members were 
inside the elevator for the 

2601
01:55:37,400 --> 01:55:39,680
shot, including Fate Dunaway, 
Jennifer Jones and Sheila 

2602
01:55:39,680 --> 01:55:42,600
Matthews. 
When the explosion went off, it 

2603
01:55:42,600 --> 01:55:45,440
was so powerful that it set fire
to trees behind the set. 

2604
01:55:46,000 --> 01:55:48,720
Matthews told Allen that the 
women in chiffon clothing could 

2605
01:55:48,720 --> 01:55:50,320
feel the heat coming off the 
blast. 

2606
01:55:50,840 --> 01:55:52,400
Thank you. 
Nailed it in one take. 

2607
01:55:52,600 --> 01:55:54,680
Right, Because it could have 
just all been barbecued. 

2608
01:55:54,800 --> 01:55:55,240
Yeah. 
Wow. 

2609
01:55:55,560 --> 01:55:57,320
But an incredible sequence, 
yeah. 

2610
01:55:57,560 --> 01:56:00,080
So from there, we've got a bit 
of a trouble with the scenic 

2611
01:56:00,080 --> 01:56:01,800
elevator. 
It's hanging by a cable at 

2612
01:56:01,800 --> 01:56:02,360
least. 
Yeah. 

2613
01:56:02,520 --> 01:56:05,000
And it's the 70s and it's full 
of women, so they're not going 

2614
01:56:05,000 --> 01:56:06,280
to be able to do anything about 
it either. 

2615
01:56:06,280 --> 01:56:08,560
So we've got to get. 
Let's get Mike in there. 

2616
01:56:08,600 --> 01:56:10,920
Let's get back in there. 
The scenic elevators hanging by 

2617
01:56:10,920 --> 01:56:12,320
a cable. 
And he just sits down and he's 

2618
01:56:12,320 --> 01:56:13,400
like, right. 
He's. 

2619
01:56:13,440 --> 01:56:14,840
And then he comes over, he 
kneels the front. 

2620
01:56:14,840 --> 01:56:15,920
He's like, how many people are 
in it? 

2621
01:56:15,920 --> 01:56:17,280
He's like, Laura, that's about 
12. 

2622
01:56:17,280 --> 01:56:18,600
Is that right? 
That's exactly right. 

2623
01:56:18,600 --> 01:56:19,800
And he said, what you're going 
to do? 

2624
01:56:19,880 --> 01:56:21,960
He's like, I would just turn 
around and say, well, you just 

2625
01:56:21,960 --> 01:56:25,560
get on me fucking face like this
has been a really, it's just 

2626
01:56:25,560 --> 01:56:29,400
been a really long day. 
You're asking me you're what are

2627
01:56:29,400 --> 01:56:31,480
you going to do? 
What can you help us out here? 

2628
01:56:31,480 --> 01:56:33,160
What's up? 
And then he just like shouts at 

2629
01:56:33,160 --> 01:56:34,440
the guy, right? 
Can you get us around? 

2630
01:56:34,440 --> 01:56:36,680
I'll meet him on the PLS 
building in like 10 minutes. 

2631
01:56:36,840 --> 01:56:39,960
This is another abuse of time. 
10 minutes just to be on the 

2632
01:56:39,960 --> 01:56:41,840
other building on the other side
again on the helicopter. 

2633
01:56:41,840 --> 01:56:43,000
We're working on the bridges, 
boy. 

2634
01:56:43,000 --> 01:56:45,360
We're seeing that. 
And I'll be honest with you, 

2635
01:56:45,360 --> 01:56:47,840
you're not going to expect to 
hear this from me, but this 

2636
01:56:47,840 --> 01:56:50,600
whole sequence I can do without.
Really. 

2637
01:56:51,080 --> 01:56:54,760
I'm fine with Mrs. Mueller get 
going out of there, but she 

2638
01:56:54,760 --> 01:56:57,800
could have died on the breachers
boy with Simmons trying to get 

2639
01:56:57,800 --> 01:57:01,040
in there and invade nut space 
and her dying tragically because

2640
01:57:01,040 --> 01:57:02,720
of that. 
There's room there for that to 

2641
01:57:02,720 --> 01:57:05,040
happen. 
I just think the scenic elevator

2642
01:57:05,040 --> 01:57:07,680
is just a huge settle for 
McQueen needs a set piece. 

2643
01:57:08,160 --> 01:57:10,720
Newman's gone down the stairs on
the on the banister. 

2644
01:57:10,720 --> 01:57:13,160
He needs something to be center 
stage and he needs it to be 

2645
01:57:13,160 --> 01:57:15,080
bigger again. 
And I could do without this 

2646
01:57:15,080 --> 01:57:18,080
because I think the effects on 
this part really suffer a little

2647
01:57:18,080 --> 01:57:19,600
bit. 
It takes you out the film a 

2648
01:57:19,600 --> 01:57:22,960
little bit and I just think it's
just a little bit too 

2649
01:57:23,240 --> 01:57:25,720
heavy-handed. 
You could chop all of this 

2650
01:57:25,720 --> 01:57:28,400
sequence out and it makes no 
difference because I mean, 

2651
01:57:28,640 --> 01:57:31,480
Mike's busy enough as it is. 
He doesn't need to be going up 

2652
01:57:31,480 --> 01:57:33,800
there. 
They've got the breachers boy 

2653
01:57:33,880 --> 01:57:35,200
over there. 
We're working on that. 

2654
01:57:35,200 --> 01:57:36,520
That's enough peril. 
We're singing. 

2655
01:57:36,520 --> 01:57:38,200
The shots of the overhead shots 
of that one. 

2656
01:57:38,200 --> 01:57:40,240
You know, when they're coming 
out of it is incredible. 

2657
01:57:40,800 --> 01:57:42,920
It's like, right to get the 
first one over. 

2658
01:57:43,240 --> 01:57:46,200
Wow, unreal. 
But then this bit when he's 

2659
01:57:46,200 --> 01:57:49,000
hanging with the fireman off it 
and it's like it comes off the 

2660
01:57:49,000 --> 01:57:51,240
thing and he's like, right, And 
he's holding him and it's of 

2661
01:57:51,320 --> 01:57:53,200
course he's going to be all 
right when you just see Miss 

2662
01:57:53,200 --> 01:57:54,760
Mueller died. 
So it just adds a little bit. 

2663
01:57:55,040 --> 01:57:56,640
And I could totally do without 
the sequence. 

2664
01:57:56,880 --> 01:57:59,080
So I mean, the scene's totally 
worth it just for Mcqueen's 

2665
01:57:59,080 --> 01:58:00,960
reaction when he gets to the 
ground, when he gets on the 

2666
01:58:00,960 --> 01:58:03,920
ground and he sees the other 
fire, when he's like looks it 

2667
01:58:03,920 --> 01:58:05,920
and then shakes his hand and 
then gives him a nod, and then 

2668
01:58:05,920 --> 01:58:08,120
he's released back in there, you
know, straight. 

2669
01:58:08,120 --> 01:58:09,880
Back in. 
There, that would be enough for 

2670
01:58:09,880 --> 01:58:13,280
anyone just to go home. 
After that, he's straight back 

2671
01:58:13,280 --> 01:58:15,520
in there and he's always blow 
the water tanks later on. 

2672
01:58:15,880 --> 01:58:18,680
But for me, I think this takes 
it just a little bit too far 

2673
01:58:18,680 --> 01:58:20,920
out. 
Yeah, I think the we've all got 

2674
01:58:20,920 --> 01:58:24,200
our little gripes about the 
narrative and some of the scenes

2675
01:58:24,200 --> 01:58:25,120
here, haven't we? 
Yeah, yeah. 

2676
01:58:25,800 --> 01:58:28,760
And a radio controlled miniature
helicopter was used for wide 

2677
01:58:28,760 --> 01:58:31,400
angles in the scene. 
But when filming, a sudden gust 

2678
01:58:31,400 --> 01:58:33,960
of wind sent the Tropic crashing
to the ground near the building.

2679
01:58:34,120 --> 01:58:36,880
A special effects medic on 
standby, who was called Dorothy,

2680
01:58:37,120 --> 01:58:40,200
sprinted to the crash site, 
scooped up the Steve McQueen 

2681
01:58:40,200 --> 01:58:42,200
doll that had been attached to 
the cable beneath the 

2682
01:58:42,200 --> 01:58:44,400
helicopter, wrapped it in gauze 
and cried off. 

2683
01:58:44,400 --> 01:58:46,080
Don't worry, Steve, I'll save 
you. 

2684
01:58:46,080 --> 01:58:48,440
And apparently the entire crew 
applauded her. 

2685
01:58:48,840 --> 01:58:50,280
Amazing. 
Great. 

2686
01:58:50,840 --> 01:58:52,680
The best part of that thing? 
Yeah. 

2687
01:58:53,480 --> 01:58:58,120
So after this, I'm skipping over
to a very short but pivotal 

2688
01:58:58,120 --> 01:59:00,640
scene that follows when the 
structural engineer tells 

2689
01:59:00,640 --> 01:59:03,640
O'halloran that they only have 
around 17 minutes left. 

2690
01:59:03,800 --> 01:59:05,320
Those people are going to die up
there. 

2691
01:59:05,440 --> 01:59:09,360
Yeah, drastic times call for 
drastic measures, which everyone

2692
01:59:09,360 --> 01:59:11,280
seems to be in on apart from 
O'halloran. 

2693
01:59:11,440 --> 01:59:14,080
Even the fireman grunt busts in 
and says there's a trouble 

2694
01:59:14,080 --> 01:59:17,720
waiting for to take him to his 
almost certain doom. 

2695
01:59:18,200 --> 01:59:21,160
Even on the wiser. 
Brilliant. 1,000,000 gallons of 

2696
01:59:21,160 --> 01:59:24,000
water is sitting right at the 
top of the building, ready to be

2697
01:59:24,000 --> 01:59:28,360
released in this very situation.
Very, very convenient. 

2698
01:59:28,560 --> 01:59:31,360
It's a suicide mission, but the 
decision has already been made. 

2699
01:59:31,440 --> 01:59:33,880
There's only two people who can 
do this, and the other fella is 

2700
01:59:33,880 --> 01:59:37,280
fucked off, so it's down to you.
All right mate, see you later. 

2701
01:59:37,640 --> 01:59:41,680
Outrageous pressure. 
Guys just brought them down like

2702
01:59:41,680 --> 01:59:44,000
10 minutes ago. 
His tea wasn't ready, man. 

2703
01:59:45,000 --> 01:59:46,240
But he's got a hospital, hasn't 
he? 

2704
01:59:46,640 --> 01:59:51,640
He's smoked off the burns unit. 
He needs to go selfish. 

2705
01:59:52,360 --> 01:59:54,680
Put some ice on it. 
But this is where the film, I 

2706
01:59:54,680 --> 01:59:57,920
think it lets itself down a 
little bit because it's set up 

2707
01:59:57,920 --> 02:00:00,200
here that O'halleran warned me 
to get out of there. 

2708
02:00:00,520 --> 02:00:03,400
How will I get back down? 
And then the Stony silence. 

2709
02:00:03,640 --> 02:00:06,680
It sees it all. 
But then I don't feel like this 

2710
02:00:06,680 --> 02:00:09,120
jeopardy is followed through in 
the following scenes. 

2711
02:00:09,160 --> 02:00:11,520
I don't know if I'm alone and 
thinking that, but this feels as

2712
02:00:11,520 --> 02:00:14,120
or you're going to certain doom 
and if you're going to get out, 

2713
02:00:14,200 --> 02:00:16,280
you're going to go through a 
terrible time to get out. 

2714
02:00:16,480 --> 02:00:19,520
But I don't think it does as 
much as anybody else really. 

2715
02:00:19,680 --> 02:00:22,360
That is a bit of a shame for me.
But this is a great bit of 

2716
02:00:22,360 --> 02:00:25,560
backwards and forwards here. 
McQueen as in Flat Bull as 

2717
02:00:25,560 --> 02:00:29,160
always, even though he's been 
sent to a perilous situation. 

2718
02:00:29,920 --> 02:00:32,240
And there's a nice little cameo 
from Dabney Coleman in there as 

2719
02:00:32,240 --> 02:00:32,920
well. 
Yeah. 

2720
02:00:33,080 --> 02:00:35,600
He's great. 
Yeah, another cameo in a list of

2721
02:00:35,600 --> 02:00:36,800
long cameos. 
Yeah. 

2722
02:00:36,800 --> 02:00:38,360
Yes, loads of cameos. 
Loads of cameos. 

2723
02:00:39,760 --> 02:00:49,160
Word up this lovely. 
Wow. 

2724
02:00:51,280 --> 02:00:54,080
So options seem to be running 
out, but there's one more death 

2725
02:00:54,080 --> 02:00:56,080
to fire and Hail Mary to be 
thrown. 

2726
02:00:56,360 --> 02:01:00,640
Yeah. 
We're wrapping this up with 

2727
02:01:00,640 --> 02:01:03,120
Newman and McQueen teaming up in
the face of adversity. 

2728
02:01:03,120 --> 02:01:06,000
But first, one of the more 
satisfying deaths you could 

2729
02:01:06,000 --> 02:01:07,600
think of. 
Yes, Westie. 

2730
02:01:07,760 --> 02:01:09,440
It's fantastic. 
Everyone knows what I'm going to

2731
02:01:09,440 --> 02:01:11,240
talk about. 
If you've seen the film, it's 

2732
02:01:11,240 --> 02:01:13,240
Simmons, man. 
He's squaring up the dunk and 

2733
02:01:13,240 --> 02:01:16,120
he's giving it the big and he's 
like, you know what a Dick. 

2734
02:01:16,360 --> 02:01:18,520
The women are gone. 
We're going next. 

2735
02:01:18,640 --> 02:01:22,560
You and who these guys? 
Yeah, these guys got your back. 

2736
02:01:22,600 --> 02:01:24,760
They're fucking T birds clicking
the fingers right? 

2737
02:01:25,560 --> 02:01:28,480
West Side Story. 
Absolutely ridiculous when he 

2738
02:01:28,480 --> 02:01:31,120
tears his thing up and throws it
and then he just looks at him, 

2739
02:01:31,120 --> 02:01:33,880
stares him down, then just that 
boom right The gut. 

2740
02:01:33,880 --> 02:01:35,960
That punch is amazing. 
Come on. 

2741
02:01:36,480 --> 02:01:39,440
Turns him into a 7 year old 
child and just throws him behind

2742
02:01:39,440 --> 02:01:41,240
him. 
You know he deserves to be in 

2743
02:01:41,240 --> 02:01:43,360
the front view. 
He's just there whimpering in 

2744
02:01:43,360 --> 02:01:45,400
the background. 
There's just no remorse from 

2745
02:01:45,400 --> 02:01:48,000
Simmons for what he's done. 
He doesn't try to help anybody. 

2746
02:01:48,000 --> 02:01:51,160
He doesn't try to to redeem 
himself at all. 

2747
02:01:51,160 --> 02:01:53,080
He believes he's made the right 
decision. 

2748
02:01:53,080 --> 02:01:55,120
He believes he's cut the corners
and that's what he does 

2749
02:01:55,120 --> 02:01:57,000
regardless. 
And he's going to do this again,

2750
02:01:57,160 --> 02:01:58,600
you know, that he would do it 
again. 

2751
02:01:58,920 --> 02:02:01,880
Just self preservation that he 
has this selfishness. 

2752
02:02:01,880 --> 02:02:02,680
It's disgusting. 
Now. 

2753
02:02:02,680 --> 02:02:05,000
I think that's what really 
highlights this character and 

2754
02:02:05,000 --> 02:02:07,880
it's really great because 
Duncan's still fucking furious 

2755
02:02:07,880 --> 02:02:11,240
about The Wire. 
He's still furious. 

2756
02:02:11,560 --> 02:02:14,080
You are government's way. 
And I'm the last one with my 

2757
02:02:14,080 --> 02:02:15,920
son-in-law over there. 
And I love the way that 

2758
02:02:15,920 --> 02:02:18,800
son-in-law is just spat by 
Dougar. 

2759
02:02:19,520 --> 02:02:22,440
Yours was the electrical 
engineer and genius, yours. 

2760
02:02:22,560 --> 02:02:25,640
It's absolutely fantastic. 
And don't get to the call. 

2761
02:02:25,800 --> 02:02:27,680
It's out of control. 
It's coming your way. 

2762
02:02:28,040 --> 02:02:29,960
I love that line which put in 
the trailer. 

2763
02:02:29,960 --> 02:02:31,560
That's all right. 
You said you've got about 15 

2764
02:02:31,560 --> 02:02:33,280
minutes. 
Now, if anything's going to take

2765
02:02:33,280 --> 02:02:35,520
the piss out of time, it's this 
15 minutes. 

2766
02:02:36,640 --> 02:02:38,440
But he says in the foot, they 
want to try something. 

2767
02:02:39,840 --> 02:02:42,520
Want to try, it's blown the 
water tanks above you. 

2768
02:02:42,760 --> 02:02:44,880
And he's given this the dog 
straight down the phone, like 

2769
02:02:44,880 --> 02:02:46,640
where you've got about 15 
minutes, but they want to blow 

2770
02:02:46,640 --> 02:02:48,320
the water tanks above you. 
Someone's going to have to bring

2771
02:02:48,320 --> 02:02:50,480
C4 in a helicopter drop on the 
roof, go down. 

2772
02:02:50,480 --> 02:02:52,280
You're going to have to meet us 
up there with the BA set on. 

2773
02:02:52,280 --> 02:02:54,200
Then we're going to have to 
bring all the charges. 

2774
02:02:54,200 --> 02:02:56,520
How long we're going to set that
for maybe about 5 minutes and 

2775
02:02:56,520 --> 02:02:58,080
then we're going to come down. 
Then we're going to wait to tie 

2776
02:02:58,080 --> 02:02:59,520
ourselves down and blow the 
water tanks. 

2777
02:02:59,520 --> 02:03:00,880
That's going to come back. 
We've got 15 minutes. 

2778
02:03:00,880 --> 02:03:02,200
That's going to take an hour and
a half. 

2779
02:03:02,200 --> 02:03:06,160
Mike, that's easy. 
Going to take an hour and a half

2780
02:03:06,160 --> 02:03:09,120
for you to land on the roof. 
Let's be real about this. 15 

2781
02:03:09,120 --> 02:03:09,920
minutes. 
Love it. 

2782
02:03:10,120 --> 02:03:11,760
Fire then bursts in the back 
corner. 

2783
02:03:11,760 --> 02:03:13,800
Simmons loses it, right? 
We're all out of here. 

2784
02:03:13,960 --> 02:03:17,040
And what's Vaughn doing? 
It's always involved. 

2785
02:03:17,480 --> 02:03:20,040
Stay out the fucking argument. 
What do you just do? 

2786
02:03:20,920 --> 02:03:22,760
Crazy bastard. 
Get that line. 

2787
02:03:22,760 --> 02:03:24,480
Leave the line. 
Don't get it. 

2788
02:03:24,520 --> 02:03:26,280
What you getting it for? 
Just leave the line. 

2789
02:03:26,280 --> 02:03:28,480
Let him fall. 
It's a really good visual 

2790
02:03:28,480 --> 02:03:28,960
though. 
It's a. 

2791
02:03:29,000 --> 02:03:30,320
Brilliant. 
Thing and. 

2792
02:03:30,400 --> 02:03:32,480
They're all clean on. 
You can't all fit on it. 

2793
02:03:32,480 --> 02:03:34,560
He's pulling them off and he's 
just kicking and punching 

2794
02:03:34,560 --> 02:03:36,840
everybody. 
Simmons just taking everybody 

2795
02:03:36,840 --> 02:03:38,400
out. 
He would just really set that 

2796
02:03:38,400 --> 02:03:40,720
whole room on fire. 
He could escape just the 

2797
02:03:40,720 --> 02:03:43,680
selfishness of it. 
But that death when that line 

2798
02:03:43,680 --> 02:03:46,800
goes and well, Vaughn goes and 
you just think, all right, well,

2799
02:03:46,800 --> 02:03:49,040
that was a heartbreak up, but 
maybe you shouldn't have got 

2800
02:03:49,040 --> 02:03:50,320
involved, you know? 
Yeah. 

2801
02:03:51,680 --> 02:03:54,040
But then it's out with when the 
whole line goes and the bridges 

2802
02:03:54,040 --> 02:03:57,120
boy goes and they just you hear 
him screaming all the way down. 

2803
02:03:57,440 --> 02:04:01,200
To. 
Say like he's suffering all the 

2804
02:04:01,200 --> 02:04:04,000
way to the fucking ground, like 
he gets no remorse or 

2805
02:04:04,000 --> 02:04:06,960
whatsoever. 
He's so all the way down and I 

2806
02:04:06,960 --> 02:04:08,200
just love Wento. 
Goes back on the phone. 

2807
02:04:08,200 --> 02:04:09,880
We've lost the breaches, boys. 
But a panic up here. 

2808
02:04:09,880 --> 02:04:16,480
It's under control. 
Everything's absolutely fine. 

2809
02:04:16,480 --> 02:04:17,600
So a problem. 
Have you lost anyone? 

2810
02:04:17,600 --> 02:04:19,400
Doesn't matter. 
It's under control again. 

2811
02:04:19,400 --> 02:04:20,920
Airplane, you could just have 
Mike on the phone. 

2812
02:04:20,920 --> 02:04:22,240
Right? 
It's under control now. 

2813
02:04:22,240 --> 02:04:24,760
OK, I'll bring it up. 
This body just slams into the 

2814
02:04:24,760 --> 02:04:31,160
ground behind him. 
But yeah, great. 

2815
02:04:31,160 --> 02:04:33,360
Good setup for the end in 15 
minutes. 

2816
02:04:33,480 --> 02:04:34,840
I don't think so. 
No. 

2817
02:04:35,000 --> 02:04:39,520
Yeah, so unlikeliness of this 15
minute time limit aside, this is

2818
02:04:39,520 --> 02:04:41,640
one of the most stressful scenes
in the film for me. 

2819
02:04:42,000 --> 02:04:44,800
Plant your charges. 
And it's stressful because I 

2820
02:04:44,800 --> 02:04:49,880
would be absolutely crap in that
situation if I was like, I can't

2821
02:04:49,880 --> 02:04:51,840
follow instructions just by 
listening to them. 

2822
02:04:51,960 --> 02:04:55,080
I need them written down. 
I want half an hour to go 

2823
02:04:55,080 --> 02:04:57,160
through them in the head. 
Maybe have a little practice one

2824
02:04:57,160 --> 02:04:58,640
first. 
I don't need the deadline of, 

2825
02:04:58,640 --> 02:05:00,920
well, 10 minutes. 
Do this or we will all die. 

2826
02:05:01,720 --> 02:05:04,520
And it gets worse for me because
when or Halvan starts giving out

2827
02:05:04,520 --> 02:05:06,600
the instructions, you're running
instantaneous. 

2828
02:05:06,600 --> 02:05:08,400
I'm running delayed. 
Well, first of all, what does 

2829
02:05:08,400 --> 02:05:10,880
any of that mean? 
I don't understand yet why do we

2830
02:05:10,880 --> 02:05:14,040
have different dead inators when
or Halvan pulls the wire out and

2831
02:05:14,040 --> 02:05:16,040
then just throw some of it away?
Why have you done that? 

2832
02:05:16,040 --> 02:05:18,120
I don't understand anything you 
do and that I'm supposed to 

2833
02:05:18,120 --> 02:05:20,640
mimic here. 
And he says to him, take your 

2834
02:05:20,640 --> 02:05:22,080
detonator, pull the plug, toss 
it. 

2835
02:05:22,080 --> 02:05:24,120
Got it. 
Definitely not, no. 

2836
02:05:24,120 --> 02:05:28,480
Like I've got none of this in 
any way, shape or form. 

2837
02:05:28,640 --> 02:05:30,680
Can you just do mine for me, 
please? 

2838
02:05:30,880 --> 02:05:32,560
Like, I don't know what I'm 
doing here. 

2839
02:05:33,920 --> 02:05:36,200
So it's a good thing humans 
doing because he can pull this 

2840
02:05:36,200 --> 02:05:37,960
off. 
And I just think that it's a 

2841
02:05:37,960 --> 02:05:41,920
really great countdown sequence.
Like the tension is just ramping

2842
02:05:41,920 --> 02:05:43,960
up off the scales. 
That clock is countdown. 

2843
02:05:44,120 --> 02:05:47,400
As I said, for music, he's 
incredible and everyone slashed 

2844
02:05:47,400 --> 02:05:49,520
themselves to something because 
yeah, this might put out the 

2845
02:05:49,520 --> 02:05:51,080
fire, but it might also kill 
everyone. 

2846
02:05:51,200 --> 02:05:53,280
Yeah, it might sweep everybody 
to their death. 

2847
02:05:53,680 --> 02:05:55,920
Exactly. 
But that's it's like it does 

2848
02:05:55,960 --> 02:05:58,000
even at this moment, it's still 
killing people off. 

2849
02:05:58,000 --> 02:06:01,200
And those explosions mean the 
sound of them are amazing, mean 

2850
02:06:01,560 --> 02:06:04,200
massively overactive. 
I mean, there's about 17 

2851
02:06:04,200 --> 02:06:06,320
different explosions here. 
It's. 

2852
02:06:07,200 --> 02:06:08,600
Not an. 
Excess. 

2853
02:06:08,800 --> 02:06:11,440
I mean I'm sure the use Freder 
says reaction about 3 different 

2854
02:06:11,440 --> 02:06:12,560
times as well. 
Yeah. 

2855
02:06:12,800 --> 02:06:16,400
That gets for use and then, 
yeah, as we're saying, you know,

2856
02:06:16,400 --> 02:06:18,400
it's work, but people are still 
being thrown through the 

2857
02:06:18,400 --> 02:06:20,680
windows. 
The bit that always gets me here

2858
02:06:20,680 --> 02:06:24,600
is poor Carlos, that bartender, 
like a small role, but he's 

2859
02:06:24,600 --> 02:06:26,360
really memorable. 
He's been such a stand up, 

2860
02:06:26,360 --> 02:06:29,000
helpful guy and you think, oh, 
he's going to be OK, he's going 

2861
02:06:29,000 --> 02:06:31,560
to get through this. 
But it's that last minute twist 

2862
02:06:31,560 --> 02:06:34,720
of the knife that the film has. 
Like I said, it has no mercy on 

2863
02:06:34,720 --> 02:06:36,440
anyone, no matter how good 
they're being. 

2864
02:06:36,720 --> 02:06:38,880
No, but how helpful. 
And it's just really good when 

2865
02:06:38,880 --> 02:06:40,600
you see him. 
He just gets crushed by that 

2866
02:06:40,600 --> 02:06:42,240
stunt. 
You've fallen on him right at 

2867
02:06:42,240 --> 02:06:43,720
the last minute. 
So I think he's going to be OK. 

2868
02:06:43,720 --> 02:06:44,880
Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah. 

2869
02:06:45,280 --> 02:06:48,000
Obviously it was a very 
challenging set piece to pull 

2870
02:06:48,000 --> 02:06:52,440
off. 12,000 gallons of water 
held in overhead tanks directed 

2871
02:06:52,440 --> 02:06:55,400
down through shoots into the set
below, controlled by a wheel to 

2872
02:06:55,400 --> 02:06:57,680
manage the pressure and 
additional high pressure fire 

2873
02:06:57,680 --> 02:07:01,400
hoses to extend the flow. 
Cast obviously shackled the 

2874
02:07:01,400 --> 02:07:04,360
columns and rear lens below 10 
feet above the ground. 

2875
02:07:04,960 --> 02:07:08,160
Yeah, a camera is in position. 
None of which could get wet 

2876
02:07:08,160 --> 02:07:10,160
without risking the electrical 
equipment. 

2877
02:07:10,280 --> 02:07:13,360
One drop of water on a hot lens 
was enough to just shatter the 

2878
02:07:13,360 --> 02:07:16,080
glass. 
Yeah, and Joseph, Barack himself

2879
02:07:16,080 --> 02:07:18,360
nearly ended up in the short Q 
in that sequence. 

2880
02:07:18,520 --> 02:07:21,280
He'd spotted a chair out of 
position just before Allen 

2881
02:07:21,280 --> 02:07:22,680
called action and went to move 
it. 

2882
02:07:22,760 --> 02:07:26,440
Or he discovered it was made of 
rawhide and we'd considerably 

2883
02:07:26,440 --> 02:07:28,440
more than it looked. 
And Allen had called action 

2884
02:07:28,440 --> 02:07:31,040
before he could get clear, and 
Barack took a good sulking. 

2885
02:07:33,280 --> 02:07:36,840
Yeah, incredibly, the only 
actual injury or reported injury

2886
02:07:36,840 --> 02:07:39,880
on the production was the studio
Fire Chief cutting himself on 

2887
02:07:39,880 --> 02:07:41,920
broken glass, which. 
Wow. 

2888
02:07:42,280 --> 02:07:43,280
Right. 
Yeah. 

2889
02:07:43,600 --> 02:07:45,960
So yeah, what Matt was saying 
about that heartbreaker from 

2890
02:07:45,960 --> 02:07:48,880
Carlos buying at the end, the 
studio put pressure on for an 

2891
02:07:48,880 --> 02:07:52,280
important character to buy in 
the scene for emotional impact, 

2892
02:07:52,760 --> 02:07:55,000
and they were seriously 
considering killing off McQueen 

2893
02:07:55,000 --> 02:07:58,600
Newman Holden's characters. 
Until storyboard artist John 

2894
02:07:58,600 --> 02:08:01,480
Musial pointed out that Alan had
already killed off Gene Hackman 

2895
02:08:01,480 --> 02:08:03,920
in The Poseidon Adventure, and 
the critics would have a field 

2896
02:08:03,920 --> 02:08:07,680
day if he did it again. 
Yeah, so Musil's solution was 

2897
02:08:07,680 --> 02:08:10,760
Carlos the bartender, as he said
Matt, sympathetic enough to land

2898
02:08:10,760 --> 02:08:14,040
emotionally, disposable enough 
not to cause a diplomatic 

2899
02:08:14,040 --> 02:08:16,840
incident with the stars. 
Yeah, Alan went for it. 

2900
02:08:16,840 --> 02:08:18,560
And you know, it does hit 
emotionally as. 

2901
02:08:18,600 --> 02:08:21,120
Well, yeah, does work. 
Yeah, and it's a successful 

2902
02:08:21,120 --> 02:08:24,120
mission and now the final 
moments where the majority have 

2903
02:08:24,120 --> 02:08:26,680
made it to safety. 
But this really is changed with 

2904
02:08:26,680 --> 02:08:28,640
melancholy because of the lies 
lost. 

2905
02:08:29,400 --> 02:08:33,080
Mrs. Mueller's out of there damn
big low lorry obviously and any 

2906
02:08:33,080 --> 02:08:35,240
number of firemen and staff 
caught up in the blaze. 

2907
02:08:35,320 --> 02:08:37,920
Loads of people in the burns 
unit, loads of people on the way

2908
02:08:37,920 --> 02:08:40,680
to hospital. 
This film may have quite a safe 

2909
02:08:40,680 --> 02:08:42,680
reputation, but really plays for
keeps. 

2910
02:08:43,200 --> 02:08:46,600
All that body bags and shot as 
well when McQueen turns around. 

2911
02:08:46,600 --> 02:08:48,120
Exactly. 
Oh yeah, that's really effective

2912
02:08:48,120 --> 02:08:50,080
shot that. 
Yeah, Yeah, it is. 

2913
02:08:50,080 --> 02:08:52,840
And when Harley's looking for 
Mrs. Mueller and he's told that 

2914
02:08:52,840 --> 02:08:55,640
she didn't make it, your 
heartbreak and stuff, he's 

2915
02:08:55,640 --> 02:08:58,920
calling her name out. 
Yeah, if that wasn't bad enough,

2916
02:08:58,920 --> 02:09:01,400
he's now got the responsibility 
to look after a fucking cat as 

2917
02:09:01,440 --> 02:09:03,080
well. 
Delivers. 

2918
02:09:03,880 --> 02:09:05,720
Selfish little. 
Yeah. 

2919
02:09:07,240 --> 02:09:10,640
Unfortunately, though, the film 
does double down under its 

2920
02:09:10,760 --> 02:09:14,120
utilization of Fate Dunaway. 
Newman's got a great line about 

2921
02:09:14,120 --> 02:09:16,800
leaving it all as a shrine to 
all the bullshit in the world. 

2922
02:09:17,560 --> 02:09:19,960
Really good line. 
But Fate Dunaway doesn't have 

2923
02:09:19,960 --> 02:09:25,760
one single line. 
She doesn't utter any words, any

2924
02:09:25,760 --> 02:09:28,560
response, anything at all. 
That is great. 

2925
02:09:28,560 --> 02:09:30,360
That's great. 
I just don't understand that 

2926
02:09:30,360 --> 02:09:31,040
decision. 
It's. 

2927
02:09:31,320 --> 02:09:32,120
Criminal. 
Yeah. 

2928
02:09:32,160 --> 02:09:34,720
She's just there to comfort 
them, to comfort the hero at the

2929
02:09:34,720 --> 02:09:37,920
end. 
We mentioned the film once 

2930
02:09:37,920 --> 02:09:41,320
already, but outside, this 
really feels like Die Hard, 

2931
02:09:41,800 --> 02:09:44,040
Clean and power coming together 
free from harm. 

2932
02:09:44,040 --> 02:09:46,320
There's clear influence here. 
Oh, absolutely, yeah. 

2933
02:09:46,600 --> 02:09:49,400
The animosity is eroded, there's
a mutual respect and an 

2934
02:09:49,400 --> 02:09:51,480
agreement to make a change for 
the better. 

2935
02:09:51,480 --> 02:09:53,120
A really nice message to leave 
on. 

2936
02:09:53,280 --> 02:09:55,880
Mcqueen's final line does make 
narrative sense. 

2937
02:09:56,000 --> 02:09:59,200
It does, but this does feel like
a missed opportunity for me. 

2938
02:09:59,560 --> 02:10:03,640
This is wide open for a sequel. 
Dugan o'halleran. 

2939
02:10:03,760 --> 02:10:07,160
Take a down shoddy contractors 
all along the West Coast and 

2940
02:10:07,160 --> 02:10:11,080
tune in for that. 
Sounds amazing. 

2941
02:10:11,400 --> 02:10:13,360
Yeah, like Backdraft do it on 
purpose. 

2942
02:10:14,040 --> 02:10:18,040
Yeah, yeah. 
So we end with emotional 

2943
02:10:18,040 --> 02:10:21,240
reunions all over the place, 
sending the audience out with a 

2944
02:10:21,240 --> 02:10:22,920
lump and a throat and hope for 
the future. 

2945
02:10:23,800 --> 02:10:29,880
So long architect. 
Nice reception under wards. 

2946
02:10:32,280 --> 02:10:35,720
Father and son editing team 
Harold F Kress and Karl Kress 

2947
02:10:35,720 --> 02:10:38,120
had the job of stitching 
together footage from 4 

2948
02:10:38,120 --> 02:10:40,560
different camera crews, two 
different directors and to make 

2949
02:10:40,560 --> 02:10:42,720
it look consistent. 
Their work was praised by 

2950
02:10:42,720 --> 02:10:45,640
critics and they were rewarded 
with the Best Editing Oscar. 

2951
02:10:45,840 --> 02:10:48,000
Very well deserved. 
Thanks very much though. 

2952
02:10:48,360 --> 02:10:53,120
And The Tower Inferno premiered 
on December 16th, 1974 at the 

2953
02:10:53,120 --> 02:10:56,680
AVCOR Centre in Los Angeles, 
followed 3 days later by a New 

2954
02:10:56,680 --> 02:10:58,480
York Premier at the National 
Theatre. 

2955
02:10:58,600 --> 02:11:01,800
The New York Fire Department 
showed up in force with six fire

2956
02:11:01,800 --> 02:11:04,760
engines displayed outside for an
hour, but this actually drew 

2957
02:11:04,760 --> 02:11:07,360
some criticism in the press 
about whether those engines 

2958
02:11:07,360 --> 02:11:10,280
would have been available to 
respond to actual emergencies. 

2959
02:11:10,680 --> 02:11:12,360
Yes, a fair comment. 
Point. 

2960
02:11:12,360 --> 02:11:13,840
Yeah, I mean 1. 
Fair enough. 

2961
02:11:14,040 --> 02:11:17,480
One for set dressing, Yeah, 6 is
excessive, Yeah. 

2962
02:11:17,720 --> 02:11:20,960
The firefighters union across 
the US organised screenings of 

2963
02:11:20,960 --> 02:11:23,360
it as cautionary tale about high
rise safety. 

2964
02:11:23,640 --> 02:11:26,280
Alan himself never want to 
undersell his work, told the New

2965
02:11:26,280 --> 02:11:28,880
York Times that year. 
I don't make message movies per 

2966
02:11:28,880 --> 02:11:32,240
SE, but as it turns out, I've 
got the hottest message in the 

2967
02:11:32,240 --> 02:11:34,320
world in the Tower and Inferno. 
Too true. 

2968
02:11:34,520 --> 02:11:37,120
Yeah, yeah. 
Following release, the reviews 

2969
02:11:37,120 --> 02:11:40,800
were a bit of a mixed bag. 
The New York Times Vincent Canby

2970
02:11:40,800 --> 02:11:43,600
acknowledged that the script 
succeeds in presenting dozens of

2971
02:11:43,600 --> 02:11:47,120
incidents without noticeable 
overlaps and collisions, and 

2972
02:11:47,120 --> 02:11:49,720
that the cast upgrades a 
secondary form of movie 

2973
02:11:49,720 --> 02:11:52,200
melodrama. 
But The Hollywood Reporter was 

2974
02:11:52,200 --> 02:11:55,720
less generous, calling it more 
ordeal than entertainment. 

2975
02:11:55,960 --> 02:11:59,360
In suggestion, it overwhelms the
spectator like a bully playing 

2976
02:11:59,360 --> 02:12:03,080
on the face of a society trapped
in its own burning affluence. 

2977
02:12:03,600 --> 02:12:06,400
Wow, that's a bit too high bro, 
to be quite honest. 

2978
02:12:06,440 --> 02:12:07,280
A little bit, yeah. 
A. 

2979
02:12:07,560 --> 02:12:10,880
Little bit Pauline Kael in The 
New Yorker was the harshest, 

2980
02:12:11,120 --> 02:12:14,440
saying that a film which bores 
us and insults our intelligence 

2981
02:12:14,440 --> 02:12:16,800
for close to three hours 
shouldn't preen itself on its 

2982
02:12:16,800 --> 02:12:19,760
own morality. 
No punches there, Pauline. 

2983
02:12:20,000 --> 02:12:23,960
Yeah, and as we always end Roger
Ebert, what do you think he gave

2984
02:12:23,960 --> 02:12:26,600
it out of four chaps? 
I don't think this went down 

2985
02:12:26,600 --> 02:12:28,280
well with the critics that I'm 
going to say 3. 

2986
02:12:28,560 --> 02:12:30,640
I'll go four. 
I think it might be the odd one.

2987
02:12:30,640 --> 02:12:33,440
I would love to fall 4. 
Straight in. 

2988
02:12:33,720 --> 02:12:36,080
Maybe that's ambitious. 
No, you were right, Wesley. 

2989
02:12:36,080 --> 02:12:37,200
It's three. 
Yeah. 

2990
02:12:37,680 --> 02:12:40,560
He called it a brawny 
blockbuster of a movie, by far 

2991
02:12:40,560 --> 02:12:43,960
the best of the mid 70s disaster
films and Hollywood commercial 

2992
02:12:43,960 --> 02:12:46,400
movie making at its finest. 
He loved it. 

2993
02:12:46,680 --> 02:12:48,960
Yeah, there you go. 
And now the film has seven out 

2994
02:12:48,960 --> 02:12:53,240
of 10 and IMDb and a Rotten 
Tomatoes 69% from critics, 72% 

2995
02:12:53,240 --> 02:12:55,440
from audiences. 
Quite consistent, yeah. 

2996
02:12:55,680 --> 02:12:57,920
But despite the lukewarm 
reception at the box office, 

2997
02:12:57,920 --> 02:13:01,040
Inferno was a massive hit. 
Blaze and Saddles, also shot by 

2998
02:13:01,040 --> 02:13:04,360
Joseph Barack and released back 
in February, was the biggest 

2999
02:13:04,360 --> 02:13:07,840
grossing film of the year with 
119.6 million. 

3000
02:13:08,000 --> 02:13:11,680
But Inferno, opened in December 
and running well in 1975, 

3001
02:13:11,680 --> 02:13:17,280
eventually grossed 203.3 million
in total on a 14 million budget.

3002
02:13:17,400 --> 02:13:20,440
The investment in Star power and
cutting edge effects work had 

3003
02:13:20,440 --> 02:13:23,560
paid off considerably. 
It certainly had, yes. 

3004
02:13:24,080 --> 02:13:26,720
And at the Oscars, in a year 
dominated by The Godfather Part 

3005
02:13:26,720 --> 02:13:30,840
2, The Taran Infernal held its 
own with eight nominations, 

3006
02:13:31,480 --> 02:13:34,520
including Best Pitcher and Best 
Supporting Actor, which was 

3007
02:13:34,520 --> 02:13:37,200
never going to win. 
No, but it did pick up three 

3008
02:13:37,200 --> 02:13:39,600
that we've talked about. 
Best Cinematography, Best Film 

3009
02:13:39,600 --> 02:13:43,160
Editing, and Best Original Song.
Yeah, and Fred Astaire did win 

3010
02:13:43,160 --> 02:13:46,280
best supporting at the Baftas 
and the Golden Globes. 

3011
02:13:46,520 --> 02:13:48,960
John Williams picked up a BAFTA 
for his work here, coupled with 

3012
02:13:48,960 --> 02:13:51,880
his work on Jaws as well. 
I think Inferno maybe was the 

3013
02:13:51,880 --> 02:13:55,400
tag along on that award. 
Yeah. 

3014
02:13:55,680 --> 02:13:59,400
Yeah. 
And Susan Flannery playing Paddy

3015
02:13:59,400 --> 02:14:02,680
Simmons Duncan starter, was 
awarded new start of the the 

3016
02:14:02,680 --> 02:14:06,120
Golden Globes despite being in 
movies and TV for over 10 years 

3017
02:14:06,120 --> 02:14:08,080
at that point. 
Yeah, a little behind the times 

3018
02:14:08,080 --> 02:14:09,120
there, just a bit. 
Yeah. 

3019
02:14:09,600 --> 02:14:11,600
So someone expected awards 
recognition. 

3020
02:14:11,600 --> 02:14:12,800
Made. 
Maybe, but there's no surprise 

3021
02:14:12,800 --> 02:14:15,160
that a film on the cutting edge 
of special effects tapping into 

3022
02:14:15,160 --> 02:14:18,560
audience and societal fears 
swept the box office despite a 

3023
02:14:18,560 --> 02:14:24,960
mixed reception from critics. 
Yeah, sequels and influence. 

3024
02:14:27,760 --> 02:14:30,040
A number of Hollywood firsts for
the Terran Infernal. 

3025
02:14:30,040 --> 02:14:33,240
Some immediate impacts the film 
had before we go into its long 

3026
02:14:33,240 --> 02:14:36,040
term legacy. 
The film triggered genuine 

3027
02:14:36,040 --> 02:14:39,480
change, stricter building codes,
upgraded fire safety regulations

3028
02:14:39,480 --> 02:14:42,120
and the re examination of 
sprinkler requirements in tall 

3029
02:14:42,120 --> 02:14:43,760
buildings across multiple 
cities. 

3030
02:14:44,040 --> 02:14:46,000
I mean, that's an impact. 
Huge. 

3031
02:14:46,400 --> 02:14:49,560
And the film had a more personal
effect on a few people directly 

3032
02:14:49,560 --> 02:14:52,400
involved as well. 
Allen moved his New York hotel 

3033
02:14:52,400 --> 02:14:54,360
suite from the 30th floor to the
fifth. 

3034
02:14:54,480 --> 02:14:57,560
Newman allegedly stopped 
visiting his dentist, whose 

3035
02:14:57,560 --> 02:15:00,880
office was on the 14th floor, 
and McQueen was made an honorary

3036
02:15:00,880 --> 02:15:02,840
Los Angeles firefighter for his 
troubles. 

3037
02:15:03,040 --> 02:15:04,560
Very nice, yeah. 
Very nice. 

3038
02:15:05,000 --> 02:15:08,120
So in the since its release, 
where have we seen the Tower 

3039
02:15:08,120 --> 02:15:11,760
Inferno's influence and legacy? 
Wesley, what are your thoughts? 

3040
02:15:12,360 --> 02:15:15,120
I mean influence and legacy, 
there's a lot. 

3041
02:15:15,240 --> 02:15:18,080
I don't think anything of this 
scale is ever going to be done 

3042
02:15:18,080 --> 02:15:20,520
again. 
But the ensembles again, 

3043
02:15:20,520 --> 02:15:24,240
bringing together big names, the
combination of studios, the use 

3044
02:15:24,240 --> 02:15:25,680
of miniatures. 
I don't think Lord of the Rings 

3045
02:15:25,680 --> 02:15:27,480
will be go without the 
miniatures that we used here. 

3046
02:15:27,480 --> 02:15:30,560
I think it pioneered that. 
It had a lot of visual, visual 

3047
02:15:30,560 --> 02:15:31,840
effects. 
It pioneered a lot of people 

3048
02:15:31,840 --> 02:15:34,160
working together. 
I think Urban Island was a real 

3049
02:15:34,160 --> 02:15:37,880
pioneer not only of the disaster
genre but also like the huge 

3050
02:15:37,880 --> 02:15:41,920
epic sweep of the film of cinema
and how to make that big and 

3051
02:15:41,920 --> 02:15:46,120
engaging and powerful and human.
This really said, this is what a

3052
02:15:46,120 --> 02:15:48,280
big film is, hasn't been touched
since. 

3053
02:15:48,280 --> 02:15:52,720
I think it has, but not to this 
degree of like real danger. 

3054
02:15:52,720 --> 02:15:55,640
I think it's a brilliant thing. 
Yeah, real balls to the wall. 

3055
02:15:55,640 --> 02:15:57,800
Film it is, absolutely. 
Yeah, it really is. 

3056
02:15:58,040 --> 02:15:59,760
Yeah. 
I mean, it's legacy as this is 

3057
02:15:59,760 --> 02:16:02,320
how you do this type of film, 
this is how you do with that 

3058
02:16:02,640 --> 02:16:05,960
tactile physicality. 
It has fired genuinely out there

3059
02:16:05,960 --> 02:16:09,080
on set, not added in post, which
makes so much difference. 

3060
02:16:09,160 --> 02:16:11,680
But I think there's really 
individual little bits that 

3061
02:16:11,680 --> 02:16:13,800
remind me as well. 
I mean, we've mentioned, you 

3062
02:16:13,800 --> 02:16:16,680
know, if you Die Hard references
already, but the helicopter 

3063
02:16:16,680 --> 02:16:19,320
exploding on the roof, that is 
what happens to Johnson and 

3064
02:16:19,320 --> 02:16:22,280
Johnson in Die Hard. 
Yeah, it looks like the Nakatomi

3065
02:16:22,280 --> 02:16:23,160
building, doesn't it? 
Looks. 

3066
02:16:23,160 --> 02:16:24,920
Like it? 
Yeah, and I think on James 

3067
02:16:24,920 --> 02:16:27,600
Cameron as well, I think that 
bit after they've planted the 

3068
02:16:27,600 --> 02:16:30,320
charges and they've kind of 
rushed through the fire when or 

3069
02:16:30,320 --> 02:16:32,480
Halloran has to take his suit 
off because it's burning. 

3070
02:16:32,959 --> 02:16:35,760
That always reminds me if you 
know when aliens when Hicks 

3071
02:16:35,760 --> 02:16:38,040
shoots the. 
Aliens on. 

3072
02:16:38,040 --> 02:16:40,719
His arm, and Ripley has to take 
it off for him. 

3073
02:16:41,160 --> 02:16:43,959
I think that feels like it, and 
it has to be a deliberate 

3074
02:16:43,959 --> 02:16:46,000
reference. 
But the bit we've talked about, 

3075
02:16:46,000 --> 02:16:48,840
about Mrs. Mueller falling out 
the elevator and then hitting 

3076
02:16:48,840 --> 02:16:52,320
the ledge in Titanic, you've got
the bit where the person falls 

3077
02:16:52,320 --> 02:16:55,680
off, hits the propeller and 
spins into one in exactly the 

3078
02:16:55,680 --> 02:16:58,120
same way. 
That can't be a coincidence. 

3079
02:16:58,559 --> 02:17:00,480
No, not at all. 
That has to be a direct 

3080
02:17:00,480 --> 02:17:02,080
reference, I think, to Jennifer 
Jones. 

3081
02:17:02,680 --> 02:17:04,680
In terms of legacy, I think 
you've got to start with what 

3082
02:17:04,680 --> 02:17:07,559
this film represents is just a 
Hollywood landmark because the 

3083
02:17:07,559 --> 02:17:10,639
list of first is is 
extraordinary. 2 Studios Co 

3084
02:17:10,760 --> 02:17:13,799
producing a film together, two 
source novels combining or a 

3085
02:17:13,799 --> 02:17:17,440
single screenplay, 2 directors 
splitting duties, and a budget 

3086
02:17:17,440 --> 02:17:19,920
that at the time was the largest
ever committed to a single film.

3087
02:17:20,280 --> 02:17:21,920
Yeah, and diagonal building as 
well. 

3088
02:17:21,920 --> 02:17:24,760
That was the AS. 
Well, yeah, absolutely. 

3089
02:17:24,879 --> 02:17:27,160
So any one of those things would
make the Tarrant Inferno 

3090
02:17:27,160 --> 02:17:30,440
noteworthy. 
But five of them making one of 

3091
02:17:30,440 --> 02:17:33,160
the most audition productions in
Hollywood history? 

3092
02:17:33,320 --> 02:17:34,959
Yeah. 
And I think that doesn't get 

3093
02:17:34,959 --> 02:17:36,680
remembered. 
No, it doesn't know. 

3094
02:17:36,840 --> 02:17:38,600
But the legacy goes beyond the 
logistics. 

3095
02:17:38,600 --> 02:17:41,320
For better or worse, every 
superhero film, every action 

3096
02:17:41,320 --> 02:17:44,360
spectacular, every disaster move
you've seen the last 50 years 

3097
02:17:44,440 --> 02:17:47,639
has the Tarrant Infernals 
fingerprints somewhere on it. 

3098
02:17:47,879 --> 02:17:49,799
Definitely. 
I mean, Roland Emmerich is 

3099
02:17:49,799 --> 02:17:54,799
covered in And finally, we've 
talked about this a number of 

3100
02:17:54,799 --> 02:17:58,040
Times Now, but novelist Roderick
Thorpe saw The Tower and 

3101
02:17:58,040 --> 02:18:01,240
Inferno, and that same night had
a dream about a man being chased

3102
02:18:01,240 --> 02:18:03,600
through a skyscraper by armed 
assailants. 

3103
02:18:04,000 --> 02:18:07,000
That dream became his 1979 novel
Nothing Lasts Forever. 

3104
02:18:07,440 --> 02:18:09,320
Nothing Lasts Forever was 
adapted for the big screen 

3105
02:18:09,320 --> 02:18:13,879
that's Die Hard in 1988. 
Legacy Nailed Forever. 

3106
02:18:14,200 --> 02:18:18,719
And if you want even more 
evidence of that influence, 

3107
02:18:18,959 --> 02:18:22,000
there's an exchange between 
Holly and John Mcclane in the 

3108
02:18:22,080 --> 02:18:25,799
bathroom right at the start. 
He's talking about Kathy Roberts

3109
02:18:25,799 --> 02:18:28,760
retiring out here. 
That is a direct reference to 

3110
02:18:28,799 --> 02:18:31,480
Doug Roberts, who's called Kathy
in this film. 

3111
02:18:31,600 --> 02:18:32,639
Paul and his character. 
Yeah. 

3112
02:18:32,840 --> 02:18:33,959
Yeah. 
Pomona. 

3113
02:18:34,160 --> 02:18:36,719
Pomona, Pomona. 
Pomona, Pomona. 

3114
02:18:37,240 --> 02:18:42,200
So yes, a film with a huge 
reputation, a film with a huge 

3115
02:18:42,200 --> 02:18:45,360
legacy, one that maybe doesn't 
get talked about as much as it 

3116
02:18:45,360 --> 02:18:48,240
should, and I think we've 
righted a few wrongs here with 

3117
02:18:48,240 --> 02:18:54,120
that. 
Absolutely all the right movies 

3118
02:18:54,120 --> 02:18:57,840
ranking. 
OK, it's time to give our 

3119
02:18:57,840 --> 02:18:59,480
summary and score for the Tower 
and Inferno. 

3120
02:18:59,480 --> 02:19:01,840
Wesley, you chose it, so why 
don't you go first? 

3121
02:19:02,400 --> 02:19:03,719
I have a lot of love for this 
film. 

3122
02:19:03,719 --> 02:19:05,120
I have a lot of admiration for 
this film. 

3123
02:19:05,120 --> 02:19:07,719
I have a lot of time, a lot of 
emotion, a lot of nostalgia. 

3124
02:19:08,120 --> 02:19:09,959
It's the ultimate film that I'll
just put on. 

3125
02:19:09,959 --> 02:19:12,240
If I'm doing something, it's 
just there. 

3126
02:19:12,240 --> 02:19:14,280
It's long enough that I can 
always come back to it. 

3127
02:19:14,280 --> 02:19:16,200
There's always a sequence that I
want to watch in it. 

3128
02:19:16,440 --> 02:19:19,719
There's some I had to put the 
academic head on and the kind 

3129
02:19:19,719 --> 02:19:22,520
of, you know, the technical head
and go, yeah, you know, as a 

3130
02:19:22,520 --> 02:19:25,240
film, it's not one that I'm 
going to recommend to everybody.

3131
02:19:25,240 --> 02:19:27,799
I know it's aged like milk. 
I know for a fact that there's 

3132
02:19:27,799 --> 02:19:29,959
problems with it. 
I know that it's not a perfect 

3133
02:19:29,959 --> 02:19:31,639
film by any stretch of the 
imagination. 

3134
02:19:31,639 --> 02:19:34,040
I'm not going to give a perfect 
score, even though I'd love to. 

3135
02:19:34,040 --> 02:19:35,200
Me hard. 
It is A10. 

3136
02:19:35,480 --> 02:19:38,080
If it was, you know, little 
Wesley sitting here, it's at 8 

3137
02:19:38,080 --> 02:19:40,320
and nine years old, they'd be 
like that's a 10 on 10. 

3138
02:19:40,320 --> 02:19:43,120
I've not seen anything better. 
Maybe Commando, but that's the 

3139
02:19:43,120 --> 02:19:46,160
definitely A10. 
It really feels like home. 

3140
02:19:46,160 --> 02:19:48,320
This whole film. 
It's got it's got a lot attached

3141
02:19:48,320 --> 02:19:49,760
to it. 
I really, really do love it. 

3142
02:19:49,760 --> 02:19:52,280
But I can understand where all 
the issues come from it and I'm 

3143
02:19:52,280 --> 02:19:54,800
not going to defend it. 
I do love it and I do love it 

3144
02:19:54,800 --> 02:19:58,120
with all my heart. 
It only loses 1 mark for all of 

3145
02:19:58,120 --> 02:19:59,320
the things that was spoken 
about. 

3146
02:19:59,320 --> 02:20:00,840
It definitely gets up there for 
me. 

3147
02:20:00,840 --> 02:20:03,560
It's a nine on 10 for me. 9 out 
of 10. 

3148
02:20:03,720 --> 02:20:05,400
Very nice. 
What about you, Matt? 

3149
02:20:05,680 --> 02:20:09,360
Yeah, I mean, this is one that 
is on rotation a lot for me and 

3150
02:20:09,360 --> 02:20:12,160
Weedley, considering everything 
that happens in it, it's a bit 

3151
02:20:12,160 --> 02:20:15,240
of a comfort watch for me. 
And I think even nostalgia sites

3152
02:20:15,240 --> 02:20:16,520
how much this still hits the 
mark. 

3153
02:20:16,520 --> 02:20:19,880
I mean, in terms of the actors 
nor no one's put in any of their

3154
02:20:19,880 --> 02:20:22,200
work here in a top five of 
whoever you pick. 

3155
02:20:22,200 --> 02:20:25,600
But just the sheer movie star 
presence of Newman McQueen, 

3156
02:20:25,600 --> 02:20:28,960
Holden Dunaway, Astaire gives a 
real level of dramatic weight 

3157
02:20:28,960 --> 02:20:32,080
that really needs to think the 
set pieces still really work. 

3158
02:20:32,080 --> 02:20:33,920
This will put my heart my mouth 
at times. 

3159
02:20:34,240 --> 02:20:36,920
Special effects are horrifying 
and the stunt work is still 

3160
02:20:36,920 --> 02:20:39,200
spectacular. 
And everyone's really plugged 

3161
02:20:39,200 --> 02:20:41,160
into what this film is trying to
deliver. 

3162
02:20:42,160 --> 02:20:45,520
But as we've been seeing some of
the dialogue, some of the plot 

3163
02:20:45,520 --> 02:20:48,440
lines, the, you know, the 
constraint from a daytime soap 

3164
02:20:48,440 --> 02:20:50,840
opera in Saudi or some of the 
other kind of support 

3165
02:20:50,840 --> 02:20:53,600
performances. 
And obviously this genre does 

3166
02:20:53,600 --> 02:20:56,520
come with certain boundaries or 
limits to it that a con really 

3167
02:20:56,520 --> 02:20:58,560
suffered or overcome to that 
extent. 

3168
02:20:58,680 --> 02:21:02,840
But it's getting an extra half. 
Mark me for nostalgia and the X 

3169
02:21:02,960 --> 02:21:05,520
half mark is because this is for
me. 

3170
02:21:05,520 --> 02:21:07,920
It's still the best in class for
this genre. 

3171
02:21:07,920 --> 02:21:09,920
Nothing in need respect for 
that. 

3172
02:21:10,080 --> 02:21:13,600
So I'm also giving it A9. 
Wow, 2 nines. 

3173
02:21:14,320 --> 02:21:17,320
Well, I said at the start I 
preferred Poseidon when I came 

3174
02:21:17,320 --> 02:21:20,360
to revisit in this, and I still 
do by some distance. 

3175
02:21:20,880 --> 02:21:23,600
It just feels a lot more whole 
less bloated. 

3176
02:21:23,720 --> 02:21:28,000
It feels there's more at stake 
and I just a better film for me.

3177
02:21:28,400 --> 02:21:31,200
OK, but there's a lot to love 
about Inferno, an amazing 

3178
02:21:31,200 --> 02:21:33,520
spectacle with incredible talent
on each either side of the 

3179
02:21:33,520 --> 02:21:35,360
camera. 
But it's in front of the camera 

3180
02:21:35,360 --> 02:21:37,000
that I've got probably the 
biggest problem with. 

3181
02:21:37,800 --> 02:21:40,040
I've mentioned that the 
character Dan Bigelow and his 

3182
02:21:40,240 --> 02:21:44,400
mistress Snip. 
Get that out or apply that to 

3183
02:21:44,400 --> 02:21:46,440
somebody that I care about. 
Right, OK. 

3184
02:21:47,080 --> 02:21:48,480
Yeah. 
Faye Dunaway. 

3185
02:21:48,480 --> 02:21:52,120
I mean, come on, I've said 
enough and I'm broke the record.

3186
02:21:52,200 --> 02:21:54,040
I agree. 
Unforgivable. 

3187
02:21:54,040 --> 02:21:58,080
Not to give her any lines in the
last scene or not. 

3188
02:21:58,080 --> 02:22:01,560
To be acknowledged by Stephen 
Mcqueen's character is crazy. 

3189
02:22:04,000 --> 02:22:05,960
Yeah. 
So the writing, although I think

3190
02:22:05,960 --> 02:22:08,600
it was a poisoned chalice from 
the outset, that could have been

3191
02:22:08,600 --> 02:22:11,120
much better, much tighter, more 
emotionally resonant with 

3192
02:22:11,120 --> 02:22:14,320
characters we care about. 
Maybe was the leading actor ego 

3193
02:22:14,320 --> 02:22:16,360
trip that caused a ripple effect
throughout. 

3194
02:22:16,560 --> 02:22:18,520
Possibly talked about the 
restrictions. 

3195
02:22:18,520 --> 02:22:20,080
Yeah, there's a lot of control 
here. 

3196
02:22:20,720 --> 02:22:23,920
Yeah, make no mistake though, 
John Williams score is a 

3197
02:22:23,920 --> 02:22:28,560
highlights, as are the special 
effects John Glaman's should be 

3198
02:22:28,560 --> 02:22:30,520
singled out for. 
Prayers for keeping everything 

3199
02:22:30,520 --> 02:22:33,120
afloat and God bless Irwin 
Allen. 

3200
02:22:33,360 --> 02:22:36,200
He's been a bit of a laughable 
figure, but God the balls on 

3201
02:22:36,200 --> 02:22:37,480
this man. 
Absolutely. 

3202
02:22:37,480 --> 02:22:40,000
He had in mind what he wanted 
and he went after it like a 

3203
02:22:40,000 --> 02:22:43,080
crazy man and he pulled it off. 
Pioneer of the blockbuster? 

3204
02:22:43,240 --> 02:22:45,480
Incredible. 
Biggest ever budget at the time 

3205
02:22:45,480 --> 02:22:46,720
as well. 
Completely unfair. 

3206
02:22:46,720 --> 02:22:49,000
Is 200 million of the box office
just like that. 

3207
02:22:49,280 --> 02:22:52,560
It's a real success story 
despite things are going against

3208
02:22:52,560 --> 02:22:55,640
it, but the behind the scenes 
story doesn't necessarily give 

3209
02:22:55,640 --> 02:22:58,560
the film high marks. 
It's jumbled and spectacular. 

3210
02:22:58,600 --> 02:23:01,120
Great to look at but bloated to 
bursting point. 

3211
02:23:01,520 --> 02:23:03,920
This is the definition of a 
mixed bag for me, but I've very 

3212
02:23:03,920 --> 02:23:06,280
much admire the craft. 
I'm going for a 7 out of 10. 

3213
02:23:06,720 --> 02:23:11,800
OK, that's too low. 
That's fine though. 

3214
02:23:11,800 --> 02:23:13,600
I mean. 
Is it fine? 

3215
02:23:13,600 --> 02:23:14,560
Okay, great. 
I'm glad. 

3216
02:23:14,560 --> 02:23:15,560
I'm glad. 
It's fine, yeah. 

3217
02:23:15,640 --> 02:23:18,240
It's fine. 
We'll do it beside an adventure 

3218
02:23:18,240 --> 02:23:19,320
next month. 
See what happens then. 

3219
02:23:20,480 --> 02:23:29,040
Yeah, 66.5 Our 4th and final 
score for The Tarrant Inferno 

3220
02:23:29,040 --> 02:23:30,640
comes from our Patreon 
community. 

3221
02:23:30,920 --> 02:23:33,440
They've had plenty to say. 
Here are some thoughts. 

3222
02:23:33,440 --> 02:23:37,080
First, OK, Daryl Van Horn said a
disaster flick that actually has

3223
02:23:37,080 --> 02:23:39,720
some edge. 
Characters actually die button 

3224
02:23:39,720 --> 02:23:42,240
versions played safe. 
So in the context of the genre, 

3225
02:23:42,240 --> 02:23:45,840
9 out of 10 plus Newman and 
McQueen, yes yeah, yeah, fair 

3226
02:23:45,840 --> 02:23:47,680
enough. 
David Barry said this is the 

3227
02:23:47,680 --> 02:23:50,960
granddaddy of disaster movies. 
Always a blast. 

3228
02:23:51,160 --> 02:23:53,360
What a cast. 
Super cool McQueen and human 

3229
02:23:53,360 --> 02:23:57,200
effects that still look great. 
Thrilling John Williams score 9 

3230
02:23:57,200 --> 02:23:59,160
out of 10. 
Understood. 

3231
02:23:59,360 --> 02:24:02,400
Bismarck said. 
I grew up on 70s disaster 

3232
02:24:02,400 --> 02:24:05,040
movies, Poseidon, Adventure, 
Earthquake, etcetera and for the

3233
02:24:05,040 --> 02:24:07,360
longest time Tower and Inferno 
was my favorite. 

3234
02:24:07,680 --> 02:24:10,760
But having recently rewatched 
it, I was disappointed in most 

3235
02:24:10,760 --> 02:24:13,280
of the scenes that didn't have 
fire effects and stunts. 

3236
02:24:13,680 --> 02:24:16,240
I didn't care about most of the 
characters aside from Steve 

3237
02:24:16,240 --> 02:24:18,160
McQueen who was fantastic Fire 
Chief. 

3238
02:24:18,400 --> 02:24:20,520
Haven't grown up with Tower and 
Inferno as a 10. 

3239
02:24:20,680 --> 02:24:26,120
I'm sad to say it is now a six. 
Wow, okay, that's what I mean. 

3240
02:24:26,120 --> 02:24:27,760
You say it hasn't aged well. 
No. 

3241
02:24:27,920 --> 02:24:29,600
Yeah, watch it once a week from 
when you're 7. 

3242
02:24:29,600 --> 02:24:32,840
Years old as a kid. 
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

3243
02:24:32,960 --> 02:24:34,720
Then then tonight. 
Then it's tonight. 

3244
02:24:34,720 --> 02:24:37,800
Easy, yeah. 
So there's an honest spread of 

3245
02:24:37,800 --> 02:24:40,080
opinions. 
Thanks Bismarck for keeping us 

3246
02:24:40,080 --> 02:24:42,200
on our tours as well. 
Don't think the Bismarck 

3247
02:24:42,440 --> 02:24:45,080
whatever you do. 
So what do you think that 

3248
02:24:45,080 --> 02:24:47,800
averages out of 10 from our 
Patreon community? 

3249
02:24:47,800 --> 02:24:50,280
Definitely think it's going to 
be more on your end to be 

3250
02:24:50,280 --> 02:24:52,080
honest. 
I'm going to be optimistic 

3251
02:24:52,080 --> 02:24:54,840
though and saying 8. 
I'll say 7.5. 

3252
02:24:55,480 --> 02:24:58,520
Oh, Wester, you're right is 8 
out of 10. 

3253
02:24:58,600 --> 02:25:00,400
OK, enough. 
I'm happy with that. 

3254
02:25:00,720 --> 02:25:02,640
Yeah, yeah. 
Meaning that overall, Italian 

3255
02:25:02,640 --> 02:25:05,720
Infernal scores 33 out of 40, 
right? 

3256
02:25:06,080 --> 02:25:08,640
A solid score. 
Very solid, very understandable.

3257
02:25:08,720 --> 02:25:09,920
Yeah, respectable. 
Good. 

3258
02:25:09,920 --> 02:25:11,640
Yeah. 
All the right movies will be 

3259
02:25:11,640 --> 02:25:14,280
back in two weeks when John 
Westy and Matt will be going 

3260
02:25:14,280 --> 02:25:16,520
behind the scenes on Back to the
Future Part 2. 

3261
02:25:16,680 --> 02:25:18,640
Hoverboards, power laces and 
all. 

3262
02:25:18,800 --> 02:25:20,840
That one is going to be an awful
lot of fun, for sure. 

3263
02:25:20,840 --> 02:25:22,400
Yeah, it's gonna. 
Be great that one. 

3264
02:25:22,480 --> 02:25:24,920
Look forward to that. 
For that, for our studio head 

3265
02:25:24,920 --> 02:25:27,360
and directors chair patrons, the
latest episode of The Watchlist 

3266
02:25:27,360 --> 02:25:30,240
came out last week. 6 great 
reviews there. 

3267
02:25:30,440 --> 02:25:33,200
And next week we'll put an Alan 
Rickman in the double feature 

3268
02:25:33,200 --> 02:25:35,080
chair with Galaxy Quest and 
Dogma. 

3269
02:25:35,560 --> 02:25:37,280
That's going to be a very good 
episode. 

3270
02:25:37,280 --> 02:25:38,600
Very nice. 
Love Rickman. 

3271
02:25:39,600 --> 02:25:40,560
Who doesn't? 
Yeah. 

3272
02:25:40,760 --> 02:25:42,680
If you haven't already, please 
give us a positive rate. 

3273
02:25:42,680 --> 02:25:45,280
And wherever you listen to 
podcasts, it takes no time at 

3274
02:25:45,280 --> 02:25:47,320
all, and it makes an enormous 
difference to us. 

3275
02:25:47,320 --> 02:25:49,000
So. 
Really, very much appreciate 

3276
02:25:49,000 --> 02:25:50,760
that so much. 
If you, if you get around doing 

3277
02:25:50,760 --> 02:25:53,560
that, guys really appreciate it.
And as ever, we're on social 

3278
02:25:53,560 --> 02:25:56,120
media around the clock. 
We're on X blue sky threads, 

3279
02:25:56,120 --> 02:25:59,080
Instagram, TikTok, I'll make a 
movie Threads go up on X and 

3280
02:25:59,080 --> 02:26:02,080
blue sky research like our 
podcasts to within an inch of 

3281
02:26:02,080 --> 02:26:05,280
their lives with all information
come from at least three sources

3282
02:26:05,280 --> 02:26:07,080
of the mouths of the cast or 
crew. 

3283
02:26:07,840 --> 02:26:10,320
You can join our Facebook group 
for another wonderful movie 

3284
02:26:10,320 --> 02:26:13,040
community full of wonderful 
people, great chats. 

3285
02:26:13,640 --> 02:26:16,680
Our YouTube channel is 
youtube.com/all the Right Movies

3286
02:26:16,680 --> 02:26:20,280
where you can also listen to all
of our podcasts and our website 

3287
02:26:20,480 --> 02:26:22,840
is all the right movies.com. 
It is. 

3288
02:26:24,560 --> 02:26:27,160
And that's a wrap, everyone. 
We're all off to check the 

3289
02:26:27,160 --> 02:26:30,200
wiring on the 81st floor. 
Yeah, thank you very much for 

3290
02:26:30,200 --> 02:26:32,840
listening and we'll see you in 
two weeks for Back to the Future

3291
02:26:32,840 --> 02:26:34,000
Part 2. 
Yes. 

3292
02:26:34,000 --> 02:26:35,240
Thank you so much for listening 
guys. 

3293
02:26:35,400 --> 02:26:36,400
Take care. 
Easy guys. 

3294
02:26:36,880 --> 02:26:38,120
Make sure them sprinklers work.