People are voting emotionally.

How sad is this?

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Big, bold, brawny, big budget, brutally effective, the disaster film never looked so good. A stellar cast, and convincing special effects photography wins the day, and an early 1970s state-of-the-art styling doesn't grate - it doesn't date the film much at all. There is no deep and lofty notion about American enterprise, but there is a simple message about caution about business economics and a chilling reminder of the potential problems with high-rise buildings; emergency services and the public suffering the repurcussions of poor decisions of vanity projects and profit. The film is to be noted for having very little melodrama within its dramatic confines, just solid, on-the-nose performances, almost as if the cast are in awe of the scale of the production itself, though that could have been the director's reputation for screaming at the cast and crew. The film's director, John Guillermin was a perfectionist with a good eye for directing big action pieces. The viewer can expect good suspense and witness the terrible, destructive power of fire. The explosions, wreckage, action all look real and there are some real jolts to the senses, and some very grisly scenes. The characters are also skilfully woven into the story. The Towering Inferno proves that escapism done very well will always prove a box-office winner because an audience will always want to exorcise their elemental fears.

Steve McQueen and Paul Newman are in a movie together, and it's not a racecar movie? Well, in the 1970s, it was a big fad to make big-budget disaster movies with a large cast. The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and the Airport movies make up a classic niche genre, in which The Towering Inferno garners a top spot.This one deals with a burning building, a skyscraper to be exact. Hence, the "towering" inferno. Countless characters are introduced to the audience, given reasons to become attached, and then placed in dire peril. Who will make it out alive? This film's all-star cast includes Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Jennifer Jones, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Susan Blakely, O.J. Simpson, Robert Vaughn, and Robert Wagner. Fred Astaire received his only Oscar nomination for this movie, which is the only reason why I watched it. I tend to scare easily, so disaster movies aren't my genre of choice. If you like them, this one is really good. Lots of tension, great special effects (for 1974), heart wrenching drama, and excitement up until the very end!

In San Francisco, architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) is planning to leave his city job after the dedication of the new skyscraper. He's inundated with problems after returning from vacation but at least Susan Franklin (Faye Dunaway) is there to comfort him. He investigates an electrical fire but the owner Jim Duncan (William Holden)'s son-in-law engineer Roger Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) refuses to admit wrong doing. Senator Parker (Robert Vaughn), the mayor, public relations Dan Bigelow (Robert Wagner) and Harlee Claiborne (Fred Astaire) among others join the party. All the while, the electrical fire spreads. Building security Jernigan (O.J. Simpson) calls in the fire department. Fire Chief Michael O'Halloran (Steve McQueen) tries to take control.This is one of the best disaster movie of the era. It's full of memorable moments and is relatively realistic. It's got good fire photography, nice burning stunts, vertigo-inducing scenes and thrilling action all around. It's also got some of the greatest names. Newman and McQueen has to battle it out for top billing. The start is a little slow but once it gets going, it doesn't stop.

After watching this movie I have come to the conclusion that people in the 70ies were retarded and stared at each other awful lot. It sort of makes sense now too why they were all dressed in Ronald Weasley's dress robes...Apart from the endless staring at each other they also made sure there were lengthy pauses after each corny and unnatural sounding sentence they uttered. Even in the middle of a life-threatening emergency. They were either all terribly zen or...retarded. Yeah. I think this is one of the most annoying movies I have ever seen. About 65% of it, at least, could and should have been cut easily. I hope they remake it with normal people.