The Towering Inferno (DVD 2000)

I’ve just watched my new DVD of The Towering Inferno, and have to comment on it.
I first saw it when it first came out on general release in the UK, I’ve no idea how long ago that was. The cinema had a full-size screen, and I came out shaking [despite them leaving Paul Newman dangling on the broken stair-rail for half an hour during the intermission!] This was the first film I ever saw that was realistic enough to show that goodies died as well as baddies, and that there was no rhyme or reason as to who lived and who didn’t.

Years ago I read one of the two books on which this film is based (I can’t remember which); in that, the cause of the fire was sabotage. There’s only one standard baddie in the film, though there’s contributory negligence from several that contributes to this version of the disaster.

I can understand the reports that after making this film, Steve McQueen would never go high when he stayed in hotels!

I was disappointed that there were no extras on the DVD - the “making of” would have been one hell of a documentary! They could at least have given the various Fire Services a chance to show how they contributed to the making.

I know this is fiction - or at least, fact exaggerated. This sort of thing, on a smaller scale, happens often, and fire fighters risk, and lose, their lives almost as often.

Maybe I’m biased; my brother is a London firefighter - but I still think that, whatever firefighters are paid, it’s not enough!