The Towering Inferno - "Explosion On 81!"

The fire department has arrived to the Glass Tower and they're already hard at work to put out the fire. But everybody finds out soon, that the fire is spreading way too fast and getting out of control, catching even Chief Mike O'Halloran and the architect Doug Roberts by surprise

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• the
• towering
• inferno
• 1974
• skyscraper
• disaster
• fire
• paul
• newman
• steve
• mcqueen

[Dava1000]

The effects still work for this film..the exterior shots are obviously a building model but they film it carefully enough and no long edits to be careful.

[victoriaman1961]

my favorite movie

[Cavillier1970]

@Mr17051963 Thanks for the info. I can understand why people wouldnt want to return to the building. I can only imagine the safety improvments they made in the past 30 + years. I dont think a society can get over something like this, just as my country will never get over 9/11 or Pearl Harbor. And don't worry your English is fine. It's better some folks up here.

[Mr17051963]

@Cavillier1970 Yes, almost 200 people died and other 500 were injured. It was caused by an electric problem in the air conditioned system. It was almost noon when it started and there was lots of people working in that business building. After that it was completely renovated, but few people wanted to return to that place again. And still is this way, almost 40 years later. A tragedy that we all want to forget. Thanks for writing and sorry for my english (we speak portuguese here).

[Cavillier1970]

@Mr17051963 Thanks. There was no way I could remember the name or the city. From what I do remember it was a nightmare. I remember folks in the building going to the roof and the upper floors waiting for any kind of rescue. I cant remember if anyone died. Did they ever learn a cause of the fire?

[Mr17051963]

@Cavillier1970 It was at Sao Paulo, Brazil, the city where I belong and live. I was scared as a kid, too. It was in 1974 (The Joelma Building) and the film came soon after that. It was impossible for us in the city not to relate the two things.

[OneSunRed]

is it possible to upload the entire movie in one piece

[Cavillier1970]

@Felamine Youre right about the elevators back then. This movie freaked me out at a kid and during the early 80's there was a special on NBC I think about how to survive disasters and they featured a high rise fire that took place in Rio or Brazil, where a lot of folks died. This special + the disasters in the news + NBC airing the Tow. Inferno & When Time Ran Out, maybe the reason I watch all the survival shows I can & my car trunk looks like an Army Surplus Store. LOL

[DC322]

Everyone should have taken the stairs instead of the elevators during a fire.

[Felamine]

@bowler8 it was probably an express elevator that just went between 81 and the promenade room.

Also, watch the part at 3:18... Duncan presses the button on the elevator to try and get the car to return. I don't know if elevators from the 1970s are built like the ones now, but this elevator probably has a memory circuit, so it "knows" to send the car back to the promenade room because the button was pressed there. At least that's my theory.

[calalilygirl]

It IS true there would be TONS of smoke of which we saw very little of in this film, Still love every minute of this movie though.

[MeBenHalpin]

@calalilygirl Yep that was funny too, great tension between the two characters from start to finish.