Towering Inferno (1974)
  This
is junk, but it's star-studded junk, with some of Hollywood's
greatest actors forced to team up with some of its worst to rescue
trapped VIPs from a burning 136-storey skyscraper in San Francisco
during its inauguration ceremony.
Decent architect Paul Newman comes to the rescue, aided by Fire
Chief Steve McQueen, and the whole movie proves that giving the
contract for electrical wiring to the lowest bidder does not
always pay!
The movie came in the wake of The Poseidon Adventure and
Earthquake, and exceeded their success. There were probably
a number of reasons for this; Inferno had two big stars, Paul
Newman and Steve McQueen, so the film could exploit what was left
of the "buddy movie" genre; two blue-eyed boys fighting
the flames together.
 Producer
Irwin Allen spent the rest of his career trying to repeat the
recipe, culminating in the ultimate bee-invasion movie, The
Swarm.
The Towering Inferno won three Oscars: Best
Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Song - The über
seventies schmaltz-fest We may never love like this again, sung by
Maureen McGovern.
If you visit San Francisco, you can take a ride in the scenic
elevator featured in the movie. It's at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
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