The Towering Inferno

The classic 70s disaster movie, you know, it was celebrated with some Academy Award nominations at its time, a lot of big stars.

It led to this wave of films like The Towering Inferno, Airport, that all came in its wake.

The Irwin Allen, you know, surge of a certain kind of movie.

I find most of those movies fairly unwatchable these days.

It's $119 million gross, made at the top grossing movie of 1974.

Ahead of The Towering Inferno, The Godfather Part II, The Longest Yard, Murder on the Orient Express, and Brooks' own Young Frankenstein.

As we said in our episode about that movie, Mel Brooks is still living off 1974 money.

call me an inept director call me whatever you want from your fucking apartment and burbank asshole i care less all right sorry uh and contrary to most r-rated comedies it's got some awards love three oscar nominations best film editing sure best song for brooks and john morris's title track and best supporting actress for madeline khan obviously obviously she She lost to Ingrid Bergman for Murder on the Orient Express, which, I mean, okay.

Those parts are great.

Also at the box office in 1974, The Towering Inferno, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Godfather Part II, and Chinatown.

Great, great movies.

I recently watched The Towering Inferno for the first time.

Really? Over the summer.

I had never watched any of those 70s disaster movies.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And once every six months, you'd have an Irwin Allen movie.

And it was produced by Irwin Allen with a cast of stars in The Towering Inferno.

Oh.

And it would be like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, big stars would all be in these dumb movies.

Yeah.

I would imagine, how much fucking fan mail is Richard Roundtree getting? Anyway, good actor.

Why am I talking about Earthquake? why not end of the world i guess yeah we're just trying to get to an episode i'm i've lost the entire uh audience of this podcast like what the fuck nobody even saw that movie for some reason that movie is there a movie that you have that's just like completely like uh affected your life like those erwin allen disaster films really affected my life i i remember every inch of them The Towering Inferno.

I remember the movie theater I saw them in.

And here's another question for you.

What's your favorite disaster movie of all time? Are you a The Day After Tomorrow fan? Do you love that ridiculous spectacle in 2012? Maybe you're going old school with the Poseidon Adventure or the Towering Inferno.

Or maybe you've got a favorite I haven't even mentioned.

I'd love to hear your picks.

It's like, okay, let's say somebody was in a high-rise and it caught on fire and they barely got out with their lives.

They're probably not going to want to sit down and watch The Towering Inferno for fun and just whatever.

I don't really care to watch or don't like to watch movies set in schools where students are bullied.

It's like, you know, I lived that for many years.