Reviews

The Towering Inferno Blu-ray Disc Review

By brenden ⋅ July 13, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974, Blu-ray released July 14, 2009 - MSRP $34.98)

I’m not a disaster movie kind of guy. I’ve been dreading the day that I’d have to sit down with one of these films and look at it with a critical eye. Imagine my surprise when The Towering Inferno kept me interested for it’s entire 2 hour, 45 minute runtime!

I’m going to be honest with you here and tell you that there’s not a whole lot of story in this film. I’m sure this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. This movie is simply a special-effects extravaganza. Cinematic disaster-candy. It’s all about the fire. And the copious amount of FX-based special features on the Blu-ray disc support that. What we get in The Towering Inferno is a collection of people, gathered in a newly completed, bajillion-floor office tower (the world’s biggest, apparently) for it’s opening night party. But Paul Newman, the architect of the thing, having just returned from a couple of years fighting bears in the woods, has discovered that the builders have done their work on the cheap (Contractors taking shortcuts on a big job? I don’t believe it…) And now, as a result of not being built to spec, there’s a danger of disaster. And guess what happens when everyone shows up to party?

Famed producer/director Irwin Allen, fresh off the success of his film The Poseidon Adventure and director John Guillerman don’t waste any time fanning the flames and putting the party-goers in peril. It’s at this point that Steve McQueen, the heroic fire chief arrives to save the day. And this is why this movie succeeds for me. I can’t get enough of McQueen. This film may be star-studded but goddamn, the combination of Newman and McQueen just makes it electric. Anytime the camera moves away from them to focus on smarmy Richard Chamberlain, big-boss William Holden or con-man, Fred Astaire I find myself dreaming of Bullit or Butch and Sundance or wondering if I’ve got any new email messages or just nodding off to sleep. But McQueen and Newman make this film come alive. I also found Faye Dunaway in her low, low, low cut, revealing dress quite…attention grabbing. Seriously though, she’s always great. She plays Newman’s girlfriend and does her best to bring the emotional resonance. Like that really matters here. Did I mention Steve McQueen fights fires in this movie? McQueen. Yeah…That’s right…

The Towering Inferno comes to Blu-ray disc in a transfer that looks to my eyes like a spruced up version of the 2006 Special Edition DVD. My guess? The film was transfered in HD with an eye towards creating the finest DVD presentation possible at the time and the potential of having a master to use for later mediums. As we’ve seen time and again on a lot of these discs, those older transfers just aren’t quite good enough for Blu-ray. And that’s what The Towering Inferno looks like to me: a soft, over-processed transfer of a 1974 film.

The good news is that the Blu-ray is packed with extra features, really giving you your monies worth out of your purchase. Everything you’ll find here is a direct port from the DVD and presented in standard def, so don’t expect any dazzling visuals on your big screen. But there is a ton of information to take in. The commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney (yeah, that’s really his name), while a bit dry, is particularly informative. This guys knows his stuff! My only wish is that Fox would have offered a “Play All” option for the featurettes. I always find it a pain in the ass to play one after the other, especially when some of them only clock in at around 5 minutes.

For a full list of special features on The Towering Inferno Blu-ray disc, read our complete run-down here.

Tags: Faye Dunaway, Fox, Irwin Allen, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, The Towering Inferno