I remember seeing this in the theatre when it first came out. They actually had an intermission....Still one of the best disaster movies of all time...
Saw this movie with my Dad at the drive in. I was 15. Right at the point where they blow up the water tank, it started raining. Huge downpour. We went nuts laughing but still were so involved with the excitement of the movie. Greatest movie experience of my life. We woke everyone up when we got home, we were still so excited. Even the neighbors. Mom thought we were drunk.
The interior of the lobby was filmed partly in the then Bank of America world Headquarters building & the interior of the Hyatt Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street across from Embarcadero Center & 3 blocks from the Ferry Building.
We filmed the dedication scene around midnight. It was freezing out there on the plaza. Earlier I watched them filmed the approaching firetrucks as they came down Kearney Street from Columbus Avenue.
When Faye Dunaway is taken from the gondola at the end, theres'a a fireman that says: "Let's go." That is my uncle. He was one of many Los Angeles City firemen that were in the movie. San Francisco and Los Angeles firemen were used to make this film.
Awesome! It wouldn’t be real without real firefighters showing us their skills throughout the film! Love the film. Love the music score. Sadly it’s a film we can all relate to in this post 9-11 world now.
One of the few movies that ever gave my dad nightmares. He was terrified of fire, but having a Huey shot out from under you would do that to a person. I was nine, and I woke up hearing him yelling about fire - I thought the house was on fire. I ran out into the living room, and he was in a ball in the corner crying and shaking, with my mom trying to get him back to bed. Nobody knew about PTSD, or triggers, or we’d have never gone to see the movie. Miss you, Daddy. Please be at peace. Loved you then, love you now, love you always....
Another thanks for his service from a USAF daughter. My dad has PTSD and I do as well (I am not in service, but suffered other trauma). I truly feel this comment and had to send my love. ❤
OMG I Can't Believe Its Been Almost 50 years Ago. I Was Standing With The Film Crew And Stood In The Background And Watched ,Paul Newman, William Holden, And Many Other Stars Acting In Their Rolls. I Was Thrown Out Of The Bank Of America Lobby About 4 Times By The Same Motorcycle Cop And Kept On Sneaking Back In . I Was There For About 9 Hours And I Began To Lose Interest And I Decided To Go Home . As I Was Leaving I Noticed That There Was A Secret Scene Being Filmed In The Back Of The Parking Lot And I Was In My Glory When I Watched STEVE MCQUEEN Act On A Scene. I Am 65 Years Old Now And SAN FRANCISCO Is The Best City In The World And The Closest Second Is MONTREAL CANADA
On our last trip to San Francisco we booked in the hotel across the street from the building they used in the film. It was a wonderful surprise when I realized it was the building.
One of the best films ever.. I first saw it at the theatre.. Raced out at interval to tell our babysitter not to turn electric blankets on prior to us coming home as l was paranoid about 🔥 Fantastic cast .. Enjoying it again on Utube 47 years later .. Thank you 🔥
In 1973/74 I got my first job in Hollywood working as a second assistant film editor for a company called Javelin Films which was housed in a office building on Cahuenga Blvd West just up the street from Hanna-Barbera and across the 101 Freeway from Universal Studios. In the same offices were a collection of other ”Hollywood” shops one being Van De Veer Photo Effects run by a father and son team, Frank & Greg. I befriended Greg who I would drop by and visit on occasion. One day in the parking lot out behind the building Frank and Greg had set up a table with a model of a tall building on top of it. For a couple days they were out back torching this model (probably a couple of them) while of course filming it. Greg let me hang out while he and Dad worked their magic. It was great fun to watch and then later see on the big screen.
The magnificent Hotel Lobby looks so different without all its beautiful trees and greenery on all the floors balconies. The Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta once looked much like this one did in the movie. It was glorious with its glass elevators, trees, flowers, water features and canal in the center. Today its just a concrete lobby. So sad.
You truly are an artist, my friend. These movie companies should be thankful that you are bringing new attention to movies that are sometimes forgotten. Thanks for going through all this trouble to entertain us. Best wishes to you! Stay safe!
Went to SF recently on holiday from Melbourne, Australia with my wife. I Googled film locations for this flick on the spur of the moment and realised we were only a couple of blocks from the building's forecourt at the Bank of America. Was a blast standing in that exact spot. Got a happy snap of course.
So cool that the look of the scenic elevators hasn't changed - as of 2013, that is! I always enjoyed the scene of the elevator silently ascending the Glass Tower as it made its way to the Promenade Room. Thank you so much for sharing this!
One of the best disaster movies of all time,, even after all these years. A great list of stars and....this is when O. J. Simpson was still "The Juice".
They should edit his pathetic sorry ass out of this movie!!! What kind of a monster brutally murders the mother of his own children?!?!!! He’s not even man enough to admit that he did it!!!! He will burn in hell for all eternity for what he did!!!!!!
I was 9 the first time I saw this movie,and I had caught it in the middle. It tripped me out to see OJ Simpson acting. I had only known him as a football player - and,at the time,he was one of my favorites
My dad loved these disasters films back in the 70s and always got everyone to get dressed and headed to the theater to see them. I saw this movie when it was released in the theatres when I was very little. I don't have much memories from those very early days of my childhood but I definitely remember this movie as I sat there with my parents. I've seen the movie many times since during my life, but its experiencing that original awe in that theater that is forever burned in my memory. What a great movie.
I watched them film the fire trucks arriving sequence and was an extra in the bleachers in the ribbon cutting scene. Incredibly cold and windy on the night they filmed this.
Wow that is too cool! I just watched the film again last night and it's weird because I saw extras in that very scene and wondered where those people were today!! I saw "TI" at a sneak preview in St Louis, I still have some audience cards asking things like 'Who was your favorite character?" "What did you like most ?" etc....;) The preview audience really liked it. Great on the big screen.
My favorite character was the various building models and how they made it look so real & now there's talk of a 130 story skyscraper in SF south of Market St. Life imitating art. But seriously, my fave in this was Steve McQueen & the real hero was Holden who read the riot act to Dunaway & got her to stop showing up late for filming every day .
I was seven years old when this film came out, and it scared the living shit out of me--so much so that, to this day, my greatest fear is dying in a fire.
I remember that we had a major building fire here in São Paulo on February 1st, 1974. All the firefighters of the country were granted free tickets to see this film! More than 200 were killed that day.
This was wonderful! I don’t understand copyright garbage with movies here. You are’t selling the movie for profit. Partial movie. If anything, you make people want to go out and see or buy the entire movie again, or for the first time. I love your work here. Thank you. I hope you are never stopped again.
They're still there. They operate as perfectly as they did in the film, at The Hyatt Regency Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street, In San Francisco, It's still a very cool lobby. These elevators are silent and rise to the restaurant at the top, which used to spin 360 degrees. That mechanism broke down years ago and, unfortunately, they never fixed it!
@@bandfromtheband9445actually as of June of 2024, they fixed the mechanical motors and the top of the Hyatt Regency restaurant and it now turns again!!!!! 👍
wow this takes me back to when the whole family went to the drive in for family night. I watched the posidon adventure and this one with my family at the drive I I was 9 I think. boy I miss family night and drive-inn. thank you for that great memory.
+kevphillips02 If you watched both those movies back to back. You should almost be done with the second right about now. Those were some long movies back then.
I recall my dad bought tickets for this for the Drive-In before the movie was being shown. They were class A looking tickets with the movie poster as part of the ticket. Not those printed stubs they give out now.
I saw this movie in my country Nicaragua in the 70's in Spanish obviously .. I'm 55 now and kinda remember bits of it , it was a Great Movie with great Actors , I loved it .
my favourite film of all time . seen it loads of times over the years . i only watched it on my dvd player the other night . you know where too reach me so long Architect .
One of my favourite films of all time !! So well made, so good actors... remembering that a real fire inferno in brazil happens nearly the same time... its soooo disgusting, that with all these lessons and the final words of the fire chief some catastrophic desasters could happen, like grenfell tower or other catastrophic fires with combustable claddings and isolation material, sooo frustrating..
Living in San Francisco, I go by most these spots every week. Interesting that the Salesforce tower is now the tallest building in SF, and bears a resemblance to this fictional tower as it sticks out in its location. And I live 5 blocks from that fire station used in the film…pass it everyday. Nice job putting this together…best I’ve seen anyone do around that film!🎉😫
@UncleFred100 : Back then in 1974 San Francisco was a great city that many people would have loved to live in. Now 49 yrs later in 2023 San Francisco is a s***hole city that everyone wants to leave. How very sad indeed.
This is SO cool... We like the rendition of one our favourite movies... The split screens and how it looked in the film and in real life. The Producers and artist who put the movie together made the movie look so real and lifelike.
Watch this movie many times a year. Newman and McQueen are my favorite actors and having them both in a movie is just a special treat. Glad to find out here that they got on well together.
Not exactly - apparently there was alot of 'bitching' going on, they insisted both get the same pay, they both wanted top-billing (hence the 'diagonal billing' to keep them happy) one of them threw a Mardi when he realised the other initially had more lines of dialogue - it had to be sorted after agreement was made so they both had exactly the same lines of dialogue, basically they both saw themselves better than the other, quite pathetic really as obviously both phenomenal actors, there was no need for it. Anyway it all doesn't take away their performances! - and it's one of my favourite movies of all time
I cant remember where I saw the article but about 20-25 years ago a remake was being considered and a first draft script had been written. The location was none other than the World Trade Center towers. Needless to say the idea of a remake was never considered after 9/11.
This is my all time favorite movie. The cast is a who’s who of Hollywood bridging the gap from the old movie stars with the new ones. One of my favorite things about this film is how they make references throughout about how to fight fires, what to look for in terms of stuff being burned whether it’s toxic or not. Just a lot of info on what to do and not to do in this type of situation.
Me also! So bigbig big in everyway. The first viewing in a movie theater back in ' 75 was quite something. I've watched it multiple times and it is a real classic.
I saw this movie when it was released in theaters back in the day! A great cast, great story well done everything right down to the movie soundtrack! McQueen and Newman together were so perfect! At the end of the film the entire audience rose from there seats including I and my family! A powerful standing ovation! Godfather two was a good film, but Towering Inferno should have taken home the prize for best picture! This film was the first disaster film ever nominated in so many categories! We all know it would finally be another disaster film more than 25 years later that would garner the nominations and win the Best Picture Award....
What a movie this is, probably the most mega star's in one film, the rivalry between McQueen and Newman was there to see, McQueen was offered the Newman part but he declined it saying it's not exciting enough, he wanted the fire chief role, so poor Ernest Borgmain lost his part. Probably the best disaster film ever. Such a shame that most of these actors have passed on.
Enjoyed watching this clip. I visited a few places where they filmed while I was on holiday in San Francisco. I was 11 years old when my mom took me to see this picture at the cinema. To this day it is still my favorite picture of all time. I have an original framed movie poster hanging in my lounge room. Awesome movie. Know it word for word !!
Está película me la llevo a ver mi padre cuando tenía 11 años me encantó la vi varias veces hasta en la escuela primaria en manualidades hice una maqueta del la torre es una película que ya quedó en la historia grande de Hollywood más las grandes estrellas que actúan aunque Steven Queen se roba toda la película como el jefe de bomberos hace unos años los coreanos del sur hicieron una copia llamada la torre ahora a mis 58 años la tengo en DVD además de la banda sonora exelente
Beautifully, BEAUTIFULLY done, sir!! 8^D I always wanted to do this when I lived in S.F., but never got the chance! For those of you who don't know the back story, this film was a collaboration by _two different_ studios - one of the first time that had ever happened - because each had purchased different properties on the same subject and didn't want to compete in the marketplace. Those books were written by different authors, but based on the same idea…that a monstrous skyscraper might one day prove to be a death trap to thousands. The inspiration for _both_ books? The self-same event: the erection of the World Trade Center in New York City. How's that for eerie? ;^/
Great movie, packed a punch like the Poseidon Adventure. I don't remember Paul Newman's character imploring the survivors to get out of the building before it collapsed into its own footprint..
Thank you for putting this up. The Towering Inferno terrified me for years about going into tall buildings. But with you RU-vids like yours I realize it was just all Hollywood magic. Thank you again.
Can't believe that RU-vid would still hold that copyright junkk over you... it's been longer than I been on this earth since this movie came out and they are still worried abour copyrights.!? One look at your work and they would certainly have to reconsider their motives. You add to the wonder of every movie you cover... in a nutshell, you are a credit/bonus and tribute to their work.
I was 13 & saw this by myself in the theatre. There were so many famous actors in this one along with the Brady Bunch kid who was the same age as me. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting to see the buildings today.
Very well done. Awesome!! However the fire station used in the film was SFFD Station 38 at 2150 California St., San Francisco. What a great video though. Towering Inferno is one of my all time favorites!! I went to the special screening with my brother in Burbank, California around mid to late 2000 and was able to meet some of the actors. I am a Fireman, so meeting Ernie Orsatti and Felton Perry was great!! We also met the beautiful Carlena Gower who played little Angela.
I'll bet the scene where they are racing to the fire and figuring out what building it is was one of the reasons you became a fireman. This film is so epic. Not like the garbage they make today.
This one of the best and most gripping disaster film in my lifetime. It caused quite a bit discussion on building codes in that era. The cast was unusually appreciative tobe working on such a major production and PAUL NEWMAN STEVE McQUEEN WILLIAM HOLDEN added major star power. Such great action scenes
Does that film bring back memories indeed. It was from that movie and the TV show Emergency and Adal 12, I joined the NYPD, became a volunteer firefighter and EMT. I am retired after 32 years of service. I am sure I was not the only kid that got hooked on the Emergency Services. Great job !!!
I saw this in the theater while I was in the Navy. I remember when the navy helicopters showed up there were lots of cheering going on because the helicopters shown were our sister Huey outfit.
This film featured so many Hollywood stars. The original soundtrack was the very first one I purchased back in 1974. I loved the music. It's still my favorite John Williams score.
Outstanding! I love the then-now comparison, how it shows the continuum in which we live: things changing yet the same--sometimes! May sound odd but you can get the same effect in the 1980's historical novel "...And Ladies of the Club" by Helen Hooven Santmeyer. The list of club members is shown through the years, current member names gradually become "In Memoriam" names as new names through the decades replace them. Same club, same ladies and in different phases of their lives until death; new, younger members join the club during these changes and events and eventually become the older members themselves.
1 of the greatest movies ever made . it happens too be my favourite film of all time . i wish i could see it again in the cinema 1 more time . i could talk for ages about the film
Im a big IRWIN ALLEN FAN.. He was a perfectionist in all he done plus the studios always fighting him with his movies. He demands excellence and always got it.
"Casualties of life"; something like that happened in an hotel of Puerto Rico the last night of 1986. It happened in n exclusive tourist area of the island. Many deaths and sorrows.RIP. It was awful. Is one of the more tragical page of our history.
Its eerie to watch William Holden saying “All we can do now is pray to God they can stop this from ever happening again!” Only to see the unimaginable happen 27 years later.
Herve, I am very impressed by your attention to detail. It's fascinating and kind of eerie to see these filming locations as they appeared in the movie decades ago and comparing them to today in more mundane times.
Great job!! It would be so nice to see this movie re-released in full def. Old timers can reminisce and 'young-uns' can appreciate it with some actors of yesteryear. :))!
Irwin Allen, known as the Master of Disaster, these films utilized real stunts, real special FX, No CG. The seventies, when movie plots were made to stand the test of time, even today those who see them for the first time, speak of his work with reverence. The names of actors/actresses you knew had true talent, names you could associate with ,speak of as this generation of actors/actresses are now fading away in time. Disaster films of the 1970's had audiences waiting with curiosity for next blockbuster trailer, being teased with wonder and impatience of the next movie to debut.
