The Towering Inferno is one of the greatest disaster pictures made, a personal and professional triumph for producer Irwin Allen.
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The fun of watching The Towering Inferno is in figuring out which old star Allen is going to indiscriminately kill off, as well as watching ultramodern décor go up in flames while a bunch of stubborn egotists refuse to listen to reasonable men.
Movies like The Towering Inferno appear to have been less directed than physically constructed. This one is overwrought and silly in its personal drama, but the visual spectacle is first rate. You may not come out of the theater with any important ideas about American architecture or enterprise, but you will have had a vivid, completely safe nightmare.
70
Time Out
Time Out
This is the disaster film which set the style for the genre in the decade to come.
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
As the bland, star-laden drama gets swallowed by fiery special-effects setpieces, it feels like one type of big-budget mediocrity giving way to the next.