The Great Flame-Out

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

THE TOWERING INFERNO

Directed by JOHN GUILLERMIN

Screenplay by STERLING SILLIPHANT

Among disaster films, The Towering Inferno is the superepic. Based on not one but two bad novels, featuring four stars above the title instead of just one and having several scarcely less important figures (Jennifer Jones, Fred Astaire, O.J. Simpson) among the supporting players, it required an unprecedented combination of two major companies (Fox and Warner Bros.) to produce. Merely to turn out a single skyscraper they conspicuously consumed twice the amount that Universal spent to destroy all of Los Angeles in Earthquake. That near-crash of a 747 in Airport 75 is not even in the same league, fiscally speaking.

This additional expense resulted in only marginally better taste. To be sure, the special effects are more persuasive than those of the other two films. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman bring authoritative dash to their work as, respectively, the fire captain and the architect who combine their charisma to minimize loss of life when the world's tallest building goes up in flames. Faye Dunaway provides the film's highest moments of suspense by nearly falling out of the damnedest dress you ever saw on several occasions. But looked at from an accountant's point of view--the only sensible one for pictures of this sort these increments are minuscule considering the crowded disaster market.

The problem here, as in Earthquake, is that the scriptwriters feel obligated to fritter away time on people's banal problems. Bad marriages and love affairs naturally come apart, good ones grow better as the flames leap higher. Obvious cheaters and other meanies (the fire started because Builder Holden skimped on Architect Newman's safety specifications) get their comeuppance, while individuals of quiet integrity win a chance to prove their virtue.

There being no hope, apparently, of intelligent drama within the confines of this suddenly popular form, one would settle for a good how-to movie. The actors might as well be giving us some odd or useful information instead of straight-face lines like "Did you leave a cigarette burning?" as clouds of smoke roll into a room. It would be interesting to know, for instance, why the fire develops in such an erratic manner, hitting some floors brutally, then skipping ten or 20 before breaking out again. One would like to learn, as well, the larger strategic considerations that enter into Fireman McQueen's tactical decisions --all totally unexplained--or see some accurate demonstrations of the latest firefighting techniques.

Finally, if the film makers go to the trouble of recruiting Astaire and Simpson, why not work out action that would permit these masters of movement to show an affinity that spans professions and generations instead of having them just stare stupidly at each other?

At the end of the film, after the last flame has been doused, Paul Newman surveys the ruined hulk of his skyscraper. He suggests allowing it to stand as "a monument to all the bullshit" of our age. Probably The Towering Inferno should be placed on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian for the same reason.

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