A big Hollywood blockbuster disaster film about a fire breaking out in a state-of-the-art skyscraper.
Paul Newman (the architect) and
Steve McQueen (the chief fireman) lead an all-star cast that includes Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain,
Faye Dunaway, William Holden, O.J. Simpson,
Robert Vaughn and Robert Wagner.
At 165 minutes it’s long indeed, but surprisingly it doesn’t feel slow or laboured. I last saw it as a child and I enjoyed it then, which wouldn’t have been the case if it was a stodgy, ponderous epic.
In places it’s trashy, and there were a few unintentionally funny moments. But there was also real drama and tension. At times it was truly horrifying – such as when Jennifer Jones falls out of the exterior lift and then bounces off the sides on the building on her way down.
The cast is strong. Paul Newman makes for a very likeable hero and manages to rise above the material he’s given. Faye Dunaway does the same, with a cool, restrained intelligence. Richard Chamberlain is just right as the edgy, selfish electrical engineer and son-in-law of the builder. You know it’s not going to end well for him and sure enough he comes to a sticky end.
Only Fred Astaire – playing a doddery old conman who unexpectedly falls in love – seems wrong for his role. He loses the woman but inherits her cat, which O.J. Simpson has kindly rescued.
I’m not sure this film could have been made now, post-9/11 and post-Grenfell Tower. Intriguingly, it’s adapted from
two novels (with both plots and climaxes woven together), but although it’s a work of fiction there’s a dedication at the beginning to all the real-life firemen who died in the course of their duties.
