The supporting cast included Fred Astaire (Funny Face), Susan Blakely (Rich Man, Poor Man), Richard Chamberlain (The Thorn Birds), Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette), O.J. Simpson (professional football player, Capricorn One), Robert Vaughn (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), and Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart). The music was by John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars).
The world premiere of The Towering Inferno was held December 16th, 1974, at Avco Center in Los Angeles, followed by staggered regional premieres and openings in the days and weeks thereafter, including higher-quality 70mm six-track stereophonic sound presentations in some high-profile markets. Inferno went on to become (retroactively) the most successful film released during 1974, with industry gold standard Variety reporting that at its peak the movie was the sixth most successful of all time. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture), winning three: Best Song (“We May Never Love Like This Again”), Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.
For the occasion of the film’s recent anniversary, The Bits reached out to Nat Segaloff to discuss the popularity and legacy of The Towering Inferno.
Nat Segaloff is the author of More Fire! The Building of The Towering Inferno: A 50th Anniversary Explosion (2023, BearManor) and over a dozen others. Segaloff has worked as a writer covering the film industry (for The Boston Herald), as a publicist (for Columbia, Twentieth Century-Fox and United Artists), and as a teacher (at Boston College and Boston University). Among his other film and television books are The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear (2023, Citadel), Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Century of Scarface (2023, Citadel), Breaking the Code: Otto Preminger vs. Hollywood’s Censors (2023, Applause), Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop: The Team That Changed Children’s Television (with Mallory Lewis; 2022, University Press of Kentucky), Big Bad John: The John Milius Interviews (2021, BearManor), Arthur Penn: American Director (2020, BearManor), A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison (2017, NESFA; second edition 2022, Sheridan), Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God (2013, BearManor), and Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin (1990, William Morrow and Co). His novels include The Town That Said No (2022, BearManor) and Guarding Gable (2019, BearManor). His website is natsegaloff.com.
Nat was one of the original publicists on The Towering Inferno in 1974. He saved his notes and wrote the book More Fire! The Building of The Towering Inferno: A 50th Anniversary Explosion published in hardcover, softcover, and e-book from BearManor Media and as an audiobook (which he reads himself) on Audible and on CD from Blackstone Audio.
Michael Coate (The Digital Bits): How do you think The Towering Inferno should be remembered on its 50th Anniversary?
Nat Segaloff: It is very simply the greatest disaster movie ever made—the biggest, the most star-studded, and the most spectacular. It also holds a special place in the hearts of many from the seventies generation for emotional reasons that may have been deeper than the film itself. It was pure entertainment, albeit tinged with a spark of reality, in an era of social and political confusion, and I think it stands out as an oasis of escapism.
The Digital Bits: What was your first impression of The Towering Inferno?
Segaloff: I had been doing local publicity in Boston for four years, and Inferno was my chance to work for a major studio, to join the Publicists Guild, and to travel to set up interviews, screenings, promotions, etc. For a twenty-five-year-old it was the Hollywood Big Time. In other words, the movie was secondary to my ambitions. I first saw it at a studio sneak preview at the Showcase Cinemas in Hartford, Connecticut. I remember it because I had to schlep the sole existing print from Boston, where the studio had sent it, by hand on an airplane. The plane got fogged in so we transferred to a bus (which I could have taken in the first place had I known), and we—the print and I—barely made it by showtime. Irwin Allen, the film’s producer, was waiting for me. His previous film, The Poseidon Adventure, had grossed $125 million so I guess he felt Nature would defer to him. The best part of the evening for me was when I got to show John Williams, the composer, to a seat in the reserved section.
The Digital Bits: Any thoughts on John Guillermin as the film’s director? The cast?
Segaloff: The film had two directors. John Guillermin handled the dramatic scenes with aplomb considering the egos he had to deal with, Irwin Allen being one of them. Allen directed the action scenes, and various other people such as stunt coordinator Paul Stader and effects expert A.D. Flowers staged the dangerous fire scenes. The cast was a combination of then-current A-list stars such as Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, and Faye Dunaway peppered with stars of another generation such as Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, and Robert Wagner. The former were for the pubic, the latter were for Irwin, who was a total movie fan.
The Digital Bits: Why was the film a two-studio co-production?
Segaloff: By coincidence two books about high-rise fires were published at about the same time: The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. Warner Bros. had bought one and Twentieth Century-Fox had bought the other. It was clear that each film would cost a fortune to make—in those days the average studio film was three or four million, and this would be four times that—and competition might have doomed both of them. By chance, Ted Ashley, who headed Warner Bros., was playing tennis with Gordon Stulberg, the head of Fox, and somewhere during the sets they agreed to co-produce a single movie combining both books financed by both studios. Fox would distribute the film in North America and Warners would get it for the rest of the world. How Irwin Allen pushed the Warner Bros. producers aside is a great story that I tell in my book but not here.
The Digital Bits: How does the movie compare to the source material?
Segaloff: It fell to Stirling Silliphant, who had co-written Poseidon, to blend both books into one script. I’m Stirling’s biographer (The Fingers of God, BearManor Media) and Stirling insisted to me that he only read one of the books and forgot which one it was. In fact, when I pored through his papers after his death (I curated them) I discovered his massive research—yes, from both books, and also speaking to firefighting experts nationwide. Stirling used the best of both books, choosing characters and situations that worked, cutting away the fat and most of the subplots. He did an amazing job considering that he was contractually obligated to allot an equal number of lines to each star, so there wasn’t much room for nuance.
The Digital Bits: Where do you think The Towering Inferno ranks among 1970s era disaster movies?
Segaloff: As I said, it was the biggest and the best. Unfortunately for Irwin Allen, it wasn’t the last. He had no way of knowing that it would cap his career. This is why my book is as much about Irwin Allen as it is about disaster films. It’s also about fire in movies and a lot of small studies ala DVD special features.
The Digital Bits: What compelled you to write your book about the making of The Towering Inferno?
Nat Segaloff: Money, Michael. I thought BearManor and I could make some bucks from the notes I had been saving for half a century. We published the book a year early in 2023 to short-circuit any competition, and it must have worked because here we are alone in the marketplace. It was also a pleasure being able to tell all the inside stories I heard from people at the time and to pay tribute to some folks, many no longer with us, who shaped my love of movies.
The Digital Bits: How would you describe The Towering Inferno to someone who has never seen it?
Segaloff: It’s a thrilling film but also a relic of its era. What invisibly impresses today’s first-time viewers is that it was made before CGI, so all the fire and water effects on the screen are real. Astonishingly, no one got hurt despite the immense number of stunts and actual dangers. What you see is quite literally what they all got done to them. Plus a huge number of remarkable stunt performers.
The Digital Bits: Would you have liked to have seen issued this year a 50th anniversary deluxe home media release (4K, new value-added material, etc.)?
Segaloff: Nah, the special edition DVD from 2003 is good enough for me. At my age I can’t tell the difference between 4K and Blu-ray anyway.
The Digital Bits: What do you think is the legacy of The Towering Inferno?
Segaloff: Of equal, if not greater, importance than the film itself is that it generated discussion across the country about high-rise fire safety. Laws were changed in several cities, and fire codes were upgraded to reflect raised awareness. I’m prouder of any tiny part I had in fostering those discussions than anything I did in drawing people to buy tickets. I also got an honorary membership in the IAFF (International Association of Firefighters), the firefighters union.
The Digital Bits: Thank you, Nat, for sharing your thoughts about The Towering Inferno on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
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Special Thanks:
Sheldon Hall. Nat Segaloff photographed by Liane Brandon. Cover art and book design by Robbie Adkins (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
-Michael Coate
Michael Coate can be reached via e-mail through this link. (You can also follow Michael on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
