The newly completed, 138-story “Glass Tower” dominating the skyline of San Francisco experiences electrical problems. Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) discovers that cheaper wiring has been installed. He confronts building owner James Duncan (William Holden) and demands it be replaced, but Duncan notifies him that there’s not enough time before the evening’s lavish dedication ceremony.

Guests include Doug’s girlfriend (Faye Dunaway), Duncan’s nefarious son-in-law (Richard Chamberlain), and a con man (Fred Astaire) trying to offload some fake stock certificates on a lady (Jennifer Jones). A short circuit on the 81st floor causes a fire, which goes undetected until a heroic security guard played by O.J. Simpson discovers smoke.

Battalion Chief Mike O’Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) takes command of the event. He orders Duncan to move the party to the lobby, and works with Doug to isolate the fire, criticizing him for building a structure this tall. But the blaze spreads, and traps 300 guests high atop the 135^th floor restaurant. High winds down a chopper that attempts to land on the roof, and those stuck in the disaster start running out of time.

Directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, The Towering Inferno was a historic co-production between 20^th Century Fox and Warner Bros., which had both purchased novels about burning skyscrapers, The Tower by Richard Martin Stern, and The Glass Inferno by Thomas Scortia & Frank Robinson. Allen leveraged for the studios to produce one mega-film, hiring Stirling Silliphant to adapt the script and casting the top actors of the era.

Steve McQueen was approached to play the architect, with the idea that Ernest Borgnine might play the fire chief, a character who initially appeared on only 10 pages of the script. McQueen felt the role of the architect was pasted together, but told Allen that he’d play the fire chief if “somebody of my caliber” played the architect. Paul Newman, who had just starred in The Sting and was a top box office draw, signed on opposite McQueen.

The Towering Inferno was released in December 1974, but it seems like a product of an even earlier time, with Irwin Allen a showman in the tradition of Cecil B. DeMille. Aside from the Fox/WB deal, there’s nothing cutting edge or groundbreaking about the movie at all, not in terms of production design, camera movement, sound or visual effects, making it feel even more antiquated than it actually is. Still, I was prepared to cut the movie some slack.

At 165 minutes, The Towering Inferno is occasionally entertaining, randomly bewildering, and frequently awful. The source novels were high on concept, low on story, but instead of giving the script some texture, Silliphant took seven characters from each book and pasted a script together. The dialogue is basic at best, laughable at worst. Characters lack even the most superficial quirks that might have made them interesting. I was rooting for the fire the whole way.

The building was intended to be the star, maybe? The Glass Tower is supposed to be the tallest building in the world, a world wonder, but it flunks its screen test. There are no moments where guests geek out over its design, or react with awe over being the first to tour the world class structure. Guillermin – who worked with the actors, while Allen directed the action sequences – doesn’t even summon the ability to put one interesting shot in the movie.

The best money Allen spent – $1.5 million plus 7.5% of the gross – was for Steve McQueen. From the moment he appears, we’re in great hands. McQueen knows exactly where the camera is at all times, and how to use a glance or stare to say everything. When Newman asks him over the phone who’s going to set charges on the water tanks, McQueen sighs, “Oh, they’ll find some dumb son of a bitch.” The look on his face as he leaves to save the day is priceless.

Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, The Towering Inferno was the highest grossing movie at the box office that year. McQueen became the most sought after film star in the world, but turned down offers from Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg and William Friedkin to star in their next films, mainly because he didn’t want to leave his wife Ali MacGraw for extensive location shooting outside the U.S.