Hollywood was notorious in the 1970's for finding out about big projects going on and rushing a "B" version of the same story out, seemingly to sabotage their rivals. With Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno" in the process of being edited, television producers rushed to get out a "B" version of the same story, taking John Forsythe to the top of the corporate ladder years before he assumed the head of a Denver based oil company on TV's "Dynasty". Like "The Towering Inferno", it is the night of a big party inside the Los Angeles based sky-scraper, and fire breaks out, trapping the unknowing guests inside. There's tons of soapy subplots and corporate intrigue to go on to fill a two-hour "Dynasty" season finale, yet that was done much better on the glamorous soap which had audiences hooked week after week throughout the 1980's.
Some of the effects are adequately done with some grizzly deaths providing shock, but with "Earthquake" already having shown similar scenes the previous year and "Inferno" about to do the same thing (much better), this tower ends up being quite unmemorable, even if there are some good performances by some familiar faces (mostly from T.V. guest appearances). The fault lies with a rushed together script that seems to have taken pre-release press sheets of "Inferno" and tossed a screenplay together faster than a fireman tosses water on flames.
Some of the effects are adequately done with some grizzly deaths providing shock, but with "Earthquake" already having shown similar scenes the previous year and "Inferno" about to do the same thing (much better), this tower ends up being quite unmemorable, even if there are some good performances by some familiar faces (mostly from T.V. guest appearances). The fault lies with a rushed together script that seems to have taken pre-release press sheets of "Inferno" and tossed a screenplay together faster than a fireman tosses water on flames.