Lary Crews ©

Me too, Tobie!

You are absolutely right.

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In the 70’s, we turned to escapist entertainment. We go to disaster movies to face and escape greater fears. Hollywood simply rediscovered a dependable old genre and reinvigorated it with millions of bucks and lots of big-name stars.
Throw stars and money at them, and they deliver.

If McQueen below and Newman above hadn’t been able to talk to each other, the story would have run into some problems. As it is, they develop a camaraderie under fire, and at the end exchange some pointed comments on high-rises in general.

We do not lose track of the various characters.
Paul Newman’s successful journey up and down a blasted-out stairwell to save a woman and two kids; the black-tie crowd waiting to be rescued in the 135th-floor restaurant, the business of saving a dozen people trapped in the outside elevator.

The details of the fire are convincing; the explosions, the wreckage, the bombed-out inside fire escapes all look real. The Towering Inferno is a masterpiece of stunt co-ordination and special effects.

The original fire spreads, more electrical equipment malfunctions, gas leaks explode and in no time the tower is a mass of flames.
Steve McQueen is the fire chief, calm, cool and courageous, even when he and a lot of his men are trapped above the blaze.

The building has been designed by architect Paul Newman, constructed by builder William Holden and sabotaged by the cost-cutting of his son-in-law, Richard Chamberlain. The building has a state-of-the-art central communications and security system, but half the equipment doesn’t work.

The story involves a San Francisco skyscraper, which, through carefully constructed models and realistic special-effects photography, looks genuine.
The principals arrive at the building for a dedication party in the top floor restaurant, but a generator shorts out and a small fire begins.

The Towering Inferno (1974) is a brawny blockbuster of a movie, by far the best of the mid-1970s wave of disaster films. It’s an example of Hollywood commercial moviemaking at its finest.
It’s also a movie to make me happy I don’t live in a high-rise.

You are so right

To Live And Die in LA

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I like movies that have researched their subject and contain a lot of information in between the big dramatic scenes. This film knows a lot about counterfeiting and explains it. The film is about two systems of doing business, and how one finds a way to change itself in order to defeat the other.

The rest of the movie is also first-rate. The central performance is by William L. Petersen, who comes across as tough, wiry and smart. Another strong performance in the movie is by Willem Dafoe as the counterfeiter, cool and professional as he discusses the realities of his business.

The plot revolves around friendship, loyalty, arrogance, and anger. The great chase sequence isn’t just a novelty. It’s part of the plot. The Secret Service agents bungle their crime, the cops come in pursuit, and the chase unfolds in a long, dazzling ballet of timing, speed and imagination.

Richard Chance (William L. Petersen), the hot- dog special agent who’s the hero of the movie, sets up a dangerous plan to steal the advance money from another crook and use it to buy the bogus paper and bust the counterfeiter. Neat.

The chase goes the wrong way down the freeway. There are high-angle shots of the chase during which you can look a long way ahead and see hundreds of cars across four lanes, all heading for the escape car, which is aimed at them, full speed. It is an amazing sequence.

To Live and Die in LA (1985) is about Secret Service agents who are on the trail of a counterfeiter who has eluded the law for years, and who flaunts his success.
Obviously it is set in Los Angeles and the chase centers on the freeway system.

I'm so glad you saw it!

That's certainly true! I'm glad for all the cameras.

The Conversation (1974)

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But you can find them.

David Shire’s soulfully jazz ridden dissonant score drifting in and out of the lonely locations. It’s one of Coppola’s most dense, yet tightest creations. The film converses in browns and greys, much like Hackman’s wardrobe.

Believing from what he hears on the recording that there may be a plot to murder the couple he grows paranoid about being surveilled himself. Caul's obsession intensifies, leading to a breakdown of his personal life: he is also haunted by a death caused by his work on an earlier case.

Caul grapples with ethical dilemmas as he navigates the murky world of his profession. As he edits his tape, he worries that he is being used for purposes other than mere surveillance, eventually refusing to hand over his work to the Director's underling Martin Stett (Harrison Ford).

The Conversation follows Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a skilled private surveillance expert. He is tasked by a shadowy client with the difficult job of recording the conversation of a couple walking around the bustling Union Square in San Francisco, meticulously taping what he suspects is an affair.