A huge glass tower block, touted as the tallest building in the world, bursts into flame on its opening night. An all-star cast includes Steve McQueen as Michael O'Hallorhan, the fire chief determined to get the blaze under control, while Paul Newman stars as embarrassed architect Doug Roberts, trapped inside with fellow guests Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain and Robert Wagner. 'The Towering Inferno' became the biggest of the Seventies cycle of disaster movies, which began four years earlier with 'Airport'. From  Disaster movies used to work because there was little certainty as to who would survive. Not so in this film, really an amalgam of two original stories, about a group of well-to-do celebrants at the top floor of a skyscraper. Cheapo electrical wiring and bad construction management cause an enormous blaze at the lower floors, steadily rising to consume the revellers. Newman's an architect, McQueen a firefighter and Fred Astaire a kind old gentleman, for which he was Oscar-nominated. OJ Simpson plays a security guard who rescues a cat. Now that's a disaster. -- Keith Simanton,  Synopsis A horrible fire engulfs the world's largest skyscraper trapping a groupof people on the top floor. Winner of 3 Academy Awards. From the Back Cover The world's tallest building is skyscraping testimony to ingenuity and innovation. In the hands of "Master Of Disaster" film producer Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure), it's also the world's tallest matchstick. An all-star cast gathers for this tall story of loft dimensions: eight Academy Award Nominations and three Oscars. On the night of the building's dedication, fire errupts, trapping people on the upper floors...and igniting multiple tales of heroism and loss involving a firfighter (Steve McQueen), an architect (Paul Newman)and others caught in the steel-and-glass inferno. With star power, pyrotechnics and suspence in abundance, The Towering Inferno sizzled at box-offices worldwide.