The Towering Inferno The Towering Inferno The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American drama disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. The picture was directed by John Guillermin. A co-production between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., it was the first film to be a joint venture by two major Hollywood studios. It was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from a pair of novels, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. The film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture
The Glass Inferno continues as it shows the efforts of other residents of the building - including the brave Lisolette - attempting to escape the flames, some successful, some not. Eventually a number of people end up in the penthouse restaurant of the building, where they are trapped and unable to get down. They are eventually rescued successfully by helicopter. The fire is eventually put out by blowing up water tanks below the roof of the building, which causes the water to drown the fire. The Glass Inferno The Glass Inferno is a 1974 novel by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson.