1970s in film was far less successful. "The Towering Inferno" teamed Steve McQueen and Paul Newman against a fire in a San Francisco skyscraper. The film cost a whopping $14 million to produce (expensive for its time), and won Academy Awards for Cinematography, Film Editing, and Best Original Song. The same year, the epic "Earthquake" featured questionable effects (camera shake and models) to achieve a destructive 9.9 earthquake in Los Angeles. Despite this, the film was one of the most successful of its time, earning $80 million at box office. By the late 1970s, the novelty had worn off and the disasters had
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.