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
Dabney Coleman his career included a US Olympic skiing team coach in the 1969 "Downhill Racer", a high-ranking fire chief in "The Towering Inferno" (1974), and a wealthy Westerner in "Bite the Bullet" (1975). He portrayed an FBI agent in "" (1975). He landed the main antagonist part of Franklin Hart, Jr., a sexist boss on whom three female office employees get their revenge in 1980's "Nine to Five". It was this film that established Coleman in the character type he is most identified with and has frequently played since - a comic relief villain. Coleman followed "Nine to Five" with the