The Towering Inferno

Revealing mistake: Watch carefully as the statue falls on the bartender. It barely touches his chest and rests on his left thigh. As the bartender slumps dead you can see a wide open gap between his whole upper body and the statue. Even if it crushed his thigh it would not have killed him so quickly. When the bartender slumps down the statue rocks freely as he brushes against it; obviously a styrofoam replica.

BocaDavie

The Towering Inferno mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When the security guard attempts to open the storage room door where the fire has started, he is set ablaze. Look closely, and he is wearing large protective gloves over his hands, plus a special mask. (00:38:15)

The Towering Inferno mistake picture

Revealing mistake: On the roof during the helicopter rescue scene, there is a panic and some women run to the helicopter trying to land in strong winds. As it explodes, a woman in a slinky dress falls down. Paul Newman helps her up and her dress is whisked up to reveal "stuntwoman" kneepads on her legs. (01:51:15)

Revealing mistake: When Dan Bigelow tries to save himself and his girlfriend from certain death by racing through the flames to get help, watch as he falls to his death. The stuntman portraying him is wearing a protective glove on his right hand. (01:04:40)

Revealing mistake: When Dan Bigelow is going out to get help, at one point you can see him dipping down to get ignited. (01:04:00)

Revealing mistake: When Lorrie throws the chair out the window, follow its path down. It bounces off a mat, revealing that she's about two feet off the ground. (Corrected in the BluRay release). (00:01:00)

The Towering Inferno mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Lorrie jumps out of the window, she is replaced by an obvious stuntman: Fireproof gloves appear on her hands, she is wearing a fireproof mask, and her hair is an obvious wig.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: After Dan Bigelow is killed, Lorrie goes back into the office to protect herself from the flames. When she is kneeling down in the office, you can see the fireproof pants on her legs. (01:05:00)

The Towering Inferno mistake picture

Revealing mistake: During the party, doors open and a burning man appears. He is wearing fireproof gloves, his face is covered in some dark mask and some sort of awful wig to hide all the safety procedures. He resembles a werewolf. (00:57:20)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the scenic elevator rescue scenes, the building has moved across the downtown core and is now located next to the Transamerica Pyramid, which is many city blocks to the west.

More mistakes in The Towering Inferno

Doug Roberts: I don't know. Maybe they just oughta leave it the way it is. Kind of a shrine to all the bullshit in the world.

More quotes from The Towering Inferno

Trivia: Stars Paul Newman and Steve McQueen apparently argued intensely over who should get top billing. In the end the producers settled for a compromise: reading the film poster (which is reproduced as the DVD cover) top to bottom, Paul Newman is first, i.e. higher, or "top" billing. But reading left to right, Steve McQueen is first. The same applies to their photographs either side of the main artwork, McQueen on the left but Newman (marginally) higher up. Ironically, this billing format was an issue when McQueen was considered for a role in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Eliza

More trivia for The Towering Inferno

Question: In the end after all the tower is extinguished, I wonder how the remaining people on the promenade room got back to the ground floor since the stairs have blown out, the external elevator got broken and there is no electricity for use the other elevators? Maybe they used helicopters?

Answer: Where the stairs were blown out they could have crossed over to the adjacent stairwell and back.

Answer: Exactly, the same helicopter that took Steve McQueen to the roof was most likely the one that picked everyone up.

Maybe not. A helicopter crashed on the roof, setting it on fire and destroying the helipad.

wavyedd

More questions & answers from The Towering Inferno

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