Nominee
I think two things I value most in great films are their timelessness and exceptional special effects. However these two forces are constantly at odds with each other, for although the effects may have been extraordinary for their time they later have a tendency to date the film. I mean, even films from a decade ago now look, well, old. Don't get me wrong films can overcome this dating issue by their sheer impact on the industry or cultural scope. (Think King Kong (1933) or Lord of the Rings) However, this particular film does not achieve that, which is unfortunate because it had a lot of potential.
Take for instance the cast: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Fred Astaire, just to name a few. I was floored when I saw this line up by the sheer magnitude of what they could accomplish. Not to mention the film is scored by John Williams! Perhaps all this good karma was negated by the suspicious number of wife murders also in the cast (OJ Simpson and Robert Wagner, I am looking at you). But more likely it probably was the horrible script writing, coupled with the a 165 minute run time.
Ultimately, the film turns into a nearly three hour advertisement for what not to do in a fire while in a skyscraper. The dialogue is stilted and underdeveloped making the characters, well, stilted and underdeveloped. And when these flat melodramatic characters haven't garnered your empathy their deaths end up laughable.
I do applaud the film for the spectacle it must have been for the time, but this was the same year as Godfather: Part II, and Chinatown, I expect complexity and intriguing plot lines.
Overall: As my sister said: "This film could probably be used in schools as a prolonged advertisement for fire safety." But, as long as you know to stop, drop and roll, and that you are supposed to leave a building when the fire chief tells you, feel free to skip this one.
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