Editing The Towering Inferno (section)

==Production==
===Development===
In April 1973, it was announced that [[Warner Bros.]] production chief [[John Calley]] paid $350,000 for the rights to [[Richard Martin Stern]]'s ''[[The Tower (Stern novel)|The Tower]]'', prior to that book's publication.<ref>Son of 'Seagull'?: Son of 'Seagull'? AFTER "GODSPELL" SELECTED SHORTS I DISMEMBER MAMA?
By A. H. WEILER. New York Times 1 Apr 1973: 163.</ref><ref>Movies Vie, in 6 Figures, for Best Sellers: A Homespun Pair Time-Proven Subjects
By ERIC PACE. New York Times 11 July 1973: 47.</ref> This amount was larger than originally reported. The book had been the subject of a bidding war between Warner Bros., [[20th Century Fox]] and [[Columbia Pictures]]; Columbia dropped out when the price reached $200,000 and Warner Bros. offered $390,000. [[Irwin Allen]], who recently had a big success with a disaster movie, ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'', was at Fox, and persuaded that studio to make a higher offer when the book was sold to Warner Bros.<ref name="new">A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fire
By ALJEAN HARMETZ. New York Times 18 Nov 1973: 157.</ref>

Eight weeks later, Fox was submitted a novel, [[Thomas N. Scortia]] and [[Frank M. Robinson]]'s ''[[The Glass Inferno]]'', which was published the following year, and which Allen says had "the same sort of characters, the same locale, the same story, the same conclusion". They bought the novel for a reported fee of $400,000.<ref name="new"/>

Allen was concerned that two films about a tall building on fire might cannibalize each other, remembering what happened in the 1960s when rival biopics about [[Oscar Wilde]] (with ''[[Oscar Wilde (film)|Oscar Wilde]]'' and ''[[The Trials of Oscar Wilde]]'' in 1960) and [[Jean Harlow]] (with Magna Media Distribution's ''[[Harlow (Magna film)|Harlow]]'' and [[Paramount Pictures]]'s ''[[Harlow (Paramount film)|Harlow]]'' in 1965) were released.<ref name="new"/> He convinced executives at both studios to join forces to make a single film on the subject. The studios issued a joint press release announcing the single film collaboration in October 1973.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/towering-inferno/review/|title=The Towering Inferno|last=Collins|first=Andrew|date=2000-01-01|website=Empire|language=en|access-date=2019-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323141346/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/towering-inferno/review/|archive-date=March 23, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Stirling Silliphant, who had written ''The Poseidon Adventure'', would write the script and Allen would produce.<ref>Major Firms Will Produce Film Jointly
Los Angeles Times 10 Oct 1973: f15.</ref> It was decided to split costs equally between the studios, but the film would be made at Fox, where Allen was based. Fox would distribute in the United States and Canada, and Warner Bros. outside those territories. Warner Bros. also handled the worldwide television distribution rights. Incidents and character names were taken from both novels.<ref name="new"/>

The total cost for the film was US$14,300,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetoweringinferno.info/prod.html|title=production|website=www.thetoweringinferno.info|access-date=May 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206012955/http://www.thetoweringinferno.info/prod.html|archive-date=February 6, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Casting===
Several actors who appeared in small roles, including [[John Crawford (actor)|John Crawford]], Erik Nelson, [[Elizabeth Rogers]], Ernie Orsatti and [[Sheila Matthews Allen|Sheila Matthews]] (Allen's wife) had previously appeared in ''The Poseidon Adventure'', which Allen also produced. Additionally, [[Paul Newman]]'s son, [[Scott Newman (actor)|Scott]], played the [[acrophobia|acrophobic]] fireman afraid to rappel down the elevator shaft.

Lead actors [[Steve McQueen]] and Paul Newman were each paid $1{{spaces}}million.<ref>Crisis King Casts Another Peril: Movies King of the Crises Casts Another Peril Warga, Wayne. Los Angeles Times 21 July 1974: t1.</ref>

Although famed for his dancing and singing in musical movies, [[Fred Astaire]] received his only [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nomination for this film.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Bill |title=Hollywood Flashback: The Biggest Stars Battled a 'Towering Inferno' in 1974 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/biggest-stars-battled-a-towering-inferno-1974-1125708 |access-date=March 28, 2019 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=July 12, 2018 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328224659/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/biggest-stars-battled-a-towering-inferno-1974-1125708 |archive-date=March 28, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> He also won both a [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role|BAFTA Award]] and a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Golden Globe Award]] for his performance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levinson |first1=Peter |title=Puttin' On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography |date=2015 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9781250091499 |pages=371–372 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBfVCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 |language=en |access-date=November 24, 2016 |archive-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424214514/https://books.google.com/books?id=GBfVCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA371 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Filming===
[[Principal photography]] took place over 14 weeks. Guillermin says that Newman and McQueen were very good to work with, and added considerably to their roles.<ref name="star">{{cite magazine|magazine=Starlog|title=Lord of Disaster|first=Lowell|last=Goldman|date=November 1990|page=60|url=https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-160/page/n60/mode/1up?q=toreadors+guillermin}}</ref>

===Music===
The score was composed and conducted by [[John Williams]], orchestrated by [[Herbert W. Spencer]] and Al Woodbury, and recorded at the 20th Century Fox scoring stage October 31 and November 4, 7 and 11, 1973. The original recording engineer was Ted Keep.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/9249033-John-Williams-The-Towering-Inferno-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack|title=The Towering Inferno (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)}}</ref>

Source music in portions of the film includes instrumental versions of "[[Again (1949 song)|Again]]" by [[Lionel Newman]] and [[Dorcas Cochran]], "[[You Make Me Feel So Young]]" by [[Josef Myrow]] and [[Mack Gordon]], and "[[The More I See You]]" by [[Harry Warren]] and Mack Gordon.{{sfn|Eldridge|Williams|2001|page=13}}

A snippet of a cue from Williams' score to ''[[Cinderella Liberty]]'', entitled "Maggie Shoots Pool", is heard in a scene in which William Holden's character converses on the phone with Paul Newman's character. It is not the recording on the soundtrack album, but a newer arrangement recorded for ''The Towering Inferno''.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

One of the most sought-after unreleased music cues from the film is the one in which Williams provides low-key lounge music during a party prior to the announcement of a fire. O'Hallorhan orders Duncan to evacuate the party; the music becomes louder as Lisolette and Harlee are seen dancing and Duncan lectures son-in-law Roger. Entitled "The Promenade Room" on the conductor's cue sheet, the track features a ragged ending, as Duncan asks the house band to stop playing. Because of this, ''[[Film Score Monthly]]'' did not add this cue to the expanded soundtrack album.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The Academy Award-winning song, "[[We May Never Love Like This Again]]", was composed by [[Al Kasha]] and [[Joel Hirschhorn]], and performed by [[Maureen McGovern]], who appears in a cameo as a lounge singer, and on the score's soundtrack album, which features the film recording, plus the commercially released single version. Additionally, the theme tune is interpolated into the film's underscore by Williams. The song's writers collaborated on "[[The Morning After (Maureen McGovern song)|The Morning After]]" from ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'', an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]]-winning song that was also recorded by McGovern, although hers was not the vocal used in that film.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The first release of portions of the score from ''The Towering Inferno'' was issued by [[Warner Records|Warner Bros. Records]] in early 1975 (Catalog No. BS-2840).

# "Main Title" (5:00)
# "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
# "Lisolette And Harlee" (2:34)
# "Something For Susan" (2:42)
# "Trapped Lovers" (4:28)
# "[[We May Never Love Like This Again]]" – Kasha/Hirschhorn, performed by Maureen McGovern (2:11)
# "Susan And Doug" (2:30)
# "The Helicopter Explosion" (2:50)
# "Planting The Charges – And Finale" (10:17)

A near-complete release was issued on the [[Film Score Monthly]] label April 1, 2001, and was produced by Lukas Kendall and Nick Redman. Film Score Monthly's was an almost completely expanded version, remixed from album masters at Warner Bros. archives and the multi-track 35mm magnetic film stems at 20th Century Fox. Placed into chronological order and restoring action cues, it became one of the company's biggest sellers; only 4,000 copies were pressed, and it is now out of print.

Reports that this soundtrack and that of the film ''[[Earthquake (1974 film)|Earthquake]]'', also composed by Williams, borrowed cues from each other are inaccurate. The version of "Main Title" on the Film Score Monthly disc is the film version. It differs from the original soundtrack album version. There is a different balance of instruments in two spots, and in particular, the snare drum is more prominent than the album version, which also features additional cymbal work. Although the album was not a re-recording, the original [[LP record|LP]] tracks were recorded during the same sessions, and several cues were combined. The film version sound was reportedly better than the quarter-inch Warner Bros. two-track album master. Although some minor incidental cues were lost, some sonically "damaged" cues — so called due to a deterioration of the surviving audio elements — are placed at the end of the disc's program time following the track, "An Architect's Dream", which is used over the end credits sequence.<ref>Additional notes by Geoff Brown – Melbourne, Australia.</ref>

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
# "Main Title" (5:01)
# "Something For Susan" (2:42)
# "Lisolette and Harlee" (2:35)
# "The Flame Ignites" (1:01)
# "More For Susan" (1:55)
# "Harlee Dressing" (1:37)
# "Let There Be Light" (:37)
# "Alone At Last" (:51)
# "[[We May Never Love Like This Again]] (Film Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:04)
# "The First Victims" (3:24)
# "Not A Cigarette" (1:18)
# "Trapped Lovers" (4:44)
# "Doug's Fall/Piggy Back Ride" (2:18)
# "Lisolette's Descent" (3:07)
# "Down The Pipes/The Door Opens" (2:59)
# "Couples" (3:38)
# "Short Goodbyes" (2:26)
# "Helicopter Rescue" (3:07)
# "Passing The Word" (1:12)
# "Planting The Charges" (9:04)
# "Finale" (3:57)
# "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
# "[[We May Never Love Like This Again]] (Album Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:13)
# "The Morning After (Instrumental)" (2:07)
# "Susan And Doug (Album Track)" (2:33)
# "Departmental Pride and The Cat (Damaged)" (2:34)
# "Helicopter Explosion (Damaged)" (2:34)
# "Waking Up (Damaged)" (2:39)
{{div col end}}