Is this weird or what, but I am actually choosing 2 newer films this week! Ok, some may not think so but, to me, they are new:) It's all about tall buildings and you will never, ever catch me in this type of predicament since I freak out when I am on the second rung of a ladder. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what other films have been chosen by us film nuts. Here are my 3 plus a bonus....
1. THE TOWERING INFERNO-1974
It's an Irwin Allen production which means fun and campy! There are a mega load of film stars in this flick from Paul Newman to Steve McQueen( who wanted to be posted first in the credits and then wanted to be on the left side when he had to share his name with Paul Newman on the credit opening). Paul Newman plays an architect who designed this mega structure for his dad In Law, William Holden. To celebrate the grand opening there is a big ball at the top of the building where many big wigs attend. No one realizes that a fire has started in a closet...except for OJ Simpson but, instead of going down to the closet and using a fire extinguisher to put the small Fire out, he disappears and the fire gets out of control. I always laugh at that scene. Now, of course we wouldn't have a film if they just put the fire out. When the blaze goes nuts, in comes Steve McQueen as the fire chief to try to control the blaze. We have people panicking, people crying and poor Robert Wagner walking in full blazing glory. I love this flick.
2. ENTRAPMENT-1999
This is not a fantastic film by any means but a fun one to watch and you get to see dance moves from Catherine Zeta Jones as she wiggles and winds herself around some laser beams not to mention the camera lingering on her butt. So she plays an insurance investigator who is asked to investigate and nab the famed thief played by Sean Connery. She learns some tricks from him and he learns...about her nice ass. Anyway they end up at Kuala Lampur at those insane twin buildings with some glass bridge connecting the 2 towers. They plan to steal a lot of money and end up outside those building high, high up. Even watching that made me ill and, yes, I will never be caught up there...ever. Anyway, intrigue, deceptions and who is playing who, is wrapped up in this fun flick.
3. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:GHOST PROTOCOL-2011
I like these flicks even though Tom Cruise's character would have broken all his bones and he would be slobbering in a cup somewhere if he actually survived all he does in these films. This 4th installment has Tom and his team after some device that could hurt the world..of course. They end up in a very tall building in Dubai. Of course, Tom can only get to something if he climbs outside the building so he does...and guess what? Tom Cruise really is outside that building doing most of the stunts! He is nuts we all know that because he think Scientology is aok instead of nutty and dangerous, but he also must be an adrenaline junkie since he loves doing these stunts. This movie has death defying stunts, 2 women duking it out and some fun humour. I'd love to see Jeremy Renner in a comedy actually.
Bonus pick.
4. SAFETY LAST-1923
Harold Lloyd is one of the top 4 comedians from the silent era. He plays a meek man who leaves his mother and girlfriend to go to the big city and make good! Somehow he ends up outside a tall, department store building and is trying to get in with much hi jinks. Now it is filmed in such a way that you think he is up that high but he is not. The facade of the building he is climbing was built on top of the highest building at that time in L.A. Mattresses were placed at the bottom in case he fell. All worked well but afterward, they tested it out on a dummy that was the same weight as Harold. The dummy fell, bounced off the mattress and went over the edge! Another point...back in 1919, Lloyd was holding a what he thought was a prop bomb. He lit it with his cigarette which blew up taking his thumb and index finger with it and laying him up in the hospital for a few months. When he is climbing look at his right hand and you will see it is a glove to hide his disfigurement.
What are your picks??
I've only seen 'The Towering Inferno', but my first thought was 'King Kong'. Next thought was 'An Affair to Remember'. The MI movie is in my TBW list.
ReplyDeleteBoth are great films and I forgot about an Affair to Remember. There is also Love Affair and Sleepless in Seattle which are all the same story actually.
DeleteSeen two at my zoo. Yeah, no way anyone would be alive in those Mission Impossible movies, but they are fun. No Die Hard though? Geez lol
ReplyDeleteSorry...no Die Hard although I did think of it:)
DeleteEntrapment is no work of art but it was an enjoyable time passer with CZJ full on sexy though the romantic pairing with Sean Connery was a bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteSafety Last is an inspired Lloyd film and the man certainly threw himself into his art.
I'm not a Cruise fan so outside of the first Mission Impossible, which they mangled, I've seen none of those films.
We match!! I thought we would on this one this week. LOVE The Towering Inferno!! My Dad and I went to see it when it came out and I've been a fan ever since.
Outside of it this turned out to be a bit tougher than expected but I did finally come up with two I really like beside TI.
The Towering Inferno (1974)-It’s the grand dedication ceremony for the world’s tallest building, The Glass Tower a 138 story skyscraper in San Francisco and the party is being held on the top floor loaded with movie stars, politicians and the building team in attendance. But trouble’s abrewing when architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) arrives back in town to find that corners have cut and the wiring for the building is substandard. He’s right to be worried since when a small fire breaks out on the 81st floor it spreads quickly trapping the guests while the fire department works feverishly to save them. One of the big three Irwin Allen disaster films of the 70’s, along with Airport and The Poseidon Adventure, this was an enormous hit on release with an amazing cast of some of the biggest stars of the time-Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughn and Jennifer Jones (in her final film) plus dozens of recognizable performers in smaller roles.
Plaza Suite (1971)-Three act Neil Simon comedy based on his stage success all takes place in Suite 719 of New York’s Plaza Hotel. Each vignette stars Walter Matthau in different roles with three different leading ladies, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant in tales of a marriage in crisis, an assignation and a long married couple whose daughter has locked herself in the bathroom moments before her wedding downstairs. None are bad but the first and third are the strongest.
Fourteen Hours (1951)-Robert Cosick (Richard Basehart) is at the end of his rope and has decided to commit suicide by jumping from the ledge of the 15th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel high above the city. As police officer Charlie Dunnigan (Paul Douglas) tries to reason with him calling in both his girlfriend (Barbara Bel Geddes) and his mother (Agnes Moorehead) the event turns into a sideshow lasting 14 hours. Quite similar to the recent Man on a Ledge but a better film this was Grace Kelly’s screen debut in a small role.
I was thinking we would match and what a great flick. Actually, this MI film is better than the first one and I would give it a shot. California Suite is a good film and one I have not seen in a long while. I haven't seen the last film but have known about it and always wanted to see it.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these. This week was hard. lol
ReplyDeleteOne day you will have seen the films I choose:)
DeleteSorry but I don't go to the movies much so I never saw any of these. I'm a bit of a loss in this field.
ReplyDeleteYes...bummer
DeleteI knew it. I was sure you were going to pick The Towering Inferno. I haven't seen it but it came up a while ago when I was talking with my mother and I just knew it'd be one of those movies you've seen and love and it fits well this week.
ReplyDeleteHahahaaa...Im That predictable! Well, I hope you get a chance to see this film because it is fun
DeleteI never saw any of the Mission Impossibles
ReplyDeleteThis one is my favourite
DeleteI'm right there with you on the ladder. No more than two rungs ever.
ReplyDeleteTotally terrified and you will never get me in a scenic elevator
DeleteI don't remember anything about the Towering Inferno, probably because I went ooooh each time Paul Newman and Steve McQueen came on. Ooooooh.
ReplyDeleteYes they are nice to look at but I think Steve McQueen knew that:)
DeleteHey, I've actually heard of ALL of these movies. I haven't actually seen any of them, mind, (actually I may have seen Entrapment back in the day), but I have heard of them!
ReplyDeleteI would have said "Tower Heist," but God that was a terrible movie.
Looking forward to The Dark Tower, though!
The tower heist...I believe I know this film but haven't seen it...maybe a good thing
DeleteEntrapment is one of those films which I saw when it was fairly new (I had a huge celebrity crush on Catherine Zeta Jones back then), but I don't recall a thing about it!
ReplyDeleteHarold Lloyd was indeed a genius. But you mentioned the top four comedians from the silent era. I assume that Chaplin and Keaton are two of the others, but whom do you pick as the fourth?
The fourth was Harry Langdon whom no one knows anymore but he was huge in his day. He was known as an innocent with a mischievous streak in him. He would do things on a slower method. The big problem is that he was created by others, like Frank Capra whereas the other 3 created their own characters. Langdon got too big for his britches and thought he could do it on his own...which he couldn't. He soon disappeared and died a drunk.
DeleteYeah, I've read about Harry Langdon, and I've even seen the Laurel and Hardy movies he wrote late in his career, but I've never seen any of his own movies. Maybe someday...
DeleteTowering Inferno actually terrified me!
ReplyDeleteWell, yes because that can happen and actually, when this film came out there was a high rise I. South America that caught fire due to faulty wiring and many died
DeleteI'd have to pick "King Kong" (the original). I always thought Empire State Building when I heard the word "skyscraper," at least until Chicago got the Prudential Building, John Hancock Building, and Sears Tower.
ReplyDeleteI almost picked all 3 King Kong movies but I realized I talked about the original before. The 70's one is horrible but the one with Naomi Watts is excellent and so very sad
DeleteSAFETY LAST!!!!!!! LOVE that movie!
ReplyDeleteLove Ghost Protocol too, it's probably my favorite of the Mission: Impossible movies. That Burj Khalifa sequence is just stunning. I saw it in IMAX and was curling up into a ball in my seat just watching it - and I'm not even that scared of heights!
I curled up watching it in my living room! Glad you liked my pick of Safety Last:)
DeleteThe only one of these that I've seen is Inferno. Pretty dull. Tom Cruise IS nuts.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Oh...I love the Towering Inferno:) Yes he is nuts and obviously loves the adrenaline rush
DeleteGolly, the only one I have ever seen is the Towering Inferno. And it was a rerun on TV. When I think of tall buildings, I think of Nakatomi in Die Hard. It was compared to Towering Inferno by some critics, I was told. I enjoyed your choices this week, although I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a favourite of his either but I don't mind his movies. Die Hard was picked by someone else and I almost picked it
DeleteHi Birgit - Safety Last ... love those sorts of films ... the others not so much and I don't think I've seen any of them. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteSafety Last is truly fun
DeleteI'm not a huge fan of Tom Cruise but MI movies are mesmerizing somehow. :)
ReplyDeleteTom Cruise is not my fav but I seem to like his films
DeleteUgh! The Towering Inferno is actually in my DVD collection but I've still not seen it.
ReplyDeleteEntrapment is a fun movie, and CZJ is certainly easy on the eyes.
M:I GP is easily my favorite of that franchise.
Hope you see The Towering Inferno one day
DeleteI KNEW IT! Like, I had Entrapment open on IMDb, wondering, was I remembering it correctly or not, but I was so sure that I might have been thinking of another movie with a tall building they're trying to break in but I was right!! So close to including it on my list but I just didn't remember correctly and I was a bit lost for time to investigate further. Ghost Protocol though, easily came to mind with this theme!
ReplyDeleteYup they were hanging from the tall building which freaked me out
DeleteI've seen Entrapment.
ReplyDeleteSeen Die Hard.
Vertigo?
I love Vertigo which works well with this theme
DeleteHi Birgit. Saw your birthday announced on Sandra's blog and assume it's you, so Happy Birthday!! I've only seen the Mission Impossible movie. Tom Cruise always draws a crowd it seems. Was surprised to see top actors in Towering Inferno. Today, movies like that usually have unknown actors.
ReplyDeleteYup my birthday was June 2nd and Sandra was so sweet to showcase my day:) you are right about having unknown actors in these types of flicks now
DeleteEntrapment! Wow. Haven't thought about that on in years. Love it!
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun movie despite the romantic involvement of Connery and Jones that don't seem to go together
DeleteHappy BDay, Birgit. If you get an opportunity pitstop by.
ReplyDeleteI finally did as had a busy weekend...you are the sweetest!
DeleteGreat picks. I've seen all of these except for Entrapment. One that I liked a great deal was The Walk from 2015 about the guy who walked the tightrope between the World Trade Center towers.
ReplyDeleteA film that I have a my Neflix queue but am hesitant to put at the top because I'm not sure my wife would like it is High Rise based on the story by J.G.Ballard. I've heard that it's weird but a lot of Ballard's stories can be somewhat weird though they are very good.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Yes, I saw that movie which was excellent and I heard the documentary, Man on Wire, was unbelievable. I think you would really enjoy that documentary
DeleteBIRGIT ~
ReplyDeleteThis was a toughie for me, and I was having trouble thinking up any potential movies for a my list. Seeing some that other folks listed helped me out.
I really don't care at all for "Action / Disaster" movies (most which are just cardboard characters running, screaming, panicking -- and I simply don't care whether or not they survive). 'THE TOWERING INFERNO' is a perfect example -- which I saw a few times in the theatre when it first came out, while young and having not yet found my own movie preferences.
Mentioned by others, 'AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER' and the original 'KING KONG' would be good choices for me.
However, if I'm permitted to go "outside the box" and select documentaries, rather than Hollywood fiction stories, then my 3-movie list would be...
'LOOSE CHANGE 9/11: An American Coup'
'9/11: PRESS FOR TRUTH'
'9/11: IN PLANE SITE'
All obviously about the World Trade Center Towers that were brought down in ways that were covered up by 'The Wizards Behind The Curtan' and the Mainstream Media which they control.
~ D-FensDogG
[Link:) Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Yes, I saw many documentaries on 9/11 and was surprised no one picked the movie with Nicholas Cage...which I haven't seen
DeletePaul Newman, William Holden, Steve McQueen... I love all of those guys. How have I not heard of The Towering Inferno?
ReplyDeleteI might have to check out that Harold Lloyd one, too. Sounds up my alley.
You never heard of this disaster epic? I can see you loving it and Safety Last is brilliant
DeleteI think I saw Towering Inferno, but the others, no. I'm always up for a Harold Lloyd movie.
ReplyDeleteThis film with Lloyd is brilliant
DeleteBirgit,
ReplyDeleteI remember The Tower Inferno scaring me and made me afraid to go into tall buildings. I haven't seen Entrapment but I'd like to. I love Sean Connery! All the Mission Impossible flicks are excellent. Ghost Protocol is a good movie. The first movie that comes to mind for the category is Die Hard with the Nakotomi Building that John McClane drops Hanz Gruber from. Bad guy goes bye-bye! :) Thanks for sharing a fabulous list of films!
Die Hard was picked a couple of times and is a classic for this.
DeleteTheres a song I used to hear on TV that was played along with Harold LLyod, oh well. I never knew Tom cruise was an adrenalin junkie but that explains a lot. All that Scientology pavlova, still I bet his insurance premiums are high.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Cruise has ADD or ADHD and other major issues which explains how Scientology became part of his life...Ick!!! Oh yes, they must be high
DeleteI thought Entrapment was a fun adventure.
ReplyDeleteDid you have a good bday and did you see your birthday wishes at the blog?
I did and I shall venture over!
DeleteI wish to thank you so much for your kind words for my birthday...I didn't expect that and you are very, very sweet
DeleteTall buildings? Wow, talk about a tough category! I guess my pick would be Die Hard. Can't think of anything else.
ReplyDeleteYup that is a good pick for this week
DeleteI'm such a movie rooky. I rarely have seen the movies you talk about on your blog:(
ReplyDeleteOh bummer but I hope you have a chance to see some, if that is your thing:)
DeleteI remember Towering Inferno. Classic disaster flick. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteHave a good one:)
Great picks and thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI've seen all of those movies but the last one. It seems every year my mom and I watch The Towering Inferno.
ReplyDeleteGreat picks. You definitely reminded me of the harrowing scene in Ghost Protocol!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Tom Cruise is nuts. I guess I'm not that impressed he likes to do his own stunts. Remember how energetically he jumped on Oprah's couch, Birgit?
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Poor Harold Lloyd! I don't know much about Lloyd (1'm more of a Chaplin fan). I knew someone had to pick Towering Inferno! MI:4 seems to be popular today too.
ReplyDelete