20 Disaster Movies You Must See Before You Die
7. The Towering Inferno
More-or-less remade with The Rock in 2018's Skyscraper, The Towering Inferno is one of the very best '70s disaster movies, receiving eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
The film's brilliantly unpretentious, straightforward premise sees a group of people trapped inside the world's tallest building - amusingly situated in San Francisco - as an unstoppable fire burns through it.
The ensemble cast is just ridiculous, including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Richard Chamberlain, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner, and, er, O.J. Simpson.
Matching its cast is John Guillermin's stellar technical execution, relying on practical stunts, fire effects, and miniature work that ensure it still looks terrific today. Unlike many other disaster movies with A-list casts, there's also a real sense that anyone could die at any moment.
At 165 minutes it's certainly a long'un, but absolutely earns that runtime.