Introduction
In the 1970s, Irwin Allen earned the nickname “Master of Disaster” after producing such successful films as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). As a producer and director, he had few peers when it came to entertaining an audience using good old-fashioned spectacle and showmanship.
Born in New York City in 1916, Irwin Allen’s family moved to Hollywood when he was a young boy. During the 1940s, he secured a position as a producer’s assistant at RKO Studios. Consequently, Allen immediately knew at an early age that he wanted to be part of the movie business.
“Give Me More and Make it Bigger”
In the early 1960s, Allen produced two extremely successful films: The Lost World (1960) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). Early on, a pattern emerges of a man fascinated by the art of movie-making. Many people began to describe his behavior on set as akin to a grown kid who enjoyed playing gigantic train sets. It also quickly became evident that Allen had little interest in character development or complicated plots. All he wanted was more action.
“Give me more. And make it BIGGER.”
These were his often-repeated instructions to his technicians. This made him a perfect fit for television and led him to re-work Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea into a weekly TV show. Allen followed this up with Lost in Space (1965), The Time Tunnel (1966), and Land of the Giants (1968). Even though they were built using relatively low budgets, Allen’s sets often took up entire sound stages.
The Poseidon Adventure
Looking to get back to the bigger money associated with feature films, Allen obtained the rights to a popular best-seller at the time: 1969’s The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico. It told the story of a capsized ocean liner and the attempts of a few survivors to climb their way to the sinking ship’s top (…or make that bottom).
Allen talked Twentieth Century Fox into putting up $5 million toward the film’s budget. This was a fairly large sum of money in 1971. But the funding came with strings attached. Knowing Allen’s penchant for cheese, the studio insisted he relinquished the directing responsibilities to an established director who had more experience handling character-driven films.
Ronald Neame, who had recently had a major success with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), was chosen to take charge of this aspect of the production. At the time, he seemed like an extremely odd choice to pair with Irwin Allen. However, the result would demonstrate that sometimes, even studio executives know exactly what they’re doing.
No Fun For the Actors…
Allen assembled an all-star slate of actors for Neame to work with: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowell, Jack Albertson, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Stella Stevens, and Leslie Nielsen, among others.
Neame turned out to be a kind, sensitive British gentleman who cared for his actors like children. Knowing that most of them would spend the majority of their days covered with grease, oil, and grime, he sat down with all of them before filming started. He shared this message:
“Before this movie is over, you’re all going to hate my guts. I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t help it”
Neame later said he admired how well his actors put up with what he asked. He noted they only lost their cool once every week and a half. Conversely, with ten principal actors, he added ruefully, that meant on average he still had to deal with one temper tantrum per day.
While Neame worked preparing the actors, Allen oversaw the construction of the massive sets. For the shots of the actual ship, they used the Queen Mary. It was permanently docked in Long Beach harbor where it served as a tourist attraction.
A Major Crisis
Everything seemed to be on track for the production. Then, a mere two weeks before the start of principal photography, Allen got a call to report to the Twentieth Century Fox front office. He later described how “before his fanny hit the chair” the executives informed him they were pulling the plug on his movie.
Irwin Allen simply couldn’t believe it. They had already invested millions in the sets as well as given advances to the actors. Why would they suddenly cancel the film’s production just two weeks before principal photography? Subsequently, the suits at Fox explained they weren’t interested in big-budget films anymore.
After losing millions in several ill-conceived family musicals during the late 1960s, the studio executives felt that the future of Hollywood lay in cheaper, character-driven offerings such as The Graduate (1967) and Easy Rider (1969). Simply put, Allen’s film had been targeted as part of a massive cost-cutting initiative.
Irwin Allen was devastated. By some accounts, he broke down and cried. But the next day, he went back to Fox with a proposal. After getting them to admit they thought the film had merit, he offered to pay for half the movie himself. The studio agreed. But the only problem was that Allen didn’t have two and a half million dollars. And he now had only two weeks to find it.
A Gin Rummy Deal
According to Hollywood lore, Allen left the meeting and ran across the street to the Hillcrest Country Club. There, in desperation, he found two old friends playing gin rummy. He barged in and asked if they would give him 2.5 million dollars. “What for?” they asked.
Allen told them about his movie. Then, to his utter surprise, they verbally agreed on the spot. They agreed to finance the film in return for a percentage of the profits. After shaking hands, the short conversation ended with one of the financiers saying:
“Now get out and let us finish our game of rummy!”
Irwin’s Folly?
The Poseidon Adventure was back in business. However, as word spread about Allen’s impromptu financing, it quickly became known around Hollywood as “Irwin’s Folly.” Based on his past TV shows and penchant for cheesy productions, most industry pundits predicted that the film was going to be an even bigger disaster than the story depicted on screen. No one thought it had a chance.
But Irwin Allen enjoyed making movies so much, that the people around him couldn’t help but be swept up by the director’s enthusiasm. Indeed, actor Roddy McDowell later stated that he would do anything for Allen. In addition, Shelley Winters intentionally put on 35 pounds for her role and even took swimming lessons.
A Trip to Jack in the Box
Actress Stella Stevens also once told an entertaining story about Irwin Allen. One day, he called her up and asked if she wanted to have lunch with him. Not being a big star, she was enthralled at the invitation and was delighted when Allen picked her up in his Rolls Royce convertible.
But then, Allen took her to Jack in the Box for their lunch date. Stevens thought it was a joke and looked irritated. Allen seemed devastated. A few years later, Stevens asked Allen’s wife about the incident. The latter explained that Jack in the Box was Irwin Allen’s favorite restaurant. And he thought he was doing her a favor by taking her there.
Irwin Allen also amazed the actors and crew with his detailed preparations. Every shot was carefully story-boarded and every scene worked out to the most minute detail ahead of time. Allen was the first person to arrive on the set, and usually the last to leave. He made sure all of the preparations associated with each day’s filming were taken care of so there would be no time wasted once the cameras rolled.
A Capsized Spectacle
The Poseidon Adventure is renowned as a showcase for one of the most spectacular action sequences in all of film history. It’s the ballroom scene when the ship turns over. For the first few shots, all they did was tilt the camera and have the actors pretend they were holding on for dear life. But as the sequence progresses, scores of stunt people are seen sliding along the floor to the opposite side of the enormous room.
To achieve this effect, they drove a forklift up to the side of the set and lifted it to various angles so they could shoot multiple sequences of people tumbling. By inter-cutting these shots with close-ups of various people falling through the frame, the illusion is created of an entire room vertically spinning 180 degrees. The sequence is masterfully edited and anchored by one jaw-dropping shot where an actual grand piano comes crashing down amidst a host of other falling people.
After the ship turns over, many of the passengers are left dangling from the ceiling. Several lose their grips and fall to their deaths. Including one hapless soul, who in a final crescendo, lets go of a table and falls into a bank of lights before being electrocuted. This one stunt is memorable. And the iconic moment solidified the film in the public’s imagination. It also turns out to have an interesting story behind it.
The Story Behind the Stunt
The person who played the part wasn’t a stuntman at all. His name was Ernie Orsatti. And at the time he was just a bit actor trying to make it in the movie business. He was thrilled to get a few scenes in this big-budget Hollywood production and was hoping it would lead to larger, more substantive roles.
However, the studio had decided that as part of their ad campaign, they were going to claim all the actors did their stunts. So, they had chosen Orsatti to do the fall into the lights. Ernie explained that he had a fear of heights and that he was just an actor, not a stuntman. The stunt coordinator was persistent.
When Ernie arrived on the set he saw the bank of lights he was supposed to fall into as well as the table he was supposed to dangle from. It was around 30 feet off the ground – much higher than he had been led to believe. They even used a cherry picker to get him up to his spot.
I’m Never Going to Forgive You
Once in place, the stunt coordinator gave Ernie one last piece of advice: keep his body flat and not tilt his head to avoid breaking his neck. Ernie looked at him and said:
“I’m never going to forgive you for this!”
He then let go. If you look carefully, you can even see him mouth the final words in the finished film. When Ernie hit the lights, the force knocked him unconscious. Yet, he was otherwise unscathed.
In addition to suffering the only injury on the set, Osatti had also earned a place for himself in movie history. From that day forward, the name of Ernie Osatti became well-known throughout Hollywood. He went on to enjoy a very successful career as a stunt coordinator on dozens of other films.
The Perfect Movie?
When The Poseidon Adventure was finished, Fox’s decision to split the directing and producing responsibilities turned out to be a masterstroke. The film has an almost breathless pace that makes it hard to believe it’s nearly two hours long. There’s an elegance and economy in the storytelling.
More than one critic has remarked that in many ways it’s the perfect movie. Every scene and line of dialogue serves a purpose. As the story propels itself forward, it achieves a near-perfect balance between the human drama and the spectacular settings. Once the ship capsizes, the audience becomes completely wrapped up in the fates of the individual characters.
A Colossal Hit
When The Poseidon Adventure was finally released in December of 1972, it defied all expectations and proved to be a monster hit. With a budget of $5 million, Irwin Allen’s film went on to gross over $125 million. Financially, the smash hit made more money than any other film in the year that followed.
The Poseidon Adventure was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two. One for special effects, and one for best song (“The Morning After“). The film went on from there to develop an active fan base and became one of the first films that people went to see over and over. Some fans can even recite every line of dialogue.
Irwin Allen had gambled big time on The Poseidon Adventure and came out on top. Allen instantly became the most sought-after producer in the industry. Therefore, he was able to choose whatever project he wanted to do next.
From Water to Fire
As such, Allen wanted to raise the stakes even higher. After reading the 1973 novel The Tower by Richard Martin Stern, he wanted to do a movie about a fire in the world’s tallest building. He was enthralled by the cinematic possibilities such a story would offer. But then Warner Brothers outbid him and Twentieth Century Fox for the rights to the book.
Undaunted, Allen then found another book, called The Glass Inferno. Released in 1974, it told a similar tale about a skyscraper on fire. Allen then embarked on a daring plan. Calling together a meeting of the heads of Fox and Warners, he pitched them an original idea: why not make a single movie based on both books? The project would be so big, that he claimed it would take the combined resources of both studios to pull it off.
A deal was struck. The two studios would co-finance the film and split the distribution profits. However, most interestingly, they also tried to recreate the winning formula that had made The Poseidon Adventure such a success.
Allen would produce the movie and direct the action sequences but wasn’t given oversight over the acting or dialogue scenes. Veteran director John Guillerman would handle those responsibilities. The movie also utilized the same screenwriter (Sterling Silliphant) and composer (John Williams).
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno, as the film was now called, was given a $14 million budget – a large sum at the time. Allen used a large portion of it to hire a dream cast. It included Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughn, Richard Chamberlain, Susan Blakely, and even O.J. Simpson.
To recreate the burning skyscraper, an 80-foot model was built on 20th Century Fox’s backlot. In addition, a record of 57 sets was built for the film. By the time they finished shooting, only eight would be left standing. The rest would be burned to the ground or blown up during the production.
Top Billing
As part of their contracts, both Newman and McQueen were promised top billing in the film. McQueen interpreted this as meaning he would have as many lines as anyone else. At night he would go through the script add them up and compare the total to what Paul Newman had. If there was a discrepancy, the scriptwriter was called up and told to add whatever number was needed.
If you look at the film’s advertisements and credit sequence, it’s also no accident that McQueen’s name is on the left. However, Newman’s is on the right, but higher in the frame. We’re trained to read left to right and top to bottom. That way both stars could claim they got top billing.
During production, Irwin Allen was in his element. Working with a trusted and valued crew, he fed off their ideas. One of them remarked that the last thing you wanted to do was give Allen twenty ways of accomplishing an effect. Because he would then try to do ALL of them. “Give me more and make it bigger” wasn’t a joke anymore.
How the Movie Business Works…
But Allen also kept the production grounded. Indeed, one day, a technical adviser told him that the fires didn’t look right. He said if they wanted the burning sequences to appear more realistic, they needed to show more smoke. Irwin Allen took the man aside and in an almost fatherly tone, said:
“I need to explain the movie business to you. We’re paying these stars a hell of a lot of money. And the audience is going to be paying a lot for their tickets. This movie is just simply not going to be very entertaining if no one can see the star’s faces and all you have is a room full of smoke on the screen”
The Height of Spectacle
Full of thrilling set pieces, The Towering Inferno probably sits at the apex of what Hollywood was technically capable of achieving in the mid-1970s. There’s no CGI in the film. Just miniature and matte effects. All of the on-screen explosions and fires are real. The fact that there were no serious injuries during filming was a testament to Allen’s emphasis on safety.
Among the most spectacular sequences in the film is the climax. That’s when the water tanks at the top of the skyscraper are detonated in an attempt to extinguish the fire. The main set was built 12 feet off the floor.
For months, the actors had to climb ladders just to get to work. That was so when the water was finally released from the tanks forty feet above the sound stage, it would have somewhere to go. It was the only way to keep the actors from drowning. The total cost for just this one set – which could never be used again – was $300,000.
A Towering Success
The Towering Inferno started shooting in May of 1974. Amazingly, despite the enormity of the project, the film was completed and in theaters by December of that same year. Furthermore, it ended up making roughly twice as much money as The Poseidon Adventure on its way to becoming one of the most financially successful films of the 1970s.
After decades of entertaining audiences in a grand fashion, Irwin Allen died of a heart attack in 1991 at the age of seventy-five. In describing his legacy, actor Roddy McDowell offered the following perspective:
“He was one of the last truly original producers who would never take no for an answer. And was full of ideas and chutzpah and outrageousness… and defied the law of possibilities”
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