The Towering Inferno Quotes

The Towering Inferno is a TV program that first aired in 1970 . The Towering Inferno ended in 1970.

It features Irwin Allen as producer, John Williams in charge of musical score, and Fred J. Koenekamp as head of cinematography.

The Towering Inferno is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The Towering Inferno is 165 minutes long. The Towering Inferno is distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The cast includes: Paul Newman as Doug Roberts, Steve McQueen as Chief O'Hallorhan, William Holden as James Duncan, Robert Vaughn as Senator Parker, O. J. Simpson as Harry Jernigan, Richard Chamberlain as Roger Simmons, Norm Grabowski as Flaker, Gregory Sierra as Carlos, Faye Dunaway as Susan, Robert Wagner as Dan Bigelow, Don Gordon as Kappy, Erik Nelson as Wes, Susan Flannery as Lorrie, Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne, Jennifer Jones as Lisolette, Jack Collins as Mayor Ramsey, Felton Perry as Scott, Susan Blakely as Patty Duncan Simmons, and Norman Burton as Giddings.

The Towering Inferno Quotes

William Holden as James Duncan

• (William Holden) "Everything under control?"
• (Steve McQueen) "You've gotta move all these people out of here."
• (William Holden) "Aw, now, just how bad is it?"
• (Steve McQueen) "It's a fire, mister, and all fires are bad."

• (William Holden) "You know there's -- nothing that any of us can do to bring back the dead."

• (William Holden) "That's all you're going to drink tonight."
• (Robert Vaughn) "The whole case?"

• (William Holden) "Did you change any of Doug's electrical specifications?"
• (Richard Chamberlain) "I most certainly did."
• (William Holden) "For God's sake, why?"
• (Richard Chamberlain) "The reason should be obvious, especially to you."
• (William Holden) "We've got a fire, and if it was caused by anything you did I'm going to hang you out to dry -- and then I'm going to hang you."

• (William Holden) "What I wanted to tell us is that Senator Parker is flying in for the dedication tonight. And he's almost guaranteed to sign the Urban Renewal Contract. Now do you know what that means? Skyscrapers like this all over the country. You design 'em, I'll build 'em."
• (Paul Newman) "Don't you think you're suffering from an edifice complex?"
• (William Holden) "You'll never leave."
• (Paul Newman) "Right after the party; come on downstairs and watch me burn my black tie."

Steve McQueen as Chief O'Hallorhan

• (Steve McQueen) "We'll go down by rope. We're gonna rappel down to 65, get on top of that elevator, use it as an exit."
• (Young Fireman) "I can't make it. I'll fall. I know I'll fall."
• (Steve McQueen) "Okay. Then you better go first. That way when you fall, you won't take any of us with you."

• (Steve McQueen) "How long before you can give me a complete list of your tenants?"
• (O. J. Simpson) "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, we're moving them out right now."
• (Steve McQueen) "Not live-in. Business tenants."
• (O. J. Simpson) "Well, we kind of looked up there, too. The majority of them haven't moved in yet, and those that have aren't working tonight."
• (Steve McQueen) "I want to know who they are, not where they are."
• (O. J. Simpson) "But what does that got to do with anything, who they are?"
• (Steve McQueen) "Do you have any wool or silk manufacturers? You see, in a fire, wool and silk give off cyanide gas. Do you have any sporting goods manufacturers, like table tennis balls? They give off toxic gases. Now, do you want me to keep going down the line?"
• (O. J. Simpson) "No. One list of tenants coming right up."
• (Steve McQueen) "Thank you."

• (Steve McQueen) "How do I get back down?"
• (Steve McQueen) "Oh s***. Huh --"

• (Steve McQueen) "For what it's worth, architect, this is one building that I figured wouldn't burn."
• (Paul Newman) "Either did I."
• (Paul Newman) "And they're celebrating. A party."
• (Steve McQueen) "Party? What party? Where?"
• (Paul Newman) "In the Promenade Room. 300 people."
• (Steve McQueen) "Well, why didn't you get them the hell out of there?"
• (Paul Newman) "Why don't you go on upstairs and talk to Duncan? He ain't exactly listening to me."
• (Steve McQueen) "I will."

• (Steve McQueen) "Why do they make these god****ed things so heavy?"
• (Don Gordon) "You want it easier, Chief?"
• (Steve McQueen) "I don't know why they couldn't design a survival suit for us like they did for football players."
• (Don Gordon) "Who pays to see us play?"

• (Steve McQueen) "You know, we were lucky tonight. Body count's less than 200. You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill 10,000 in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and bringing out bodies until somebody asks us -- how to build them."
• (Paul Newman) "Okay. I'm asking."
• (Steve McQueen) "You know where to reach me. So long, architect."

• (Steve McQueen) "All right. It's your building, but it's our fire. Now, let's get these people the hell out of here."
• (William Holden) "Now, I don't think you're listening, Chief. There's no way for a fire on 81 to reach up here, not in this building."
• (Steve McQueen) "OK. I'll do it."
• (William Holden) "Hold it, hold it. The Mayor's out there. Do you want me to pull rank on you?"
• (Steve McQueen) "When there's a fire, I outrank everybody here. Now, one thing we don't want is a panic. Now, I could tell them, but you ought to do it. Just make a nice cool announcement to all your guests and tell them the party's being moved down below the fire floor. Right now."

• (Steve McQueen) "You'd better call Duncan, tell him to stop those people in the car room from using that express elevator, or somebody's going to get killed."
• (Steve McQueen) "OK, Kappy -- ring in a third alarm. I want some rescue squads here and I also want choppers. We're going to need them if we're going to get those people.; All right, come on, firemen. I'll be on 81."
• (Paul Newman) "The fire's moving towards the main shaft. Use the scenic elevator; don't overload."
• (William Holden) "OK, Doug."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "I don't like the way you talked to me."
• (William Holden) "You drunk?"
• (Richard Chamberlain) "Not yet."
• (William Holden) "Well then, get out of my way."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "You didn't talk like this two years ago, did you? Running over budget and out of money? Did you ask me then how I could shave two million dollars off our electrical costs?"
• (William Holden) "Shut up and help me with these people."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "And let me ask you, my dear father-in-law. Am I the only subcontractor you encouraged to cut corners?"
• (William Holden) "Excuse me."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "Where did you save the other $4 million in Doug's original budget?"
• (William Holden) "Please, please. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry. You'll have to move back into the Promenade Room, and we'll be taking you down by the scenic elevator. Now, these express elevators can be activated by fire, and with the probability of short circuits, the cars might stop on the floor where the fire is. So please, we'll use the scenic elevator. It's over here."

• (Steve McQueen) "Architects."
• (Paul Newman) "Yeah, it's all our fault."
• (Steve McQueen) "Now, you know there's no sure way for us to fight a fire in anything over the seventh floor, but you guys just keep building 'em as high as you can."
• (Paul Newman) "Hey. Are you here to take me on, or the fire?"

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts

• (Paul Newman) "We'll send the kids out first, and then the women. Number this up to, I don't know; a hundred or so."
• (Faye Dunaway) "High-rise roulette."
• (Paul Newman) "High-rise roulette. That's right."

• (Paul Newman) "I'm not a cheeseburger."
• (Faye Dunaway) "No, you're way better, all protein, no bread, now all I need to take with you is eight glasses of water."

• (Paul Newman) "Harry? It's for you."
• (O. J. Simpson) "Jernigan."
• (O. J. Simpson) "What? Damnit man, you should have sent a man up there."
• (O. J. Simpson) "How do you expect Mrs. Albright to hear a phone call? She's deaf."
• (O. J. Simpson) "Sure the kids can hear."
• (O. J. Simpson) "I don't know. Maybe they were in the shower or something when you called."
• (O. J. Simpson) "No, you stay where you are. I'll get them down."
• (O. J. Simpson) "There's still some people on 87. I'll get 'em down."
• (Paul Newman) "I'll give you a hand."

• (Paul Newman) "Roberts."
• (Steve McQueen) "It's out of control, and it's coming your way. You got about fifteen minutes. Now, they wanna try somethin'. They wanna blow those water tanks two floors above you. They think it might kill the fire."
• (Paul Newman) "How're they gonna get the explosives up here?"
• (Steve McQueen) "Oh, they'll find some dumb son of a bitch to bring it up."

• (Paul Newman) "Hey Dunc, if that fire was caused by fluky wiring in this building, we could get fires breaking out everywhere."

• (Paul Newman) "I thought we were building something that -- where people could work and live and be SAFE. If you had to cut costs, why didn't you cut floors instead of corners?"
• (William Holden) "Now listen. Any decisions that were made for the use of alternate building materials were made because I as a builder have a right to make those decisions; if I remain within the building code and god-dammit, I did."
• (Paul Newman) "Building code? Jesus. Building code. Come on, Dunc, I mean that's a standard cop-out when you're in trouble. I was crawling around up there. I mean, duct holes weren't fire-stopped. Corridors without fire doors in it, sprinklers won't work, and an electrical system that's good for what? I mean, it's good for starting fires. Hoo boy, where was I when all this was going on? Because I'm just as guilty as you and that god-damned son-in-law of yours. What do they call it when you kill people?"

Robert Wagner as Dan Bigelow

• (Robert Wagner) "What happened, somebody hang the wallpaper upside down?"

• (Robert Wagner) "I used to run the 100 in 10 flat."
• (Susan Flannery) "Don't go."
• (Robert Wagner) "I'll be back with the whole fire department."

• (Robert Wagner) "I'll be back, with the whole fire department."

Richard Chamberlain as Roger Simmons

• (Richard Chamberlain) "The women are gone. WE are going next."
• (William Holden) "You've all got numbers, and you're going to take your turn. And if it's any consolation, I'm going to be the last one out of here, along with my son-in-law."

• (Richard Chamberlain) "Pretty ridiculous spectacle. There's no way down."
• (Susan Blakely) "Oh, thank God you're all right. Oh Roger, what are we going to do?"
• (Richard Chamberlain) "I know what I'm going to do. Get quietly drunk."
• (Susan Blakely) "If you're responsible for all this, I know how you must be feeling."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "You don't even know the meaning of the word."
• (Susan Blakely) "Responsible?"
• (Richard Chamberlain) "Feeling. Oh you know a lot about responsibility, it's a family trait. The Duncans are big on responsibility, at least on the surface."
• (Susan Blakely) "That's not fair. I don't think it's wrong to feel a sense of duty."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "When you turn a phrase, lift an eyebrow the exact same way, I see and I hear your father. The two of you, one. Like a great big tree and a baby tree in the shade where the acorn fell."
• (Susan Blakely) "Roger, I came over to you right now, because I-I thought you might need me."
• (Richard Chamberlain) "What I need most right now, is this."

Robert Vaughn as Senator Parker

• (Robert Vaughn) "At this rate it's going to take a couple of hours to get everyone down. So, I would suggest that those of us with stout hearts and trim waistlines start using the stairs."
• (William Holden) "That's 135 floors."
• (Robert Vaughn) "All downhill."

Felton Perry as Scott

• (Felton Perry) "What building's on the corner of Montgomery and -- aw Jesus, it's the Glass Tower."
• (Young Fireman) "What?"
• (Felton Perry) "The Glass Tower. I sure hope that fire's on the first floor."
• (Young Fireman) "You ever fight one in a high rise?"
• (Felton Perry) "Yeah."
• (Young Fireman) "Is it as tough as I hear?"
• (Felton Perry) "Like being inside a chimney."

Norman Burton as Giddings

• (Norman Burton) "Well Doug, here you are. The original specs. Zone 1 only, but we have to start somewhere."
• (Norman Burton) "You really think he did it?"
• (Paul Newman) "Well, he didn't admit it, but two bucks'll get you ten that he did."
• (Norman Burton) "Payoffs and kickbacks, that's the only way he could have swung it."
• (Paul Newman) "Son of a bitch gave us an impossible job."

Jack Collins as Mayor Ramsey

• (Jack Collins) "How much time do we have?"
• (William Holden) "Bob, I wish I knew."
• (Jack Collins) "Goddammit, Jim, you built the place."
• (William Holden) "I just don't think that all of us are going to make it."

Susan Flannery as Lorrie

• (Susan Flannery) "There never were any firemen, were there?"
• (Robert Wagner) "I said that to make it easier on you. I switched off the phones. There's no way to call out. Nobody knows we're up here."
• (Susan Flannery) "Well, I always did want to die in bed."

Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne

• (Fred Astaire) "Do you, er, do you believe in destiny?"
• (Jennifer Jones) "I believe in all good things."

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