Premiering on this day in 1974, the disaster film (see previously) directed by John Guillermin (King Kong, The Bridge at Remagen) and featuring the all-star ensemble cast including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Dabney Coleman, Richard Chamberlain and OJ Simpson had the highest grossing domestic box-office of the year and would go on to win numerous awards, among them the Academy Award for Best Music, scored by John Williams with the Oscar going to duo Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn for “We May Never Love Like This Again” who also collaborated for “The Morning After”—see above. The plot involves the return of a prize-winning architect to over see the dedication of the mixed-used skyscraper—at just over five hundred metres, the world’s tallest—in San Francisco. Concerns over potentially dangerous inadequacies in the electrical work by a subcontractor are ignored and the gala continues in the building’s Promenade Room, one hundred thirty five storeys above street level. As the male leads all wanted top-billing (see also), credits were staggered for posters and promotional material.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: faรงadism plus the art of Patrick Nagel
eight years ago: Sylvester Stallone to head the US National Endowment for the Arts, the microseasons of Japan, the EU’s headquarters plus recreating ancient soundscapes
nine years ago: an appreciation of the Galactic Empire’s bureaucracy
ten years ago: a feature length painted film about van Gogh plus the Witch of Endor
