“Hell, Upside Down!”
Take a moment to enjoy what is, without a doubt, one of the greatest movie tag lines of all time! “Hell, Upside Down!”
Now, as I spend the year going through some of the greatest films of the 70’s, let’s find out how much of a “HELL” was endured on the set of the film!
Time to enjoy some classic movie mayhem. And time also to have two wild celebrity CATFIGHTS!
Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, with a “sandwiched in” Faye Dunaway, sure look chummy in this picture, but wait until you hear about what happened on the set of their disaster epic “The Towering Inferno!”
That’s right, let’s go back to the greatest decade for film – the 70’s, an era when disaster movies were BIG – and the Star feuds were BIGGER!
The Master Of Disaster!
There was an era in the 70’s when “disaster pictures” were the rage: huge blockbusters like “The Towering Inferno” with Steve McQueen and Paul Newman:
But did you know how McQueen referred to Newman in conversations?
“That Fuckwit!”
Well, thanks to the great british film magazine EMPIRE, I’ve got a bunch of anecdotes about stars who hated other stars while acting in huge blockbuster disaster films!
I subscribe to EMPIRE – a truly great movie magazine full of great reviews, interviews, on-location reports and lots of stories about film – including one of their April issue that introduced British audiences to the original “Master of Disaster”, movie Producer Irwin Allen!
The Poseidon Adventure!
“Hell, Upside Down.” That was the tagline for the greatest disaster movie of all time, which spawned a series of “disaster-themed” films throughout the rest of the 70’s – check out the trailer!
Yes, that was Leslie Nielsen as the Captain in the trailer, just one of a slew of recognizable faces in this star-studded disaster epic!
Gene Hackman – who just a year earlier won the Best Actor Oscar for “The French Connection” – plays Reverand Scott, who is on the ship that is capsized by a huge tidal wave! He must help a small group climb up to the bottom of the overturned luxury cruise ship!
This movie was Hollywood’s gold standard all right – Oscar winners Hackman, Shelley Winters and Ernest Borgnine – along with a bunch of other familiar faces – all struggling to survive!
A “Tricky” Gene Hackman, A Livid Shelley Winters!
A great anecdote from the magazine involves Gene Hackman, who Director Ronald Neame referred to as “tricky”. Hackman demanded to change a scene, shifting the focus from Shelley Winters to himself. Winters went ballistic:
“That scene is the only damn reason I’m doing the movie and Hackman’s not going to take it away from me!”
Winters lost the argument, and she later said that filming the revised scene was, in her words:
“the most dreadful morning I’ve had since I made a film with Judy Garland.”
What a classic line! I love catty Hollywood insider stories, and since “The Poseidon Adventure” was a huge smash, Producer Irwin Allen had more Hollywood cattiness to come!
Now, time for a heated “Inferno!”
Steve McQueen’s Battle With Paul Newman!
The magazine also offered an inside look at Irwin Allen’s “The Towering Inferno”, starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman – and of course, more Star fights!
First, check out the trailer for this hugely popular 1975 disaster film:
Empire tells the whole story about how Irwin Allen got both superstars to appear in the film, without realizing that McQueen HATED Newman! Even after becoming a superstar, McQueen always felt Newman was treated better by the press and the industry, and it drove him crazy.
The problems began even before they began filming. McQueen read the screenplay for “Inferno” and counted all of his lines – and then he counted Newman’s – and discovered the other Actor had twelve more lines than he did. His response?
“Goddmanit, that fucker’s always twisting my melon!”
“The Fuckwit!”
McQueen was so jealous of Newman’s popularity he always referred to him as “the fuckwit!” None of their rivalry impacted the end result, however, as “The Towering Inferno” was a huge box office smash!
These are two classic disaster films that helped spark the era of blockbuster cinema – and I love stories about stars who fight on the set!
I’ve been spending this year looking back at some of the greatest film of this decade, withheld from a really terrific book:
The title is also one of the great lines from the film – check out all of the fun stuff inside this great look at the films of the 70’s:
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Categories: 70's Cinema, Action Films, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
Hi John, I’m sure a lot of actors / actresses bump heads on film sets. Interesting article.
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They do indeed Robbie! Thanks for sharing!
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I saw all of these on the big screen, and thought Poseidon was a better film than Towering Inferno. Also that the original Taking Of Pelham 123 was far superior to the remake.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I loved these movies!! Thanks for a great post, sprinkled with some catty lines.
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Yes, they are both very entertaining films, especially knowing what was happening behind the scenes!
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Exactly! I’m still struck at the huge casting of well knowns in these great 70’s movies.
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BTW, I’ve been following the writer’s strike and biting my nails, as I’m sure you and Alex have been, too. A good friend who is a writer in LA (he was a key writer for “Elementary”, and had another terrific pilot) has been keeping me up to date. Actually, we hooked up and had drinks the evening before Kelly. One day I’ll get you hooked up. He’s from here…. ran the Boston Marathon last spring in under three. Holy Moly!
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Love that! We are hopeful that talks will resolve this soon – so many people are hurting!
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Thanks, John. Yes, many people are hurting.
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P.S. His wife is a chef!
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Interesting.
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I loved both of these so much and love the genre!
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Yes, they couldn’t keep it going but it had a great run!
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