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What happens when you bring the firefighters back for round two - this time against a 135-story fire from 1974? Too Old or Movie Gold’s Nanoose Bay firefighter panel returns for a second helping of Hollywood fire.

Host Olen Vanderleeden of the Comox Valley welcomes back Gen X panelists David Purcell and Mike Peters, plus third-generation Nanoose Bay Fire Department siblings Caitlin and Trevor Holme, for their second trip into the archives - this time tackling John Guillermin’s star-studded 1974 disaster epic The Towering Inferno, the story of a 135-story San Francisco skyscraper that goes up in flames on opening night.

The panel digs into a cast stacked almost to the point of absurdity - Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire and O.J. Simpson among them - the shaky building-code logic behind the fire in the first place, and whether a rooftop water tank could realistically put out 50-plus floors of flame. They also settle a running debate from their last screening: does the fire department come off looking better here than they did in Backdraft?

The behind-the-scenes trivia alone makes this one worth a listen. The Towering Inferno made $200 million worldwide on a $14 million budget, making it the highest-earning movie of 1974 - beating out The Exorcist and Young Frankenstein - and picked up nine Oscar nominations. Steve McQueen did his own stunts and helped real firefighters put out an actual blaze that broke out on set, 49 of the film’s 57 built sets burned to the ground, and the building’s “computer system” prop was originally built as a 1954 missile-defense system that later resurfaced on screen in Independence Day.

“I love the disdain for fire. It’s like, ‘What are you bothering me for? I’m above that, I’m gonna be fine.’” - Olen Vanderleeden

“I’m really stuck, because I don’t think pure gold is the right word for this movie. But too old? I wouldn’t give it that either.” - Caitlin, Gen Z firefighter

Too Old or Movie Gold is a Vancouver Island movie podcast hosted by Olen Vanderleeden, where classic films meet modern audiences through conversations about timeless movies, memorable performances and the stories behind some of cinema’s greatest productions. Too Old or Movie Gold is part of The PULSE Podcast Community.

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Sponsor for this episode is Fireside Books.

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