I thought it would be fun to watch a notoriously bad flick like Mame. Valley of the Dolls and Towering Inferno are certainly enjoyable trash. But Mame is an unwatchable, hideously embarrassing abortion. Ball and Arthur come across like drag queens, the mushy-faced kid is too icky-cute. The madcap scenes are forced. It's more like a wildly misguided TV movie than major studio release with a major star. It's just...just...unwatchable.
shareTowering Inferno is notoriously bad?
It's no worse than any of the 70s crop of disaster movies (Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure etc).
You basically assembled a cast of stalwart actors, put them in life threatening situations, kill a few off and spend the rest of the budget on the effects.
Plots were perfunctory and clichéd, and acting was usually below par.
But they were entertainng to watch, usually all the money was up on the screen. They never lacked spectacle. In fact I think many of them stand up today for the effects and stunts alone, because they were done practically.
Towering Inferno was probably not the best (Poseidon gets my vote), but I can't say it's bad.
With movies like Towering Inferno, and I would put Camerons Titanic in the same vein, they have their flaws, but from a technical and production aspect alone they are extraordinary. Basically, despite the flaws there are far too many things that are right with these movies to write them off as disasters.