This "noir-stained" (as Noir City film festival host Alan K. Rode put it) romantic triangle about men who work at high altitudes and the women, or in this case woman, who watches them from the ground is determined to remain pretty unexciting. John Ericson had a pretty face and looks decent without a shirt on, but he's not much of an actor. The drama never generates much heat, save for a mildly suspenseful climax.
The film does have three things going for it: Mari Blanchard, who the word vivacious was created to describe; the crusty performance of Charles McGraw as the psycho leader of the pack; and some dizzying POV shots from the top of one of the cruel towers that gives the film its name. None of those things make this a good movie, or even a very watchable one, but they prevent it from being a total wash.
I will say I'm glad to have seen it though, because it sounds like I'm one of the few people in the world who have. Its screening in Chicago was apparently only the second time, aside from its initial theatrical run, that it's been shown in a theater ever, and it isn't available to see anywhere else.
Grade: C.
