Review of Steel

Steel (1979)
Steel Buildings and Steel Guys...
3 July 2001
During construction of the Kincaid Tower in Lexington, Kentucky, a producer decided to make a movie about it. In the film, they are rushing to complete the building on schedule, they need to put up the top 9 stories in 3 weeks. This calls for some super construction workers-- the "only guy" for this job is a former construction whiz, now the truck-driving, womanizing Mike Catton (Lee Majors). He has to assemble his whole gang of super builders. The "Demolition Man" owes him a favor. Then there's "Dancer" for the last round-up, and others. Albert Salmi as "Tank" is the best of the lot, giving a stand-out performance; when we first see him, Albert is using his electromagnet crane to lift a metallic outhouse 60 feet in the air-- with someone in it! (The person inside the sky-high outhouse cusses a blue streak and throws newspapers at Albert.) There are countless innuendoes, comparing erecting Steel buildings to guys' other functions. In a scene in a bar, Lee Majors confesses to Art Carney that he "froze" on top of a building. Art Carney gives him the manly, double-meaning advice: "This building will give a you chance to 'get it up' again." Then, the Dream Team arrives at the construction site. This is the team they'll be talking about forever! Later, while socializing, Lee Majors says: "I get restless, maybe, just not used to all that sitting around." Jennifer O'Neill says: "You just tell me when you start 'stiffening' up... and I'll give you a massage." Still later, when they are discussing his fear problem, Jennifer asks him: "Why does yours have to be bigger than everyone else's?" As for Albert Salmi, he uses his big crane to drop a huge steel beam on (bad guy) R.G. Armstrong's car-- what a zany! (in real life, Albert Salmi and R.G. Armstrong had been friends for decades, back to when they starred together in the Broadway show "End As a Man" in 1954. R.G. even attended Albert's first wedding. This movie was like a reunion for them.)

Will the Dream Team get the building finished before the deadline? Will Lee Majors overcome his construction erecting dysfunction? Watch the movie and find out.
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