Earthquake (C or 2/4 stars)
It's funny. The 1930s gave us screwball comedies. The 1940s gave us classic film noirs. The 1950s was the decade of the Western. The 1960s was the decade of the movie musical. And disaster movies were all the rage in the 1970s. 'Earthquake' (directed by Mark Robson) is one of those preposterous, poorly scripted, yet entertaining epic disaster flicks from the 1970s that contains a plethora of interconnected cardboard characters played by some of Hollywood's elite, who struggle to survive a calamity; in this case, an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude that hit L.A. 1974 was the zenith of the disaster genre; giving us the superb The Towering Inferno, the decent Juggernaut, and then the less-than-stellar Airport '75 and this film, here.
If you're at all familiar with disaster movie genre, then you know how this works. A group of recognizable stars are introduced, headlined by Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Lloyd Nolan, Richard Roundtree, Barry Sullivan, Donald Moffat, Victoria Principal, & more. We learn jussst enough about their characters to make them resemble human beings and then, boom, disaster strikes. In this case it's an enormous earthquake to hit California; even bigger than the real life quake depicted in 1936's San Francisco, starring Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy. Following the huge disaster here, we then watch as the movie star characters try desperately to cope & survive. Mayhem & unintentional humor ensues.
Though it received mixed reviews upon its release and, though you can't call this film Art, 'Earthquake' was fondly regarded at the time by the masses {$80 million on a $7 million budget}, by the Academy {5 nominations & 2 wins!} and, it provides good 'ole hokey fun. The disaster itself is impressive for its bigness and, also impressive - especially for the time - for no use of CGI. Sure, we see moments where cement blocks are made of Styrofoam, but there's charm to that, as well; and the destruction of L.A. is pretty spectacular to see. The thing that makes this movie a real hoot, and not necessarily something to be taken remotely seriously {and I'm not even talking about the silly characterizations}, IS the over-the-top nature of the disaster.
Once the earthquake hits with everything & everyONE start being destroyed ... ya gotta chuckle. The audaciousness of what we see is off-the-charts. An expensive house humorously tumbles down a hill. Skyscrapers break-up into small pieces. A bunch of people huddle in an elevator yelling "Oh God, help us!" right before it plummets & the screen is splattered with fake blood. One moron lights a cigarette & runs into a house to shut off the gas {big mistake}. Another group of people run right out the side of a building & cascade to their death. One soldier arrests the Victoria Principal character for just looking at an open cash register -- what's the crime there!? There is a sadistic National Guardsman shooting down innocent people. There are aftershocks. Fires. Even a damn breaks, which floods the decimated city. I thought: "Anything else ya wanna throw into this movie, producers!?"
Over-the-top, unintentionally hilarious action aside, the biggest issue I have with this film is that, inexplicably, none of the characters are likeable. The Charlton Heston & Ava Gardner husband/wife characters are a hot mess. I gotta give it to Ava Gardner, who not only plays an unlikeable character, but chose to do her own stunts; dodging concrete blocks & steel pipes; climbing around the flooded storm drain, etc. Genevieve Bujold is a lousy mother & an adulterer. George Kennedy is the most sympathetic, but he's also a loose cannon cop. Richard Roundtree provides some comic relief as a motorcycle stunt rider. Speaking of comic relief, what the heck was Walter Matthau (oddly billed as Walter Matuschanskayansky) doing in the bar scene!? Corny!
Mario Puzo started penning this movie with George Fox, but left midway through to work on The Godfather Part II. As I mentioned above, this movie received love from the Academy, despite critics poo-pooing it. Objectively speaking, I understand accolades for set design, sound, effects and, of course, John Williams' score. Williams also composed 1972's The Poseidon Adventure & 74's The Towering Inferno -- busy man! I can't deny that this film has laudable elements to it and, it also entertained the masses with its crash 'em-bash 'em action & funny unintentional moments sprinkled throughout. But the stiff-as-a-board characters, soap opera plotlines & silly dialogues prevents this spectacle from rising above an overall mediocre assessment from me.
If you're at all familiar with disaster movie genre, then you know how this works. A group of recognizable stars are introduced, headlined by Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Lloyd Nolan, Richard Roundtree, Barry Sullivan, Donald Moffat, Victoria Principal, & more. We learn jussst enough about their characters to make them resemble human beings and then, boom, disaster strikes. In this case it's an enormous earthquake to hit California; even bigger than the real life quake depicted in 1936's San Francisco, starring Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy. Following the huge disaster here, we then watch as the movie star characters try desperately to cope & survive. Mayhem & unintentional humor ensues.
Though it received mixed reviews upon its release and, though you can't call this film Art, 'Earthquake' was fondly regarded at the time by the masses {$80 million on a $7 million budget}, by the Academy {5 nominations & 2 wins!} and, it provides good 'ole hokey fun. The disaster itself is impressive for its bigness and, also impressive - especially for the time - for no use of CGI. Sure, we see moments where cement blocks are made of Styrofoam, but there's charm to that, as well; and the destruction of L.A. is pretty spectacular to see. The thing that makes this movie a real hoot, and not necessarily something to be taken remotely seriously {and I'm not even talking about the silly characterizations}, IS the over-the-top nature of the disaster.
Once the earthquake hits with everything & everyONE start being destroyed ... ya gotta chuckle. The audaciousness of what we see is off-the-charts. An expensive house humorously tumbles down a hill. Skyscrapers break-up into small pieces. A bunch of people huddle in an elevator yelling "Oh God, help us!" right before it plummets & the screen is splattered with fake blood. One moron lights a cigarette & runs into a house to shut off the gas {big mistake}. Another group of people run right out the side of a building & cascade to their death. One soldier arrests the Victoria Principal character for just looking at an open cash register -- what's the crime there!? There is a sadistic National Guardsman shooting down innocent people. There are aftershocks. Fires. Even a damn breaks, which floods the decimated city. I thought: "Anything else ya wanna throw into this movie, producers!?"
Over-the-top, unintentionally hilarious action aside, the biggest issue I have with this film is that, inexplicably, none of the characters are likeable. The Charlton Heston & Ava Gardner husband/wife characters are a hot mess. I gotta give it to Ava Gardner, who not only plays an unlikeable character, but chose to do her own stunts; dodging concrete blocks & steel pipes; climbing around the flooded storm drain, etc. Genevieve Bujold is a lousy mother & an adulterer. George Kennedy is the most sympathetic, but he's also a loose cannon cop. Richard Roundtree provides some comic relief as a motorcycle stunt rider. Speaking of comic relief, what the heck was Walter Matthau (oddly billed as Walter Matuschanskayansky) doing in the bar scene!? Corny!
Mario Puzo started penning this movie with George Fox, but left midway through to work on The Godfather Part II. As I mentioned above, this movie received love from the Academy, despite critics poo-pooing it. Objectively speaking, I understand accolades for set design, sound, effects and, of course, John Williams' score. Williams also composed 1972's The Poseidon Adventure & 74's The Towering Inferno -- busy man! I can't deny that this film has laudable elements to it and, it also entertained the masses with its crash 'em-bash 'em action & funny unintentional moments sprinkled throughout. But the stiff-as-a-board characters, soap opera plotlines & silly dialogues prevents this spectacle from rising above an overall mediocre assessment from me.