source: Earthquake

Trailer—Earthquake

Earthquake

Bummer disaster epic with truly stupefying casting: Lorne Greene plays Ava Gardner's father (what was he, a horny seven-year-old?) while Marjoe Gortner is Victoria Principal's stalker (he's a grocery manager and part-time soldier who...oh, never mind). "Earthquake" does just what it promises--destroys Los Angeles--and it certainly has the requisite ingredients of a hammy disaster flick, yet it is relentlessly downbeat. The actors are kept angrily grinding their teeth, barking orders at each other (star-hero Charlton Heston leads with his granite jaw, only loosening up when flirting with single mom Geneviève Bujold). Shock effects galore, but the picture wears down the audience in a depressing way. Bujold is lovely, and Richard Roundtree has a fun role as a motorcycle-riding daredevil but, at this point, Heston and George Kennedy were getting a bit too ubiquitous in these type of surroundings. For the sheer spectacle of the thing: ** from ****

Earthquake 1974 is a classic film with outstanding film actors who will never be forgotten. Charlton Heston (Steward Graff)("Ben Hur" '59); Ava Gardner (Remy Royce Graff)("Barefoot Contessa'54 starring with Humphrey Bogart); George Kennedy,(Sgt. Lew Slade)("Blue Knight TV series and "Cool Hand Luke" '67); Lorne Greene(Sam Royce)("Bonanza "'59); Barry Sullivan ( Dr. Willis Stockle)("Harlow" 65); Lloyd Nolan ( Dr. James Vance)("A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" '45) and last but not least, Walter Matthau (A DRUNK in a bar)("Sunshine Boys'75) All these actors made this film a great classic, not the special effects, lets remember, this film was made in 1974 not in year 2000. There will never be another Earthquake Film with such great actors giving their complete support to make this an enjoyable entertainment for generations in the future to admire and respect. This is not a film to be critical about, all actors have to make a living, whether they are old or young!!!

Earthquake almost realistically shows us the devastating effects of such "an event" on a large modern day city. Since movie studios didn't have the resources in 1974 to add expensive computerized effects, miniatures, camera trickery and a few large-scale destructions were used to simulate the quake. However even by today's standards, most (but not all) effects work pretty well. Many of the buildings we see crumbling to the ground are actual locals in Los Angeles and anyone who ever lived is this area (myself included) would still find watching this film chilling to say the least. The sets are very impressive - they made one helluva mess of Universal Studios making this film. The acting is so-so and the ending is disappointing and leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions: what ever happened to Miles and Rosa's brother anyway? And the scenes with Jody the weirdo are just plain uncomfortable. But as far as pure "end of the world" disaster entertainment goes, this film has it all.

I saw this movie on the big-screen when it was released and I actually found the Sensurround (R) to be annoying, but the film isn't as bad as critics made it out to be. I agree, the casting could have been better (the Ava Gardner/Loorne Green argument is a good one), but this is a special effects movie, and the special effects were pretty good by 1974 standards. Besides, how can a movie about the destruction of LA be so bad?

I really enjoyed the practical effects before CGI took over the film industry. This is the time when making disaster films was a huge challenge. This is decent film making at its best. The visual effects are incredible and is still good by today's standard. This must have been amazing at the time of release. Charlton Heston is a likable hero as usual. I enjoyed how the characters interacted with one another and how their characters developed during and after the disaster. The film did end rather abruptly, but it was an enjoyable action drama.