Earthquake

Rating:
Summary: Horrible presentation of dreadful film
Review: "Earthquake" (1974) won an Oscar for its special effects, and it was originally presented in the ground-breaking "Sensurround" format, in which an extremely low-pitched sound system literally shook the theater seats whenever the movie's tremors and quakes would hit. As a result, it was a monster hit at the theaters. But was it any good? Let's put it this way. "The Towering Inferno" is considered a mediocre film at best and was such a hit it was nominated for Best Picture by the Motion Picture Academy. "Earthquake" was released the same year and was passed over, except for a special Oscar for its admittedly stellar special effects. That the Academy wanted nothing else to do with it speaks volumes. In a word, it stinks.

Actually, the title conflagaration doesn't even happen until nearly an hour into the film. Until then, the audience suffers through 60 minutes of dreadful exposition and laughable character development: Architect Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner as a bickering middle-age couple, Lorne Greene as Heston's father-in-law (!) and boss, Genevieve Bujold as a struggling actress and Heston's would-be mistress, George Kennedy as a suspended cop, Richard Roundtree as a pathetic Evel Knievel wannabe, Victoria Principal as a sexy Italian bombshell, Lloyd Nolan as a doctor and Barry Sullivan as the director of the Seismatological Institute. But top casting honors goes to the bizarro miscasting of Marjoe Gortner as a National Guardsman and sex pervert who attacks Principal after the quake hits. And, yes, that is an unbilled Walter Matthau providing unneeded comedy relief (the film is unintentionally funny enough as it is) as a drunk who drinks his way through disaster.

Other than that, the film has no plot whatsoever. The quake hits, lasts nearly ten minutes (instead of several seconds like normal quakes) and destroys all of Los Angeles, killing millions in the process. It's up to Kennedy and Heston to rescue everybody, then half the cast dies and the film ends, leaving the rest of the cast standing in the rubble. In all, it's a depressing experience.

The cast, with one exception, is mediocre to terrible. The exception is Bujold, who acts with sincerity and restraint, making her character the one human being among a bunch of cardboard cutouts. Heston is properly heroic but exhibits none of the charisma of his late '50's-'60's heyday. Gardner is unbearable as his wife--vulgar, foul-mouthed and irredeamably b*tchy; it's hard to believe she was once a desired '50's sex symbol. Greene, Nolan and Sullivan do their best with underwritten roles, and Roundtree looks like he wants to fire his agent for his ridiculous role in which he exhibits none of the charisma of his famous "Shaft" role. Kennedy overacts wildly and joins Heston in watching his career go down the drain in a series of dreadful disaster flicks. As for Gortner and Principal, they are both absolutely horrible, but at least Principal is sympathetic. Gortner's pervert is simply an embarassment.

As for the technical aspects, the effects are stellar for the era, although the film also contains one of the cheesiest special effects shots I have ever seen: the blood splattering at the end of the collapsing elevator sequence. (And do we really need to see the victim with glass in her eye?) The editing and cinematography are cut-rate at best, and Mark Robson's direction simply stinks. As for the script, "The Godfather"'s Mario Puzo reportedly submitted a draft that was heavily rewritten by George Fox, so primary blame for the horrible dialog, cardboard characters and lack of coherant plot has to be placed on Fox and Robson, who handles everything like a blind traffic cop. In short, it's a mess, and viewed without the sensurround, the film loses the only jolt it packed in the theater. The only good thing about the film? The eerie musical score.

As for the DVD, even if you disagree with me and like this film, skip this presentation. It features horrible sound and a mediocre picture and is typical of Goodtime Videos cheapjack presentations. It's in panavision widescreen, but still looks awful, and may be prone to "sticking," much like other Goodtime titles. My advice, wait for Universal to release a remastered DVD version, if you must have this atrocity. * (out of *****)

Rating:
Summary: Thrills, Chills, and Fun!
Review: "Earthquake" was a late entry into the early '70s Disaster film mania, and the audiences had become a little jaded after whetting their appetites on "Towering Inferno" and "The Poseidon Adventure." But hey! "Earthquake" has its own charms and some surprisingly good special effects.

Charlton Heston is in his stone-faced glory playing a heroic engineer who is trying to save Los Angeles from a devastating 7.2 earthquake. Dams break, buildings tumble, glass flies, panic and hysteria reign. Beautiful Ava Gardner (who looked as if she was seriously wondering what in the [heck] she was doing in this movie) plays Heston's spoiled, expensive wife. To give Heston the proper angst, he has reluctantly fallen in love with the nubile Genevieve Bujold who fetchingly needs rescuing quite often. The ending surprised me; I wonder if Charlton insisted upon it.

"Earthquake" delivers. If your expectations are for deep characterizations and startling ambiguities; you will be disappointed. If you want a couple hours of thrills and mindless fun, "Earthquake" will satisfy. My only complaints are the overly long set-up before the earthquake begins and a vague sadness that I haven't the facilities for "Sensurround."
-sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: Goodtimes deserves credit for fine DVD release!
Review: "Earthquake" was a great 70's disaster movie starring Charlton Heston, Lorne Greene, Richard Roundtree, Genevieve Bujold, Victoria Principal, George Kennedy and many others. I was very happy to find that the Goodtimes release of Universals "Earthquake" was widescreen and in dolby stereo surround. The picture and sound quality exceeded my expectations which were low due to the budget price. Frankly, I didn't buy this movie on Laserdisc because the MCA-Universal release was priced a little to high for a seventies disaster flick. I hope Universal will continue to license Goodtimes to issue many of its older films. I like the prices and am amazed by the overall quality I am finding. Thanks, CAL

Rating:
Summary: A Good Disaster Movie From the 1970s
Review: A good disaster movie of the 1970s.Charlton Heston plays a man who is cheating on his wife (played by Ava Gardener). Then, after a confrontation between Heston and his wife, the most catastrophic earthquake of all time hits Los Angeles ! Great special effects, though the script is a bit cheesy. Other characters include the policeman, the crazed army guy, the motorcycle stuntman, and, of course, Heston's mistress, whose son was hurt in an accident due to the earthquake. Anyone who enjoyed "The Towering Inferno" or "The Poseidon Adventure" will surely enjoy this film.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Disaster
Review: Although I usually get a kick out of watching the Seventies' disaster flicks, I have to say I was kind of hoping the quake would kill off most of the cast in this one, since the characters are so underdeveloped and unlikeable, I didn't care what happened to any of them. Charlton Heston, jaw firmly clenched, stars as an engineer in a bad marriage and beginning an affair with struggling actress Genevieve Bujold. His wife is played by a screeching, over the top Ava Gardner, and her father is played by Lorne Greene (ok ... think about that for a moment) who happens to be Heston's boss. Others include the necessary George Kennedy as a frustrated cop, Richard Roundtree as a daredevil motorcyclist, and Victoria Principal as Roundtree's partner's sister. If you thought Principal had big hair in her Eighties' soap opera days, get a load of the 'do they put her into in this film. I don't know how she managed not to tip over from the weight of it! She must have been left with back problems. But back to the story, or what there is of it. A huge earthquake strikes Los Angeles, placing the lives of all these fine citizens in peril. Skyscrapers fall, buildings explode, fires are everywhere, floods begin. Other than a mild interest in the Bujold character and her son (she's the only touch of class in this movie), I didn't like or care about anybody else, and if you don't have that, the film is pretty much over after the special effects stop. The effects are good for the most part, but the script and direction and acting are so poor they ruin the rest of the film. It's a disaster alright, but probably not in the way the producers intended it to be.

Rating:
Summary: Jennings Lang does it again.....
Review: As a producer the late Jennings Lang has been known for doing really lame sequels to movies like Airport, but on occasion he's turned out some cracking good movies, and Earthquake is one of these. Set in Southern California along the San Andreas Fault line, Earthquake is the story of several people who are brought together when the mother of all quakes hits LA: Stewart Graff (Charlton Heston), an ex-football player-turned construction engineer who is cheating on his demanding, attention-hungry wife (Ava Gardner) with the widow of a man he had once worked with (Genevieve Bujold); Sam Royce (the late Lorne Greene), Graff's father-in-law and boss; Lew Slade (Airport perennial George Kennedy), a tough LA cop who has just been put on suspension and who now finds himself helping with the rescue efforts following the quake; Miles Quade (Shaft's Richard Roundtree), a daredevil motorcyclist who is also pressed into service in the rescue efforts; and Victoria Principal as the sister of Quade's manager and best friend, who is also the recipient of some very unwelcome attention from a young man (Marjoe Gortner) who works at the grocery store where she shops and who is also an Army reservist who is pressed into service to prevent looting in the aftermath of the quake.

Although I found Earthquake to be a very entertaining film, I did have some problems with the DVD release. For one thing, there are no special features on it apart from some production notes on the film. You would think that a movie that inspired a ride at Universal Studios' theme parks would have some featurettes from the surviving cast and crew, but nada! I also had issues with the fact that certain scenes included in several television airings as well as the original theatrical release were left out of both the VHS and DVD releases, scenes that I felt were somewhat important to the story and should have been included, at the very least in a "deleted scenes" section of the DVD. Despite all this I found myself enjoying the movie and would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed but an fine entertaining action/adventure film.
Review: Construction engineer Stewart Graff (Charlton Heston) is having problems coping with his troubled wife (Ava Gardner) and a young mother (Genevieve Bujold) and his father in law boss (Lorne Greene). When the biggest earthquake hits L.A., hell is about to break loose and in the history of mankind. The film has one almost fatal flaw: The problems between Graff (Heston), His wife (Gardner) and His father in law boss (Greene) doesn`t work, because they are almost the same age in real life, while making this picture. Help from good performances like George Kennedy as a cop is great in the movie and excellent special effects done by Albert Whitlock (The Birds, John Carpenter`s The Thing).

DVD is short on extras but an fine non-anamorphic widescreen transer (2.35:1) and excellent Dolby Surround Sound, which sounds great on a Home Theater. Grade:B+. Panavision.

Rating:
Summary: This movie (pardon the pun) ROCKS!
Review: Definitely the cheesiest disaster movie of all time! Charlton Heston absolutely hams it up (ala "Ben-Hur") as a construction engineer, Ava Gardner plays his wife....and Lorne Greene's daughter (?!), Genevieve Bujold pouts about as Heston's tarty mistress and George Kennedy is the cop with a heart (there's always one). A devastating quake finally hits LA. Things begin to shake, rattle and roll - especially busty Victoria Principal (in a really bad afro wig). The best part of this movie is watching LA crumble. Some of the quake effects are great - others are embarrassing. Still, it's still a fun disaster flick to watch. This reviewer would have given an extra star had the DVD included Dolby Digital Surround sound. Why show "Earthquake" in mono?

Rating:
Summary: This movie (pardon the pun) ROCKS!
Review: Definitely the cheesiest disaster movie of all time! Charlton Heston absolutely hams it up (ala "Ben-Hur") as a construction engineer, Ava Gardner plays his wife....and Lorne Greene's daughter (?!), Genevieve Bujold pouts about as Heston's tarty mistress and George Kennedy is the cop with a heart (there's always one). A devastating quake finally hits LA. Things begin to shake, rattle and roll - especially busty Victoria Principal (in a really bad afro wig). The best part of this movie is watching LA crumble. Some of the quake effects are great - others are embarrassing. Still, it's still a fun disaster flick to watch. This reviewer would have given an extra star had the DVD included Dolby Digital Surround sound. Why show "Earthquake" in mono?

Rating:
Summary: One of the best disaster film always be forever.
Review: Director Mark Robson is very good directing this disaster film. Spectacular Visaul Effects in this film and Excellent cast also. This film haves a few plot holes like Miles and Stockle, we d`ont know, what happen to these two characters at the end of the film. Walter Matthau playing the drunk is credited under his real name Walter Matuschanskavasky. This film also two beautiful woman are Genevieve Bujold and Victoria Principal. This is excellent in my home system theater sound. Is great having a DVD player. I rate this 4½ Stars.

Enjoy this disater film from the seventies.