LA is rocked by a series of quakes, leading to the city collapsing into rubble, fire, and damaged structural integrity. The population endures danger and death as a result. To make matters worse: the nearby dam is on the verge of bursting!
Get this out of the way: critique this based on plot and characterizations, besides how people suffer at the aftermath of quakes, and Earthquake is a rather unimpressive enterprise. Marjoe Gortner is a supermarket checkout in the National Guard who turns out to be an unstable psycho sexually obsessed with Victoria Principal (rocking a fro), who herself is the sister of a tag-along of stuntman Richard Roundtree (who had made his name in the Shaft films). There's Ava Gardner starring as Charlton Heston's shrill, noisy wife (sadly a far cry from that curvy seductress who made heads turn, showing up in her first scene bitching Heston out!) and Lorne Green's "daughter" (ha!). Pretty Bujold is the "other woman" who Heston eyes as a future squeeze. George Kennedy comes off best as a suspended cop who punches out a county officer for challenging his pursuit of a dirtbag in a convertible leading an incredible high speed chase that nearly claims innocent victims along the way.
The money was well spent on the effects. The major city quake and subsequent dam break are knockouts. While the supporting subplots generate less enthusiasm, I couldn't say I wasn't entertained. There's a good sense of humor (the bar fight, Matthau taking shots at the bar as the city collapses around him!), well developed suspense (Bujold braving loose electrical wires to rescue her injured son, Greene lowering down his employees on a chair using a fire hose as the stairs on his floor were gone), and decent foreshadowing (seismologists Barry Sullivan and Kip Niven discussing recent evidentiary findings that support scary quakes ahead, the folks at the dam realizing the structure could disrupt at any moment) really deliver where it counts.
The plot is busy with moving parts but it is the effects and heroism that this disaster film hangs it's hat on. Looking for intricate plot development and strong performance art wasn't on the agenda. This was aimed for butts in seats and an audience looking for shock and awe. Heston's former football star, now a rising architectural exec getting promotions by papa-in-law Greene to appease constantly- griping Ava isn't exactly a subplot that leaps off the screen pleasantly. But Kennedy organizing a rescue operation on the outset of catastrophe is. Jesse Vint and his homophobic goons haranguing Gortner, later machine-gunned by him is a stunning scene. Bujold is lost on a film such as this, but her beauty is tapped instead of her talent. The falling bodies and debris as the city crash and burns is incredible. One gripe: the cartoon blood during an elevator collapse!
Get this out of the way: critique this based on plot and characterizations, besides how people suffer at the aftermath of quakes, and Earthquake is a rather unimpressive enterprise. Marjoe Gortner is a supermarket checkout in the National Guard who turns out to be an unstable psycho sexually obsessed with Victoria Principal (rocking a fro), who herself is the sister of a tag-along of stuntman Richard Roundtree (who had made his name in the Shaft films). There's Ava Gardner starring as Charlton Heston's shrill, noisy wife (sadly a far cry from that curvy seductress who made heads turn, showing up in her first scene bitching Heston out!) and Lorne Green's "daughter" (ha!). Pretty Bujold is the "other woman" who Heston eyes as a future squeeze. George Kennedy comes off best as a suspended cop who punches out a county officer for challenging his pursuit of a dirtbag in a convertible leading an incredible high speed chase that nearly claims innocent victims along the way.
The money was well spent on the effects. The major city quake and subsequent dam break are knockouts. While the supporting subplots generate less enthusiasm, I couldn't say I wasn't entertained. There's a good sense of humor (the bar fight, Matthau taking shots at the bar as the city collapses around him!), well developed suspense (Bujold braving loose electrical wires to rescue her injured son, Greene lowering down his employees on a chair using a fire hose as the stairs on his floor were gone), and decent foreshadowing (seismologists Barry Sullivan and Kip Niven discussing recent evidentiary findings that support scary quakes ahead, the folks at the dam realizing the structure could disrupt at any moment) really deliver where it counts.
The plot is busy with moving parts but it is the effects and heroism that this disaster film hangs it's hat on. Looking for intricate plot development and strong performance art wasn't on the agenda. This was aimed for butts in seats and an audience looking for shock and awe. Heston's former football star, now a rising architectural exec getting promotions by papa-in-law Greene to appease constantly- griping Ava isn't exactly a subplot that leaps off the screen pleasantly. But Kennedy organizing a rescue operation on the outset of catastrophe is. Jesse Vint and his homophobic goons haranguing Gortner, later machine-gunned by him is a stunning scene. Bujold is lost on a film such as this, but her beauty is tapped instead of her talent. The falling bodies and debris as the city crash and burns is incredible. One gripe: the cartoon blood during an elevator collapse!