Earthquake

The 1970s were very good for disaster movies, but they were not very good for Charlton Heston, who was gradually losing his position as a global superstar, and this was one of his last glimpses to make his presence known. If I had to describe in one word the first 50 minutes, where we are introduced to the characters and some narrative groundwork is laid for the disaster itself, I can only think of the now so popular word “cringe”. Yes, many scenes here teeter on the edge of awkwardness, whether it's the dialogue about nymphomaniacs, George Kennedy staring tits in a trance, all the bar scenes, including Walter Matthau's ridiculous cameo, Marjoe Gortner's entire role as a pervert (who, when he climbs into uniform, takes off his wig and plays the tough soldier), etc. But the cherry on top is a washed up Ava Gardner, who plays the tycoon's daughter, both actors being almost the same age and both looking more like husband and wife. Just “cringe”. The visual effects are fine, the front and rear projections look nice and just prove that there is no need for artificially ugly CGI (I'm looking at you, Dwayne Johnson). But unfortunately, the overall impression of the film is awkward to say the least. (25/09/2023)

Two years after The Poseidon Adventure kicked off a new boom in disaster movies, three typical representatives of this genre hit the movie theater screens at the same time. The still unsurpassed Towering Inferno, the not very high quality Airport 75 and the rightly almost forgotten Earthquake. There is nothing worth remembering here, but you won’t get bored. Simply a disaster movie that is certainly no disaster in terms of quality even after all these years, but it’s nothing to write home about. (12/02/2008)

A fairly classic disaster film with a large number of characters, quite a long buildup, and then just some dramatic situations, which are sometimes quite good. It's not great, but Victoria Principal absolutely blew me away. I've always liked her, and here I beautifully remembered her. (17/01/2017)