Earthquake (1974)

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

George Fox (written by)
Mario Puzo (written by)

Release Date:

15 November 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

An Event...

Plot:

Various stories of various people as an earthquake of un-imagineable magnitude hits Los Angeles.

Plot Keywords:

Fire Hose Used As Rope | Attempted Rape | Adultery | Reservoir Dam | Psychopath

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Stewart Graff
Ava Gardner	...	Remy Royce-Graff
George Kennedy	...	Sgt. Lew Slade
Lorne Greene	...	Sam Royce
Geneviève Bujold	...	Denise Marshall (as Genevieve Bujold)
Richard Roundtree	...	Miles Quade
Marjoe Gortner	...	Jody
Barry Sullivan	...	Dr. Willis Stockle
Lloyd Nolan	...	Dr. James Vance
Victoria Principal	...	Rosa Amici
Walter Matthau	...	Drunk (as Walter Matuschanskayasky)
Monica Lewis	...	Barbara
Gabriel Dell	...	Sal Amici
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Officer Emilio Chavez (as Pedro Armendariz Jr.)
Lloyd Gough	...	Bill Cameron

Runtime:

123 min | USA:160 min (TV version) | Canada:121 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Sensurround (70 mm and 35 mm magnetic prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1976) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

1329 Carroll Avenue, Central Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

The Filmakers Group

Trivia:

Ava Gardner was only seven years younger than Lorne Greene, who plays her father. (Greene was born in 1915, Gardner in 1922.)

Goofs:

Continuity: The man on the plane that is soon to arrive at LAX is seen putting the hi-liter down on the arm rest. The next shot has him X-ing next to a paragraph in a magazine article with the yellow hi-liter. The shot changes back again and the hi-liter is back on the arm rest between him and his wife.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Dr. James Vance: This used to be a helluva town, officer.
Sgt. Lew Slade: [on the edge of tears] Yeah...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Super Secret Movie Rules: Disaster Movies (2004) (TV)

Soap opera stuff, with variable visual effects

EARTHQUAKE

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound format: 6-track magnetic stereo (Sensurround encoding)

(35mm and 70mm release prints)

Several disparate characters are drawn together in the aftermath of an earthquake which devastates Los Angeles.

Soapy addition to the 1970's disaster cycle, featuring an all-star cast going through the dreary motions (who CARES if Charlton Heston is threatening to leave wife Ava Gardner for younger woman Geneviève Bujold?) until their problems are resolved - one way or another - by an earth-shattering catastrophe. The earthquake itself is impressive in some places (collapsing miniatures, burning buildings, expansive matte paintings, etc.) and dreadful in others ('shaky-cam' inserts, animated 'blood splatter', optical distortions which LOOK like optical distortions, etc.), though some moviegoers were lucky enough to view the film theatrically in Sensurround, an ultra-deep bass enhancement which caused structural damage in a number of theaters! Directed by industry veteran Mark Robson (BEDLAM, ISLE OF THE DEAD) and produced by Universal at a time when most of their output looked like big screen TV features, the movie was intended to give THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974) a run for its money and came off looking pretty ropey in comparison, though it DOES have a strong cast (including George Kennedy, giving the film's best performance as a disillusioned cop whose faith is restored in the aftermath of the quake). The moralistic ending is particularly hard to swallow.