On E List of Movie Reviews
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Earthquake (1974)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
9/15
9/15:
Of course, thanks to Universal's success of Airport, there has to be a disaster film about
earthquakes,and this time, it's called *drum roll* Earthquake.
The most hilarious part is the screenplay was written by Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather.
There are three phases happening: the soap opera, the earthquake, and the aftermath.
Throughout, the acting is uniformly putrid (I'm looking at you, Ms. Bujold, and I rather have Ava Gardner over
her any time of the day). I didn't know what Nigel Tufnel meant until I saw Victoria Principal's "afro" which looks like
an Australian's nightmare.
There are hardly any cops or firemen at the scene of disaster. Principal characters come and go, leaving behind a bunch of unresolved
conflicts. Also, there's a lot of focus on them, making sure they survive the ordeal while the rest is rendered unimportant
and thus not worth bothering with.
One earthquake is good for me, but the film manages to have like twenty-five of them within two days.
To depict the realism of the situation, the camera, instead of the landscape, shakes violently at times.
On the other hand, the special effects are cheap and simple, and there are editing problems.
Looking at the timer and seeing much of the damage that the characters still have to wade through, I had become alarmed enough to
say, "There isn't enough time left to deal with the rest of what's going on," only to be pacified by a terrifically
lazy ending.
As for the color skin of the victims, however few there are, I spot an African American here and there but none who's either
Asian or Latino. I guess, in the 70's, Los Angeles was mostly populated by white people. The film's ultimate message is:
if you're a bad person, cheat on your spouse, or are a vindictive repressed homosexual with a fake blond wig,
you'll die during the earthquake.
All in all, Earthquake is literally a disaster.