Movie Review – Earthquake (1974)

The 1970s were known as being the golden era for disaster films.

From 1970′s Airport to 1972′s The Poseidon Adventure to the pinnacle of disaster films in 1974′s blazing hit, The Towering Inferno, it’s no wonder that movies from that time period were also known as “shake and bake.”

Disaster films would continue to be popular through the 1990s and 2000 era, but it’s still argued that the early 1970s produced some of the best disaster films of all time.  One of my personal favorite disaster films is 1974′s Earthquake.  Earthquake has its minor flaws and wasn’t the best of the disaster films, but my fascination of earthquakes and the realistic profile of “the Big One” striking Los Angeles keeps this disaster movie near the top of my listing.

Earthquake follows the lives of several Los Angeles residents before, during, and after the devastating earthquake destroys much of L.A.  They’re forced to deal with the situation along with their emotions while dealing with aftershocks and a variety of dangerous situations.

Directed by Mark Robson, written by George Fox and Mario Puzo, and with music composed by John Williams, Earthquake has a handful of popular 1970s movie stars in its cast.  Today’s audience will most likely only recognize a couple of the actors including George Kennedy as Lew Slade, a tough cop who resents bureaucracy and red tape in the police organization, Richard Roundtree as Miles Quade, a stunt motorcyclist hoping to impress a Las Vegas casino, Walter Matthau as a town drunk, and Hollywood legend Charlton Heston in the starring role as Stewart Graff, a building engineer caught in the mess of the Los Angeles earthquake.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Earthquake begins with Stewart Graff (Chalton Heston) out jogging and returning to his home in Los Angeles, California.  He continues exercising as his wife, Remy Royce-Graff (Ava Gardner) tries to pick a fight with him.  Stewart refuses her attitude and takes a shower.  When he returns to the bedroom he finds Remy on the bed and barely conscious.  It looks like she swallowed a bunch of pills in an attempted suicide (again).  Just as he’s about to induce vomiting, there’s a small earth tremor.  The movement jolts Remy awake and shows that she was faking the suicide attempt.  Disgusted at his wife’s dire attempt for attention, Stewart leaves for work at the engineering firm.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Over at the Hollywood Reservoir Dam (in actuality the Mulholland Dam), two workers quickly go into action after the tremor and begin inspecting the dam for any changes or damage.  The concrete dam seems to be okay until one of the workers descends down an elevator shaft.  Later, his co-worker is looking for him and calls for the elevator.  When the elevator’s doors open there’s a small flood of water and the lifeless body of the missing co-worker.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

In Los Angeles there’s a police chase as a determined Lew Slade (George Kennedy) is trying to catch a criminal in a stolen car.  He’s crosses the jurisdiction line and the car chase ultimately ends at Zsa Zsa Gabor’s house.  A Los Angeles County sheriff deputy attempts to reprimand Lou for leaving his jurisdiction and damaging the shrubs at Zsa Zsa’s house, but Lew punches out the cop.  When Lew is later facing discipline charges, we learn that the criminal he was chasing was stoned and had run over a 6-year-old Mexican girl.  Regardless of what the criminal did, Lew is suspended for his actions.

Meanwhile, on his way to work, Stewart Graff stops by the house of Denise Marshall (Genevieve Bujold), a young widower and mother of a boy, Corry.  Stewart gives Corry an autographed football as a gift.  He then helps Denise rehearse her scene for an upcoming movie in which she won a small part.  There’s a hinting of more to the relationship between Stewart and Denise than what we’re seeing.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Walter Russell is a bright junior staffer at the California Seismological Institute.  After the tremor, he studies the data and uses an obscure theory to predict another minor tremor later that day.  Walter then expresses to his superiors that based on the model and the data, a major earthquake is going to strike the Los Angeles area within the next 24-48 hours.

Sure enough there’s another tremor that morning.  Two seismologists are burying Earth-monitoring equipment in a trench when the ground begins to rattle.  The two men are quickly buried alive during the tremor.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

We’re introduced to Rosa Amici (Victoria Principal) as she’s trying to purchase groceries at the local grocery store.  She doesn’t bring enough cash (“credit is dead” according to the signs posted there), but the store’s manager, Jody Joad (Marjoe Gortner), allows her to take the groceries now and pay back the difference she owes next time she’s there.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Lew heads to a bar to blow off some steam after being suspended from duty.  There’s another tremor that disrupts a pool game taking place behind him.  The players argue whether or not the shot counted and begin to fight.  Lew ignores them and any other crime that takes place around him.  After his partner leaves, Lew goes over to the pool table and finally ends the fight.

Over at the Hollywood Reservoir Dam, there’s concern amongst the engineers as it’s discovered that the water level is slowly rising.

At the California Seismological Institute, Walter shows his proof and tries to defend his theory of a large earthquake with his superiors.  They have a hunch that Walter is correct although advising that people evacuate the city could cost lives in the chaos that would follow.  Besides, if Walter’s theory is wrong it could jeopardize future funding for the institute.  But something needs to be done.  The seismologists agree on a plan alerting the police and National Guard so that they’ll be ready to move should the big earthquake strike the city.

At the engineering company downtown, Stewart Graff is leaving the office when he runs into Denise Marshall.  Denise was using a fake identity to access the building and meet with Stewart.  It turns out that the tremors cancelled her movie shoot and she was free for the rest of the day.  They head out to have a drink together back at her place.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Back at the bar, motorcycle stuntman Miles Quade (Richard Roundtree) arrives along with his partner Sal Amici and Sal’s sister Rosa.  One of the pool players gets his $50 back from a game that Miles lost a while ago.  Now broke, Miles asks Lew to borrow some money so he can purchase a propane tank for his stunt track.  To help convince Lew to loan him some money, he has Rosa show off the new promotional t-shirt for his stunt show.

At Denise’s house it’s revealed that she and Stewart just slept together after having their drinks.  Stewart doesn’t seem to be too upset about cheating on his wife, a woman who doesn’t love him.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Back at the grocery store, Jody Joad hears the radio announcement activating the National Guard.  He leaves during the middle of his shift and heads back to his apartment to get changed into his uniform.  Some neighborhood punks give Jody grief about the uniform.  Jody is then accused of being a homosexual as there are pictures of bodybuilders on his walls.  Disgusted with the punks and not saying a word to them, Jody drives away to the Army base.

At the engineering company, Stewart Graff is offered the position of president of the company by current company president, and his father-in-law, Sam Royce (Lorne Greene).  Stewart is thrilled but tells Sam that he needs a little bit of time to consider the offer.  When he returns to Sam’s office to accept the promotion, Stewart is disgusted to see his wife, Remy, sitting in there.  He sees the promotion as a bribe for keeping their so-called marriage together.  Stewart leaves the building in anger with Remy hot on his heels.

Outside of town, Miles Quade takes a test run on the stunt track designed to impress the crowds.  On his first attempt he crashes during the vertical loop.  But Miles and Sal repair the bike and Miles’ second run is successful.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

The Big One strikes!

The ground shakes in a massive jolt of energy.  Buildings crumble.  Structures are destroyed.  Falling glass and debris kill and injure many people.  Fires are ignited as gas lines rupture.  It’s nearly ten minutes of horror as the earthquake brings the city to its knees.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Los Angeles is in ruins after the devastating earthquake shatters and destroys the city.  Now it’s up to the people to rescue survivors before aftershocks cause more damage.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Sam Royce’s 30-story office building is heavily damaged during the earthquake.  Him and a few workers are trapped in the upper floors as a fire begins to burn the structure.  The elevators have crashed to the ground, leaving the stairs as the only option.  But as we see, a corner stairwell is damage and the people are trapped.  Stewart Graff rushes up the building to try to help his father-in-law.

Sam comes up with a plan to lower the workers using a fire hose and an office chair.  His plan works and the workers are slowly lowered down to the next floor.  Unfortunately, the physical work is taking a toll on Sam and he suffers from a heart attack.  Stewart climbs up and helps Sam make it down to the next floor.  He’s then taken out of the building and to the hospital for treatment.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Meanwhile, Denise Marshall finds her missing son lying unconscious in a flood-control channel.  Live wires are around them and to make matters worse, water is starting to flow down the channel.  The dam was forced to open the spillway to relieve the pressure from the rising water level in the reservoir.  Denise calls for help and she and her son are rescued by Miles and Sal before being zapped by the wires.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

As survivors are seeking help and aiding others, looters begin to make their way through homes and businesses.  Rosa is caught stealing food and she’s arrested by the National Guard for looting.

Sam is taken to the makeshift triage center at the Wilson Plaza shopping center along with other injured earthquake survivors.  Stewart then heads off to find Denise and her boy.  While doing so, the mayor of Los Angeles makes a public announcement about the earthquake along with warning of possible flooding from the dam.  There’s some chaos as people being rushing for higher ground.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Jody arrives in uniform and armed with an assault rifle.  He spots Rosa sitting with the other looters and takes her to a separate holding area.  While at their separate holding area, another solider brings in the neighborhood punks after they’re arrested for looting.  The briefcase in their possession is full of women’s jewelry, and Jody makes a joke about them being cross-dressers.

The punks see Jody begin to become unstable, and they try to flee.  Jody makes them stop, claiming it was just a joke, and then he opens fire and executes all three of them.  Rosa is horrified as she sees the dark side of Jody.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Darkness arrives and Stewart is still in search of Denise.  Lew stops him and tries to commandeer his vehicle, but Lew is unable to drive the car because of its special transmission.  Stewart agrees to be his ambulance driver while staying on the lookout for Denise.

Back at the triage center, Denise’s son receives treatment and she’s told that he’ll be fine.  Sam also receives treatment but he does not survive.  The doctors are torn about telling his daughter the bad news and dealing with the follow-up media coverage.  They decide to avoid telling Remy that her father died.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Suddenly there’s a strong aftershock and Los Angeles shakes once again.  People in the triage center panic as concrete falls and blocks their exit.  They’re now trapped three floors underground with a slowly diminishing air supply.

Stewart and Lew are driving around town when they come across Jody and a few soldiers.  Jody forces them to turn away as Rosa screams for their help, claiming that Jody has gone psycho.  They turn away and leave as Jody ordered, but Lew has Stewart stop the car around the corner.  Jody’s fellow soldiers run away to find an officer to deal with Jody as he is clearly mentally unstable.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Jody want to punish Rosa for her disloyalty to him and escape attempt.  He tries to strip and rape her but Lew shows up in the building.  He orders Jody to stop but has to shoot and kill him when Jody reaches for his rifle.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Stewart and Lew return to the triage center with more injured survivors when they learn about the people trapped from the aftershock.  Stewart designed the shopping center and knows its exact layout.  He claims that if they use they sewers they can access an area and dig through a couple feet of concrete to save the survivors.  The only problems are a danger of the sewers collapsing from additional aftershocks, and the sewers will flood if more water flows from the dam.

Disregarding the risks, Stewart and Lew use a jackhammer and break a hole through the concrete.  Sure enough, Stewart was correct.  They’re able to make a hole right into the triage center and begin rescuing survivors.

Earthquake (1974) – (c) Universal Pictures

Upstream, the Hollywood Reservoir Dam finally gives way from the stress from the earthquake and aftershock.  The dam breaks, spilling billions of gallons of water downstream towards the city.  Entire communities are wiped away as the wall of water pushes downhill.

Underground, survivors escape from the triage center and make their way through the sewers.  They make it to the ladder but begin to panic when the water level quickly rises.

Remy tries to climb the ladder but somebody steps on her hand.  She loses her grip and is swept away by the fast current.  Stewart looks up to Denise one last time before going into the water to try to save his wife.  He reaches her but they’re both swept away with a few other people.  It’s presumed that Stewart and Remy both drown in the flood.

Earthquake ends with one last look at the destroyed city.

So is Earthquake a good movie?

It depends on what you look for in a movie.  Personally, I really didn’t care about the individual stories throughout the film.  This is a disaster movie.  The point of watching it is to see the carnage and how people cope with the situations.

Considering that Earthquake was made in the early 1970s, the special effects are pretty good for the earthquake and aftershock scenes.  The main earthquake itself is really the star of the movie, and the special effects really put it in the spotlight.  It’s fascinating seeing the buildings crumble along with the rest of the chaos.

One of the highlights in the film is when the earthquake takes out part of the stairwell in the office building, trapping workers in the upper part of the wreckage.  With some people being injured and a fire slowly creeping up the building, it’s a great moment of suspense as the boss rigs an office chair with a fire hose, and they lower the people one at a time.

I’ve often wondered why Hollywood hasn’t re-visited the subject of a major earthquake hitting California, whether it’s in Los Angeles or San Francisco.  Sure, there have been a couple of really bad made-for-TV movies with that as a theme, but there really hasn’t been a realistic earthquake movie such as 1974′s Earthquake.

I think my biggest problem with Earthquake is that we only see a small part of the major city and its residents dealing with the earthquake.  It was hard to tell that this really was Los Angeles considering that most of the city’s landmarks were simply not included in this disaster film.

It’s also a little bit strange that more footage was shot and added to Earthquake four years later for its television premier, yet it’s not included on the DVD.

Universal Studios Florida had an attraction based on 1974′s Earthquake and called Earthquake – The Big One.

The attraction began with the selecting of audience volunteers and then a small preshow hosted by Charlton Heston.  They showed part of the earthquake sequence in the movie and then showed how part of it was film.  This segment concludes with the actual model of a destroyed Los Angeles that was used in filming.

After that was the audience participation part of the attraction.  More behind-the-scenes stunts were shown as volunteers re-enacted segments of the film, such as the destroyed stairwell scene.  Another scene had people in a shopping mall panicking as foam pieces of concrete were dropped on them.

Finally came the ride part of Earthquake – The Big One.  People boarded a “Golden Gate Transit” subway and rode to San Francisco’s Embarcadero Station.  After arriving there’s a minor tremor.  It’s nothing major but things take a turn when a major shaking begins.  Signs break, parts of the ceiling falls, there are power problems, and another subway train arrives and nearly crashes into our train.  One of the highlights is when the a chunk of ceiling falls and a tanker truck slides down the ceiling, stopping right next to the train.  It explodes in a fireball upon impact.  After that a flash flood sweeps down the stairs and almost soaks the riders.

At the end of the sequence a worker emerged and yelled “Cut!” as if it was a real movie take.  The wrecked station returned to normal as our subway train returned to the loading station.

Earthquake – The Big One closed on November 5, 2007, to be converted to a newer (and lamer) version called Disaster! A Major Motion Picture Ride . . . Starring YOU!  Disaster! opened two months later on January 17, 2008.

Earthquake (1974) – movie trailer

If you love disaster films, especially those made famous during the early 1970s, then 1974′s Earthquake is a must-see.  Charlton Heston and George Kennedy give great performances, and the earthquake sequence itself is stunning.

Sgt. Lew Slade – “Earthquakes bring out the worst in some people.”