Earthquake

Audience Reviews

View More (308)

Ed . I remember liking this movie years ago, but either it or I haven't aged well. The special effects are of its day, but the post-quake Los Angeles landscape is so obviously 1940s or 50s (or 30s?) back lot. Ava Gardner is a legend, but one wouldn't know it from this film. Her undecipherable accent should have received a separate paycheck. It's hard to care for any of the characters, except perhaps Lorne Greene, Walter Matthau and the landlord of that boarding house, who needed to learn how to better screen his tenants. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/22/25 Full Review Blu B Standard disaster movie fare especially for 70's one. Worst part is the editing which in the first half is outright terrible but gets better in the seond half. It's still not that good though overall. It jumps around terribly and each story really has no consequnece on the main plot at all. Stuff just happens and the earthquake happens no matter if you take one or all of these subplots out. Everything else is just alright about it. Very forgettable soundtrack and boring. Everyone is pretty one dimensional stock characters. Even Heston who were lead to believe is the main hero is forgotten about for long strectches. This does get a bit more exciting and somewhat frantic when the earhtquake happens and the destruction/rescue occurs though. But man the first 50 minutes are boring. The destruction is actually pretty good honestly and the sets look pretty cool too so it does have that going for it. It does just sort of end though. Besides that, yeah not much else to say. If you you've seen one disaster movie especially one of the better ones from this era than you've seen them all. This isn't one of them though. Skip It. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/23/24 Full Review Gabriel A It's a very good film, great visual effects considering the year (1974), and good acting characters too. I mean, it's pure entertaining, don't expect more. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/19/24 Full Review Audience Member When Earthquake first hit the movie theaters, at least on Long Island, certain movie theaters were equipped with the Sensoround sound system. When a scene popped up showing an earthquake in progress, these giant bass speakers would blast out a deep rumble as loud as jet engines for the duration of the scene. It definitely was a plus for the movie, even though it was just an average disaster flick. Believe it or not, when Midway hit the theaters, it also had Sensoround. They used it when aircraft were taking off from aircraft carriers, but it was used more as a gimmick to attract more people. It was never used again afterwards. Today, somebody would sue claiming hearing loss, but back then people weren’t so fragile. It definitely was a 70s phenomena and was a novel sensation at the time. It was a cool time for kids back then, Disaster movies ruled the day, until the Sci-Fi era exploded onto the scene. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/01/24 Full Review Jeff M My cinematic weakness is 70s disaster flicks - I'll watch them no matter how horrible. In fact, their absurdities are among their strongest of attributes. And this has some doozies, although I think it's relatively well made for this genre. I had some doubts going in as I didn't think an earthquake seemed like the most cinematic of disasters. But, you know, in spite of some antiquated special effects, I was digging it. That being said, as I mentioned earlier, the fun is in the nuttiness of it all. Here we have dreadful overacting by Ava Gardner, a pre-DALLAS Victoria Principal sporting an afro taller than Billy Barty, and the audacity of the filmmakers trying to pass off Lorne Greene as Gardner's father. In real life, they were less than 8 years apart - I couldn't help but look it up. The pre-disaster expository scenes are admittedly lame and feel like night-time soap opera. But once the earthquake and aftershocks hit, the roller coaster ride has begun. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/24 Full Review Richard C A classic 70s disaster flick. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Earthquake

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Most Popular at Home Now