Made long before the advent of CGI, disaster movie Earthquake relies on a combination of full-scale chaos, clever miniatures, green-screen work and matte paintings to convince the viewers that Los Angeles is being torn apart by the force of nature. And it works brilliantly, the damage caused by the film's devastating quake (and the subsequent aftershocks) just as impressive as many a modern day disaster flick.The drawn out drama might drag the film down a bit, making it slightly less successful than those benchmark classics of the genre, The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, but Earthquake is still essential viewing for fans of cinematic catastrophe, with collapsing buildings, raging fires, a burst dam, and plenty of extras meeting grisly fates making for a whole lot of fun (who can forget that elevator crashing to the ground with a comical red splat?).Of course, the all-star cast doesn't hurt either: Charlton Heston ably plays the hero, engineer Graff, whose life intertwines with numerous other characters during the course of the movie, including his estranged wife Remy (Ava Gardner), single mum Denise (Geneviève Bujold), tough cop Slade (George Kennedy), stunt motorcyclist Miles (Richard Roundtree), Graff's boss Royce (Lorne Green), and sexy babe with a ridiculously massive fro, Rosa (Victoria Principal). Smaller, but no less important parts are played by Marjoe Gortner as a psychotic national guardsman, and Monica Lewis as Royce's secretary Barbara.All that and a rather downbeat ending to boot! 8/10

In the Golden era of Disaster movies, this film makes you care about the characters because of the excellent acting performances of the characters. Especially Charlton Heston and Genevieve Bujold.In 1974 the era of dazzling special effects were about to make their mark. This film for 1974 had some great special effects. I really connected with some of the characters in the movie. Especially the characters of Charlton Heston, Genevieve Bujold and her son, Ava Gardner,Lorne Green, George Kennedy and Richard Roundtree. One thing we see of movies from this era is the very realistic and engaging acting performances of actors and actresses of this era. You really feel the pain shock and grief at the end of Genevieve Bujold. After Heston survives all that. and then **** Contains Spoler **** When Heston decides to rather die with his wife than climb up to a new life and a new family with Genevive Bujold and his son.That ending is what makes this movie so special and moving. It showed the true tragedy of this film. The tremendous loss and what could have been. If the Earthquake didn't intervene. This movie also gives a glimpse of Los Angeles in 1974. Like at the end as the Dr said to George Kennedy if not for the damn earthquake. Los Angeles might actually be a very exciting and quite a nice place to live in. With its high standard of living,nice affluent suburbs for families (Charlton Heston and his wife were resident of in the movie) and very nice sunny California weather all swept away one day by one terrible earthquake as shown in the film.This movie also does what excellent disaster movies do. It questions is your life as stable and safe as you think it is when some disaster could strike at any moment and take it all away including your loved ones life and your life. I think the message we need to take away from Earthquake is that don't take your life however mundane for granted. Cherish every moment you have with your loved ones. We saw the meaning of that in Genevieve Bujold's face at the end. Top film with top acting performances albeit dealing with grim subject matter as is the case in the disaster movie genre. They certainly don't make movies like this anymore.

Ava Gardner really looked over the hill as Heston's wife Remy in this film.The film deals with a graduate student predicting a massive earthquake, and guess what? They actually listen to him and prepare before this monumental quake hit. The quake looked very much like the one in San Francisco in 1906.The movie is about various people and their relations to one another before and after the big shake.Wasn't that Walter Matthau in a bit part as a drunk in the bar as Los Angeles is violently shaking?The film also deals with ultimate sacrifice as seen by Heston's heroic but tragic ending.

Earthquake is directed by Mark Robson, written by George Fox and Mario Puzo and stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Genevieve Bujold and Lorne Greene.Following the success of films like The Poseidon Adventure, Airport and The Towering Inferno along came Earthquake. Unlike many other films in this genre Earthquake is just terrible, it's characters are for the most part shallow and even unlikable and too much time is spent focusing on their lives and problems and not enough on the disaster itself.For the time the special effects were good and the film was released in cinemas with Sense Surround.There is a stellar cast in this film but sadly even they cannot save this one. Stuart(Charlton Heston) and Remy Graff(Ava Gardner) are a bickering married couple who can't stand each other. Graff is having an affair with single mother Denise(Genevieve Bujold) and she thinks he will leave his wife for her. The other characters we encounter include a stunt motor bike rider(Richard Roundtree), an embittered cop(George Kennedy)who befriends a young woman called Rosa(Victoria Principle)and Remy's rich dad(Lorne Greene). There's also a bizarre cameo from Walter Matthau playing a drunk.Apart from a couple of earthquake sequences that do look impressive and scary most of the effects look dated today and the film drags on much longer than it should do. One for disaster fans who want to see as many films from the genre as they can, for the rest of us this is one to avoid.