Earthquake Review - Off The Shelf Reviews

This week Gary and Iain are joined by Linda to review and discuss Earthquake (1974) by Director Mark Robson. Starring, Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and George Kennedy.
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[@dont_call_me_anthony89]

Cartoonish blood splatter in the elevator scene was gold.

[@c0t0d0s7]

My favorite was when the truck with cows in the trailer drove off the elevated freeway. And as it falls, none of the cows move because it’s a model and they’re glued to the floor of the trailer.

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

One thing I'd have changed is the relation between some of the characters. I'd have made Lorne Greene Ava Gardner's older brother for one thing, so the ages fit better; I'd also have made Lorne Greene and Charlton Heston not only colleagues but perhaps old Army buddies or something of that kind, to heighten the conflict of interest Greene's character was dealing with. I liked that Stuart chose Remy over Denise at the end; Denise was the kind of character you throw to zombies so you can escape.

[@jennifermartin7064]

i saw this movie when i lived in puerto rico and i said i will never move to california and sure enough my family moved to california .. i lived through santa cruz earthquake. the whole downtown santa cruz was demolished and needed to be rebuilt.. scary. i think this is a wonderful film.. great stars.george kennedy the best.

[@betht3037]

Went on a field trip in a college and our professor took us through the San Andreas Fault at the Pinnicles National Park. He announced we had been inside the fault after we exited. We had WTF face, he thought it was hilarious.

[@roquefortfiles]

The best special effect in the movie? Victoria Principals chest.

[@andysummersthxcinemaandmyc7748]

Fair review guys. Saw EARTHQUAKE at the ABC Bournemouth, screen 1, 70mm six track SESURROUND. The sub bass and bass mid just hammered me in the chest!

[@christallh24]

One of my all-time favorite disaster movies! Wow! What a treat to see you guys reviewed this! Have y'all reviewed 'The Towering Inferno'? That's my ultimate fave 70's disaster film.

[@ajk6907]

You should review 'Volcano'. It's cheesy knobwank, but it has some pretty tasty visual devastation..

[@PeBoVision]

What modern reviewers miss, is what it was like to walk into a theatre that had had the back 4 rows of corner seating ripped out to allow for massive 8 ft tall Cerwin Vega subwoofers attached to the theatre walls. The entire theatre shook, and the volume was so intense that your ears were ringing when the earthquake stopped. Sensurround was the introduction of surround sound in theatres and did it in a way that is impossible in the age of multiplexes (since you can't selectively shake just one auditorium). It is an inovation that the film is seldom credited with in modern reviews, and changed the way we hear/feel movies to this day. Sensurround was used for Midway, Battlestar Galactica, and Rollercoaster, before the age of the multiplex became the only way to see a movie. Reviewing Earthquake without having seen it in a Sensurround equipped theatre, is like leaving out the primary character. Earthquake is my guilty cinematic pleasure, and my favourite disaster movie of the 70's. The city destruction might look like a Godzilla movie with Godzilla airbrushed out, but as you said, the matte paintings were next level and when they are mixed in with the action (as it is in the scene of lowering of survivors down the broken stairway) it holds up well even compared to modern CGI and LED walls. Yes it is absolutely silly, but less so than the films of Irwin Allen. Ahhh yes the elevator scene...I have the novelization of the movie (which includes a making of section with several pages of photos), and you may be surprised to learn that Jennings Lang was quite happy with the effect.

[@shallendor]

I grew up enjoying all the disaster films in the 70's! Linda's favorite scene is the same as mine!

[@axemurderer010]

have you guys done the French connection? its brilliant fo real

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

The fourth Final Destination movie ripped off a lot of effects from the last 20 minutes of Earthquake, especially in the mall explosion sequence.

[@kcc85uk]

my new nightly routine is watching your reviews really enjoying them!

[@nightthornkvala94132]

I grew up loving this movie. You make me want to see it again.

[@salvelegio1425]

Don’t forget those heavy Cerwin Vega bass speakers. They made the whole theater shake, wonderful.

[@BujoldComa78]

At the time Earthquake was the movie to see. I saw it opening day at the Chinese theatre in Hollywood. Except for one scene we thought the special effects were great. And to see it in Sensurround was quite the experience. People compare it to the sound systems of today. It was the sound and also the rumblings and as I remember air shot out at the audience. Whatever it was I have never seen anything better. You have to remember this is a 40 year old movie. Of course it will look dated. 40 years people are going to be laughing at the special effects of today. You needed to be a special effects wizard to make the screen magic happen. Now you just need to know how to use a computer. And ALL the special effects look exactly the same.

[@tiercel5561]

20:29 - Hey, it's Mister Wilson! Kidding aside, that's Walter Matthau as the drunk but I think he was credited as someone else. This was because Walter told the producer that the movie was so bad that he did not want his name in the credits.

[@zeusdyman1433]

Walter Matuschanskayasky is the name he made up.

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

@@zeusdyman1433 I thought that was his real last name.

[@zeusdyman1433]

@@jenniferbrewer5370 He was born Walter John Matthow. The long name is one he made up as a joke, but used in Earthquake.

[@c0t0d0s7]

@@zeusdyman1433That’s how you type “Matthau” during an earthquake.

[@richardmills1505]

Like Misa Buckingham, I have to agree. When I was a kid, this movie was really spectacular then looking at it again in my 40s, see how crazy it is. Great campy film though.

[@brucegame1458]

i saw this film in the theatre in sensearround ! they would lower the bass during the earthquake and your seats would literally shake really cool to 8 year old kid and yes i agree it is like the wagon wheel it was bigger and better back then lol

[@Aguanga_cowboy007]

The scene when the guy shouted "TURN OFF THE GAS!"..... One guy attempted to do so with a cigarette in his mouth....... Explosion then the earthquake stop. 😂😂

[@faithhoneybeesetley77]

Cheesie effects in some places I do agree...wonky edits as well but...to realise that in that circumstance...there would be insane things going on as well as highly questionable decisions made. I do like that there are no CG effects sort of biased as a special effects artist but hey ho....and the destruction of showing what happens and what precious souls have to endure in horrific situations such as these...I cannot image or even want to what I would do in the same situation. There were lots of big name actors and actresses...some of which were not the best performances. Did love Walter Matthau and George Kennedy of course...and ...the puppy...who could not love the puppy? :) I do love watching disaster films...usually wind up with a tear or two as I try put myself in the place of the poor people what are feeling it and dealing with it. But to ACTUALLY go thru it? I could not imagine the terror. I do give kudos to any disaster films what try to show how devastating it can be when Mother Nature gets bent out of shape and no matter how much people think they can predict and or handle the aftershocks and aftermath of any tragedy....you simply can't. I liked the one they made for tele yrs later I believe it was called The Great Los Angeles Earthquake? Or something like that...Great review once more guys..popped on to watch something fun before going back in studio...love what you do. Keep up the fab stuff!

[@johnashley327]

You guys have to do Towering Inferno.

[@oddsandwindsocks5905]

They have

[@robocopps1]

Go,Linda!!! Totally agreed with you:-) Good review,guys!

[@hebneh]

10:30 - The creepy guy was Marjo Gortner. He had a brief moment of acting fame in the early 1970s after he appeared in a documentary about his actual life. He had been a "child evangelist" preacher, going through an act to get people to become born-again Christians. In the documentary he admitted it was all fake, and so in "Earthquake" he played a dirty, evil character as a comment on what his life had previously been. Him putting on a wig for his National Guard duty was a real-life thing that was done then. Most men who were in the National Guard Reserve then in the USA had long hair, and they were allowed to keep it if they wore a wig when they were on military duty.

[@khinthan9044]

Earthquake 2: Earthquaker!

[@trundistroyer8584]

The 1971 quake (Sylmar quake) wasn’t minor. It was a pretty serious quake that killed dozens of people, collapsed numerous bridges and a major dam nearly collapsed, which would have flooded a subdivision with 50,000 people.

[@zeusdyman1433]

I really do enjoy your reviews. I am much like Linda - BIG fan of disaster movies, and disasters in general while growing up. And I grew up here in Los Angeles. I've been in big earthquakes. Recently, I was fortunate to see Earthquake at UCLA in Sensurround. I do agree that a lot of the effects do not hold up well (the cows in the truck falling off the edge of the freeway; the elevator crashing and the awful fake blood). You mention the wide shots of the city destroyed - those are matte paintings by Albert Whitlock. Whitlock was famous for his matte paintings with Alfred Hitchcock. Some of his last ones were done for John Carpenter's The Thing. He is amazing.

[@egonrhoodie2745]

The film only came out 1976 in South Africa with a 4-16 age restriction!!! 🌍😇🙏👀🎉🎊🎥

[@lavb5474]

There is a scene in the movie where it is said it was a 9.9.

[@robtaylor5310]

Brian Lavalle There were two, one scene features the seismologists discussing the magnitude, which I think was shot but cut from the film. The other was a scene filmed for the extended TV version from 1976, where the pilot announces to the aircraft passengers the severity of the quake

[@Mylifeinfifa]

Great video

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

Love the Eagles Hotel California shirt, by the way, :D

[@brucegame1458]

oh by the way there were three sensearound films the next was midway with charlton hesto again ! its about the japanese attack at midway after pearl harbour its really quite good and the last film was roller coaster and that was that lol

[@brucegame1458]

other films by some of these actors that cool are omega man with charlton heston early 70's , and walter matheau was in a cool movie called the bad news bears with tatum o'neil ! you will love it ! also check out paper moon with tatum o'neil she won an oscar for her performance all 70's

[@jeffreypowers8172]

If you weren't able to see the movie when first released in "Sensurround" you've missed the whole effect of the movie. As commented the actual earthquake seen is pretty long, and if you listen to the audio track it seems excessively loud and seems to stomp on the actual video scenes. This is because the audio track was an important component of the Sensurround effect. The audio is played from huge speakers, it was so loud you could feel the vibrations of the bass, which gives you the feeling of being in the earthquake. That can't be reproduced in any modern viewing of the movie. I saw it in the theater when first released and for me the effect it created will be 2nd only to Star Wars in special effects.

[@chrisperrien7055]

IN SENSURROUUND! LOL

[@billclay2678]

I thought it's funny that people have to mention when someone is black but not when they're white. The black stuntman but not the white architect :D

[@hebneh]

I saw this movie in 1974 when I was 20 years old. I thought it was absurd and the effects were almost all as cheesy as possible. The sole scene that was disturbing was when people attempted to flee down the stairs in the damaged highrise, to unexpectedly encounter a section that had completely fallen off the building. The damaged steps looked real, and several stunt people fell a good distance off of them. Lorne Greene being cast as the wrinkled and haggard Ava Gardner's father was laughable, and Charlton Heston was over the hill in appearance as well.

[@jaymanuel3396]

The houses on stilts are actually real houses. They’re still around to this day I believe. The elevator scene was actually shot in a more realistic and gory way, but test audiences reacted poorly to it. So the shot was frozen and animated blood was splattered on to cover the carnage.

[@felipecardoza9967]

Never knew that about the elevator scene.

[@hebneh]

The houses on stilts are models. They were based on actual houses that exist in LA, though.

[@RevDooDatt]

@1:49 taco bell bro ✌

[@mr.adventure0142]

To bad, the Studio have never making the sequel to EARTHQUAKE II :(

[@robtaylor5310]

mr.adventure01 Apparently a sequel was discussed, which would have been set in San Francisco, but was shelved

[@m.woodsrobinson9244]

Rob Taylor, damn it! Too bad!

[@s1e5b9]

you have a beautiful wife Iain :)

[@Daveinhampshire]

glad you mentioned the blood splatter, worst part of the movie

[@jimbranca1565]

ya gotts admit the film would suck if it was just people standing in dooorways

[@CesarDiaz-kd1bs]

I love the make up of you guys, it's so funny, specially the alien creature in the middle

[@kokotajebka]

Why is Hare Krishna in movie ? :)

[@roquefortfiles]

In the 70's they were everywhere.

[@ydcee3123]

Man, when Heston was a little young than in this movie, he could put both of you to shame as far as sex appeal. Funny also how Iain keeps calling Richard Roundtree 'the black stunt guy'! Doesn't know Shaft. Not so good with black cinema, huh?

[@victorvictor8587]

Iain and Gary couldn't direct a film let alone Produce one .