Movie · 1974 · Action, Drama, Thriller · 2h 3m · PG · English
Curator score: 1.6/10 (29.2K ratings)
When the big one finally hits L.A.
Overview
Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.6/10
IMDb: 5.9/10
Letterboxd: 2.94/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 41%
Metacritic: 56
TMDB: 6.1/10
Director
Mark Robson
Production
Universal Pictures, The Filmakers Group
Cast
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal, Walter Matthau, Monica Lewis, Gabriel Dell, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Lloyd Gough, John Randolph, Kip Niven, Scott Hylands, Tiger Williams, Donald Moffat
Curator Review
Verdict
A big, old-school disaster spectacle with enough practical mayhem, ensemble soap opera, and 70s excess to satisfy genre fans, even if the character drama is uneven and the setup runs long. The sound design and collapse sequences are the main attraction; the movie is more impressive as a technical showcase than as a fully coherent drama.
Best for
disaster-movie fans
viewers who enjoy 1970s star-studded ensemble spectacles
people curious about practical effects and theatrical sound gimmicks
fans of campy, high-budget studio-era entertainment
Skip if
you want tight pacing
you need strong character development
you dislike melodramatic ensemble plotting
you are not in the mood for dated 70s disaster-movie cheese
Overview
Earthquake is a quintessential 70s disaster picture: a long fuse of interlocking personal drama, then a payoff built on spectacle, panic, and practical destruction. The cast is loaded, the plotting is broad, and the movie often feels more interested in arranging people for catastrophe than in making them psychologically vivid. That said, the scale is real, and the film knows how to turn a city into a pressure cooker.
Worth noting
What lingers most is the craftsmanship. The effects, miniature work, and sound-driven shock moments give the movie a tactile force that still plays as a theatrical experience. It’s also one of those films where the absurdity is part of the appeal: the melodrama, the celebrity cameos, and the occasionally stiff dialogue all feed the pleasure of watching a studio machine go all-in on disaster.
Bottom line
If you love the genre, it’s worth seeing as a major artifact of the era. If you’re looking for a lean thriller or a deeply moving human story, this is probably too bloated and too mannered to fully land. But as a piece of 70s spectacle cinema, it has enough force and personality to justify the ride.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3★) · 180 likes
81st Review for The Collab Weekly Movie Watch
Bro, did they just got Walter Matthau to just appear in a few scenes with little to no line, dressed like a pimp and do faces? I wondered how much he was paid for that, either way, that was some very easy money there.
And that's true of the picture as a whole. It's a collection of amazing stars, some more prominent than others, but in the end, I couldn't connect at… more
Stefan Birgir Stefans (3.5★) · 157 likes
As is tradition with 70s disaster films, the first hour is a star-studded melodrama, but then that practical effects kick in and you are in business.
19oldboy91 (3.5★) · 114 likes
English Version below🟠🟢🔵
Winter ist Klassikerzeit die Fünfundzwanzigste (25/6)
Weniger fragt sich nach diesem Rewatch der wievielte es schließlich und endlich ist, die Wirklichkeit sich um die Zahlen zwei und drei drehen, sondern vielmehr ob ich kurzzeitig einen Aussetzer hatte was ich nach einer ansträngenden Vormittagsschicht mit Beginn um sechs Uhr nicht gänzlich ausschließen möchte, denn wie man auch immer diese von mir gesehene einhundertzweiunddreißigminütige Fassung auch nennen mag, bekam ich nach handgestoppten einhundertdreizehn Minuten zur völligen Überraschung den Abspann… more
Swartacus (2★) · 103 likes
If The Poseidon Adventure felt like an awful Love Boat episode, Earthquake feels like an overly inflated dirigible version of CHiPs. And I was way more of a CHiPs kid than a member of the Love Boat youth. This is on Prime and it turns out I started to watch it at some point but stopped it cold before the opening credits were even over. I'm guessing that was because it opens with one of the worst helicopter shots of… more If The Poseidon Adventure felt like an awful Love Boat episode, Earthquake feels like an overly inflated dirigible version of CHiPs. And I was way more of a CHiPs kid than a member of the Love Boat youth. This is on Prime and it turns out I started to watch it at some point but stopped it cold before the opening credits were even over. I'm guessing that was because it opens with one of the worst helicopter shots of… more
Doc Lyon (3.5★) · 83 likes
7th Mark Robson (After Seventh Victim, Isle of the Dead, The Ghost Ship, Bedlam, Valley of the Dolls and Youth Runs Wild)
I'd like to make the case, briefly, that the selection of Earthquake over The Conversation not only made sense in 1974 for the Best Sound Oscar but still makes sense today. We must first disabuse ourselves of the notion that the Oscars are a representation of artistic achievement. It is an easy rage-bait position to think so and… more
1979 · Science Fiction, Thriller, Action · 1h 47m · PG · Curator 0.4/10 (13K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, TCM, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A late-70s catastrophe film that pairs global stakes with the same earnest, slightly overcooked disaster-movie energy.