Irwin Allen-type Disaster Flick scores a 7 on the Richter scale

EARTHQUAKE (1974)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Irwin Allen disaster-type pictures were a dime a dozen back in the 1970's. "Earthquake" is no exception - a loud, gargantuan-size disaster picture which is nothing less than about an earthquake on the 7.0 Richter scale that nearly decimates the entire Los Angeles area. Buildings collapse, a dam begins to crack open, high voltage wires snap - sheer chaos on a catastrophic level.

This is one of those movies where a group of heroic characters, including a honest-to-the-bone cop (George Kennedy) and an office worker ready for a promotion (Charlton Heston), always seem to run into each other by coincidence. You've also got Ava Gardner as Heston's manipulative wife; an early performance by Victoria Principal sporting an Afro; Richard Roundtree as an ambitious daredevil motorcyclist; Genevieve Bujold as an out-of-work actress (one of the most sensual voices in movie history, thank you "Choose Me"); Lorne Greene as a company president who has the improbable role of being Ava Gardner's father(!); Marjoe Gortner in the weirdest casting in the film as a psychotic grocery store manager who is also a National Guard rifleman, and finally Walter Matthau who brings a drunkenly clownish bit of humor to the proceedings.

"Earthquake" is insanely silly, rough around the edges (there is the occasional Jackson Pollock-edited flash of blood color that will leave you with a smile on your face), and crudely entertaining. This was the first film to have a Sensurround effect, with sounds mimicking a major rumble. I did not have the pleasure of witnessing this film in theaters then but I am sure it worked since it won an Oscar for Sound. Worth seeing on a Saturday afternoon - you could do worse.