i looked at the " internet movie database " 's awards section for this film , and found that this was nominated for a golden globe for " best picture ( drama ) .
"
anyone who 's seen this film can back me up on this :
this is the worst of the " great " disaster films , and that 's not really saying a lot for this film .
" earthquake " is basically notable because it originally included some theatre thing where the theatre shook when the big earthquake occured . on video ,
it 's a bland and slow - moving film which gives us a bunch of different characters ( the disaster film requisite ) , then brings them together in the struggle against the big disaster .
while this worked in , say , " the towering inferno , " it does n't here for one single reason : we do n't care about any of the characters .
the film gives us charlton heston ( in one of many crap 70s films he made , including " skyjacked " and that classic , " soylent green " ) as a rich man married to ava gardner , who is having a little affair with a young single mom ( genieveve bujold ) ; a renegade police officer on suspension ( george kennedy , in his least humored performance ) ; in the second weirdest subplot , a motorcycle stuntman ( richard roundtree , right after his " shaft " thing ) whose big stunt is he goes on a little track that goes upside down
( yea , snore ) ; and the weirdest subplot : a military man / bag boy at a grocery store who has a little thing for buxom victoria principal , and eventually gets vengeance on those guys who made fun of his hair
( ! ! ! ) . in smaller subplots , there 's a pointless bit about people who are flying over l . a .
( the city in the film , by the way ) , one who 's playing cards and married to a boring non - acting husband ( you think this one can go nowhere ?
guess again .
he gets interested in the final frames ) ; there 's genieveve bujold 's moron son , who has a little adventure with wires ; and for some much - needed comedy , there 's walter matthau ( billed as walter mutha . . .
.
- the only laugh in the film ) , as a wild drunkard , who 's big moment is a dance he does at a critical time .
as for the actual " earthquake , " it 's rather a
let - down .
there 's a full hour of character - setups , none of which is interesting , then about 10 minutes of shaking , crumbling , and a bit where a house almost falls on bujold ( narrowly missing ) .
this film needed that whole theatre - shaking :
they needed to wake everybody up because they were so bored
.
there 's little suspense following the quake , although this film tries for it .
there 's an adventure in a crumbling high - rise office building , the wires with the kid , and the movement of people who are all injured .
but none of these are all - too suspenseful .
the finale with the heston / gardner / bujold love triangle is ended in a basic flip - of - the - coin bit , which brings out a big let - down .
and there 's no real finale .
even " volcano " ended nicely , and that movie really sucked .
not only is it hokey , but you do n't care about any character . who cares if heston dies ? who cares if he choses bujold or gardner ( although i would have chosen gardner , mainly on the basis that she can actually act ) ? who cares if richard roundtree makes money on his stupid " stunt ? " who cares if that idiot kid falls to his death on some wires ? and who cares about that whole plane spiel ?
if anything , " earthquake " is worth a viewing for the same reason " glen or glenda ? " is .
i mean , i laughed at this more than i did at " bio dome .
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but that 's another story ( and review ) .
in short , " earthquake " gives disaster pics a bad name .
Output: N