EARTHQUAKE!

EARTHQUAKE-

1974 has got to be the best year ever! From watergate to "Billy Don't Be A Hero" to the disaster movies! I LOVE disaster movies! The special effects, the screams, the over acting, the drama building up to the actual disaster! I love guessing who will survive and who will die and how...it's just such a fun experience!

"Earthquake" was an Oscar winner and an Universal Studio Amusement park attraction. Too bad the ride doesn't start with the sordid storyline as the movie did. It would've been fun to experience the opening scene; with a middle aged Ava Gardner looking like Liz Taylor walking in the bedroom, drunk at 8 in the morning. The first thing that comes out of her mouth was:"G*DAMN IT!"
Charlton Heston (her husband) the gentleman that he is, just responds nonchalantly, "Your last words last night. The first words from you this morning. You think you should expand your vocabulary?"
Ava: "While you expand your chest."

Lorne Greene plays Ava Gardner's father...YES her father! In real life they were only 8 years apart! Greene and his co-workers climbed their way to safety by asking all the women to remove their pantyhose to use for a rope! That is ingenious!

Yes there were a lot of good looking effects in this movie, it's great to see the Capital Records building fall into pieces! From what I recall when this movie was released, I think some movie theaters rigged the seats so the audience actually felt the shaking ground.

There's wonderful a suprise appearence in this movie: Walter Matthau makes a cameo as drunk, but he was credited as Walter Matuschanskayasky. Incidentally about 15 years ago I saw Walter Matthau standing in the lobby of the building I was working at. I so wanted to go up to him and say, "Mr. Matthau, it's a pleasure to meet you! I just love your performance in "Earthquake"!"

Although my comment was sincere I don't think he would appreciate it...and the last thing I want is for this giant of a man to lunge at me.

To learn more about this gem, visit www.earthquakemovie.com