horrie hastings
First Grade
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Earthquake
A big event movie back in 1975 , part of the disaster movie cycle of the 70s . Purchased it recently on blu ray and gave it a watch today. Surprisingly enjoyed it on blu ray, the movie looked crisp and sharp, better than anytime I have seen it since the cinema. I'm not going to kid myself, it is not a great movie, it was easy to gloss over the imperfections back in the 70s because it was done on such a grand scale but the years haven't been so kind to it. I have been critical over it over the years but for some reason I enjoyed it more today, maybe because of a good print and on a big screen TV. The story is mainly about an Earthquake which devastates Los Angeles and how it effects its inhabitants, it is mainly a soap opera build up, some characterisations are good, some are just down right creepy. Charlton Heston is pretty good as an architect who is split between his shrew wife played by Ava Gardner and a younger love interest Geneviève Bujold, ,George Kennedy is excellent as the good cop but Marjoe Gortner plays a psychotic national guard which is down right creepy, he stalks and tries to rape Victoria Principal [ who looks stunning in this movie wearing a tight yellow t shirt and leathers despite having an afro wig] and shoots dead 3 thugs who had taunted him earlier. Considering it was made in 1974 before major CGI some of the special effects still hold up well but some are downright bad, an elevator crashes to the bottom of shaft, it should be a tense and scary scene but in the end it shows cartoon blood splattered all over the screen, it leads to plenty of laughter, also there is a scene where a lady gets hit in the head by a pane of glass but you can already see the glass sticking out of head before the pane of glass hits her. Despite all its short comings I still found it suspenseful with the rescue from being trapped in the basement and the dam breaking at the end and some of the matte painting backgrounds by Albert Whitlock are still excellent 45 years on.
A good popcorn flick with some good and some bad special effects, some good and some bad acting and some generally spine tingling moments and some absolutely unintentionally laughable moments too.
A big event movie back in 1975 , part of the disaster movie cycle of the 70s . Purchased it recently on blu ray and gave it a watch today. Surprisingly enjoyed it on blu ray, the movie looked crisp and sharp, better than anytime I have seen it since the cinema. I'm not going to kid myself, it is not a great movie, it was easy to gloss over the imperfections back in the 70s because it was done on such a grand scale but the years haven't been so kind to it. I have been critical over it over the years but for some reason I enjoyed it more today, maybe because of a good print and on a big screen TV. The story is mainly about an Earthquake which devastates Los Angeles and how it effects its inhabitants, it is mainly a soap opera build up, some characterisations are good, some are just down right creepy. Charlton Heston is pretty good as an architect who is split between his shrew wife played by Ava Gardner and a younger love interest Geneviève Bujold, ,George Kennedy is excellent as the good cop but Marjoe Gortner plays a psychotic national guard which is down right creepy, he stalks and tries to rape Victoria Principal [ who looks stunning in this movie wearing a tight yellow t shirt and leathers despite having an afro wig] and shoots dead 3 thugs who had taunted him earlier. Considering it was made in 1974 before major CGI some of the special effects still hold up well but some are downright bad, an elevator crashes to the bottom of shaft, it should be a tense and scary scene but in the end it shows cartoon blood splattered all over the screen, it leads to plenty of laughter, also there is a scene where a lady gets hit in the head by a pane of glass but you can already see the glass sticking out of head before the pane of glass hits her. Despite all its short comings I still found it suspenseful with the rescue from being trapped in the basement and the dam breaking at the end and some of the matte painting backgrounds by Albert Whitlock are still excellent 45 years on.
A good popcorn flick with some good and some bad special effects, some good and some bad acting and some generally spine tingling moments and some absolutely unintentionally laughable moments too.
