Erdbeben (1974)

Erdbeben: Directed by Mark Robson. With Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene. Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.

“Remy (Ava Gardner) and Stuart Graff (Charlton Heston)u0026#39;s marriage is falling apart. She ODs once again after another fight. During a small earthquake, she jumps up and reveals that sheu0026#39;s faking. Heu0026#39;s a construction engineer working for his father-in-law Sam Royce (Lorne Greene). He starts an affair with the widow of his friend and single mom Denise Marshall (Geneviève Bujold). There is a mysterious drowning at a local dam and other disturbing signs. LAPD cop Lou Slade (George Kennedy) gets suspended for punching a clueless county cop. Miles (Richard Roundtree) is a motorcycle rider perfecting a new stunt. Grad student Russell predicts the big one in 48 hours.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWalter Matthauu0026#39;s getup is hilarious. That bar is a weird place and that T-shirt is super fine. I like that group of characters. Theyu0026#39;re a little off-beat and slightly fun. I care a lot less about the affair and the jealousy within the Graff marriage. They could drop into the earth for all I care. The earthquake action is as much as can be expected with shaking cameras, miniatures, falling styrofoam and other stuntwork. This is good special effects for its times and satisfies the need for destruction. Itu0026#39;s nowhere near as visually compelling as CGI but it feeds the same animal instincts. There is a good 15 minutes of continuous destruction. The aftermath is a mix of good rescue scenarios and bad melodrama.”