Earthquake (1974 film)

In the wake of the tremendous success of the 1970 disaster-suspense film Airport, Universal Studios began working with executive producer Jennings Lang to come up with a new idea that would work within the same "disaster-suspense" genre. Inspiration came in the form of the San Fernando earthquake of February 1971.[5] Director Mark Robson and Lang were intrigued by the idea of creating a disaster on film that would not be confined to an airliner, but rather take place over a large area. Producer Bernard Donnenfeld helped produce the film, but was uncredited.[6]

Budgeted at $7,000,000, Earthquake found itself in a race against the clock with the bigger-budgeted disaster film, The Towering Inferno, which was being produced by Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure) and financed by two studios (20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., a motion picture first).

Lang scored a coup when he was able to sign screenwriter Mario Puzo to write the first draft during the summer of 1972. Puzo, fresh from the success of his novel and film, The Godfather, delivered the draft script in August. However, Puzo's detailed script necessitated a large production budget, as the action and characters were spread over a vast geographical area in Los Angeles. Universal was faced with either cutting the script or increasing the projected budget. Puzo's involvement with Earthquake was short-lived, as Paramount Pictures was anxious to begin development with the followup to The Godfather, The Godfather Part II. Because Puzo's services contractually were obligated to the sequel, he opted out of continuing any further work on Earthquake.

The Earthquake script languished at Universal Studios for a short period, but was brought back to life by the huge success of the 20th Century Fox hit The Poseidon Adventure, released in December 1972. Fueled by that film's enormous box-office receipts, Universal Studios put pre-production on Earthquake back into high gear, hiring writer George Fox to continue work with Puzo's first draft. Fox was principally a magazine writer and never had written a screenplay, so director Mark Robson worked with him to narrow the scope of the script to fit into the budgetary constraints. After 11 drafts, Earthquake went before the cameras in February 1974.[6]

While The Towering Inferno featured a larger "all star" cast,[lower-alpha 1] Universal was able to land Charlton Heston in the lead role. Rounding out the top billing were Ava Gardner(who co-starred with Heston in 1963's 55 Days at Peking), George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and Geneviève Bujold. Richard Roundtree (riding a wave of success from the Shaft film series) was brought in after filming had already started, filling the part of an Evel Knievel-like motorcycle stuntman. Former evangelical Marjoe Gortner was hired as the antagonist, Jody. Relative unknown Victoria Principal was hired to play the sister of Roundtree's business partner, Sal, played by veteran actor Gabriel Dell.

Walter Matthau was cast in a cameo role, for which he was credited as "Walter Matuschanskayasky".[lower-alpha 2]

Production necessitated the simulated destruction of the Universal Studios backlot in order to simulate the catastrophic earthquake of the title. Along with a clever use of miniatures of actual buildings, matte paintings, and full-scale sets (some of which were placed on rollers for a shaking effect), Earthquake used a new technique developed especially for the film: a "shaker mount" camera system that mimicked the effects of an earthquake by moving the entire camera body several inches side to side.[8] This camera mount was used for most exterior scenes or other instances where shooting on location.

Extensive use of highly trained stunt artists for the most dangerous scenes involving high falls, dodging falling debris, and flood sequences, set a Hollywood record for the most stunt artists involved in any film production up until that time: 141.[9] Major stunt sequences in the film required careful choreography between the stunt artists and behind-the-scenes stunt technicians who were responsible for triggering full-scale effects, such as falling debris. Timing was critical, since some rigged effects involved dropping six ton chunks of reinforced concrete in order to flatten cars, with stunt performers only a few feet away. In other scenarios, some stunt artists were required to fall sixty feet onto large air bags from the rafters of Universal's largest stage (Stage 12) – for which they were paid the sum of $500.[10] While every precaution was taken to prevent injuries, several did occur during filming. One stunt person suffered a concussion during the flood sequence (the accident was used in the film), and several stunt artists were injured during the elevator crash scene, since the set was designed to collapse upon them.

Universal Studios and Jennings Lang wanted Earthquake to be an "event film", something that would draw audiences into the theatre multiple times. After several ideas were tossed about (which included bouncing styrofoam faux "debris" over audience members' heads), Universal's sound department came up with a process called "Sensurround" – a series of large speakers made by Cerwin-Vega powered by BGW amplifiers, that would pump in sub-audible "infra bass" sound waves at 120 decibels (equivalent to a jet airplane at takeoff), giving the viewer the sensation of an earthquake. The process was tested in several theatres around the United States prior to the film's release, yielding various results. A famous example is Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, where the "Sensurround" cracked the plaster in the ceiling. The same theatre premiered Earthquake three months later – with a newly installed net over the audience to catch any falling debris – to tremendous success.[11]

The "Sensurround" process proved to be a large audience draw, but not without generating a fair share of controversy. When the film premiered in Chicago, Illinois, the head of the building and safety department demanded the system be turned down, as he was afraid it would cause structural damage. In Billings, Montana, a knick-knack shop next door to a theatre using the system lost part of its inventory when items from several shelves were thrown to the floor when the system was cued during the quake scenes.

Sensurround was used again for the films Midway (1976), Rollercoaster (1977), and Battlestar Galactica (1979).[12]

The 2006 Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVD release features the original "Sensurround" 3.1 audio track, duplicating the original theatrical "Sensurround" track (but oddly in mono directed to the front 3 speakers rather than the original stereo mix), but no actual 'rumble' generator was used, and only the two control tones that activated the generator can be heard. In addition, the film's original soundtrack was remixed in Surround Sound 5.1 which was simply a tag as once again only the control tones feature on the track.

John Williams' music for Earthquake was the second of his trio of scores for large-scale disaster films, having previously scored The Poseidon Adventure and following with The Towering Inferno.[13] Williams scored both Earthquake and The Towering Inferno in the summer of 1974, both scores showing similarities to one another (notably Earthquake's theme and The Towering Inferno's love theme sharing the same eight-note melody). The music of the song "C'est si Bon" by Henri Betti is played on the guitar in the middle of the film.

After October, 1974 test screenings, Universal opted to cut 30 minutes from the film, notably from the pre-quake sequences, at the cost of some of the dramatic flow. This included a narration sequence about the San Andreas fault and an impending catastrophic earthquake that would occur in either Los Angeles or San Francisco. This scene was filmed and was set to be shown before the opening title credits (although it was removed at the last minute, it was eventually included as the opening sequence of the NBC television edit for the September, 1976 broadcast premiere). Also excised were lengthy scenes of Remy (Gardner) and Stewart (Heston) arguing at the beginning of the film. After Remy's fake suicide, Dr. Vance (Lloyd Nolan) arrives at the Graff home and begins to talk with Stewart (an old friend). Dr. Vance inadvertently informs Stewart that Remy had an abortion two years prior (he was told it was a miscarriage). Remy appears, and they fight because Stewart wanted the baby and Remy did not. Stewart storms off. This explains why Stewart resents Remy so much. (In the final cut of the film, they just seem angry at one another.) There was more of Slade's leaving the police station, and footage of Rosa's leaving the market was shot as well. She was filmed waiting for a bus and being offered a lift from a man on a motorcycle (this footage eventually was used in the film's television cut). Just before the earthquake, Stewart and Remy had a final fight (in front of Stewart's car) that was deleted as well. During the earthquake, there was a scene of a nearby lumberyard's falling apart, and this was removed from the final cut.

Other deleted scenes were shot to wrap up many characters' stories after the earthquake. Walt Russell and Dr. Stockle – whose fates are undetermined after the quake in the theatrical release – were shown alive in the seismology laboratory post-quake. They were shown finding the earthquake's magnitude to be 9.9 on the Richter scale. The film's final scene originally had Denise's asking Lou Slade if Stewart had survived; upon hearing of his death, she walks over to Corry who has regained consciousness.

The elevator scene, one of the film's more infamous shots, was compromised as a result of difficulties during filming. Originally, the occupants were pressed to the ceiling of the elevator as it fell down the shaft, and then dropped to the floor when the elevator crashed to the bottom. The scene was filmed several times, with several stunt people involved. Copious amounts of stage blood were rigged to spray the stunt people inside the elevator set with blood when the set came crashing to the ground. After several tries over two separate filming days weeks apart (the break in filming was an attempt to perfect the mechanical effects involved), and with unsatisfactory results, the decision was made on-set by director Robson to edit the scene with an "animated blood" effect to be added in post production. The optical effect was superimposed over a still frame of part of the unusable footage, resulting in the "cartoonish" nature of the shot. The television version removed the animated blood sequence.

Rumors have persisted in recent years that the "animated blood" was added as a result of the MPAA threatening an "R" rating due to the original graphic nature of the scene, but the script supervisor's on-set notes reveal that this was not the case. The notes reveal that shooting the scene was problematic, and the decision was made to correct the scene in editing.

The disaster film trend reached a zenith in 1974 with the combined releases of Airport 1975 (the first Airport sequel), Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. The films enjoyed staggering success, with The Towering Inferno earning $55 million in rentals, Earthquake earning $36 million and Airport 1975 earning $25 million.[15] By 1976, the disaster film cycle had also left its mark on the list of all-time box-office champions, with The Towering Inferno ranking eighth, Airport fourteenth, The Poseidon Adventure sixteenth, and Earthquake twentieth.[15] These successes ensured the flood of similar films throughout the decade.

Earthquake eventually grossed $79.7 million ($379.8 million, adjusted for inflation in 2019 dollars).[16]

At its release, critics generally acknowledged the special effects in Earthquake while discounting other aspects. Without either panning or praising the film, Nora Sayre of the New York Times wrote that it was an improvement on Airport '75 and observed, "The impulse to shout advice to the screen—get out! go away! don't enter that building—is quite powerful, so this does rank as a participatory movie."[17] Judith Crist wrote in New York Magazine that "the nonsense is bearable for the spectacle. And ... here we have a feast of feats of destruction."[4] Pauline Kael wrote "The picture is swill, but it isn't a cheat; it's an entertaining marathon of Grade-A destruction effects".[18] Gene Siskel gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote the special effects were "terrific" but identified a basic problem with the story: "With a Poseidon Adventure or an Airport the ending is clear — people are saved ultimately thru their own or somebody else's enterprise. But with an earthquake, the final solution is out of one's hands, anyone's hands - even Allstate's. If the tremors don't stop, then everybody'll die; if they do, then only a few people will die. End of story."[19] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the Sensurround vibrations "succeed very nicely in making themselves felt as well as heard and they set up an anxiety which makes watching 'Earthquake' a very ambivalent experience for anyone who, so to speak, has been there before."[20] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote "Thanks to Sensurround, 'Earthquake' figures to be the gimmick hit of 1974. Without the gimmick, it would be difficult to distinguish this perfunctory, mediocre piece of storytelling from Universal's other disaster vehicle, Airport 1975."[21]

Rotten Tomatoes collected reviews from 26 critics, some contemporary with the film and some from subsequent years, to give the film a score of 42% with an average of 4.76 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: "The destruction of Los Angeles is always a welcome sight, but Earthquake offers little besides big actors slumming through crumbling sets."[22] Leonard Maltin gave the film a "BOMB" rating, stating "[the] title tells the story in hackneyed disaster epic ... Marjoe as a sex deviate and Gardner as Lorne Greene's daughter tie for film's top casting honors."[23] Gardner was only 8 years younger than Lorne Greene.

Earthquake was nominated for four Academy Awards. including Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Frank R. McKelvy) and Best Sound (Ronald Pierce and Melvin Metcalfe Sr.). It won for Best Sound (Ronald Pierce and Melvin Metcalfe Sr.) and a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects (Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson and Albert Whitlock).[24][25]

The film was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Original Score (John Williams).[26]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated[27]