Earthquake (1974)
Dir. Mark Robson
A collective of Los Angeles residents have their personal dramas thrown into perspective when a huge quake hits the city, causing chaos on the streets and prompting office workers to fall out of skyscraper windows. Among the affected are hydroelectric dam technicians, a successful businessman, a cop, a stunt bike driver, and a part-time actress with a young son.
It tries hard to make its mini-dramas relatable to its audience, but the highlight of the whole affair is the execution and inventiveness of the destruction within and around the sets and models. The matte paintings are great, too.
Of the ensemble cast, Charlton Heston was probably the bigger star at the time, but it's George Kennedy as the aforementioned cop that I'll remember most. (Coincidently, both men were in the movie that I watched the night before, made and released in the same year: Airport 1975. It wasn't very good, though.)
Earthquake was hugely successful at the box office, but it didn't stay on top for long. Just one month later The Towering Inferno (1974) hit screens and took the Disaster genre's crown.
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