Thoughts from the Ledge: #TBT to the fabulous disaster flicks of the 70s

1970s Disaster Films 2 – Courtesy of Talk Film Society

It’s Throwback Thursday at 1428 Elm so I decided to dedicate Thoughts from the Ledge to those great disaster films of the 70s.

“Earthquakes bring out the worst in some people.” – Sgt. Lew Slade

Childhood Memories

I don’t know what this says about me but I have always been fascinated with disasters. Some of my beloved films as a child were those 1970’s box office monsters that dealt with rogue waves, defective airplanes, natural disasters and man-made cataclysms.

Even in today’s cinema, there is a fascination with circumstances going horribly awry. One of the most anticipated films right now is Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper. He also starred in 2015’s San Andreas.

Even in the 90s, there was a slew of erupting volcano flicks like Volcano and Dante’s Peak. So, as you can see, Hollywood’s appetite for destruction has never completely gone away.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at those catastrophic flicks with the cast of thousands that dominated the silver screen 40 plus years ago.

The End of Days List

Earthquake (1974)

Earthquake – Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner – Courtesy of Universal Pictures, The Filmakers Group

What do you get when you put Charlton Heston (Wayne’s World 2, Planet of the Apes) alongside other legends like Walter Matthau (Bad News Bears) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft)? A damn fine disaster movie called Earthquake.

Co-written by The Godfather author, Mario Puzo, and shot in “Sensurround,” a kind of special effect that allowed theater goers to experience the earth shaking, this effort was truly a spectacle. Of course, the film was chock-full of celebrities from the past and the present.

It was basically a chance to see who could chew the scenery the most, but if you didn’t expect Academy Award caliber plots, then these films were great fun. Heston stars as an engineer named Stuart Graff. Graff is having major relationship problems as he’s estranged from his wife (Ava Gardner) and having an affair with the widow of a co-worker (Genevieve Bujold).

One of the hallmarks of these films was the interconnecting relationships with all of the corresponding cast members. Everyone’s lives become intertwined when a 9.9 earthquake shakes up Southern California. Devastation ensues and amidst the chaos and domestic drama, Chuck Heston rises to the occasion to be the hero and save lives.

In retrospect, the special FX are cheesy as hell but this is an A-list B-movie experience.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

The Towering Inferno – Paul Newman and Steve McQueen – Courtesy of Warner Brothers

In the 70s, one producer was synonymous with disaster films. His name was Irwin Allen. Allen’s fingerprints are all over this gem. Once again, populated with the biggest names of the decade, the story is set on the top level of the tallest skyscraper on the globe.

Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) is the successful architect of the Glass Towers. This is the type of movie where everyone knows there is a problem. In this case, Roberts suspects that the faulty electrical wiring that he pointed out hasn’t been taken care of.

And he is absolutely correct! Roger Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) the chief electrical specialist decided that in order to get the building erected as soon as possible cutting costs was necessary. Unfortunately, the casualty of that misguided notion was the building’s electrical system.

Naturally, during the penthouse dedication celebration a fire breaks out in a storage closet due to an overloaded circuit breaker. A fiery hell is commencing and there are people stranded on top of the building. How can they possibly be saved?

By calling in the fire department headed by the coolest actor to ever grace the silver screen, Steve McQueen. McQueen portrays Chief Michael O’Halloran who has to work together with Paul Newman to figure out how to combat a raging inferno above the 7th floor