CGI disasters look way better than this awkward, cheesy stuff. The obvious models being destroyed reminds me of movies made by elementary school kids. It looks goofy and so fake
I saw this in a multi-cinema theatre back then. The intense sound from the earthquake scene made you feel like someone was pounding you in the chest. It was so intense the adjacent cinemas had a notice on the screen before the feature movie to make patrons aware of the vibrations they may feel from the movie being shown in the cinema next to them.
I remember the first time this played on television and the local radio station synced up so you could play it over you home stereo system. Being 7 or 8 at the time, that was a real treat.
yes, I remember that, here in NY we had, if memory serves me correct, WPIX FM radio played it simultaniously (sp) with the movie and we cranked up the stereo and, it was amazing. It only was done the fist time it was aired on TV.
He did not know about the quake coming since the dogs were barking prior before the quake started. It looked like to me that the man was OK although he was tumbling down that hillside with his chicken and beer.
@@MrGuitaristgamer101 You obviously weren't a 10-yr old in the theatre in late 1974 watching this and feeling the whole building rumble with the 'Sensurround" effect! It was fantastic and frightening to experience and IMO the special effects hold up well nearly 50 yrs later.
@@frankbray9416 EXACTLY! The humongous rumble boxes along the front of the house and both back corners made the floor & seats to vibrate from the sub bass frequency. The size of the sets seemed almost as big as LA itself. So many effect techniques developed just for the making of this movie are still used today, including Sensurround (forerunner of surround sound) & the forerunner of the steady cam (although John Carpenter will actually be credited as using the first steady cam while filming 1978's "John Carpenter's Halloween". And, the only cheesey special effect in "Earthquake" is the blood splatter in the elevator scene. Even the miniature houses during the dam breach looked real. Absolutely no CGI was used or harmed in the making of this film!
I just love how it starts in the movie theater while the film is playing mid-reel; it's scary to be watching the big screen when suddenly the unthinkable happens and there's little or NOTHING you can do about it except try to survive.
A brilliant piece of editing. Hell unexpectedly breaks loose, while the movie shows spectators in.. a movie theatre. I recall, it took me a few seconds to realise that the earthquake had begun, and that’s what the spectators in the movie also do. The theatre screen briefly became a kind of a huge mirror.
Felt bad for the farmer and his load of cattle-but being the son of a farmer myself I realized those cattle were doomed either way as they were probably on their way to the slaughter pen.
I saw this movie when I was ten in 1974…the salmon/pink outfit was amazing to me and I talked my mom into buying me one. Wore it all the time until I outgrew it lol. Awesome movie, the 70’s were incredible. Corduroy was the thing to wear!
I love how the actors in these movies manage to stumble into places where they can get hit by random debris and make it so incredibly obvious that’s what they’re doing.
If I got the bluray of this flick, I would cranking it up to feel the intensity of an actual earthquake. It would be the ultimate theater experience in disaster movies such like this. WOW! POWERFUL!
Actors and actresses (not famous) in the backgrounds were real stunts, according to the director in an interview. The special effects were awesome in this movie.
My favorite thing about this movie has always been Lorne Greene playing Ava Gardner's father. I guess she figured no one would ever find out that he was only seven years older than she was. Girl, please!
Royce (played by Greene) was the president of his company. Heston (son-in-law) would be promoted to President of the company while Greene headed the Chairman of the Board. This was prior to the main quake. The Graff's (Heston and the other woman) had a confrontation in the elevator before the quake.
I was scornful of the absurdity of that supposed relationship when this movie was new. In fact Ava and Charlton looked older and more wrinkled that Lorne, so the entire setup was absurd.
At 2:16, that looks like the interchange between the 210 fwy and the 5 fwy in Sylmar which really was damaged and collapsed in the 1971 Sylmar quake and again in 1994 in the Northridge quake.
Every Earthquake scene was enhanced (in most theaters) with Sensurround. In Earthquake, the rumbles were intended to simulate the tremors of the quake and were played at 110dB to 120dB and ranged from 16Hz to 120Hz - the exact waveform of the 1972 Sylmar earthquake. The Sensurround system employed up to twenty folded horn-loaded speakers that went as low as 16Hz, producing volumes as high as 120dB. Further refinements sent the practical recorded low-end as low as 10Hz. You can’t hear these frequencies, but you can feel them. Sensurround paved the way for today’s multi-channel Dolby and DTS soundtracks as engineers figured out how to separate the dialogue channel from the low-frequency sound effect channel. Personally, I just went for Victoria Principle.
I did some research on the 1970's movies. Put Airport (1970), "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", this movie, Airport 75, and Airport 77 and you have a list of disaster movies to watch.
There is a new remake of this classic film coming out soon. It's leading lady will be Lizzo wearing a see through negligee. When the film's cast all see her for the first time, they will all be screaming EARTHQUAKE!
haha, yes, I noticed that also, there was no roof tiles, no glass, and where was all the furniture and other home furnishing. The houses tumbling did look very fake, I think in todays time era, it would be amazing.
All practical effects, camera tricks, some editing magic, a little bit of stock footage here and there, and the actors. The flood scenes from the dam failure are particularly good IMO.
I remember seeing this in the theaters with my parents when I was a little kid. It was a time when "disaster" type of movies were a big thing with all-star casts (as opposed to just one big name celebrity being the main character. Earthquake, the Airport series, The Towering Inferno, etc... all such great movies for their time.
In the same day, my family went to see "Earthquake," then drove across town to see "The Towering Inferno." Stood in long lines both theaters. Got disastered to the max!
My eldest brother took me to see Earthquake in SENSOR ROUND at the Bourke Street Cinema complex Melbourne Australia in 1974. The big selling point was that it was in SENSOR ROUND and that your seats would shake with rumblings of the quakes. I was 8 years old then and had the horrors every time an earthquake was on the news for several years until I grew out of it...
I saw this in the theatre when i was 8. Disaster movies were all the rage. Some theatres actually had mechanics to make the floor of the theatre vibrate when the earthquake hit. At the time it was cutting edge.
I remember seeing this as a 10 year old in the theatre. The surround sound was new technology and blew us away. I miss the days before CGI, the cast really had to depend more on their acting abilities to make the special effects work effectively.
I’m sorry but for an fReaking 1970s disaster film that has got to be the most amazing special effects ever I mean that house coming down in the end look amazingly real …seriously the 70s man you guys were tripping on something
When this got released in 1974 I can remember watching the tv spots for it as a kid. When the shot of the semi trailer cartwheeling off the free way came up i said. "I have to go to this film"
I saw this at The Movies at Maplewood One next to White Bear Lake, MN when it came out in '74. I was 14 and yeah, I will never forget the sensation of Sensurround. You could feel that in your _chest_ . And they used it in other movies too! I remember many times hearing that particular sound and feeling that familiar vibration in my chest when we were at other movies next to the Sensurround theater. They should bring back Sensurround. It is a cheap to produce, but awesome extra haptic effect.
A couple years after Poseidon Adventure was a big disaster movie hit, this had some decent effects but quakes don't actually linger on that long, right? Still, pretty effective!
Earthquake came out the same year as The Towering Inferno, and Universal was in a race to get the movie out in theaters in November 1974 before The Towering Inferno came out that December. Earthquake was successful, but not nearly as successful as The Towering Inferno, which was the biggest box office hit of the year and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture.
The best scene in the entire movie you don't show. The Boeing 707 trying to land, the runway breaking up and the plane trying to takeoff. That's the best scene.
I absolutely loved this movie, although of course I can understand why people don't feel the same way. To me, this was much better than the Towering Inferno; grittier and topical. I just always have a blast watching this.
This makes me think that as much as I can sometimes moan about my country (UK) we don't have earthquakes, tornado or 150mph hurricanes. No avalanches, droughts, poisonous insects or famine. No erupting volcanoes, sharks, crocodiles or alligators and no tsunamis. Starting to feel very blessed.
I watched this at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. (doesn't exist any more) when it came out. The theater had Sensurround - some gadget that made a low grade vibration during the earthquake scenes that made you feel like you were actually in an earthquake. Ahead of it's time.
The year before this movie was released, there was a disaster movie in Japan called Nihon Chinbotsu which is about the Japanese Archipelago breaking apart and sinking into the Pacific Ocean. The biggest disaster scene in that movie was Tokyo being flattened in a massive earthquake. I wonder if the filmmakers on Earthquake! drew inspiration from that particular scene.
The sensurround effect added to the terror of Earthquake. We in the audience was like Victoria Principle's reaction. Sensurround was a pretty good added effect.
2:35 I legit turned my head away in that scene cause I thought those power lines were going to fall on top that boy and electrocute him, and would result in probably the horrific scene in the whole movie.
I'm an authentic Valley Girl who lived through the authentic 1971 Sylmar quake, and although no authentic cattle cars fell on our house at six in the morning, all of us Valley kids did authentically get out of going to school for the remainder of the week. Good authentic times!
I remember when they played this on TV in Los Angeles in 75 or 76 ( ? ) . They simulcast it on the radio. My Dad put every radio in the house on that channel so we could watch it in “ surround sound “ . He made a huge event out of it !! Those were the days. Lol
Modern movies owe so much to Sensurround, but even with superior sound technology, the balance between physical sensation and required volumes is less that ideal. Sensurround was not about being loud, it was about using low frequencies to shake the theatre. I went to see Dune 2 in IMAX this week. It too had me feeling the explosions, but the movie's audio volume had to be so high that my ears were ringing after the show. I found myself longing for the days of strapping Cerwin-Vega subwoofers to the back walls of the theatre. Sensurround brought us into the modern era of surround theatre sound, but it did it far better. As a result, I prefer to stay home where I can control the sound levels, whereas back in the day, I made sure to go to every movie that featured Sensurround (Earthquake, Midway, Battlestar Galactica & Rollercoaater)
Don’t forget the chainsaw scene in Scarface. That’s when the Colombians tried to kill Tony Montana with a chainsaw after they turned up the volume of TV that has some of the scenes of “The Big One” from Earthquake.
3:27 I can't tell if the liquefaction phenomena during Earthquakes wasn't still documented enough for inspiration or if it was too impractical to replicate with SFX at the time...
Sensurround !! A low frequency signal that ran beside the main sound track (Independent of it) and played at a frequency below the subwoofers. It played at a sub audible frequency that the human ear couldn't detect but your body could "feel" like when you leave your car window open on the freeway and your car vibrates . It was run through massive floor mounted speakers and it cost theatres a fortune to install to be able to run the film. Back when movies were a big deal. Earthquake is a total classic.
watch this movie in 1974 in switzerland/Zuerich. The fist cinema-theater with name Apollo (near Stauffacher location) has this surround system. The ground shook.....! Great.
Saddest part of this scene was at 3:07 where the guy on the balcony dropped his can of beer. Knowing what followed, it seems like a real shame he didn't get a chance to get in a last glug or two...
Admittedly quite a few of the FX in this movie show their age, and at times the running crowds of support actors come across as stiff or overly dramatic, but the use of practical effects definitely holds up here in comparison to a lot of CGI. It's not quite as spectacular or detailed as say, San Andreas, but it has its merits.
What I hate about San Adreas is the ridiculous nature of the FX. They're so over the top they simply do not feel real. Earthquake's FX "FEEL" real. They're not over done. They're accurate and realistic. And they have a wonderful organicness to them. Things like San Adreas are so over blown. The FX might look real. But they don't read as REAL.
I only remember it being used for this film & "Midway"('76) , "Rollercoaster"('77) and "Battlestar Galactica"('78). Sensurround for "Earthquake" was quite memorable as an 8 year old kid!
@@goodowner5000 I don't remember it bring used for Battlestar but I fo the others. My Dad fought in Korea and when we went to the theater to watch midway he said that's how it felt and sounded like. I think it made him uncomfortable but in was only 12 so I didn't think too much about it at the time.
Watching this with the sound off is hilarious. Pure cheese. "Okay, we're gonna shake the camera and you all stagger around like you're drunk and we're gonna drop some foam signs on you."
1 minuto de Silencio por las Víctimas del Gran Terremoto qué Azotó a la Ciudad de México el 19 de SEPTIEMBRE de 1985 a las 07 :19 magnitud 8.6 Grados Righter causando más de 40 mil bajas cifras oficiales 😢😢😭😭😭😭 Y esta PELÍCULA TERREMOTO estaba en Cartelera en Verano de 1985 con Sonido DOLBY Sensurround
Love it. Real things being filmed by real cameras in true gritty '70s style.
"Real" cameras (?) are still being used today.
Ok? What's your point
@@MrGuitaristgamer101 okay what? Quit being a karen🤡
@@cinna_to4st_waff1es fr them two seriously dont understand
@@matt815Do you, though?
Awesome movie! No CGI, just models and camera angles!!
As it should be!
The Surround Sound In the theatre really made it feel real.
it received oscar nom for cinematography, even Godfather Part 2 wasn''t nominated lol
CGI disasters look way better than this awkward, cheesy stuff. The obvious models being destroyed reminds me of movies made by elementary school kids. It looks goofy and so fake
@@MrGuitaristgamer101 are you 12
I saw this in a multi-cinema theatre back then. The intense sound from the earthquake scene made you feel like someone was pounding you in the chest. It was so intense the adjacent cinemas had a notice on the screen before the feature movie to make patrons aware of the vibrations they may feel from the movie being shown in the cinema next to them.
That sounds kinda cool
That was called SenSurround. A hallmark invention of sound in film history.
I remember that as well. I was a kid at the time & absolutely petrified. My sister had to take me out of the cinema..
In I-Max it would sound intense.
This scene is intense.
I remember the first time this played on television and the local radio station synced up so you could play it over you home stereo system. Being 7 or 8 at the time, that was a real treat.
yes, I remember that, here in NY we had, if memory serves me correct, WPIX FM radio played it simultaniously (sp) with the movie and we cranked up the stereo and, it was amazing. It only was done the fist time it was aired on TV.
Dude on his balcony just enjoying some chicken and beer straight up not givin a f.....
The only way to die. ;-D
He did not know about the quake coming since the dogs were barking prior before the quake started. It looked like to me that the man was OK although he was tumbling down that hillside with his chicken and beer.
@@pvtmikeyjr1963 that must have been some quality chicken and beer. Lol
grab onto my arm......
Must have been drunk and loose when he hit the ground, did not seem hurt at all
The cows in the truck get me every time. More as a laugh than anything else. Sure...keep driving while the bridge is rocking.
Really..I’m thinking, “Why doesn’t he just stop?”
😅😂😂
When you’re driving it’s hard to tell if you’re in an earthquake…
That's my thought, too. Why would one keep driving when losing control of their vehicle?
No use crying over spilled milk
😮As of 2024, this movie is 50 years old. I saw this at the Drive In theater back in 1974. Retro greetings from coastal Mississippi 😂
I saw this at the theater with my YMCA day camp. Good old days.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
the folks in the theater were watching high plains drifter (my favorite western)
That is the Clint Eastwood film.
Saw this movie when it came out. They had very large woofers up side down on the floor to vibrate the theater.
They call that system SENSURROUND… was used in some proyections of BATTLESTAR GALÁCTICA too.
I remember. The sound gave me a stomachache ache. Had to step out of the theater.
Me too. I was 9.
@@ljesus67 we were in Syosset Long Island!
Sensurround also used in "Midway" (1976) and "Rollercoaster" (1977) .
"No actual cows were harmed during the filming of this movie."
As a kid watching the reruns of this I felt bad for the cows
we are not blind
One of the most iconic scenes of Disaster movies of the 1970s. And it looks and feels so real.
Not really.. it's just a shaky camera, miniature models and people awkwardly losing balance lol it looks rough by today's standard
@@MrGuitaristgamer101 Still more convincing than anything CGI can do
@@MrGuitaristgamer101 You obviously weren't a 10-yr old in the theatre in late 1974 watching this and feeling the whole building rumble with the 'Sensurround" effect! It was fantastic and frightening to experience and IMO the special effects hold up well nearly 50 yrs later.
@@frankbray9416
EXACTLY! The humongous rumble boxes along the front of the house and both back corners made the floor & seats to vibrate from the sub bass frequency.
The size of the sets seemed almost as big as LA itself. So many effect techniques developed just for the making of this movie are still used today, including Sensurround (forerunner of surround sound) & the forerunner of the steady cam (although John Carpenter will actually be credited as using the first steady cam while filming 1978's "John Carpenter's Halloween".
And, the only cheesey special effect in "Earthquake" is the blood splatter in the elevator scene. Even the miniature houses during the dam breach looked real.
Absolutely no CGI was used or harmed in the making of this film!
Shows also that the only true villain in this film is the earthquake itself.
I've got this movie on DVD. Soooo good. Victoria Principle looks sensational.
Loved her t-shirt!
@@mattdaugherty7865 Absolutely, so do I!
🍪
When in the theatres in 1974 the senssround was fantastic. Excellent special effects.
Good actors, good special effects.
That woman's afro should protect her from falling debris.
That is Victoria principal from Dallas 👍
@@briansetpente1019 She was held captive In a earthquake ravaged city.. Just NOT on a soap opera !! Xd 😂😂 George Kennedy too !!
Victoria Principal was that woman, my eldest sister had an Afro in this era too.
Miss Amici
My afro did! It was stronger than a football helmet.
I just saw the whole movie and now I feel old. I remember when LA looked like that.
Where were you in the 89 quake
well then you are certainly more old than young ....
I just love how it starts in the movie theater while the film is playing mid-reel; it's scary to be watching the big screen when suddenly the unthinkable happens and there's little or NOTHING you can do about it except try to survive.
A perfect example of why I will never live in California.
A brilliant piece of editing. Hell unexpectedly breaks loose, while the movie shows spectators in.. a movie theatre. I recall, it took me a few seconds to realise that the earthquake had begun, and that’s what the spectators in the movie also do. The theatre screen briefly became a kind of a huge mirror.
We were always told never run outside when we had earthquake drills at skeul.
watching netflix is much saver than a movie theater lol
Felt bad for the farmer and his load of cattle-but being the son of a farmer myself I realized those cattle were doomed either way as they were probably on their way to the slaughter pen.
Try feeling bad being the driver of the green VW bug. That thing was crushed by the overpass.
Nah bro I could had have beef
I was wondering, Is that Slim Pickens driving that truck 🚛🚛🚛
Fewer burgers, steaks, roast beef sandwiches- that's for damn sure.
I saw this movie when I was ten in 1974…the salmon/pink outfit was amazing to me and I talked my mom into buying me one. Wore it all the time until I outgrew it lol. Awesome movie, the 70’s were incredible. Corduroy was the thing to wear!
I love how the actors in these movies manage to stumble into places where they can get hit by random debris and make it so incredibly obvious that’s what they’re doing.
Miranda Cosgrove
Realistically, panic and fear can cloud one's judgment and make them do some things that a calm person would not understand
@@TopHatTITANor its just a corny movie
At least Victoria Principal was protected by any falling debris by that awesome Afro…
She is Sicilian.
bricks were bouncing off her fro.
@@haveanicedave1551 ahahahahahahhahah
If I got the bluray of this flick, I would cranking it up to feel the intensity of an actual earthquake.
It would be the ultimate theater experience in disaster movies such like this. WOW! POWERFUL!
It can be done. The Sensurround track is on the blu ray. But you need super powerful subwoofers.
Can deny that the films of the 70s had impressive camera work and editing
Actors and actresses (not famous) in the backgrounds were real stunts, according to the director in an interview. The special effects were awesome in this movie.
Compare that to San Andreas.
To me, I like the part. Where the mission bells were ringing. Music to my ears.
oh yeah. i love that part.
My favorite thing about this movie has always been Lorne Greene playing Ava Gardner's father. I guess she figured no one would ever find out that he was only seven years older than she was. Girl, please!
Royce (played by Greene) was the president of his company. Heston (son-in-law) would be promoted to President of the company while Greene headed the Chairman of the Board. This was prior to the main quake. The Graff's (Heston and the other woman) had a confrontation in the elevator before the quake.
He looked old enough to be Gardners Father, that's what counts, since it's a Movie.
I was scornful of the absurdity of that supposed relationship when this movie was new. In fact Ava and Charlton looked older and more wrinkled that Lorne, so the entire setup was absurd.
@@hebneh Back then it was all about getting big names at any cost, money-wise and believability-wise!
Go awayyy KAREN. Getalife.
At 2:16, that looks like the interchange between the 210 fwy and the 5 fwy in Sylmar which really was damaged and collapsed in the 1971 Sylmar quake and again in 1994 in the Northridge quake.
I’ve just lived a very hard earthquake and i can say this is very accurate and scary
So am i ! I was in Maastricht in 1993 ! Very scary !
Every Earthquake scene was enhanced (in most theaters) with Sensurround. In Earthquake, the rumbles were intended to simulate the tremors of the quake and were played at 110dB to 120dB and ranged from 16Hz to 120Hz - the exact waveform of the 1972 Sylmar earthquake. The Sensurround system employed up to twenty folded horn-loaded speakers that went as low as 16Hz, producing volumes as high as 120dB. Further refinements sent the practical recorded low-end as low as 10Hz. You can’t hear these frequencies, but you can feel them. Sensurround paved the way for today’s multi-channel Dolby and DTS soundtracks as engineers figured out how to separate the dialogue channel from the low-frequency sound effect channel. Personally, I just went for Victoria Principle.
Does this clip have the Sensurround Rumble?
That's before THX.
Double feature with "The Towering Inferno" Shake and Bake!
Good one.
I did some research on the 1970's movies. Put Airport (1970), "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", this movie, Airport 75, and Airport 77 and you have a list of disaster movies to watch.
@@pvtmikeyjr1963 Don't forget about Rollercoaster.
Talladega Nights Shake N' Bake
There is a new remake of this classic film coming out soon. It's leading lady will be Lizzo wearing a see through negligee. When the film's cast all see her for the first time, they will all be screaming EARTHQUAKE!
I like how none of the houses tumbling down that hill had any roofing tiles on them - just straight plywood. LOL!
haha, yes, I noticed that also, there was no roof tiles, no glass, and where was all the furniture and other home furnishing. The houses tumbling did look very fake, I think in todays time era, it would be amazing.
Or furniture lol
Remember this was before cgi. Very impressive for its day though
....or furniture in them for that matter lol
@olavwilhelm6843 Maybe the neighborhood was in fact a colony of ascetics and stark minimalists.
Who else came here after the magnitude 4.8 earthquake we had in New Jersey today?
I did. My late mom and sister told me it was the first movie I had went to see in my life as a baby. And a historic one at that.
All practical effects, camera tricks, some editing magic, a little bit of stock footage here and there, and the actors. The flood scenes from the dam failure are particularly good IMO.
There's zero stock footage!. It was all miniatures shot outside and matte paintings.
I remember seeing this in the theaters with my parents when I was a little kid. It was a time when "disaster" type of movies were a big thing with all-star casts (as opposed to just one big name celebrity being the main character. Earthquake, the Airport series, The Towering Inferno, etc... all such great movies for their time.
In the same day, my family went to see "Earthquake," then drove across town to see "The Towering Inferno." Stood in long lines both theaters. Got disastered to the max!
Like how that blue car in front at around 2:10 hits the guard rail and clearly bounces and stops, then a second later is back to swerving wildly.
I love this movie
Same
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1:34 Wow. Transformant tectonic plate!
My eldest brother took me to see Earthquake in SENSOR ROUND at the Bourke Street Cinema complex Melbourne Australia in 1974. The big selling point was that it was in SENSOR ROUND and that your seats would shake with rumblings of the quakes. I was 8 years old then and had the horrors every time an earthquake was on the news for several years until I grew out of it...
I remember my aunt telling me a true story my dad & gramps coming from the theater as my gramma served em Beef that night and both broke in tears. 🤣
A great sequence with amazing special effects. And not a computer in sight. Much better than CGI.
I saw this in the theatre when i was 8. Disaster movies were all the rage. Some theatres actually had mechanics to make the floor of the theatre vibrate when the earthquake hit. At the time it was cutting edge.
Literally got recommended this after the 4.7 quake in the Northeast today lmao
i like how it never occurs to the people on the freeway to slow down.
I remember seeing this as a 10 year old in the theatre. The surround sound was new technology and blew us away. I miss the days before CGI, the cast really had to depend more on their acting abilities to make the special effects work effectively.
I’m sorry but for an fReaking 1970s disaster film that has got to be the most amazing special effects ever I mean that house coming down in the end look amazingly real …seriously the 70s man you guys were tripping on something
When this got released in 1974 I can remember watching the tv spots for it as a kid. When the shot of the semi trailer cartwheeling off the free way came up i said. "I have to go to this film"
Beef....it's what's for dinner.
@3:01 Beer and fried chicken!
Damn those stunt people were put through the ringer for this movie!😶
This is pretty amazing for the 70s, I have never seen this movie but I'm going to watch it now
I watched this in a theater when I was in High School. The senseround sound was incredible.
Damon for the 70’s that was good
I saw this at The Movies at Maplewood One next to White Bear Lake, MN when it came out in '74. I was 14 and yeah, I will never forget the sensation of Sensurround. You could feel that in your _chest_ . And they used it in other movies too! I remember many times hearing that particular sound and feeling that familiar vibration in my chest when we were at other movies next to the Sensurround theater.
They should bring back Sensurround. It is a cheap to produce, but awesome extra haptic effect.
2:26 LMAO I can't stop laughing. God damn! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
A couple years after Poseidon Adventure was a big disaster movie hit, this had some decent effects but quakes don't actually linger on that long, right? Still, pretty effective!
Earthquake came out the same year as The Towering Inferno, and Universal was in a race to get the movie out in theaters in November 1974 before The Towering Inferno came out that December. Earthquake was successful, but not nearly as successful as The Towering Inferno, which was the biggest box office hit of the year and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture.
Tell that to the people of Honduras.
Actually they can. Some records have reported Shaking up to 3 avg min maybe more.
A subduction zone quake can. They can last up to 9 minutes
Yeah, what others said. Plus maybe we are supposed to believe that some of the scenes are occurring concurrently rather than chronologically.
I still love the model of the tractor-trailer with the plastic 'steers' going off the cloverleaf.
The best scene in the entire movie you don't show. The Boeing 707 trying to land, the runway breaking up and the plane trying to takeoff. That's the best scene.
The scene you mentioned appeared in the TV version of the movie, which premiered as a two-part, four hour movie.
I absolutely loved this movie, although of course I can understand why people don't feel the same way. To me, this was much better than the Towering Inferno; grittier and topical. I just always have a blast watching this.
2:49 it seems Smurfette's voice in italian version guys
This makes me think that as much as I can sometimes moan about my country (UK) we don't have earthquakes, tornado or 150mph hurricanes. No avalanches, droughts, poisonous insects or famine. No erupting volcanoes, sharks, crocodiles or alligators and no tsunamis. Starting to feel very blessed.
I always wanted a part in a movie like this.....1 line..... "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE"!!!!!!!
Für die Zeit wirklich beeindruckende Effekte.
I love this movie.
I watched this at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. (doesn't exist any more) when it came out. The theater had Sensurround - some gadget that made a low grade vibration during the earthquake scenes that made you feel like you were actually in an earthquake. Ahead of it's time.
I remember that!!!! It was cool!!!!
When I was little, bout 7, when I saw this movie for the 1st time, I said why aren't the people stopping on the highway.....
The year before this movie was released, there was a disaster movie in Japan called Nihon Chinbotsu which is about the Japanese Archipelago breaking apart and sinking into the Pacific Ocean. The biggest disaster scene in that movie was Tokyo being flattened in a massive earthquake. I wonder if the filmmakers on Earthquake! drew inspiration from that particular scene.
they had real chunks of concrete falling only feet away from the extras during this scene- makes it more like a real earthquake!
the whole cinema was vibrating with the sensurround audio! i was 7 at at year. now i am 56. from malaysia
The sensurround effect added to the terror of Earthquake. We in the audience was like Victoria Principle's reaction. Sensurround was a pretty good added effect.
Watching this scene with earphones on is very scary.
That scene where that woman had shards of glass on her head ..... Graphic.
2:35 I legit turned my head away in that scene cause I thought those power lines were going to fall on top that boy and electrocute him, and would result in probably the horrific scene in the whole movie.
A first cousin to the disaster films Irwin Allen used to make.
I'll never forget watching it in Sensurround Sound at the Civic Theatre in Auckland (50 years ago now and Mum watched it with us).
Thanks for the upload !!
These were pretty good effects at that time.
Still worth watching now as the special effects are good and the story is interesting, particularly the psycho soldier who goes on a rampage.
Wouldn't it be weird to have a disaster movie but all the main characters the movie focused on didn't make it?
I'm an authentic Valley Girl who lived through the authentic 1971 Sylmar quake, and although no authentic cattle cars fell on our house at six in the morning, all of us Valley kids did authentically get out of going to school for the remainder of the week. Good authentic times!
I remember when they played this on TV in Los Angeles in 75 or 76 ( ? ) . They simulcast it on the radio. My Dad put every radio in the house on that channel so we could watch it in “ surround sound “ . He made a huge event out of it !! Those were the days. Lol
Modern movies owe so much to Sensurround, but even with superior sound technology, the balance between physical sensation and required volumes is less that ideal. Sensurround was not about being loud, it was about using low frequencies to shake the theatre. I went to see Dune 2 in IMAX this week. It too had me feeling the explosions, but the movie's audio volume had to be so high that my ears were ringing after the show. I found myself longing for the days of strapping Cerwin-Vega subwoofers to the back walls of the theatre. Sensurround brought us into the modern era of surround theatre sound, but it did it far better. As a result, I prefer to stay home where I can control the sound levels, whereas back in the day, I made sure to go to every movie that featured Sensurround (Earthquake, Midway, Battlestar Galactica & Rollercoaater)
the chick w/ the afro fright wig running around in confusion w/ hands flailing is HILARIOUS!!! 👍
A deft comic directorial touch!!😂 👌
That is Victoria Principal from the 1970's-'80's tv hit series "Dallas".
I love the movie they were watching at the start! High Plains Drifter (1973) with Clint Eastwood! 😎👍
Don’t forget the chainsaw scene in Scarface. That’s when the Colombians tried to kill Tony Montana with a chainsaw after they turned up the volume of TV that has some of the scenes of “The Big One” from Earthquake.
At 1:08…did they think they could fool the audience with a distorted picture?;)
01:08
A 🐜 + 🍎
S Sink + ☀️
S 🐚 + 🦈
Cheap plexiglas
Always thought the same since I was 10yo and saw the movie 🤣🤣
3:27 I can't tell if the liquefaction phenomena during Earthquakes wasn't still documented enough for inspiration or if it was too impractical to replicate with SFX at the time...
0:26 What is this place???
Looks like miniature
one of the best movies evermade !!
NYC HAD ONE YESTERDAY OF 4.8 WITH A 4.0 AFTERSHOCK 🤞🙏
I remember this when it first came out they had some sort of special effect in the theater that when the earthquake came you felt it.
Sensurround !! A low frequency signal that ran beside the main sound track (Independent of it) and played at a frequency below the subwoofers. It played at a sub audible frequency that the human ear couldn't detect but your body could "feel" like when you leave your car window open on the freeway and your car vibrates . It was run through massive floor mounted speakers and it cost theatres a fortune to install to be able to run the film. Back when movies were a big deal. Earthquake is a total classic.
@@roquefortfiles Thank so much for that!
watch this movie in 1974 in switzerland/Zuerich. The fist cinema-theater with name Apollo (near Stauffacher location) has this surround system. The ground shook.....! Great.
2:23 Poor cows...💖
Saddest part of this scene was at 3:07 where the guy on the balcony dropped his can of beer. Knowing what followed, it seems like a real shame he didn't get a chance to get in a last glug or two...
Still holding on to that drumstick too
Admittedly quite a few of the FX in this movie show their age, and at times the running crowds of support actors come across as stiff or overly dramatic, but the use of practical effects definitely holds up here in comparison to a lot of CGI.
It's not quite as spectacular or detailed as say, San Andreas, but it has its merits.
What I hate about San Adreas is the ridiculous nature of the FX. They're so over the top they simply do not feel real. Earthquake's FX "FEEL" real. They're not over done. They're accurate and realistic. And they have a wonderful organicness to them. Things like San Adreas are so over blown. The FX might look real. But they don't read as REAL.
Earthquake in "Sensurround"
I only remember it being used for this film & "Midway"('76) , "Rollercoaster"('77) and "Battlestar Galactica"('78). Sensurround for "Earthquake" was quite memorable as an 8 year old kid!
@@goodowner5000 I don't remember it bring used for Battlestar but I fo the others. My Dad fought in Korea and when we went to the theater to watch midway he said that's how it felt and sounded like. I think it made him uncomfortable but in was only 12 so I didn't think too much about it at the time.
Remember watching this in the theater. They had subwoofers cranked up, so it made you feel you were in the movie!
Original San Andres movie (Natural disaster movie).
Or as l like to call it, "The Rock Saves His Family"
Love the house with no interior walls or even furniture.
How it would have felt last week on the east coast around New Jersey if the fault line opened up wide. 1:08
I remember being in the theater and they had a special effect where you actually felt the rumble.
Watching this with the sound off is hilarious. Pure cheese. "Okay, we're gonna shake the camera and you all stagger around like you're drunk and we're gonna drop some foam signs on you."
Never yell "Earthquake" in a crowded theater...unless there really is one.
1 minuto de Silencio por las Víctimas del Gran Terremoto qué Azotó a la Ciudad de México el 19 de SEPTIEMBRE de 1985 a las 07 :19 magnitud 8.6 Grados Righter causando más de 40 mil bajas cifras oficiales 😢😢😭😭😭😭
Y esta PELÍCULA TERREMOTO estaba en Cartelera en Verano de 1985 con Sonido DOLBY Sensurround
Rip cows 😂😂😂 2:22
Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner were great as Stewart and Remy Graff Ava really chewed up the scenery as Remy