Jump to content

70's disaster movies


Recommended Posts

I recently bought a used copy of "The Poseidon Adventure" from a video store that was going out of business.

http://www.exo.net/~ronh/DVD/images/large/6305280746.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

 

 

 

I watched it with my kids and they liked it better than the CG effects filled "Poseidon". There was a time back in the seventies when the disaster movie was as popular as bell bottoms. It seems that they have tried to make a comeback with movies like 2012, but they aren't as good. (Not that the tacky seventies movies were masterpieces. cool.gif)

 

Anyway, I was thinking about a few of them that I loved as a kid.

 

http://douggeivett.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/earthquake_movie.jpg

 

http://1416andcounting.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/towering_inferno.jpg

 

http://www.movieposterstudio.com/pimg/Airport_US1.jpg

 

http://www.impawards.com/1974/posters/airport_nineteen_seventy_five.jpg

 

 

These are just the ones that were popular, there were many more "B" disaster movies. If you notice there is a formula to them. They all pack the cast with big name actors. They all have some form of human error involved along with a wise hero that nobody listens to until it's too late. And most of them have a group of characters that die one by one leaving the unselfish and meek behind to survive the movie.

 

I think the disaster movie will always be with us, but have they gotten any better over the years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a fondness for "Earthquake" since Ava Gardner is part of that cast and that I'm related to her.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved that era of disaster movies! 1022.gif

The Poseidon Adventure was my first disaster flick. I was riveted to the screen.

 

Earthquake. I remember being the one which used the gimmick "senssurround" The theater rumbled during the Earthquake. Talk about hi tek!!! laugh.gif

 

Then there is the brilliance of McQueen and Newman in The Towering Inferno. I loved that one on the big screen as well.

 

 

As Greg Kin once said, "they don't write um like that anymore"

Edited by tick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved "Towering Inferno". I purposely will not re-watch it because I'm afraid it won't be as good as I remember.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Towering Inferno kicked ass!

 

Can't forget about

http://www.the11thhour.com/archives/022001/videoreviews/images/westworld.jpg

 

Probably not really a "disaster" movie but in the same vein...

Edited by RushNut
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (tick @ Mar 3 2010, 12:57 PM)
I loved that era of disaster movies! 1022.gif
The Poseidon Adventure was my first disaster flick. I was riveted to the screen.

Earthquake. I remember being the one which used the gimmick "senssurround" The theater rumbled during the Earthquake. Talk about hi tek!!! laugh.gif

Then there is the brilliance of McQueen and Newman in The Towering Inferno. I loved that one on the big screen as well.


As Greg Kin once said, "they don't write um like that anymore"

I always like the part in the movie where someone screws up and they cause the disaster. It's always some arrogant jerk you can't stand and you know that movie karma dictates that they will eventually die somehow.

In the Towering Inferno it was the guy who cut corners on the electrical work which eventually caused the fire. Then he wanted to be rescued before the women. He ends up dead, but I can't remember how.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I totally agree. Nothing can touch the Seventies Disaster Movie Scene.

 

I remember when I was a kid I saw a double feature.

 

"Earthquake" followed by "Orca."

 

Classic.

 

I will never forget that elevator scene in "Earthquake" when the camera is showing the elevator fall down the shaft for a split second you can see a superimposed blood stain over the bodies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (workingcinderellaman @ Mar 3 2010, 10:22 AM)
I recently bought a used copy of "The Poseidon Adventure" from a video store that was going out of business.
http://www.exo.net/~ronh/DVD/images/large/6305280746.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg



I watched it with my kids and they liked it better than the CG effects filled "Poseidon". There was a time back in the seventies when the disaster movie was as popular as bell bottoms. It seems that they have tried to make a comeback with movies like 2012, but they aren't as good. (Not that the tacky seventies movies were masterpieces. cool.gif)

Anyway, I was thinking about a few of them that I loved as a kid.

http://douggeivett.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/earthquake_movie.jpg

http://1416andcounting.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/towering_inferno.jpg

http://www.movieposterstudio.com/pimg/Airport_US1.jpg

http://www.impawards.com/1974/posters/airport_nineteen_seventy_five.jpg


These are just the ones that were popular, there were many more "B" disaster movies. If you notice there is a formula to them. They all pack the cast with big name actors. They all have some form of human error involved along with a wise hero that nobody listens to until it's too late. And most of them have a group of characters that die one by one leaving the unselfish and meek behind to survive the movie.

I think the disaster movie will always be with us, but have they gotten any better over the years?

I loved this original. Since then there has been a horrible made for TV remake and then the other remake starring Kurt Russell. That one was entertaining, yet doesn't even come close to the original.

 

Remember the sequel, "Beyond The Poseidon Adventure?"

 

Starring Telly Savalas, Micahel Caine and Sally Field.

 

On that note I must confess that I am a huge "RAISE THE TITANIC" fan!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/celebrity/images/Movie/hindenburg2.JPG

 

 

then of course there's the under-rated "The Hindenburg"

 

Decent flick, hammy acting but nice action scenes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 3 2010, 04:53 PM)
The 70s was THE era of the disaster flick; Charlton Heston was the hIgh Priest and his temple was a cinema.

notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif

Speaking of Heston, and it wasn't really a disaster movie per se, but I remember seeing "Raid on Entebbe" in Social Studies class in 6th grade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Mara @ Mar 3 2010, 04:03 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 3 2010, 04:53 PM)
The 70s was THE era of the disaster flick; Charlton Heston was the hIgh Priest and his temple was a cinema.

notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif

Speaking of Heston, and it wasn't really a disaster movie per se, but I remember seeing "Raid on Entebbe" in Social Studies class in 6th grade.

Charlton Heston was in Raid on Entebbe? Charles Bronson?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Mara @ Mar 3 2010, 04:03 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 3 2010, 04:53 PM)
The 70s was THE era of the disaster flick; Charlton Heston was the hIgh Priest and his temple was a cinema.

notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif

Speaking of Heston, and it wasn't really a disaster movie per se, but I remember seeing "Raid on Entebbe" in Social Studies class in 6th grade.

Chuck and Kirk Douglas used to dominate our TV when I was a kid...

 

cool.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

No afro...but, DAYUM...look at those things!!!!!!

 

http://www.cinemaretro.com/uploads/principalvictoria.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 05:08 PM)
QUOTE (Mara @ Mar 3 2010, 04:03 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 3 2010, 04:53 PM)
The 70s was THE era of the disaster flick; Charlton Heston was the hIgh Priest and his temple was a cinema.

notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif

Speaking of Heston, and it wasn't really a disaster movie per se, but I remember seeing "Raid on Entebbe" in Social Studies class in 6th grade.

Charlton Heston was in Raid on Entebbe? Charles Bronson?

Oops. That's something I have done all my life, confuse those two in movie roles. I have no trouble remembering Heston as the NRA and Planet of the Apes dude. All else, I screw the surnames up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Mara @ Mar 3 2010, 04:22 PM)
QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 05:08 PM)
QUOTE (Mara @ Mar 3 2010, 04:03 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 3 2010, 04:53 PM)
The 70s was THE era of the disaster flick; Charlton Heston was the hIgh Priest and his temple was a cinema.

notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif notworthy.gif

Speaking of Heston, and it wasn't really a disaster movie per se, but I remember seeing "Raid on Entebbe" in Social Studies class in 6th grade.

Charlton Heston was in Raid on Entebbe? Charles Bronson?

Oops. That's something I have done all my life, confuse those two in movie roles. I have no trouble remembering Heston as the NRA and Planet of the Apes dude. All else, I screw the surnames up.

Just to refresh you, before he became the NRA guy Heston was the Historical Epic guy (El Cid, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Khartoum, The War Lord, 55 days at Peking, The Greatest Story Ever Told)...

 

...and the disaster flick guy (Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Earthquake, Airport 1975, Skyjacked)

 

Other good ones: The Greatest Show on Earth, The Big Country, Touch of Evil, DarkCity, Midway, The Three Musketeers, Arrowhead, Will Penny, Major Dundee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 04:39 PM)
QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

She was teamed up with Richard Roundtree so maybe she felt she had to compete with him in the afro hair department...

 

laugh.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 04:39 PM)
QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

Is that Ben Stiller as Starsky next to her?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/KublaKhan/c_laugh3.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (RushNut @ Mar 3 2010, 04:44 PM)
QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 04:39 PM)
QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

Is that Ben Stiller as Starsky next to her?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/KublaKhan/c_laugh3.gif

Funny. I didn't notice anyone standing next to her. smile.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (RushNut @ Mar 3 2010, 04:44 PM)
QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 04:39 PM)
QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

Is that Ben Stiller as Starsky next to her?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/KublaKhan/c_laugh3.gif

Him or Robert Redford going for the rough gay look...

 

ohmy.gif unsure.gif laugh.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 3 2010, 02:39 PM)
QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Mar 3 2010, 02:21 PM)
I was trying to find an image of Victoria Principal in "Earthquake". She sports a wild afro in that film. How could you not bust out laughing when you see it?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/ReRushed/earthquake.jpg

Classic! trink39.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...