Earthquake

Mark Robson's Earthquake is an excellent dramatic exploitation extravaganza, combining brilliant special effects with a multi-character plot line which is surprisingly above average for this type film. Large cast is headed by Charlton Heston, who comes off better than usual because he is not Superman, instead just one of the gang.

For those who have a soft spot for calamity pictures, there's a sense of ritual cleansing afterward. And for some reason, it also made me hungry.

Halfway between a movie and a carnival huckster's gimmick, with the gimmick a great deal less interesting than the movie itself. [23 Dec 1974, p.89]

The picture is swill, but it isn't a cheat; it's an entertaining marathon of Grade-A destruction effects, with B-picture stock characters spinning through it.

Flat, generally laughable hokum, and the film ends up nowhere near as interesting a comment on the psychological aspects of disaster as Juggernaut.

Awful disaster movie that combined the worst elements of soap opera with special effects (bad matte paintings and the ridiculous Sensurround)--featuring an all-star cast that should have stayed home and waited for a real earthquake.