circagirl

An all star cast and some great practical effects but somehow no one except maybe Steve McQueen grows on you.

There is a lot of unnecessary scenes in the beginning, particularly between Heston's character and his mistress, but when things get rolling it pulled me in. The amount of peril and destruction is on an epic scale and brings out the depths of each character's personality. I even appreciate the dismal ending. A lot of newer, cgi disaster movies have a convenient, "the military special ops and an act of god saved us before anyone good looking met the edge of life and death. God bless America!" kind of ending, but Earthquake ends on a city forever transformed and devastated.

Elizabeth Taylor is her usual stunning, glamorous self but the preachy sentiment of this film hasn't aged well and a lot of the acting is soapy. Interesting how Mr Lingot is basically an upgraded Richard Burton. Worth a watch if you're a Taylor fan, but not her best.