In 1974, I was seven years old, and for some reason, my parents thought it would be a good idea if I saw Earthquake. Perhaps the title confused them--maybe I was going to see a nature documentary on ducks, Earthquack, or a fun, family film about baking while camping, Earthcake. But alas, I was a seven-year old off to see a 9.9 earthquake destroy Los Angeles.

But I have never forgotten it--and in the four decades since, Earthquake has remained a guilty pleasure, one I invite you all to share. First of all, let's be clear, it's a very well made film, earning four Oscar® nominations-- for cinematography, editing, art direction and sound (for which it won). In nearly every way, Earthquake is typical of Irwin Allen produced disaster movies of the era. Allen was known as the "master of the disaster," producing both The Poseidon Adventure in 1972 and The Towering Inferno in 1974. But the last time I saw Earthquake, I noticed something new: Irwin Allen had nothing to do with it. So it quickly became the best disaster flick Irwin Allen never made.

Charlton Heston is the star, playing an astronaut stranded on a...wait, wrong movie. He's a construction engineer in a bad marriage to Ava Gardner, his co-star in 55 Days at Peking a decade earlier. Heston wasn't looking forward to working with Gardner again--she'd been disruptive during the production of 55 Days at Peking. But there were no issues on Earthquake-- they got along extremely well, so well that Heston had the ending changed to give more heft to their relationship.

by Ben Mankiewicz