Earthquake – 1974 (WINNER)
The next movie in the era of disaster films is Earthquake, in which a seismic event that was over a seven on the Richter Scale devastates Los Angeles. The special effects are an integral part of the plot, and once again, it was the only film even nominated for the award. It was a give-away. In fact, the previous year didn’t even have any nominees. But did it really deserve the honor? For the most part, yes, it clearly did. However, there was a particular effect that really fell flat and had me rolling my eyes. I’ll explain.
The film’s big earthquake scene actually lasted nearly ten whole minutes. It was a non-stop effects extravaganza. In most of the scenes, the crumbling buildings and toppling power lines were done perfectly well. They were obviously scale models that were destroyed and then composited into real cityscapes, and that all looked very good. There were also a lot of great shots of people getting showered with rubble and dust, and in some cases, even getting buried under tons of broken concrete. There was a disintegrating dam that, when it finally broke, released a flood of water that obliterated everything in its path.
The actors, extras, and stunt people were subjected to shaking sets and incredible dirt and blood makeup. There was a shot of a woman getting rained on by shattered glass, and when she turned to the camera, we could see large shards of glass protruding from her bleeding face. We saw green-screened people falling out of skyscrapers and plummeting to their deaths, people being washed away by rising water, and people getting buried under dirt.
There were also several great composited wide shots that showed the large scale of the carnage and devastation caused by the earthquake. They were great images that looked like war zones with ruined buildings making up the skyline, fire and smoke rising into the air, and dead bodies littering the streets. Those effects were more than enough to earn the film its Best Special Effects Oscar. And no, I’m not going to count Victoria Principal’s ridiculous wig as a special effect. It was really just a sign of the times.
But then there was the ridiculously executed elevator scene. In a film where everything looked more realistic than your average effects, we are treated to a badly done effect of a freefalling elevator that killed everyone inside. As the elevator hit the bottom of the shaft, hand-painted blood got splattered onto the screen, as if the inside of my television is getting covered in gore. First, what that did, is remind me that I’m watching something through a camera, disrupting my immersion into the story. Second, it was like a cartoon of blood. It was a flat, uniform color with a black outline that didn’t look anything like real blood. But aside from some other minor transgressions like stretching the image in a really cheesy way when the quake began, in order to disorient the viewer, I have no real complaints about the effects on the whole. They were actually done pretty well.