Earthquake is a 1974 American disaster film directed and produced by Mark Robson, from a screenplay by George Fox and Mario Puzo. The plot concerns the struggle for survival after a catastrophic earthquake destroys most of Los Angeles. It stars an ensemble cast of well-known actors, including Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., and (under an alias) Walter Matthau.

The film was notable for the use of an innovative sound effect called Sensurround, which created the sense of actually experiencing an earthquake in theaters. Production made extensive use of miniatures, matte paintings, and modular full-size sets to simulate the earthquake sequences.

Earthquake was released by Universal Pictures on November 15, 1974. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was a blockbuster commercial success, grossing $167.4 million from a $6.6 million budget. At the 47th Academy Awards, the film received three nomination and won for Best Sound, as well as a Special Achievement Oscar for its special effects.

Plot Former college football star and current construction engineer Stewart Graff argues with his wife, Remy, after she fakes another suicide attempt which was interrupted by a mild earthquake in Los Angeles. Furious, Graff visits Denise Marshall, a part-time actress and widow of a colleague who died on a project Graff assigned him. Feeling obligated to help Denise and her 10-year-old son, Corry, Graff brings the boy an autographed football from his college days and helps Denise rehearse for an upcoming film.

Officer Lew Slade pursues a car thief but is intercepted by a rival deputy after crossing jurisdictional lines. The two, already enemies, clash, and Slade punches the deputy, resulting in his suspension.

At the California Seismological Institute (CSI), junior seismologist Walter Russell predicts a major earthquake within two days. Head seismologist Dr. Stockle and associate Dr. Johnson are initially skeptical of his assessment, but when they learn of the death of a fellow scientist conducting a field experiment during one of the earlier tremors they are convinced and notify the mayor. Concerned about political repercussions, the mayor alerts only the National Guard and police.

Motorcycle daredevil Miles Quade sets up a dangerous stunt track with his manager, Sal Amici, hoping to impress a Las Vegas promoter. Sal's sister, Rosa, fears for Miles’ safety and refuses to promote the stunt. Meanwhile, grocery store manager Jody Joad, attracted to Rosa, prepares for National Guard duty but endures harassment from his housemates for displaying posters of male bodybuilders.

A small tremor cancels Denise's film shoot, leading her to meet her friend Barbara at Graff's engineering firm. Denise and Graff cross paths and return to her home, where they have sex for the first time. Graff asks Denise to join him in Oregon that summer with Corry while he works on a hydroelectric dam project.

Later, Graff's boss and father-in-law, Sam Royce, offers him the company presidency. Graff, conflicted between the promotion and his relationship with Denise, accepts the offer, but then discovers Remy convinced Sam to make the offer in exchange for ending his relationship with Denise and saving their marriage. Enraged, Graff admits to the affair and ends their marriage.

A 9.9 earthquake devastates Los Angeles, trapping Sam and others in a skyscraper. Sam helps his staff escape using a firehose but suffers a heart attack. Graff rescues him and takes him to safety.

Corry is thrown from a collapsing footbridge into the Los Angeles River, becoming entangled in live cables. Denise rescues him but becomes trapped. Miles and Sal arrive in a truck, saving them and meeting Slade, who commandeers the vehicle to transport the injured. Miles uses his motorcycle to search for Rosa.

Rosa is mistakenly arrested for looting by Jody's National Guard unit. Jody isolates her under false pretenses and later murders his housemates, thus using the chaos as cover for personal revenge. Graff, transporting co-workers, drops off Remy, Barbara, and Sam at Wilson Plaza, but Sam dies despite medical aid. Graff departs to find Denise and Corry.

Slade commandeers Graff's car to transport the injured but struggles with the manual transmission, forcing Graff to drive. They encounter Jody's unit blocking the road. Rosa escapes the store, screaming for help, prompting Slade to return on foot. Slade kills Jody, saving Rosa.

An aftershock destroys Wilson Plaza before Graff and Slade arrive. Graff learns survivors, including Remy, Denise, and Corry, are trapped in the underground garage. Ignoring advice, Graff and Slade drill through to rescue them. The Mulholland Dam collapses, thus flooding the area. Denise, Corry, and Dr. Vance escape, but Remy falls into the torrent. Graff dives after her, and both are swept away and drown.

Slade escapes and searches for Graff but finds no trace. Denise, grieving, reunites with Corry. Slade and Rosa survey the devastated city as stunned survivors wander through the ruins. Fires rage as Los Angeles smolders in the aftermath.

Cast

Extended television version only

Pre-production

Inception In the wake of the tremendous success of the 1970 disaster-suspense film Airport, Universal Studios began working with executive producer Bernard Donnenfeld and director John Sturges to come up with a new idea that would work within the same "disaster-suspense" genre. Inspiration came in the form of the San Fernando earthquake of February 1971. Universal was intrigued by the idea of creating a disaster on film that would not be confined to an airliner, but rather take place over a large area.

Donnenfeld and Sturges left the project early in 1972, and Universal executive producer Jennings Lang took over development, bringing Mark Robson aboard as producer and director.

Writing and development Lang scored a coup when he was able to sign screenwriter Mario Puzo, who was paid $125,000 to write the first draft during the summer of 1972. Puzo, fresh from the success of his novel and film, The Godfather, delivered the draft script in August. However, Puzo's detailed and expansive script would have necessitated a larger production budget, as the action and multiple story arcs were spread over a vast geographical area in Los Angeles. Universal was faced with either cutting the script or increasing the projected budget. Puzo's involvement with Earthquake was short-lived, as Paramount Pictures was anxious to begin development with the followup to The Godfather, The Godfather Part II in early 1973. Because Puzo's services contractually were obligated to the sequel, he was unable to continue any further work on Earthquake.

The Earthquake script sat at Universal Studios for a short period, but was brought back to life by the huge success of the 20th Century Fox hit The Poseidon Adventure, released in December 1972. Fueled by that film's enormous box-office receipts, Universal Studios put pre-production on Earthquake back into high gear, hiring writer George Fox to continue work with Puzo's first draft. Fox was principally a magazine writer and never had written a screenplay, so director Mark Robson worked with him to narrow the scope of the script to fit into the budgetary constraints. After 11 drafts, Earthquake went before the cameras in February 1974. Since Robson was also tasked with producing such a technically complex film, Bernard Donnenfeld was brought back to co-produce, but was uncredited.

Budgeted at US$6,675,125, Earthquake immediately found itself in a race against the clock with the bigger-budgeted disaster film, The Towering Inferno, which was being produced by Irwin Allen and financed, for the first time, by two studios (20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.).

Casting While The Towering Inferno featured a larger "all star" cast, Universal was able to land Charlton Heston in the lead role for the sum of $600,000, plus a percentage of the profits. Rounding out the top billing were Ava Gardner (who co-starred with Heston in 1963's 55 Days at Peking), George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and Geneviève Bujold. Richard Roundtree (riding a wave of success from the Shaft film series) was brought in after filming had already started, filling the part of an Evel Knievel-like motorcycle stuntman. Former evangelical preacher Marjoe Gortner was hired as the antagonist, Jody. Relative unknown Victoria Principal was hired to play the sister of Roundtree's business partner, Sal, played by veteran actor Gabriel Dell.

Walter Matthau was cast in a cameo role, for which he was credited as "Walter Matuschanskayasky". Executive Producer Jennings Lang, who had worked with Matthau on the previous year's Charley Varrick, was able to convince him to appear in the role (originally to be filled by veteran actor Harry Morgan). The unpaid cameo - and his credited name - were part of the deal.

Production

Set design Production necessitated the complete re-dressing of the entire Universal Studios "New York Street" backlot in order to simulate the catastrophic earthquake of the title. Along with a clever use of miniatures of actual buildings, matte paintings, and full-scale sets (some of which were placed on rollers for a shaking effect), Earthquake used a new technique developed especially for the film: a "shaker mount" camera system that mimicked the effects of an earthquake by moving the entire camera body several inches side to side, versus simple shaking the camera on a stationary tripod, for a more realistic motion. This camera mount was used for most exterior scenes or other instances when shooting on location.

Stunts Extensive use of highly trained stunt artists for the most dangerous scenes involving high falls, dodging falling debris, and flood sequences, set a Hollywood record for the most stunt artists involved in any film production up until that time: 141. Major stunt sequences in the film required careful choreography between the stunt artists and behind-the-scenes stunt technicians who were responsible for triggering full-scale effects, such as falling debris. Timing was critical, since some rigged effects involved dropping six-ton chunks of reinforced concrete in order to flatten cars, with stunt performers only a few feet away. In other scenarios, some stunt artists were required to fall onto large air bags from the rafters of Universal's largest stage (Stage 12) – for which they were paid the sum of $500. While every precaution was taken to prevent injuries, several did occur during filming. One stunt person suffered a concussion during the flood sequence (the accident was used in the film), and several stunt artists were injured during the elevator crash scene, since the set was designed to collapse upon them. Multiple stunt artists were injured during a scene involving an escalator as well.

The elevator scene