Tag Archives: Pedro Armendáriz Jr.

1974 Films, Adventure, Disaster, Los Angeles, Top 250 Films

Earthquake-1974

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Earthquake-1974

Director Mark Robson

Starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner

Top 250 Films #144

Scott’s Review #407

60030175

Reviewed June 2, 2016

Grade: B+

One of the several disaster films to populate film screens in the early to mid-1970s, Earthquake is one of the “main four” blockbusters (The Poseidon Adventure, 1972, The Towering Inferno, 1974, and Airport, 1970, being the others) that still resonate with viewers in modern times and are nostalgic to watch.

One might argue that the aforementioned few largely influenced Earthquake since it was the last of the group to be filmed.

Certainly, the influence is apparent.

Earthquake is a classic, traditional disaster film containing many stock characters (or types). It is an ensemble piece- as disaster films always are- frequently containing stars of yesteryear attempting exposure in the modern cinema.

The gender roles in Earthquake are quite mainstream for the day, as the females are all clearly “damsels in distress” types, and the men are portrayed as the heroes.

The action begins as we witness a Los Angeles-based middle-aged couple (the central couple, if you will) engaging in a dispute.

Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner play Stewart and Remy Graff, an affluent couple: a former football star and a boozy socialite.

Her father is the wealthy Sam Royce, played by Lorne Greene. Stewart is having an affair with a young actress, Denise Marshall, creating a soap-opera-style romantic triangle that adds drama to the film.

We meet other characters who round out the characters’ stories: LAPD Sgt. Slade (George Kennedy) shares a flirtation with Rosa (Victoria Principal), while drunkard Walter Matthau and biker character Richard Roundtree provide comic relief.

These stories are merely filler until the inevitable earthquake arrives to ‘shake’ things up.

The earthquake is the main character in the film, just like the tidal wave, the fire, and the airline peril are in other films in the same genre.

The characters’ trivial relationships soon take a back seat to the action as the earthquake shatters the city in subsequent onsets and aftershocks, destroying buildings and resulting in many deaths.

The very lengthy main earthquake sequence is second to none, hovering around the twenty-minute mark. We see many characters in peril. The scene goes on and on but is hardly redundant.

The scene is masterful and well done. The effects, cinematography, and visuals alone hold up well today and must have been breathtaking circa 1974.

In one particularly thrilling scene, a group of office workers on the thirtieth floor of a skyscraper desperately scrambles to the elevator as the building shakes and shimmies.

One businessman shoves a secretary aside and selfishly steps into the crowded elevator as others desperately pound on the door to escape.

Things do not end well for the folks in the elevator as bolts loosen and the car crashes to the ground. An animated blood splat fills the screen in a lighthearted, comical way.

The film wisely does not take itself too seriously.

As fantastic as the destruction sequence is, Earthquake is not a film without a few flaws, mostly from a character standpoint.

Unbelievable is Heston playing Greene’s son-in-law, and Gardner is assumed to be young enough to be his daughter- they appear to be around the same age.

A strange character, Jody, a store clerk, suddenly dresses as a soldier, wearing a wig, following the destruction, and is assumed to be gay by thugs, who tease him, which prompts him to shoot them with a machine gun.

He subsequently becomes obsessed with and nearly rapes Rosa.

The sub-plot seems uneven and very unnecessary.

With spectacular special effects, Earthquake (1974) is a must-see disaster film with a slightly downcast, hopeless tone. It does its job well- it entertains, thrills, and features an all-star cast of former Hollywood elite and a few rising stars.

A fun time will be had.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Sound (won), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture-Drama, Best Original Score

1989 Films, Action, James Bond, Spy

Licence to Kill-1989

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Licence to Kill-1989

Director John Glen

Starring Timothy Dalton

Scott’s Review #1,196

Reviewed November 14, 2021

Grade: B

Of the two turns 007 that Timothy Dalton gave us, Licence to Kill (1989) ranks as the weakest, with The Living Daylights (1987) being superior. But that doesn’t mean the film has no good qualities.

It’s an okay film, and director John Glen, now returning for his fifth James Bond film, seems a little out of gas. Many of the stunts and sequences are very familiar territory, and the dialogue is far from crackling or exciting.

The James Bond film franchise would go on a six-year hiatus after Licence to Kill, returning refreshed in 1995. Perhaps it needed to.

Dalton does his best, but his heart doesn’t quite seem in it, and the serious tone of the film gets even darker than The Living Daylights.

I don’t think this is a bad thing, and I love how the franchise regular, Felix Leiter (David Hedison), gets more of a storyline. But the wit and charm are lacking.

Events begin in sunny Key West at the impending nuptials of former CIA agent and Bond friend, Leiter. Pursuing one of the international drug cartel’s most brutal and powerful leaders, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), events quickly escalate.

After a double-cross, poor Felix is fed to the sharks. While he survives the attack, his wife is murdered. Bond goes rogue and seeks personal vengeance.

What separates Licence to Kill from other Bond entries is the limited locales. Though exquisite, they occur only in North America. The Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Mexico are used in fine form, especially the latter.

The gorgeous coastline feels European, and I surmised that it was shot and set in Spain when, in fact, it was Mexico.

Also enjoyable is the Latin flair, with lots of cultural influences throughout. Davi is as powerful and dangerous as the Latin drug lord, and he exudes violence and treachery. He is gleeful when a nemesis falls victim to his pet shark and loses a limb or two before succumbing to death.

A great kill is when dastardly Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) topples into a giant microwave oven and explodes into bloody bits. His death is deserved and satisfying.

To build on this, the inevitable death of Sanchez himself is a crowd-cheering moment. Before he explodes into a giant ball of flames, Bond is certain to let the villain know that his death is courtesy of Leiter.

This is an exciting and fulfilling moment.

The Bond girls are not at their finest in Licence to Kill. Carey Lowell plays Pam Bouvier, an ex-Army pilot and DEA informant. While sometimes portrayed as a tough-minded and brazen female character, she is also written as simpering and pining over Bond.

She can also be silly and foolhardy, like when she carelessly plays with dangerous gadgets that Q creates. I would expect greater intelligence and wherewithal given her credentials.

Secondary Bond girl Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto), Sanchez’s girlfriend, lacks depth. Beautiful, she is quite wooden in the acting department and suddenly falls in love with Bond, insisting on her powerful feelings for the man she barely knows.

It’s a bit far-fetched even for Bond standards, but she is nice to look at.

So there’s that.

Licence to Kill (1989) is usually either lost in the shuffle or derided outright, and that is unfair. It’s not one of the greats, but it’s not garbage either.

It feels a bit tired of its time. Truth be told, it’s grown on me since I first saw it, and even the title song performed by Gladys Knight has enamored me over the years.