Thursday, July 4, 2013

Earthquake (1974)



I vividly remember this coming out in theatres, but not sure if I saw it there or as a special two-night t.v. event spectacular!   Either way, I can only imagine my boredom waiting for the quake to finally hit.   Although much of it was shot on the Universal backlot, here are a couple real locations.

First up is the police chase through Hollywood, which ends near the mansion seen in Rebel Without A Cause and Secret Admirer....



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Next up is the park where they are preparing the motorcycle daredevil stunt; right down the street from Universal Studios...






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Next up, is Jody's house, aka as the Charmed house....


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The dam is the Mulholland dam for the Hollywood Reservoir.  I didn't get too close to it this past trip, I'll get some better shots next time....



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One of my favorite scenes is the collapse of the houses on stilts in the Hollywood Hills.  Here are the real ones...



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And finally, many Los Angeles citizens congregate in the basement (!) of this Wilshire building....


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And the most infamous frame of the entire movie!



6 comments:

  1. Just found this post after searching for the Earthquake stilt houses. Do you know where in the Hollywood Hills they are?

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    1. Sure thing they are on Alta Mesa Drive, but if you go to approximately 4030 Avenida Del Sol, you can see them up on the hill best from that vantage point.

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  2. Thank you! I never would have found that.

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  3. Earthquake was the summer of 74 Blockbuster. It was a fun movie and if you never had the chance to experience it in sensurround you missed out. We used to go to the dollar show many times over the summer that year just to sit in the back by the sensurround speakers it was great and remember the film by heart...It's one of my all time favorites and thanks to the people who run the fan sites on it....

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  4. I enjoyed the movie Earthquake too. However, what I couldn't figure out is when the quake started, why did they show a black 12 story building instead of the huge skyscrapers downtown when the quake started. If I am right, the black glass building was a reflection in a mirror that they shook from side to side am I right? And, wasn't that building near the studio where the movie was made?

    There were some really spectacular scenes in that movie such as when the cattle truck and cars went for a dive off of the elevated highway, and when the man fell through a glass roof. Then there's that elevator scene and let's not forget the church bell that came crashing down with all that concrete and such.

    There was a line in the movie that I distinctly remember when a man was looking upward at a highrise building with smoke coming out of it and he said, " We should have never built these 40 story monstrocities." Of course, 40 stories isn't a big thing now in Los Angeles because they have buildings much taller than that now, and more on the way.

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    1. I think you are referring to the building in Universal Studios that is right next to Gate 1 off Lankershim Boulevard. They likely used that as they didn't have to go anywhere (downtown) for that effect.

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