WORST ENDING EVER: AND HERE'S WHY (spoilers) - Earthquake (1974) Discussion

[–] Avenger69 14 years ago

The ending was entirely Heston's idea.

The original ending - as scripted in a late-1973 draft - had Gardner's character dying in the flood, Kennedy's character being crushed to death in the tunnel, and Bujold's character surviving along with Heston. Heston thought the ending to be too predictable (and morally questionable) and insisted it be changed. He had final script approval concerning his character, so he forced his hand.

Robson, the director, didn't want the ending, but had no choice. In fact, he attempted to pull a fast one on Heston by trying to film the shot of Heston crawling out of the manhole (leaving his wife to drown), but Heston wasn't having it.

For its time, it was a shocking ending, since rarely did the lead of a film die.

"It's people..."

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 months ago

For its time, it was shocking, since rarely did the star of a film die.

--'

Disaster movie wise, the star died in one just 2 years before Earthquake...

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[–] tepista 14 years ago

It's woulda been so easy to let his wife die, so he wouldn't have any awkward situations in the future.

But Gardner was as hot as anyone 15 years earlier. He could have stayed with Bujold til she got old too.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] horrorfanaticgirl 14 years ago

I can't say it was the worst ending, just surprising as hell.

The patient's screaming disturbing me, performed removal of vocal chords. ~Zombie Holocaust

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[–] therealshapeshifter 13 years ago

I suspect a lot of ex-wives find the ending satisfying. I did.

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[–] qttroassi 13 years ago

Charleton Heston could divide the entire red sea and stop an army of armed monkeys and apes yet he couldn't stop a simple earthquake in downtown Los Angelis

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[–] Stevicus-2 13 years ago

Considering what he must have known about Los Angeles' future as depicted in The Omega Man, he may have decided he didn't want to stick around.

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[–] hairybro2000 13 years ago

I totally disagree. I saw the film first run the first week it was released and the ending was a complete shock. If Heston had let his wife die that would have been predicatable. I am so pleased that he stuck to his guns.

What's intereting is that Heston would head another all star cast in the second Sensurround film, Midway. He character dies in that too.

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[–] prbronx5 13 years ago

I disagree. It was actually a pretty sad and shocking ending. It showed that no matter what had happened in the past, he still had feelings for his wife. I actually felt sorry for Remy throughout the movie. I'm sure there were events that caused her to be the way she was. Two scenes that really made her tragic were when Stuart drops her off at the evacuation site in the middle of the devastation and drives off to find Denise. Second when he drills into the parking garage and Denise runs to him and jumps on him, the look on Remy's says "I'm done with him". Remember when they are climbing out of the garage, Remy pulls away from him when he offers to help her. Of course he had already lifted his mistress and her son out to safety.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Stevicus-2 13 years ago

Heston was in a bunch of films in the '70s where his character dies.

Omega Man - dead
Soylent Green - dead (or at least his death is alluded to)
Earthquake - dead
Midway - dead

Are there any others?

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

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[–] DeepFriedJello 13 years ago

I was rooting for Heston to die. The mistress Denise could've been his daughter.
Heston dying was the best thing to happen to her and her kid.
Remy couldn't be pryed from his cold dying hands.

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[–] namaGemo 12 years ago

Wow, do you sound like an angry bitter woman. His wife was a faker and a pill popper just trying to get attention, and Heston had not cheated on her till that very day. He felt guilt over Bujold's husband dying, he felt guilt over Remy, and he basically died because of the guilt others placed on him.
So, he's supposed to stay with this bitter old pill popper so she can ruin his life? As he stated in the film, their whole marriage was a bribe.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

Wow, do you sound like a 40-year old virgin loser still living in his mother's basement and still wanting to date the head cheerleader.

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[–] chas77 13 years ago

Heston was in a bunch of films in the '70s where his character dies.

Omega Man - dead
Soylent Green - dead (or at least his death is alluded to)
Earthquake - dead
Midway - dead

Are there any others?

The question isn't how many films when he dies - it's more like how many does he actually live in the end? Since he was such a dramatic, larger-than-life persona he more often than not had to die or be wounded in the end.

To add to your list:

Dies:
Call of the Wild
Antony and Cleopatra
Crossed Swords

Wounded badly:
Skyjacked
The Last Hard Men (if this film had been a hit do you think there would have been a porno version with the same title)
Two Minute Warning (I think -- or maybe I'm thinking of John Cassavetes' character)

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[–] novastar_6 13 years ago

I saw this again a while back and was surprised by the ending scene because I remembered it as just his wife fell in and died, I didn't remember him going after her. I liked that ending, it's the way it should've been.

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[–] RavenQuote 12 years ago

One of his best: "El Cid"

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[–] RavenQuote 12 years ago

Not to mention "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" when at the end he sets off the doomsday bomb.

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[–] jgroub 12 years ago

"I actually felt sorry for Remy throughout the movie."

You were the only one. She was an ugly hag with a dried up old cooch. No one liked her.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] rockmail 11 years ago

You need to look closer under that crappy housecoat Ava was wearing. She had a hell of a rack under there and the rest was shapely too. Give he some non-witch makeup and a better hairstyle and she'd look quite hot.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

"She was an ugly hag with a dried up old cooch."

So you're gay for Heston, huh?

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[–] sut6432 (2853) 7 months ago

She was an ugly hag with a dried up old cooch. No one liked her.

Dude, she may have been older in this film, but that’s still Ava Gardner, one of the most beautiful women to ever grace this planet. Show some respect.

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[–] timothy-5 12 years ago

I know - it was a shame he died trying to save that boozy loudmouth. I felt bad for Denise - I could feel her pain. I was glad her son opened his eyes at the end and was going to be ok. Why anybody would WANT to die in a film is beyond me.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

You felt bad for a slutty homewrecker whose kid caused a bunch of people to die in a sewer???

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[–] Lobo305 13 years ago

I think it's an amazing ending for the exact same reasons. Besides women would have hated the idea that he could leave his wife for a much younger woman -AND- the wife would die leaving him free and clear to start fresh with a new family and likely inherit the remnants of his wife's family business.

Instead we get a shocking ending of the hero trying to salvage some of his morality to save his estranged wife and ... gasp ... fail.

Excellent ending in my humble opinion.

"El riesgo vive siempre!"

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[–] novastar_6 12 years ago

VERY excellent. Because when you think of the other 70s disaster movies, Towering Inferno or Poseidon Adventure, if any of those men could've died trying to saving their wive/girlfriends, if they had that opportunity to try to save them, you know they would without any regard to their own lives either.

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[–] manofsteel4455 12 years ago

If it was Ava Gardner wouldnt you guys try to save her too?

You want to play the game, you'd better know the rules, love.
-Harry Callahan

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] namaGemo 12 years ago

I think Omega Man, was different, because you expected him to win. Honestly, when Mathias threw the spear, I was expecting him to throw it at Lisa, because he was calling her and she appeared to be walking towards him. Lots of people I've showed the film too also thought the same thing, like he was going to kill Lisa because she took off with Neville.
In Poseidon Adventure, you got a sense of what Hackman was going to do before he did it. In Earthquake, it never actually showed Heston dying, but it was implied. Never saw Von Ryan's Express.

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[–] hatr 11 years ago

I know who I would have saved...and it certainly wouldn't have been the horrible Gardiner.

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[–] Itsamoomoo 11 years ago

It's what you do when you love someone and you've spent 25 years with them.

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[–] InherentlyYours 8 years ago

That could also mean he spent 25 years too long with her. Staying together is not necessarily a good thing.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

Are you crazy? The guy was a jerk and a cheater. If she had to die, then he as well. It was the only way to redeem the character.

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[–] sslssg (30267) 3 years ago

Yeah, even in the 70s he could have gotten a divorce. He didn't have to cheat.

I think I like Earthquake the least out of the 70s big disaster films because it has no likable characters. I wanted them all to die.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

Airport had a similar premise with Burt Lancaster cheating on his wife with a younger woman except they ended up living happily ever after. That was one terrible movie.

This one has unlikable AND boring characters. I've been rewatching the big disaster movies from the 70s and so far The Poseidon Adventure is absolutely superior.

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[–] sslssg (30267) 3 years ago

My favourite is The Towering Inferno. But that's because I don't care for Hackman. I have them both on dvd and will do a double feature of them.

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[–] Stratego (29533) 3 years ago

Ooh, you really don't care for Hackman? I think he's okay, sometimes I like him, sometimes I don't. His character was rather strange in Poseidon, but the movie had very good suspense.

I'm going to watch The Towering Inferno later this week, I haven't seen that one since the 90s. The running time seems rather long, though!

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[–] sslssg (30267) 3 years ago

It is long, and some of the dialogue is really cringeworthy, but I chalk that up the McQueen and Newman needing the same number of lines.

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[–] roger1 (2782) a year ago

For its time, it was a shocking ending, since rarely did the lead of a film die.

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True, but there was ANOTHER major disaster movie of the 70's where the main character(and the top billed actor) died.

I'll leave the question open.

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[–] roger1 (2782) a year ago

You need to look closer under that crappy housecoat Ava was wearing. She had a hell of a rack under there and the rest was shapely too. Give he some non-witch makeup and a better hairstyle and she'd look quite hot.

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Ava Gardner is Exhibit A for how gorgeous young actresses of the 40s and 50s aged poorly back in the 60s and 70's. In the 40's and 50's, she had been considered one of the most beautiful actresses alive. She was the heartbreaking, sex-all-the-time-and-over love of Frank Sinatra's life(married to him after being married first to Top Star Mickey Rooney...)

But thanks to a life with a fair amount of boozing and "letting go" it was as early as 1964 -- in Seven Days in May opposite the older Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas -- that Ava Gardner started to look bloated of face and matronly. By the time she made Earthquake, it was even worse. The cruel life of the female beauty on screen "back then."

It would take a few more decades of health regimens, plastic surgery, diets, botox, wigs and God knows what else to allow actresses to remain sex symbols into their 50s' and 60s.

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[–] sslssg (30267) a year ago

Although you responded to me, I'm wondering if you meant to reply to the OP as although it was 2 years ago I think I was referring to The Towering Inferno in my comment. :)

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[–] roger1 (2782) a year ago

Although you responded to me, I'm wondering if you meant to reply to the OP as although it was 2 years ago I think I was referring to The Towering Inferno in my comment. :)

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I'm always a bit clumsy with the repsonses I send, which is why I try to include the quote I'm responding to.

Looks like I was responding to "rockmail" given that they were speaking to Ava Gardner in this film. She remains an "issue" -- so gorgeous in the 40's and 50's, so matronly and bloated of face in the 60s and 70's(though the sex appeal remained.)

On The Towering Inferno: I like it the best of the 70's disaster movies. I doesn't necessarily have the best disaster(that would be The Poseidon Adventure) but it was a BIG DEAL to get Paul Newman and Steve McQueen into the same movie(as stars -- McQueen had been Newman's SUPPORT in a 50's movie.)

Two studios -- Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox -- combined to make The Towering Inferno, so it ended up with the biggest budget and best production values of any diasater movie of the 70's. Two studios could pay for two superstars(McQueen and Newman), two directors(producer Irwin Allen for action; John Guillerman for drama), two books as sources(The Tower and The Glass Inferno) and just a classier looking movie than the others.

CONT

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[–] roger1 (2782) a year ago

The disaster movie craze actuallly died out pretty fast. It was a "70's phenonmenon." When Airplane came out in 1980...the disaster movie became, literally, a joke.

Airport(1970) came first, but it was more of Grand Hotel multi-character drama.

The Poseidon Adventure(1972) set the REAL stage for disaster -- that tidal wave hits early in the movie and it becomes a long, long crawl to the bottom of the ship(up top). The Poseidon Adventure either came in Number Two at the 1972 box office(behind The Godfather) or maybe Number One(say some modern records.)

When The Poseidon Adventure hit so big in 1972, other studios got into the disaster business. 2 years later in the fall and Xmas season of 1974, Universal gave us Airport 75 and Earthquake, Fox and Warners gave us The Towering Inferno(which rather "bests" The Poseidon Adventure by having a big climactic explosion and flood of the skyscraper -- Poseidon sort of stuck to a handful of people making their way.

After that 1974 peak, the disaster movie seems to have lost favor. The scripts and production values got really bad and Irwin Allen "the master of disaster" made three diaster movie bombs in a row:

The Swarm(with Michael Caine)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure(with POOR Michael Caine)
When Time Ran Out(with Paul Newman but no Steve McQueen -- and Newman looked pissed.)

Time DID run out for the disaster movie. When Time Ran Out came out in 1980, the same year as Airplane.

Irwin Allen also did too many cheapjack "TV disaster movies." Universal ran Airport into the ground(Airport 77 and Airport 79 to close out the decade.) A "thinking man's disaster movie" -- George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft in The Hindenberg, was classy but dull getting to the big blimp blowout.

A very weird little "mini-genre."

CONT

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[–] roger1 (2782) a year ago

It has been said that the first two Die Hards brought The Towering Inferno and Airport back in a new form -- action thriller. And Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow bought disaster into the CGI era and he just kept going back to the well(2012, Geostorm.)

But accept no substitutes. The true disaster movie era was the 70's. The Posedion Adventure and The Towering Inferno are the classics, and Earthquake with its Sensurround are kind of their embarrassing but effective cousin -- the Sensurround was a thing to experience.

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