Plane crashes, capsized ships, and natural disasters are tragic yet fascinating for the storyteller who can use an event as the plot device. Real and fictitious disasters play a central role in numerous films because they give an automatic rush of adrenaline and showcase a deep sense of fear that any of this could happen to them. What could be a getaway trip turns into a fight for survival, and a sudden natural disaster turns into a whole new world for its inhabitants. By the end of the decade, disaster films burned out of interest, only to get a revival in the 1990s. New special effects, especially the introduction of CGI, allowed more realism in producing more dangerous elements in these events. Here are some major films that are the high marks of this genre.
Airport (1970)
In a fictional airport in Chicago, an airport manager (Burt Lancaster) balances trying to keep it functioning during a snowstorm while a departing flight faces imminent danger from a would-be bomber. His personal life is falling apart as he has been having an affair with a stewardess (Jean Seberg) and struggles to contain an elderly stowaway (Helen Hayes, in an Oscar-winning performance) who consistently sneaks onto flights. Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, and Maureen Stapleton make up an ensemble cast that plays all the daily characters that cross through airports and airplanes every day going to any city. It would start the disaster genre trend for the decade, produce three sequels, and inspire a legendary spoof by the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrahams, 1980s Airplane!
Earthquake (1974)
When a small tremor hits outside Los Angeles, it points to signs that a massive earthquake will strike the city in a few days’ time. Deciding to not go public with the warnings lead to devastating consequences when the biggest earthquake in history hits the center of the city, destroying everything in the area. Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and Richard Roundtree are a group of survivors who remain in danger in the aftermath and need to get out in the clear. The success of this film came with the groundbreaking sound effect design known as “Sensurround,” which would simulate to theater audiences what it would be like if they were on location. While only temporary, it would play a role in the growing improvement of sound technology for major budget features.
The Towering Inferno (1974)
After the financial success of The Poseidon Adventure in 1972, 20th Century Fox commissioned an original film combining elements of two novels into a single story using another type of disaster, the fire. Producer Irwin Allen engineered this major haul of stars and technical talent to create this mega success of a disaster. When a new skyscraper ignites due to an electrical surge and the small fire is downplayed, all the special guests, including the architect (Paul Newman), his fiancée (Faye Dunaway), the builders (William Holden and Richard Chamberlain), and the fire chief (Steve McQueen) are trapped. A race against time starts as the smoke and flames cause panic to those on top of the 135-story building. It was the highest-grossing film of the year and received eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, winning three. One nod was for Best Supporting Actor for Fred Astaire as a suave con man, oddly the only Oscar nomination he would get in his career.
Twister (1996)
One of the major films that brought back the disaster genre was Jan de Bont’s tale of storm chasers in Oklahoma when a series of devastating tornadoes strike. Michael Crichton co-wrote the story and it starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Todd Field, years before he converted to being a director himself. It was shot on location as tornado season was beginning with citizens who had gone through these storms as extras and meteorologists also assisting. The most lasting image of the film is the cow flying across the screen as the truck slowly cuts through the thick of the storm; on the big screen with the sound effects, it was an amazing sight.
Titanic (1997)
Mixed with the epic and the romantic, James Cameron went to a real-life Poseidon with the tragic events on April 14, 1912, when the “unsinkable” ship hit an iceberg and sank into the Atlantic. While using real-life characters throughout the movie, it was the fictitious love story of Jack and Rose that captured the whole world, collecting (as of 2023) $2.249 billion in box office earnings. With a love story, the diamond, and a nude portrait, there was also the entire ship sinking from iceberg to going under, and the ridiculous amount of water and people deck-to-deck as the ship tilted, broke in half, and tilted again to its watery grave. 11 Oscars later, it’s the grand standard for the disaster genre.
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