jmsdxtr-215-978064

When an honest film like this gets 6.5 stars on IMDB and The Avengers: Infinity Wars get 9.1, it shows that there is something terribly wrong with the ranking system on this site. A thinking film that captures the emotional, social and political complexity of mid-nineteenth industrial European radicalism is something to be truly cherished in this age of the vomit and mind numbing putridity coming from the nightmare factory of popular culture. That's all I need to say. Just watch this film.

The only reason to watch this blatant, yet worse than, replica 70s disaster piece (as in piece of...) is to watch LA and San Francisco be destroyed along with all of the pretentious f#$%'s who live there with it.

Dwayne J. is okay. But really, if your here for the acting...why are you here? Cliché after cliché with heroes and villains and plucky snot nosed side-kick brats and pretty, young, nubile daughters make up this predictable turd of a film. I'm only even mentioning it now because my wife is downstairs watching it and I caught some of it and threw up dinner.

I originally saw it when it came out only because my wife wanted to see it and because it was set here in SF, and why would I want to miss seeing a tsunami engulf the entire Bay?

It is amazing how much crap movies like this can make a fortune when good thoughtful films are ignored. But I knew this. Hell, I grew up in So. Cal. What did I expect...taste?

I recently watched this movie again after many years. I did not see it when it came out in 1983. That was a hectic and sad time at the beginning of the Reagan presidency, and I was busy fighting against the rising tide of that eras neo-Fascism. I wish I had seen it then. I think it would have piqued my interest in the subject and given me more tools to fight with. It has taken years for me to really appreciate what that dark period in time must have been like. I have done a lot of research on the Red Scare and the Communist Party in the US since then. And here we are again on the cusp of the ugly and dark side of American culture in a Trumpian future. So many parallels.

Sidney Lumet was a consummate director who tackled issues that were prescient and thoughtful. He excelled at helping his actors with character development and in creating a cinematic verisimilitude that puts you right in the period and place.

Timothy Hutton, an entirely under-appreciated actor, was perfect as Daniel. Ed Asner is always a joy to watch. The entire ensemble of actors made this a classic that should be studied by audiences and students in order to gain a critical understanding of the underbelly of American History, past present and future.

Bravo!