The Day the Earth Moved

Doubtless the producers of this unenthralling twaddle believed they were on to a good thing with ANY flick with a name starting "THE DAY THE EARTH........?" (whatever!) trading off the slipstream of the other two classics THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

So with Jackie Cooper (TV flavor of the month during the 70's) and his wife Kate (Stella Stevens) and some amateur seismologists in tow, taking some aerial pics in the desert, they deduce the Big "E" is due. Just like DANTES PEAK, no-one of course wants to listen to their warnings.

When the quake comes, make sure you're out having a tea-break!

"Style" is what this mini disaster film has going for it.

The plot is standard procedure. No one will listen to a few nobodies who warn of impending doom, in this case an Earthquake.

The movie plays more like a pilot episode for a decent TV show of down and out types. The difference here is that the characters are people you can care about.

And that's just part of what make this work. A few dorks will only care about special effects and budget, which aren't a trademark here. However, this is entertainment for the rest of us.

The "style" is in some of the out of the ordinary things that happen. Our hero is virtually kidnapped legally, to help out a down and out town. It is a great piece of writing.

The writing of the characters, and the interesting desert scenery make this very interesting. There isn't anything "fantastic" about this, although a few eyebrow raising events.

This is what "style" can do for a film.

Now, this seemed to me like an interesting and worthwhile viewing experiment! Giant, preposterous and heavily flamboyant disaster movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. They are not always the most qualitative or intelligent movies but they surely provide great entertainment and several "wow-did-you-see-that?" moments. My favorite disaster epics naturally emerged in the 1970s, like the "Airport"-series, "The Towering Inferno", "Earthquake", "Avalanche", "Rollercoaster" and many, many others. At the same time, however, I'm also a great admirer of made-for-TV drama/thriller movies from that same 70s decade – and more specifically the ABC Movie of the Week collection – just because they are completely opposite to disaster movies. The shoestring budget didn't allow for hi-tech special effects, spectacular stunts or exotic locations and thus TV- movies must rely on their solid screenplays, atmosphere, sense of realism and performances. Like the title implies, "The Day the Earth Moved" is an amalgam of both extremes: a disaster movie on a shoestring TV-budget! How do you possibly stage something as devastating as an earthquake when there isn't a lot of money to build scale models or sets? You find this answer in this tame but nevertheless slick and often ingenious overlooked little film. 95% of the film is talking and seemingly irrelevant information about a cast of characters you don't really feel connected with, and then when the earth does finally start moving, they just land at an already half-demolished ghost town and destroy whatever ramshackle cabin was still standing.

I have to admit, however, that the plot of "The Day the Earth Moved" is original, creative and oddly compelling; - even though it requires quite a large portion of suspension of disbelief. Two struggling aerial photographers coincidentally discover that a defective match of their film material accurately predicts where earthquakes will occur within a time frame of 24 hours. It takes a while for them to figure that out and don't expect a proper explanation, but they have to take action as their photos indicate that the small and nearly forsaken town of Bates – in the middle of Nevada – is going to get struck. Particularly pilot Steve is desperate to rescue Bates, since he spent a few days of community service there and became fond of a young local girl. "The Day the Earth Moved" benefices most from the character development and the curious story behind the little town of Bates. Similar to the fictional Perfection in "Tremors", Bates is a town with only a handful of residents that remained stuck in isolation. The town used to be visited by people heading in or out of Las Vegas and lived off a local tourist attraction called "Santa's Summer Village", but since the construction of a new and modern highway there haven't been any tourists for several years. This would be an uninteresting side aspect if this was a major studio disaster blockbuster, but seeing it's a TV-movie it gives the film more depth and character. Of course the few remaining residents still don't believe the alarming news about the earthquake and are reluctant to leave, so when the ground starts trembling there are still a few intense and adrenaline-rushing moments to enjoy. Don't go into "The Day the Earth Moved" expecting a wild and exhilarating action movie, otherwise you'll be sorely disappointed. If you watch the film with an open mind, though, there's a fair chance you'll be increasingly charmed by the odd plot, the absorbing atmosphere, the likable characters and the grand finale.

If IMDb existed when I was eight years old and the first time I watched this made for TV movie of the week, I would have rated it a 9 or a 10.

This story HAD such a profound affect on me, I remembered it and for the past few years, I searched for it on VHS, Usenet, Bittorrents, etc... without success. A week ago I brought this story up in a conversation and it dawned on me to see if Youtube had a trailer or clip available. What did I find? The *entire* movie! I was thrilled! So, thirty years later, I finally watch it again on Youtube.

Unfortunately, it failed to captivate me in the same way as it did when I was eight years old. I found the dialog was simplistic and the acting was rather wooden. I was disappointed to find a little bit of racism (intentional or not?) in the script.

On a positive note, as a sci-fi'ish disaster story, The Day the Earth Moved, is actually much better than many of the more modern disaster flicks. At least, this story doesn't insult one's intelligence.

What an absolutely, totally boring film. Basically, two aerial photographers spot changes in the ground from the photos they have taken. This leads them to believe that there is going to be an earthquake in a sleepy town that the pilot knows.

Far too much time is spent on non-events, so the action is thin on the ground (and up in the air!) They went up three times to take those photos and it felt like we saw every single moment of all three flights.

The viewer is always one step ahead of the plot; not that there is much to be one step ahead of.

Don't watch it. Look at some aerial photographs from Google Earth. They will be more intersting than this film.