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!

When the film begins, Steve and Harley (Jackie Cooper and Cleavon Little) are up in an airplane photographing in rural California. They have some weird and totally untested theories about earthquake prediction...but more about that later. Soon after they land, Steve is arrested in a crappy, tiny speed trap town and jailed for a few days. But a kid feels sorry for him and helps him escape. Later, when Steve looks through his photos he is confident (HOW?!?!) that an earthquake is about to strike that same town! Wow....what a coincidence.

The plot just meandered too much and the film never kept my interest. In many ways, it was disappointing and slow. I would say more but the film just never held my interest and there wasn't much to say about this installment of "The ABC Movie of the Week".

"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.

I can't tell exactly why but I kinda liked it. I half wonder if the movie Cars might have gotten a little inspiration from the storyline. Without giving anything away, I think those who who have seen both will know what I mean.

Well, it took about 40 minutes to get to them figuring out there something odd with the film that was developed... before that it's about the scientist that flew the plane who was caught speeding in his car in a tiny, tiny town and only had 2 tens on him for the fine so he was arrested and made to do community service to pay off the fine (that was about 1/2 of the movie). The last 15 to 20 minutes is the 2 in plane (photographer and scientist pilot) going back to the tiny, tiny town to rescue the people who already knew the area was prone to earthquake but had no idea that a large earthquake was going to hit them. They didn't argue with the 2 from the plane long before the earth started quaking. Then the people ran around trying to gather stupid things to bring with them before it gets to bad - minus the little girl trying to get the dog.

That about sums up this film. It's OK enough for a one time watch.

4/10