The Day the Earth Moved (1974)

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

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".

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.

Jackie Cooper and Cleavon Little are pilots engaged in aerial photography, who accidentally discover a method of predicting earthquakes. High stresses in the Earth's crust give off a heat which shows up on specially treated photographic paper. Looking at some recently exposed film, Cooper and his ex-wife Stella Stevens realize that the small desert town of Bates, where he recently spent time, is at the centre of a high stress area and will likely be destroyed.I hadn't seen this 'made for TV' movie since I was a kid, until I recently purchased it on videotape. There was a bit of nostalgia associated with this film, as my older brother and I used to watch it on TV during the 1970's as an afternoon matinée. It was a perfect rainy day film. As kids we were naturally fascinated by the idea of predicting an event as complex as an earthquake... made more interesting because the photographic film stock was a fluke, never to be repeated nor could any more be obtained. From this standpoint alone, it makes for an absorbing storyline. Stella Stevens was well known from her role in Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor a decade earlier, and Jackie Cooper was still to take on the role of Perry White in the movie Superman. The special effects showing the various earthquake scenes were remarkably decent considering this was a made for TV movie with a limited budget. As a whole, the film's also an interesting snap-shot of 1970's era film-making. Sometimes it's hard to believe those actors are no longer young. Well worth taking a look if you can locate a tape. Please feel free to email with any inquiries.