The 10 best disaster films in history

Now that the first trailer of Twisterit is worth remembering those films which, mostly in the 70s, exploded with the force of success, with method actors or not, but always massive cast members, with better rather than worse effects.

It was Irwin Allen who had the idea of ​​giving definitive shape to this particular genre of disaster cinema. It was the 70s, with hell in the tower AND Earthquake. Perhaps the fuse was lit in 1970, with Airportwith Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin and George Kennedy.

We might define films whose main plot focuses on ongoing or impending events that endanger humanity as members of the disaster genre.

Below, in no order of preference, but sorted by release date, ten memorable disaster films (for some reason, they don’t have to be good).

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

It was the first. Based on the best seller by Paul Gallico, published in 1969, the ship that gives it the title capsizes in the middle of a storm. Produced by Irwin Allen, directed by Ronald Neame. And the plot focuses on how many of the protagonists try to emerge. It had the peculiarity that many of them did not make it to the end of the screening. The cast was great for its time: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall and Shelley Winters.

It won 2 Oscars (the song The morning after and visual effects) and earned 7 other Oscar nominations (including the music of John Williams). The film had a sorry remake in 2006, directed by Wolfgang Petersen (well, one of his first successes was Boat), with Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Josh Lucas and the Argentinian Mia Maestro.

In via Lavalle – then the street of cinemas – he stayed at the Monumental cinema for dozens of consecutive weeks, which was out of the ordinary.

Earthquake (1974)

An earthquake in Los Angeles and a cast led by Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau. Mark Robson’s film had a screenplay co-written by Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather, but hey, not all of the blame is his. Music too, as in The Adventure of PoseidonIt was by John Williams.

It was the first film distributed with the “sensurround” system, developed specifically for the film, in Argentina. It was surround sound and there was also a speaker under the seats, which made the noise deafening. They say that the seats also moved during the earthquake.

It had four Oscar nominations and won an Academy Award for visual effects.

He spent more than a year on a roadshow (single theater) at the Renacimiento cinema, at 900 Lavalle.

Hell in the Tower (1974)

Based on another best-seller, a hellish fire breaks out in a San Francisco skyscraper, in the middle of that office building’s grand opening party. Construction deficiencies trigger the fire. There are people trapped at the top of the building (on the 135th floor) and the firefighters are trying to get them out.

The cast included such heavyweights as Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway (the sole survivor, today). By John Guillermin, then director of Death on the Nile AND King Kongand produced by… Irwin Allen, with music by… John Williams.

It had 8 Oscar nominations (one for John Williams) and won three, for cinematography, editing and song. We may never love like this again.

Epidemic (1995)

How could we forget it, if when the coronavirus epidemic broke out it was the film that everyone remembered. The film fueled paranoia about contagious diseases, which was quite common in the 1990s.

Everything is triggered by a virus, whose protagonist is a little monkey, the vehicle of a deadly epidemic that risked leaving the United States without inhabitants.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen (who would later remake the film The Adventure of Poseidon), the main trio consisted of Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, and they performed Kevin Spacey (he won the award for best supporting actor at the Critics Choice Awards and was also awarded by the New York critics), Patrick Dempsey and Donald Sutherland.

Twister (1996)

It was a surprising success, because despite having famous actors, none of them were stars yet. Directed by Jan De Bont, who came from the success of Full speedneither Helen Hunt, nor Bill Paxton, nor Cary Elwes, nor Philip Seymour Hoffman, nor Alan Ruck himself (Connor Roy in Succession) are still public with their names.

Bill and Jo Harding (Hunt and Paxton), storm chasers on the verge of divorce, must join forces to create an advanced weather warning system that requires wading through extremely violent tornadoes.

Nominated for two Oscars for best sound and visual effects, a new version starring Glen Powell will be released in July this year (Top Gun: nonconformist) and Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Titanic (1997)

Do I have to say something? The love story of Rose and Jack, which in the mind of James Cameron triggers the ship’s collision with an ice floe when those who were supposed to spot the ice blocks have fun watching the couple Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio kiss.

James Cameron’s hit film is one of the three most Oscar winners (11), together with Ben Hur AND The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. If you haven’t seen it, they broadcast it on Telefe every month.

Vulcan (1997)

Just like inside Earthquake It was an earthquake that terrorized Los Angeles, here a volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles and a city official and a seismologist try to stop its inevitable flow through the city.

With Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche, directed by Mick Jackson (he had directed The bodyguard!), paradoxically, two months earlier another film about a volcano had been released: Dante’s Peak: Mountain Furywith Pierce Brosnan (in full swing as James Bond) and Linda Hamilton (Terminator). No, it didn’t get Oscar nominations, but rather the Razzies, which reward the worst in cinema.

Armageddon (1998)

And yes, you had to choose between this and Strong impact, with Robert Duvall, which were more or less the same thing. A group of geologists prepares to destroy a meteorite in space that threatens to collide with Earth. From the bombastic Michael Bay (The rockwith Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, remains his best film), and with a screenplay by JJ Abrams (lost), had a brilliant cast: Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler in the role of his daughter, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, Owen Wilson, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare…

Who doesn’t remember the video clip of the song I do not wanna Miss a Thingwho sang Steve Tyler, and we saw his daughter Liv miss her fake father, a Bruce Willis who was among the Die Hard already a year new Sixth Sense?

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Roland Emmerich had already taken the first steps in something similar to the genre independence Day (alien attack) e Godzilla (mutant monster). Here, a global-scale storm subjects the Earth to a new ice age, with characters miles away. The struggle to survive is arduous, as is the film with Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum and Ian Holm, which works better in moments of disaster than in intimate dramas.

The Impossible (2012)

By JA Bayona, just released The snow society, the film changes the concept of a massive cast to focus on a family. A tsunami leaves the entire population of a coastal region of Thailand homeless. And together with that family, which makes up the characters of Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland (yes, the future Spider-Man) we suffer the days following the giant wave, with some characters injured and others nowhere to be found.

Naomi Watts was nominated for an Oscar as best leading actress, an award that ended up in the hands of Jennifer Lawrence (The positive side of life).