Best Disaster Movies of all Time

[jacqui9]

I brought my Dad The Towering Inferno for Christmas as he is a bit of a Steve McQueen fan. I really prefer watching disaster movies from the 60s, 70s and earlier. I think they possess a certain type of eeriness because they are so rough around the edges. Today's disaster movies are hell snoozeworthy.

WHich disaster movies are the best?

 

[Mobbs]

Towering Inferno for mine, too.

But definitely On The Beach (original) and Miracle Mile.

 

[Wicked Lester]

Yep - Towering Inferno's a gem.

I also rate The Poseidon Adventure very highly with honourable mentions to the Airport films.

Much as I love Chuck Heston, Earthquake was pretty ordinary particularly Richard Roundtree's antics.

 

[dreampolice]

Xanadu !

 

[B2..]

Another vote for "On the Beach." Spooky. Actually, I thought the telemovie made here wasn't too bad, especially with lots of scenes with Rachel Ward as eye-candy.

The telemovie "Failsafe" with George Cooney a few years ago was OK too. That was live to air, which is pretty brave stuff for director and actors.

My wife has a bit part in "On the Beach." A beach scene was filmed at Mt Eliza's Canadian Bay, and my Mother-in-Law took her baby daughter down to watch filming, and they can be seen as extras on that beach. Cool, heh?

Anyone else in a film?

Originally posted by Mobbenfuhrer
Towering Inferno for mine, too.

But definitely On The Beach (original) and Miracle Mile.

 

[Hungry29]

Deliverance......... well it was a disaster for Ned Beatty

 

[jacqui9]

Originally posted by Hungry29
Deliverence......... well it was a disaster for Ned Beatty

 

[Mobbs]

Originally posted by B2..
The telemovie "Failsafe" with George Cooney a few years ago was OK too. That was live to air, which is pretty brave stuff for director and actors.

Oh yeah, good pick!

Actually, Cyclone Tracy, though a bit silly in places, was a fairly scary rendition of the disaster.

There's a lot of good films that have a disaster as a supporting actor, such as the flood in "The River".

 

[sandeano]

Of that first cycle of disaster movies (72-81), the early ones, such as The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno are quite fun, but the later Irwin Allen flicks like Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, The Swarm and When Time Ran out are just diabolically bad. Other, non-Allen titles such as Meteor and Virus are equally awful and coming from the LATE 1970s, surely the blandest, ugliest time for fashion ever, they don't even manage to give a few chuckles at the over-funked costumes and music.

Avoid.

I'm with Mobbenfuhrer, Miracle Mile (on about 10% of the usual budget of these types of things) really delivers the goods.

 

[jacqui9]

Originally posted by sandeano
Of that first cycle of disaster movies (72-81), the early ones, such as The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno are quite fun, but the later Irwin Allen flicks like Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, The Swarm and When Time Ran out are just diabolically bad. Other, non-Allen titles such as Meteor and Virus are equally awful and coming from the LATE 1970s, surely the blandest, ugliest time for fashion ever, they don't even manage to give a few chuckles at the over-funked costumes and music.

Avoid.

I'm with Mobbenfuhrer, Miracle Mile (on about 10% of the usual budget of these types of things) really delivers the goods.

When Time Ran Out basically ended Irwin Allen's career as a director.

Im looking at getting the Poseidon Advenure on DVD just to have. Towering Inferno is at Ezy DVD for 9.95 I think.

 

[Magpira]

One of the best disaster movies I have see is 'Alive', the story of the Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the snow swept Andes after their plane crashes.

I am also a fan of the Poseidon Adventure.

 

[Asgardian]

"On the Beach" 1959 gets another vote, even though Ava Gardner HATED it here in Australia

"Fair Wind to Java" 1953 with Fred MacMurray

"The Hurricane" 1937 with Dorothy Lamour

"The Naked Jungle" 1954 with Charlton Heston is probably my favourite disaster movie

"Key Largo" 1948 with Humphrey Bogart, this is a fantastic movie

"The Day After" 1983 with Jason Robards

"Failsafe" 1964 with Henry Fonda

"The Omega Man" 1971 with Charlton Heston, yes, I know, lots hate this movie, but I like it

"Soylent Green" 1973 with Charlton Heston, same as one above

"Planet of the Apes" 1968 with Charlton Heston

"Dr Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" 1964 with Peter Sellers

 

[B2..]

Ooh, the ultimate disaster movie

Yeah, the original "Failsafe" was a ripper, too.

Originally posted by Asgardian
[B"The Day After" 1983 with Jason Robards
"Failsafe" 1964 with Henry Fonda [/B]

 

[Santos L Helper]

Threads.

Great movie that spawned "The Day After"

 

[raskolnikov]

The Poseidon Adventure

Earthquake

 

[Squeak]

I liked Alive.

I liked Daylight.

 

[sandeano]

Originally posted by Asgardian

"The Naked Jungle" 1954 with Charlton Heston is probably my favourite disaster movie

First time I saw that film, as a pretty young lad, I had no idea what it was about. I just liked jungle movies, so settled in to watch Chuck and Elanor getting hot and humid amongst the palm trees. Never did I know that they were in the path of an army of angry ants and man, what a blast it was! A terrific film, very suspenseful and vivid in its colour. Saw it again a few years ago and it really has held up well.

Funny thing, I have a book about American influence in South America as portrayed in popular culture and the writer devotes a chapter to "The Naked Jungle" seeing it as an analogy for American fears of millions of peasants getting their revenge by rising up and killing the white intruders and business interests. Of course I highly oubt is the screenplay had that intention, but the chapter was so well written that it was an interesting way of seeing the film in a different light.

 

[GoalsFrom50Out]

Towering Inferno for me.

 

[lenny&carl]

Poseidon Adventure, Flying High, Dr. Strangelove

 

[beckybiglands]

failsafe- the original
dr. strangelove
towering inferno

 

[daicos4ever]

There was a movie I saw on Tv once about 10 years ago called Fire on the 32nd Floor or something like that. Scared the poo out of me, I was afraid of fire for years after, but then I was only a little kid.

 

[luke toia]

Originally posted by Santos L Helper
Threads.

Great movie that spawned "The Day After"

Yip, that was one scary f**king bit of TV. So very 80s but still quite terrifying.

An under-rated disaster film from the last couple of years is Deterence, which became very relevant when the latest Gulf War took place. They actually dropped a nuke on Baghdad in that film...

 

[crudbucket]

Originally posted by Hungry29
Deliverance......... well it was a disaster for Ned Beatty

Squeal like a pig ! Squeal like a pig !

 

[swansrock4eva]

I remember Towering inferno was on up here in 2001. My dad loves that movie and was watching it and mum and I were like "it's so unrealistic - they're not acting like real people would in that situation" and my dad's like "but the scenario could really happen" etc, and then about 3 weeks later 9/11 happened. My dad came belting up the to my room just after the live cross happened before they worked out what was going on yelling "see I told you it could happen - one of the WTC towers is on fire half way up!" - very bizarre it was!

 

[GFC MAD!]

'The Towering Inferno' is being shown on channel 9 on Boxing day.