DISASTER FILMS

Disaster Films: Introduction

See also this site's Greatest Disaster Film Scenes, illustrated.

Disasters have been the subject of film-goers' fascination since the time of silent film epics, and this interest continues to exist up to the present time. Catastrophes can take so many different forms - but they are mostly man-made or natural. They can be either impending or ongoing, or they can exist locally or globally.

The most commonly portrayed disasters in films are:

Along with showing the spectacular disaster, these films concentrate on the chaotic events surrounding the disaster, including efforts for survival, the effects upon individuals and families, and 'what-if' scenarios. The best disaster films comment upon the negative effects of advancing technology, demonstrate the 'hubris' of scientists and other individuals, deliver uplifting moral lessons of sacrifice, and provide a 'how-to' in terms of survival skills.

Most disaster films have large-scale special effects (especially in the recent past's mega-budget spectaculars), huge casts of stars faced with the crisis, a persevering hero or heroine (i.e., Charlton Heston, Steve McQueen, etc.) called upon to lead the struggle against the threat, and many plot-lines affecting multiple characters. In many cases, the 'evil' or 'selfish' individuals are the first to succumb to the conflagration. As in any sub-genre, the move to capitalize on the 'disaster film' trend has led to many sub-par disaster films, with weak and unsubtle, formulaic plots, improbable circumstances and bad science, poor character development, and laughable acting from third-rate stars portraying cliched characters.

The Greatest Disaster and End of the World Films: Pre-1970s

Before the 1970s when disaster films underwent a strong revival, there were many earlier action/adventure disaster films, such as The Hurricane (1937) - including one of the most spectacular tropical storm scenes ever shot in film history. And two 50s films, The High and the Mighty (1954) and Zero Hour (1957) - were the inspiration for all the airplane disaster films of the 70s. [Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) also contained a harrowing airplane crash sequence.] The real horrors of World War II, and the perceived threat of nuclear annihilation and radioactive mutancy during the resultant Cold War led to a further onslaught of disaster-related films in the 50s.

Pre-1970s disaster films included:

The Major Era of Disaster Films: The 1970s

In the 1970s, actual disasters, such as the Watergate crisis (from 1972 to 1974), the collision of two 747s in the Canary Islands (in late March, 1977), and the Three Mile Island incident (in late March, 1979) made the time ripe for Hollywood to contribute. Big-budget disaster films provided all-star casts and interlocking, Grand Hotel- or "Ship of Fools" type stories, with suspenseful action, races against time, and impending crises in locales such as aboard imperiled airliners, trains, dirigibles, crowded stadiums, sinking or wrecked ocean-liners, or in towering burning skyscrapers or earthquake zones.

Producer and director Irwin Allen was nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" in the 1970s due to the tremendous success of his films. The three films most responsible for jump-starting the renaissance of spectacular disaster films were Airport (1970), and Allen's two special effects-laden epics The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). These kinds of films would often receive numerous special/visual effects Oscar nominations, but were often neglected for their acting performances:

More Recent Resurgence of Disaster Films:

There was a modern-day resurgence of disaster films, beginning in the mid-1990s. The sub-genre was really revived at this time with the emergence of advanced special effects techniques. Other disaster films (from the past and recent present) have included similar and more imaginative kinds of catastrophies (or threats of disaster), such as killer viruses, deadly terrorists, tornadoes, asteroid impacts, among others:

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Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.