Chuck’s Top Ten Disaster Films of all time

With Roland Emmerich’s $260 million dollar disaster epic, 2012, crashing into theaters Friday, I thought I would take a look at my all time favorite disaster films, a genre I’m quite fond of.

CHUCK CURRY’S TOP TEN DISASTER FILMS

10. DANTES PEAK -1997, I really liked the chemistry between Pierce Bronson and Linda Hamilton. The solid direction by Roger Donaldson makes this volcanic eruption in Washington State an enjoyable affair.

9. CASSANDRA CROSSING – 1976, Cheesy but FUN story about a viral outbreak on a transcontinental train ride. I love Richard Harris as the films lead! It’s a pretty exciting film.

8. DEEP IMPACT- 1998, The second asteroid related film released that year. Tea Leoni leads a solid character driven film that has real emotional power in its last half hour!

7. TWISTER – 1996, Great tornado special effects, a nice pairing of Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt and a sensational score make this film a winner!

6. INDEPENDENCE DAY – 1996, My favorite alien invasion movie. Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman lead a great cast! A truly terrific popcorn film!

5. THE DAY AFTER – 1983, Perhaps the most important Television film ever made. Jason Robards brought tremendous class to this project about the after effects of a nuclear explosion in Lawrence, Kansas. In its time, a true TV event!

4. EARTHQUAKE – 1974, Storyline was pure soap opera, the SENSURROUND gimmick was really good, and how could you not love a disaster film with both Charlton Heston and George Kennedy as its stars! The special effects still hold up to this day!

3. TITANIC – 1997, I saw the film 7 times in a theater. Mixing two genres – love story and historical disaster, the film hit a nerve like few others in movie history. After this film’s immense success James Cameron was truly the king of the world.

2. TOWERING INFERNO – 1974, High Concept at its best. Irwin Allen was at the top of his game as he assembled two of the best actors of all time, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, to head the cast. Robert Wagner’s character’s death sequence is one of the genres best. Nominated for best picture that year! Totally compelling!

1. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE – 1972, Based on a gritty novel by Paul Gallico, Irwin Allen became the master of disaster with this terrific film about an ocean liner capsized on New Years Eve. Certainly a product of its time but, for me, the story still has tremendous power. From my side of the fence there’s never been a better character in a movie than Gene Hackman’s Rev Scott. My all time favorite film! Happy New Year!

November 12, 2009 - Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | Radio Shows, Reviews | Dante's Peak, Deep Impact, Eathquake, Independence Day, Poseidon, The Cassandra Crossing, The Day After, The Towering Inferno, Titanic, Twister

3 Comments »

Where’s Rollercoaster & Two Minute Warning!!! Come on Harry Caulder is the best character ever in a disaster movie!! And NO Airport Movies??? Sheesh. Nice job on the list though – Poseidon is probably still the best but Towering is close based on star power alone.

Steve McQueen – “Oh, they’ll find some dumb son of a bitch to do it”

Comment by mikeragz | August 25, 2008 | Log in to Reply
Actually Mike there are so many more I considered. Airport 77 is pretty good, as is the original Airport movie. Daylight, A Night to Remember are a few others to name a few I gave serious thought to. Let me know what you think of the audio Podcast on the same subject!

Comment by etbcoop | August 25, 2008 | Log in to Reply
[...] Cusack and Amanda Peet. It blasts into theaters November 13, 2009. Also take a look at my list of top ten all-time favorite disaster films and LISTEN to our radio broadcast discussing the genre. It’s my favorite [...]

Pingback by Disaster Movie Glory – Trailer to ROLAND EMMERICH’S 2012 « Entertainment Today and Beyond | June 18, 2009 | Log in to Reply

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