avalanche ( 1978 film )
mia farrow wearing ski cap in a scene from the film' avalanche', 1978 .
avalanche is a 1978 disaster movie directed by corey allen, starring rock hudson and mia farrow .
avalanche (1978) – mike' s take on the movies ………. rediscovering cinema' s past
template: infobox film avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film, directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson, robert forster, mia farrow and jeanette nolan. the taglines for the film included
a winter wonderland becomes a nightmare of destruction
and
six million tons of icy terror .
many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage; parts of this film' s avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor. [ 1 ]
urltoken for more weird videos plus strange film nights in london. uk vhs trailer for the 1978 disaster movie avalanche, directed by corey allen, starring rock hudson, mia farrow and robert forster. plus check us out on: urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken
hair trigger avalanche: set up all movie that it won' t take much to set off an avalanche. in this case it' s a plane crash .
.. where the worlds of film noir and pre - code collide. .
a video titled
the real buddy holly story ,
produced by paul mccartney as a response to inaccuracies in the 1978 hollywood - distributed film
the buddy holly story ,
will be shown free on a continuous loop throughout the day at the center .
the film was filmed at a ski resort in durango, colorado. [ 2 ]
near - death experiences in the avalanche, but dies due to the aforementioned idiot ambulance driver .
cult, b - movies, cheesy fun films to film noir to classics new to me .
here comes the cringe: aside from rock’s bad rug (see above) …most of the film is totally cringe - worthy. however, the real avalanche stock footage is mildly entertaining to watch .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about avalanche !
fun fact: the original film was too short, so they needed to add additional scenes. the crew hired extra staff, including a new director, to shoot enough footage for a full feature film .
carnosaur is a 1993 american science fiction horror film written and directed by adam simon. the film stars diane ladd, raphael sbarge, jennifer runyon, and harrison page. the film' s plot revolves around a mad scientist who plans to recreate dinosaurs and destroy humanity. the film is loosely based on the 1984 novel carnosaur by john brosnan (under the pseudonym of harry adam knight). the book and film have little in common, with the exception of the villain' s same basic motive, and the explicit gore and violence. [ 3 ] it was the only film based on a brosnan novel to be produced in america. [ 4 ]
classic film collector who never tires of discovering new titles and re - discovering old ones. view all posts by mikestakeonthemovies
as with any period in cinema history - if there’s a trend or genre that can be pillaged for an easy buck then b - movie and exploitation producers were sure to put their hats in the ring. and since this was the 70s - “king of the b’s” roger corman did just that with avalanche (1978) - which would be his sole contribution to the disaster genre .
borrowed some of the avalanche footage from this movie because apparently bad optical effects and styrofoam snow is at a premium in hollywood .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
: a surprising amount of the casualties of the avalanche are actually caused by the incompetence of the rescue workers. florence in particular survives
fun fact: even though it was filmed on location in durango, colorado, the film crew used styrofoam to augment the ‘snow effects’ of the avalanche. however, they never thought of cleaning it up. by spring, the town was still discovering styrofoam everywhere .
death by ambulance: the rescue workers cause more on - screen deaths than the avalanche does, including several caused by poor ambulance driving .
a gas leak in the lodge shortly after the avalanche hits causes an explosion in the lodge kitchen and sends many people and objects flying .
wildlife expert paid who warns that conditions are perfect for an avalanche. his warnings go promptly ignored. he also leaves awesome notes like this :
for more on that blu ray release, there’s a great interview with robert forster available as an extra where he casually discusses the film and where it fits in amongst his many appearances. “it was a disaster movie on a budget. ” he relates the story and chance encounter of working with second unit director lewis teague and his subsequent film work with the youngster in alligator. a film forster ranks very high on his resume of titles .
the vacationers at a winter wonderland struggle to survive after an avalanche of snow crashes into their ski resort. their holiday then turns into a game of survival .
fun fact: north korea banned this film. no, the film wasn’t that bad. the year 2012 marked kim il - sung’s 100 th birthday. another one of those weird twists of disaster movie fate, 2012 made tons at the box office but only gets a lowly 39% on rotten tomatoes .
a crazed vietnam vet bomber hijacks a boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early' 70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to russia .
the film spawned two official sequels, carnosaur 2 in 1995 and carnosaur 3: primal species in 1996. the second film fared poorly at the box office and the remainders were released direct - to - video. stock footage from the first three films was used in the spin - offs raptor and the eden formula .
the sunrise at the launch complex at the beginning of the film is actually a sunset played backwards because the nasa facility at cape kennedy is on the east coast .
kent trebilcox, executive chef at the mansion during the lamm years, also remembers rock hudson' s visit, only from a different vantage point. the late actor had been in denver for the premiere of his 1978 film avalanche, and he arrived at the governor' s reception thoroughly wasted .
it took a couple of guys to lift him into the house, with due grace ,
trebilcox writes .
but after a very brief appearance with a huge cake and popping camera flashes, he was brought back to the kitchen, where i was working. he was softly placed in a chair positioned between the refrigerator and the wall. and there he remained wedged safely, with a steady supply of drinks .
developing doomed characters: roughly 75% of the movie is spent introducing all these characters who will soon fall victim to the avalanche or in the ensuing mayhem that comes after it .
the most unlucky example is the poor fellow in town, nowhere near the avalanche, that gets run over by an out of control ambulance that careens off the street and hits him .
adding to the drama is wild life photographer nick thorne (robert forster) whose job in this film is to warn david about the dangers of an impending avalanche but more importantly to sleep with caroline so we can have a romantic triangle. we certainly aren’t going to fill the ninety minute running time without some serious padding and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg we also have…
you know how they say ,
if you' ve seen one, you' ve seen them all
? if you' ve seen a disaster movie, you' ve seen avalanche .
here’s a prime example of the kind of film that it takes a disaster movie fan to appreciate. the roger corman production avalanche, starring a rock hudson well past his prime and a mia farrow of the pre - woody era, is certainly not a good movie. however, once things get going it is actually pretty fun to watch, if only for all the wrong reasons .
original content available for non - commercial use under a creative commons license, except where noted. lubbock avalanche - journal ~ 710 avenue j, lubbock, tx 79401 ~ privacy policy ~ terms of service
the film has been released on dvd by new concorde home entertainment three times. the first release was a single disc release in april 2000. [ 11 ] the company subsequently re - released the film in the carnosaur collection in 2001 [ 12 ] and on a double feature dvd alongside sequel carnosaur 2 in 2003. [ 13 ] the last two versions are both currently out of print .
when an
i' m - just - makin' - money
developer plops his new ski lodge at the foot of a mountain, the locals warn him about snowslides. so it' s not too long before a gigantic avalanche buries the lodge and all the snow bunnies in it. rock hudson plays the ski lodge owner and mia farrow is his couch - hopping wife in this disaster film .
produced by irwin allen following the success of his disaster film poseidon adventure from two years before - both were extravagant and impressive productions that would give allen the moniker “master of disaster” with his expert handling of vast and awe inspiring sets, star studded casts and ground breaking special effects. in fact - between tower and poseidon - one can say that allen perfected the “disaster film formula” that came to define the genre and would show its dna in everything from independence day to san andreas - thus making it one of the most stringently structured and adhered to of all the hollywood genres outside of the slasher film .
mst3k: the return # 4 rating is based on the film. 5 stars for mst3k. i feel bad. i know this is technically supposed to be a review for avalanche, but i don' t have anything to say about it. i don' t care for natural disaster movies, and this one didn' t change my mind. it' s just bad. there are no other words .
i was surprised to see that avalanche was produced by roger corman of all people. i would think that even the skimpy budget that this film had by irwin allen standards was not something roger corman was used to dealing with. corman didn' t spend it on big name guest stars for sure. his stars are rock hudson and mia farrow. hudson is the donald trump like owner of a big state of the art ski lodge which is hosting that weekend some winter sporting events. he' s been told like william holden in the towering inferno that the lodge is in a bad place and the snow looks like it' s about to come a tumbling down. tumble down it did during a storm when a plane crashes into the top of a mountain. the avalanche starts and it buries the whole cast in that white stuff. this is a disaster film made on the cheap, some winter sports footage mixed with real avalanche footage and some cheesy special effects by seventies standards to bind it together. the plot such as it is, is almost non - existent, the characters are never developed in the slightest, so you don' t really care about them. i guess the lesson to be learned from avalanche is for roger corman not to try to be irwin allen .
this is super predictable and in spite of the all - star cast the writing makes sure that the actors don' t get up to doing anything too good. rock hudson gives a really overblown performance and everyone else is flat, or really weird, creepy and generally just a big problem (the bruce character). but it' s still pretty fun as a disaster film. the big avalanche delivers the crushing ice thrills that i hoped for. the movie is boring at times, but doesn' t take too long to get to the point - things do tick along... sort of. the avalanche certainly is a welcome interruption to the dodgy version of the winter olympics that viewers are treated to and the rather futile snowmobile race may have inspired a certain pod - racing segment in one late 90s / early 2000s star wars film .
review aggregator website rotten tomatoes reports that 11% of reviewers gave it a positive review. [ 10 ] gene siskel gave the film a marginal
thumbs up
, and roger ebert gave it
thumbs down
on siskel & ebert. ebert named it the worst movie of 1993. [ 6 ] siskel' s endorsement of the film was mocked when the duo made a guest appearance on the animated television series the critic .
roger corman' s attempt to cash - in on the disaster film craze that emerged during the 70s, and the result is pretty much what you' d expect. a bunch of people enjoy hospitality at a popular ski - resort, where the planner / manager (rock hudson, whose seen better days) is warned about a potential avalanche, and has to get himself and the fearing residents out of a snowy situation when the inevitable happens .
after an early teaser featuring one of the downhill stars being chased by a minor snow slide and escaping by ski - jumping into a tall tree (!), the big one hits at about 55 minutes, and is caused by a private plane crashing into the mountainside. below, the grand opening of the resort is underway and the pistes are full of people when the snow comes roaring down the mountain. this sequence features mass panic, stupid reaction shots and stunning avalanche effects accomplished through a combination of scratchy old stock footage and massive amounts of not very real - looking styrofoam snow. there are some optical effects as well that can hardly have been very state of the art even back in 1978 .
the most surprising thing about this film is that even before frame one had been shot one of the big television networks offered corman $ 2 million dollars for the broadcast rights and as the budget was only $ 1. 7 million he was already in profit mode before production had even started. now the network wasn’t going to pay that kind of money for the film to star one of the roger corman players so in this instance we have a
the film was a box office bomb upon release; and has since gained new life as the subject of the fourth episode of the reboot of mystery science theater 3000. tropes pertaining to that episode can be found here .
although john brosnan described the dinosaurs as
laughable
compared to the ones in jurassic park, and agreed that the film was
crap
, he nonetheless wrote that it was
interesting crap
, and credited it with raising greater awareness of the novel. he screened the film at a re - launch party for his novel, and stated that
i will no doubt take the lead in shouting abuse at the screen .
[ 7 ]
yes, avalanche is a sloppy, low - budget irwin allen rip - off where even the sound editing is pretty crap. but if you enjoy a bit of garbage now and then, there’s fun to be had watching this one .
some of the characters (such as the figure skater) are shown getting swept away during the avalanche and are simply never seen again afterward. it can be assumed that they either died or were rescued at some point off - screen .
: the incompetent ambulance / police / fire truck drivers. the scene as they pull out of town in response to the avalanche has to be seen to be believed. this winds up getting florence killed when one of these drivers takes a curve
during filming, the special effects crew used styrofoam to augment the
snow effects
of the avalanche. once the spring thaw hit, stryrofoam was discovered all over the durango. by then, the company was long gone. see more »
due to the financial success of carnosaur, a sequel, carnosaur 2, was produced in 1995. the latter was a financial failure. as a result, the third movie in the franchise, carnosaur 3, was released straight - to - video in 1996. two spin - offs of the film appear in the form of 2001' s raptor and 2006' s the eden formula. every movie in the series following carnosaur features stock footage from the first film .
i do give the film bonus points for it ending with caroline telling david that she loves him but still getting in a cab and leaving him in the dust. so at least director corey allen leaves us on a nice note, and i thank him for that, but sadly the dramatic ramblings of the script really hamper much of the film. this isn’t the worst of the genre but its low budget and pointless subplots hamper it from being a disaster movie worth recommending .
using a combination of stock footage, cheap models, some extremely silly looking overlays, and, the primary force of any avalanche, large silly looking styrofoam boulders, the titular avalanche is about as frightening as your average snowball fight. the visceral thrill is nonexistent, and while i do feel that i' ve grown past the point where i can enjoy watching hundreds of people getting killed for the sake of a cliched plot, i doubt anyone watching this will be satiated by the sublimely dumb effects .
but the root of the genre can be traced back to the very beginnings of cinema itself - with numerous silent films being made about the “great flood” / noah’s arc and the sinking of the titanic (yes, way before cameron got around to it). but from my research it would seem that the film deluge from 1933 was the first “big budget / high concept blockbuster disaster film” that used a completely “made up premise” as an excuse for wanton mayhem and destruction for the sake of mass entertainment .
infant immortality: zigzagged; little jason escapes the disaster unscathed, but we do see other kids getting caught in the avalanche as it' s happening, including one girl who is thrown against a fence by the snow and likely broke her back from the impact .
the film was released to theaters on may 21, 1993 by concorde films, just four weeks before the larger - scale blockbuster jurassic park. as a result, carnosaur may be considered a
mockbuster
. [ 5 ] diane ladd' s daughter laura dern was one of the stars of jurassic park. carnosaur grossed $ 1. 8 million at the box office on a budget of $ 850, 000. [ 1 ] film critic roger ebert named it the worst movie of 1993. [ 6 ]
police are useless: not just the police, but pretty much all of the emergency services in the film are pretty incompetent, to the point where they are directly responsible for a sizable percentage of the on - screen deaths (including two named characters) .
new world pictures manages to land two major stars in this low budget disaster movie but are unable to land much else. though some of the practical effects and stunts during the avalanche were decent there wasn' t nearly enough of them to justify the ninety minute running time .
after the avalanche is over one would expect (as other films in the genre do) there would be another hour’s worth of “fighting for survival” and the continuation of the melodramatic sub plots set up in the first half. instead corman seems to approach the film like his standard drive - in monster movies - following the mantra that “once the monster is dead - the movie is over”. and as he probably rightfully assumed - with this movie the audience came to see the avalanche wipe out a bunch of fools and everything else is basically a waste of time. so the movie has maybe ten minutes worth of “survival’ and then a weird wrap up where farrow both doesn’t get with forster and leaves hudson to dwell in the guilt of the tragedy that he basically caused. the ending is the equivalent of a cinematic shrug .
• david being investigated for illegal campaign contributions that got him the land for his resort. • world class skier bruce scott (rick moses) cheating on his emotional damaged girlfriend. • sports announcer mark elliot (barry primus) and his cheating spouse (cathey paine). • bruce scott narrowly escaping a small avalanche to heighten the oncoming threat. • david’s mother is here and spends most the time with david’s bookkeeper getting a tour. • nick thorne stealing explosives to trigger a small avalanche…this achieves nothing. • david sleeping with his secretary so we can get in some nudity .
finally at about the hour mark we get the titular avalanche and for the most part it is pretty exciting; snowmobile racers are sent flying, skiers swept away under tons of snow, people trapped high in the air on damaged chairlifts, and the almost total destruction of the ski lodge .
plot inconsistencies like these make the movie an odd and frustrating viewing experience at times. but like i said - there are some effective moments - especially in the film’s final act. and it’s hard to ignore the fantastic cast - which makes juggernaut a genre obscurity that’s worth checking out .
john brosnan was first approached to write the screenplay in mid - 1991 by roger corman' s wife julie, who formalised the deal at brosnan' s drinking club, and drew up the contract on a bar napkin. as the film was meant to compete with jurassic park, brosnan later wrote that he was taken aback when it was revealed that the film' s budget would have only been $ 1 million. although concerned that the restrictive budget would require a reduction in the amount of dinosaurs used, corman assured him that he was free to write whatever he wanted, and that any modifications would be made in the final draft. once brosnan sent his first draft to hollywood, he lost all contact with the film crew. [ 7 ] his screenplay had in fact been heavily revised to the point where his credit had been reduced to
original story
. [ 4 ]
perhaps the finest scene is saved for the finish, where the ambulance carrying david’s mother and caroline skids off a bridge and crashes down into a ravine where it lands in water. then it explodes! mostly, i suppose, because the cheap avalanche effects meant corman still had some money to spend on explosives .
beyond the poseidon adventure (’79) came out after jaws / superman / star wars and its critical and commercial failure became something of a swan song for the 70s disaster film - which gave way to the spielberg / lucas fantasy / adventure “crowd pleaser” as the defacto blockbuster template for the next decade .
back in the day i really liked disaster movies, and still do have a soft spot for most of them if i’m honest, but i can’t remember seeing this. despite, or perhaps even because of, the lousy effects and unconvincing melodrama, i’d like to have a look at this film at some point .
while you couldn’t care less about the silly plot and stupid characters, the film offers up a bunch of ridiculous and cheesy moments that makes viewing pretty fun after all. like the downhill star claiming “i ski like i make love”. (meaning he reaches the finish fast, or what ?) like the snowmobile race that turns into rollerball on snow, drivers kicking each other and randomly somersaulting backwards off their rides. like the horny figure skater hurrying to a rendez - vous with her ski star lover, and starting to undress on the way to his room — yes, outdoors — despite the fact that there’s a howling snow storm going on around her. like the cook in the kitchen that is scalded by boiling soup as the avalanche hits the hotel. like david’s mother trying to dig her way out of the buried hotel with, of all things, a chair. like caroline last being seen in a mountain cabin that is buried by the avalanche, only to later turn up outside the hotel without explanation .
fun fact: one of the original taglines was “it sucks”, but producers felt that it would be too easy for disappointed critics / audiences to blast the film. they guessed correctly. while twister was a box office success, it only has a 57% on rotten tomatoes making this one of the best, of the worst .
his ex - wife is played by mia farrow in one of her more comatose roles. i' d say more about her role in this film, but that pretty much has it covered. she kind of wanders between plotlines most of the time, doing that big eyed mia farrow thing that requires little else than having big eyes .
this disaster' gem' from new world stars rock hudson and mia farrow looking terrible as a divorced couple. rock upsets nature by building a massive ski resort because he can. robert forster co - stars as the down - with - nature photographer who warns about fucking with earth. no one listen to him and, yes, an avalanche occurs .
while everyone is having a good time a plane crashes into a mountain setting off a devastating avalanche. again - corman doesn’t have the money to utilize ground breaking special effects so there’s basically some stock footage of real avalanches intercut with people getting pelted / engulfed with styrofoam “white chunks”. not much of this sequence is very convincing but it’s fairly well constructed and edited .
karma houdini: david quite surprisingly survives the film, even getting through what appears to be a textbook redemption equals death setup of risking his life to save his ex - wife. yet, he' s severely humbled by seeing all the destruction his ego has wrought, and they don' t actually get back together. he also loses his beloved mother .
jerkass: david. he is a very stubborn and somewhat unscrupulous man who callously brushes off all warnings he gets about a potential avalanche until it' s too late. not to mention how domineering and possessive he is towards his ex - wife; it' s a minor mercy that the movie doesn' t have them reunite after the disaster (and even that is ambiguous) .
i agree! the first (nearly) hour was very dull for me…but once the avalanche actually hit, i was pretty into it. i couldn’t believe they went through all that trouble to save david’s mother – to which i was pleased to see! – only to have the car glide off the cliff as if toonces the cat had been behind the wheel. hah, oh dear .
jerkass has a point: david has professionals keeping track of the avalanche danger, gives nick (an unqualified photographer) a fair hearing, and doesn' t dismiss his concerns until he reveals he has no specific warning signs to point out other than an intuition of
a heaviness
. nick turns out to be right, but by all the evidence it' s a complete coincidence .
summary: in the colorado rockies, skiers, snowmobilers and other vacationers enjoy a beautiful skiing resort. suddenly a helicopter crashes into the resort’s hilltop, unleashing a giant avalanche. will david shelby (rock hudson) and caroline brace (mia farrow) rehash their romance and make it out alive? watch this disaster to find the answers… and how a studio can waste $ 6. 5 million .
the rest of the film details the attempts of survival and / or escaping from the imminent danger. along the way there’s oodles of melodrama with the “good guys” dying heroic deaths and the “corporate sleaze balls who caused the tragedy due to their ineptness or willful ignorance” going down like sniveling cowards. this can pretty much sum up towering inferno’s plot - but can also provide the blueprint for all subsequent entries in the genre .
forster warns hudson that he has built the resort smack dab in the middle of “avalanche country”. and by disturbing the environment with all the construction and deforestation he is creating a “death trap” for anyone who visits the resort. hudson of course takes no heed and pretty soon a bunch of visitors arrive for some kind of “winter sports competition” that includes ice skating, skiing, and for some random reason a gladiatorial - esque snow mobile race .
this is one title i can recall as a kid having a big network premier. it all looked pretty cool at the time but now just appears campy and pretty much a maid for tv event. this isn’t surprising in the end if you’ve listened to an interview with roger corman on the recent blu ray release as he received a large amount from television to help fund the film and hire an above average cast for his disaster epic .
film and television productions alike have been attracted to the mountain peaks and valleys showcased from the “ san juan skyway ” and other highways that traverse this geologically unique region. several of the classic locations used in films are accessible by passenger car, and make a great day trip for western movie fans. view the brochure: ridgway’s western movie heritage, to see maps and learn more about major motion pictures filmed in and around the community of ridgway .
rock hudson spends the vast majority of roger corman' s cheapie disaster pic avalanche with a huge target on his back. through years of meticulous planning, deforestation, bribes, affairs, and just in general being a dick to everyone around him, he' s finally about to open his massive multi - million dollar ski resort in the foothills of colorado. to say that he' s doomed for some misery and regrets within the next ninety minutes is to speak the obvious .
is present, as both lovable and loathsome characters meet predictable fates, but the film' s limited production resources somehow work in its favor. we' re well aware that we' re watching a corman production but somehow the inventiveness that is required to carry it all off is quite admirable. certain plot points are introduced and inexplicably abandoned including an insinuation that shelby has bribed local political officials to overlook his clear violation of environmental protection rules in order to build his resort .
the big dramatic death in the film has to do with david’s mother florence shelby (jeanette nolan) who along with david’s bookkeeper is trapped in the buried ski lodge and in danger of asphyxiating due to broken gas lines. they are rescued in the nick of time but then the ambulance that is rushing poor florence to the hospital loses control and careens off into a chasm and explodes. proving that sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed or be in a roger corman movie .
high up in the mountains millionaire entrepreneur david shelby (rock hudson) has built a massive ski resort, much to the chagrin of environmentalists, and has invited winter sports athletes from all over the world to compete at the opening of his winter wonderland. also arriving for the big opening is caroline brace (mia farrow) david’s ex - wife who is in this movie because you can’t have a disaster film without an estranged couple of some sort. i think there may even be a law or something .
i en värld av enbart katastroffilmer (som jag gillar att se på trots att de väldigt sällan är bra) skulle det här fortfarande vara en väldigt dålig film. lider framförallt av att den är så händelsefattig och trots ett gäng kända skådisar är allting på en så bedrövlig nivå att till och med roger corman bör skämmas över att ha producerat det här. ändå lite kul att se på tack vare peak 70 - tal vilket alltid ger något att garva åt, i tillägg till de sjukt usla effekterna då .
avalanche is a knock - off of other popular disaster movies of the time like the towering inferno, earthquake, and the swarm (okay, that last one might not have been quite so popular), using some cheap stars to fuel its tawdry and simple plot. it' s amazing when a few scenes actually work (a shot of two men filling a truck with occupied bodybags is appropriately mournful) and less surprising when some scenes end up jaw droppingly bad (the ski star and a skater end up having sex while communicating in nothing but ice sports euphemisms) .
“destruction porn” is a term coined to describe movies that have seemingly been released every summer since the advent of cgi in the 90s - usually accredited to filmmakers like dean devlin / roland emmerich (i. e. independence day, day after tomorrow, 2012), james cameron (titanic - the only “disaster film” to win best picture), and michael bay (armageddon, pearl harbor, and the transformers series). the term also encompasses other critically derided would - be blockbusters like deep impact, dante’s peak, the core, daylight, volcano, twister and countless other syfy channel originals .
this was one of rock hudson' s final films as an
above the title
leading man. he' s grayer and a bit paunchier than we' d seen him during his heyday, but he still had star power to spare and made for a dashing leading man, whether its skinny dipping in the hot tub or personally leading rescue parties in acts of derring doo to extricate victims of the tragedy. the film' s showpiece sequence is a climactic scene in which shelby must rescue caroline, who is dangling from wrecked bridge above a ravine. it' s well - directed and genuinely suspenseful .
taking the script of jaws as a template, we’re bringing in robert forster as the smokey bear ranger type who is having fits when he sees the construction crews working away with heavy machinery causing vibrations throughout the mountainous territory. picture richard dreyfuss’ matt hooper in a forest ranger outfit. it’s sure to bring down mountains of snow directed at the lodge if they don’t cease and desist. off he goes to confront “the rock. ” rock instantly turns into murray hamilton’s mayor of shark city who will keep those beaches open. or in this case the slopes, skating rinks and anything else that just happens to be in the shadow of mt. avalanche .
therefore it would seem that people have always engaged in the “vicarious therapy” of watching a bunch of people getting killed as a way to deal with existential anxieties. one can assume the modern wave of “destruction porn” is linked to 9 / 11 and the various social and political issues that have resulted. and to that point - the “golden age” of the disaster film was in the 70s - when america was dealing with everything from watergate, vietnam, oil shortages, middle east turmoil, and economic downturns (sounds kind of familiar huh ?). perhaps it was this sense that “things were falling apart” which made the genre so popular then as it is today .
rock hudson’s character is a cross between the idiot mayor from jaws and his character from giant as he both ignores the dangers, “ we can’t close the beaches, it’s the fourth of july! ” and is a rich and arrogant bastard whose attitude towards women is a tad prehistoric. now normally this would be enough to place the blame for the oncoming disaster squarely on his shoulders but not for this movie, oh no we also have david demanding that his assistant fly in important papers, despite the terrible weather conditions, which results in that poor dude’s plane crashing into the mountain and causing the giant avalanche. so not only is he a callous, sexist, arrogant jerk he’s also a murdering asshat .
overall it’s refreshing to see a thriller that isn’t so “hollywood - ized” and “paint by numbers” - and therefore juggernaut is not a completely predictable affair and thus delivers on the promise of tension and suspense. that said - there are times where one wants to give the movie a swift kick in the pants so it would actually start doing something other than just “sitting around”. in fact - the whole thing seems very british (i. e. polite) - and judging by how people behave in the film - the “ticking time clock” scenario seems to be not that big of a deal. plus i didn’t really understand why they couldn’t figure out a way to start getting the passengers off the ship while they worked on diffusing the bombs .
not giving anything away, the title of the movie is avalanche so we can count on one to hit the screens though the f / x do leave a lot to be desired. i do believe i’ve pointed out that this is a roger corman production so there are a few things we can always count on from uncle roger, one of which is the injection of a topless woman and sure enough while rock is hanging out in his custom designer sauna pining for mia, a well endowed brunette just happens to be with him offering him a consolation prize if he can’t win mia back. the other is the frugal production qualities and have yourself a hoot during some of the scenes when you can clearly see the blocks of snow blow away in the breeze when a news truck approaches .
and because this is a roger corman production it must have at least one wtf scene in it and for this movie we get the emotional damaged girlfriend of skier bruce scott, who upon seeing him in bed with another woman decides to kill herself with an overdose of pills, but before she can down the bottle she is killed by the avalanche. that is some hard core dark shit there. but believe it or not that isn’t even the weirdest death in this movie as there is a bit where the sports announcer and a small boy are hanging for dear life from a broken chairlift and just as the boy is rescued power lines hit the chairlift cables and the poor sports announcer is electrocuted, falls and misses the safety net held by the rescue team because…well, because they really suck at their job .
besides the set up, sprawling cast and the sub - plots i actually didn’t see juggernaut as being very much of a disaster film in the traditional irwin allen sense. i can see where the influence of poseidon adventure as far as it being a “suspense thriller set on a cruise ship” comes from - but save for a few explosions and fatalities the action is very subdued. and plus there’s no actual disaster and hence no “fight for survival” with the ship’s passengers. therefore i would say juggernaut would more accurately be labeled as a “terrorist thriller”. and to its credit the movie seems to have influenced later films of its ilk - especially with the “bomb diffusing sequences” (again - the “red or blue wire” trope) and the parallel investigation at “command center” (executive decision comes to mind) .
creature designer john carl buechler was assigned to create the dinosaur models, under the supervision of amateur paleontologist donald f. glut. buechler' s special effects crew had only 10 weeks to complete both the miniature and full sized models, due to the film' s limited budget. [ 8 ] also, many of glut' s suggestions were not incorporated into the dinosaur' s final designs, as many of the models were already in various stages of completion when he was consulted. [ 9 ] for the tyrannosaurus rex, buechler created numerous different sized props, including a pneumatically - operated creature measuring 16 feet in height, [ 3 ] 25 feet in length and 450 lbs in weight, [ 8 ] a 7 - foot - tall (2. 1 m) suit version and a 3 - foot - tall (0. 91 m) mechanical walking puppet. an 8 - foot - tall (2. 4 m) suit was made for the deinonychus, as well as a 1 - foot - tall (0. 30 m) mechanized, walking mockup. [ 3 ] due to the low budget, buechler could not create the full scale tyrannosaurus model with standard sculpting and molding techniques; therefore, the tyrannosaurus' understructure was built using l200, a light polyurethane foam, while the skin was crafted with urethane foam sheets. miniature models for the tyrannosaurus and the skid loader were used for most of the penultimate scene, as the full scale model was too inarticulate to fight the vehicle convincingly. [ 8 ]
backstory: the poseidon adventure (2000) (tv episode) poster shown .
corman' s world: exploits of a hollywood rebel (2011) poster is shown .
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hudson plays david shelby, the owner of a newly constructed ski resort, and everyone’s there for the grand opening. ‘everyone’ includes hudson’s mother florence (jeanette nolan) and ex - wife caroline (farrow), a very manly wildlife photographer named nick (robert forster), a tv celebrity and his slutty wife, a couple of “cool” ski stars and a couple of pretty figure skaters .
the first 50 minutes are spent introducing characters and launching a bunch of soap - operatic machinations, mostly having to do with people going to bed with people they shouldn’t go to bed with. the script also plants a possible subplot about david being implicated in a scandal after having donated money to a crooked politician, but then forgets all about it. probably just as well .
nick the manly photographer warns david about the snow and weather conditions. david and a guy who i believe is some kind of security chief don’t think it’s necessary to take any precautions. and we all know where that will lead…
i couldn’t wait to see this movie after watching the trailer (which is now on youtube) and after reading this review i’m really dying to find it. it looks hilariously awesome !
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entrepreneur david shelby (hudson) has fought tooth - and - nail to build a ski resort deep in the rockies. during an especially busy time of the ski season, his ex - wife caroline (farrow) comes for a visit. as shelby unsuccessfully attempts to get back together with her, shelby' s mother florence enjoys the party life at the lodge, a star skier arrives at the resort with much fanfare, and many other characters are introduced as they have the time of their lives at the resort. but then, a lost airplane crashes into the snow that sits precariously atop the mountain, sending tons of snow onto the unsuspecting resort ...
: florence spends most of her time indulging herself in alcoholic beverages and generally just going wild. even when she' s being carted away in an ambulance, she complains that she wants a bloody mary.
avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson , robert forster , mia farrow and jeanette nolan . many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage ; parts of this film 's avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor . the film is listed in golden raspberry award founder john wilson 's book the official razzie movie guide as one of the 100 most enjoyably bad movies ever made . the film was featured in the first season of the mystery science theater 3000 revival , released through netflix on april 14 , 2017 . 
avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson, robert forster, mia farrow and jeanette nolan. many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage; parts of this film's avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor. the film is listed in golden raspberry award founder john wilson's book the official razzie movie guide as one of the 100 most enjoyably bad movies ever made. the film was featured in the first season of the mystery science theater 3000 revival, released through netflix on april 14, 2017.
avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson, robert forster, mia farrow and jeanette nolan. many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage; parts of this film's avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor. the film is listed in golden raspberry award founder john wilson's book the official razzie movie guide as one of the 100 most enjoyably bad movies ever made. the film was featured in the first season of the mystery science theater 3000 revival, released through netflix on april 14, 2017.