Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[flippyshark]

I've even gone to the extent of reading Arthur Hailey's Airport novel. the movie is a pretty faithful rendering of it. For that matter, i read both of the novels that inspired The Towering Inferno. (The Tower and The Glass Inferno) As soon as I run across a used paperback copy, I can't wait to read Arthur Herzog's The Swarm. From what I've heard, it bears little relation to the awesome crapfest that Irwin Allen unleashed on the public.

[innerSpaceman]

Hahah, I read those two towering inferno-inspiration novels, too.

And I liked the Arthur Hailey Airport novel so much, I read a few of his others as well. (Airport was a pretty faithful adaptation; Hotel not so much.)

[mousepod]

...and Arthur Hailey also wrote "Runway Zero-Eight", which was based on his script for the 1957 movie Zero Hour!, the movie that Airplane! spoofs.

(According to Wikipedia, the story first appeared as a CBC TV Movie called Flight Into Danger, which I've never seen).

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I think John Q. Public has to be at risk if it's to be classified as a Disaster Film. Astronauts don't count.

Raising the question of what makes a disaster film. Is it sufficient that people be put in peril? Does the peril have to be a gigantic natural force? Does the peril have to be a form of man's arrogance or complacency coming back to bite him on the ass?

Towering Inferno had arrogance but not a great natural force. Poseidon had both a natural force and man's greed/complacency in that the ship was insufficiently ballasted because they wanted to get it to port faster to scrap it.

If peril and complacency are enough, then maybe a little movie like "The Incident" is a disaster film: New Yorkers terrorized by thugs on a subway train. Or is that urban horror or a monster movie? Is "Alien" a disaster movie or a monster movie or both?

Apollo 13 was exciting, I suppose, but I don't think it inspired much reflection.

You have 45 minutes. You may begin.

[mousepod]

I think scale plays a big part in defining a Disaster Film. Towering Inferno counts.

Alien (the first one), is famously an "Old Dark House" variant in outer space. So a horror movie, not a Disaster flick.

I'd imagine that the more fantastic the peril, the less it becomes a Disaster Movie. Perhaps the peril must be elemental: Earth, Air, Fire, Water...

[innerSpaceman]

The peril must be over-the-top. An All-Star-Cast of stereotypes must be employed. It must be fiction.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

The peril must be over-the-top. An All-Star-Cast of stereotypes must be employed. It must be fiction.

So a movie about The Twin Towers, Chernobyl or the 2004 Tsunami could not be disaster movies?

[innerSpaceman]

No.

Disaster movies must be fictional. No exceptions.


The "disaster" is not the only requirement of the genre. Too many movies would qualify. There is a certain "quality" (usually a lack of) that denotes Disaster Movie.

[mousepod]

Well, maybe there are a couple of exceptions.

The San Francisco Earthquake, the Titanic etc. could be used as backdrops for Disaster Movies.

so could:

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, Krakatoa is actually west of Java, so the one depicted in the movie is clearly fictional.