Jackie Cooper and Cleavon Little are pilots engaged in aerial photography, who accidentally discover a method of predicting earthquakes. High stresses in the Earth's crust give off a heat which shows up on specially treated photographic paper. Looking at some recently exposed film, Cooper and his ex-wife Stella Stevens realize that the small desert town of Bates, where he recently spent time, is at the centre of a high stress area and will likely be destroyed.
I hadn't seen this 'made for TV' movie since I was a kid, until I recently purchased it on videotape. There was a bit of nostalgia associated with this film, as my older brother and I used to watch it on TV during the 1970's as an afternoon matinée. It was a perfect rainy day film. As kids we were naturally fascinated by the idea of predicting an event as complex as an earthquake... made more interesting because the photographic film stock was a fluke, never to be repeated nor could any more be obtained. From this standpoint alone, it makes for an absorbing storyline. Stella Stevens was well known from her role in Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor a decade earlier, and Jackie Cooper was still to take on the role of Perry White in the movie Superman. The special effects showing the various earthquake scenes were remarkably decent considering this was a made for TV movie with a limited budget. As a whole, the film's also an interesting snap-shot of 1970's era film-making. Sometimes it's hard to believe those actors are no longer young. Well worth taking a look if you can locate a tape. Please feel free to email with any inquiries.
I hadn't seen this 'made for TV' movie since I was a kid, until I recently purchased it on videotape. There was a bit of nostalgia associated with this film, as my older brother and I used to watch it on TV during the 1970's as an afternoon matinée. It was a perfect rainy day film. As kids we were naturally fascinated by the idea of predicting an event as complex as an earthquake... made more interesting because the photographic film stock was a fluke, never to be repeated nor could any more be obtained. From this standpoint alone, it makes for an absorbing storyline. Stella Stevens was well known from her role in Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor a decade earlier, and Jackie Cooper was still to take on the role of Perry White in the movie Superman. The special effects showing the various earthquake scenes were remarkably decent considering this was a made for TV movie with a limited budget. As a whole, the film's also an interesting snap-shot of 1970's era film-making. Sometimes it's hard to believe those actors are no longer young. Well worth taking a look if you can locate a tape. Please feel free to email with any inquiries.