What Makes Disaster Films Great | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck. And it's. just us today. And that's okay cuz we're. just going to be sitting around rapping. about one of our favorite things to talk. about and that is movies. Let's go to the movies. You had a little Katherine Heppern thing. going on there. Uh Ethel Murman.

Katherine Heppern. It was It was. Katherine Heppern singing Ethel Murman. Okay. That's how I Yeah. Uh yeah, we are. going to go to the movies, Chuck. And in. particular, a specific kind of movie. that the more I dug into, the more I. realized is one of my favorite types of. movies. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Disaster movies. I had no idea. But remember we were. talking this whole thing was kicked off. by me watching The Day After Tomorrow a. couple weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. And uh I.

was like, "Yeah, it's one of my favorite. movies." And the reason why is because I. love disaster movies. Love them. Yeah. I. like a lot of these. It's not my. favorite genre overall, but like I found. myself saying like, "Oh, yeah, that was. pretty good." Or, "I like that." All. right. But. generally, if if we're in. this this is a subgenre of action. movies, and I think I prever prefer. action movies overall more than disaster. movies. Okay. All right. Well, yeah, we'll get into that because it is a.

subgenre of action. Um, and that makes a. lot of sense. Disaster movies are packed. with action. Um, and there are some that. are like, okay, this is definitely a. disaster film, like The Towering. Inferno. Oh, yeah. Obby. Okay. But then. there's also movies like Speed and Speed. checks off a lot of the boxes. Yeah. Not. a disaster movie though. You would not. call it a a disaster movie. Even though. it really could, if you really wedged it. in there, it would qualify. But there's.

just a couple of little things that are. different. Yeah. That make it definitely. an action movie. And then you have other. ones like um The Birds, Alfred. Hitchcock's The Birds. Not a disaster. movie to me. It it it it ends up on. lists. It's part of the animal attack. subgenre of disaster films, which is a. subgenre of action. Yeah. It's. interesting cuz uh I'm sure you did the. same thing when reading off some of. these. It's sort of like just a gut. feeling sometimes and you can't say. exactly what it is that you feel. personally like doesn't count, but.

someone, you know, someone else might. think it counts. It's not like this is. something you can say is very cut and. dry, you know, right? And because of. that, I looked everywhere on the. internet to try to cobble together this. list of like basically the the basic. defining characteristics of disaster. films. Yeah. And it was hard. Nobody's. ever sat sat down and said, "Here they. are." Some people have kind of peace. meal, but that people don't talk that. much about disaster films, which I find.

sad. Well, maybe this can be that and. maybe you can like, I don't know, start. a website. joshdefinddes.com. And I'll just put this article on there. and that'll be that. All right. Should. we go through some of these because you. did a bangup job. Thank you. Uh the. first thing you needed in a in a. disaster movie is a disaster. Sure. Uh. but this can be a lot of different. things. Um a lot of time it's a. humanmade thing. Uh and that varies from. climate change movies, which we've seen. a lot more of lately, uh to like.

pandemics. Um, and sometimes like like I guess a. some things like Towering Inferno are a. bit of a mashup because you can have. like the threat of a structural. collapse. So that is a humanmade thing, but it might be brought upon by like a. fire or flood or something. Yes, there's. overlap. Nobody said you can pin down. disaster movies pretty easily. That's. right. What else? There's like uh. extraterrestrial is a big one. It can be. an alien attack. It can be a comet or an. asteroid headed toward Earth. Yeah. Um,

transportation is huge. Yeah. People. love screwing up like cruise ships and. trains and boats and airplanes. Love it. And then one of the other. things about it too, this the disaster. is ongoing, right? So it's not like the. people survive a fiveminute earthquake. and then the rest of the movie they all. like go out to dinner and everything's. fine. they spend the rest of the movie. negotiating all the problems that that.

disaster created. So they're they're. negotiating sub disasters or it can be. like an ongoing disaster like um a flood. or something like that like that can. happen the entire movie. Um but one way. or another the entire movie takes place. over some sort of disaster in all of its. after effects. Yeah, for sure. uh. impending or in uh uh in what in uh Oh, that's a good point, too. Yeah, sometimes there's a lot of leadup to it.

Yeah, exactly. But what what am I. looking for in process in progress? Sure. Oh, good lord. Uh it's usually a. pretty large disaster. And for me, this. is like can be a real big differentiator. in my personal opinion. Um and but. again, it's a gut check. Like sometimes. if it's just a local thing to me I'm. like well that's not really a disaster. movie cuz it has to be more big and. sweeping to truly qualify. But then. sometimes it it is sort of a smaller.

thing and I feel like it does qualify. So uh like like in the case of um you. know like a a bridge collapse or a. collapse tunnel or like Daylight. Stallone's movie about the wasn't that. one of the the New York tunnels was. collapsing or collapse like I I. considered that a disaster movie. So, I'm like contradicting myself and that's. what makes this all fun. Yeah. On one. end of the spectrum, the world can. actually be ending. That could be the. premise. Or like you said, a little. tunnel collapse. The rest of the world's.

just going on. Yeah. Business as usual. Exactly. Let him die. Like that guy in. airplane. Uh I don't remember that. What. happened? There was like a a debate TV. show like on the news or something like. that and one was like we need to take. better care of people in the FAA has to. step it up and the other guy was. presenting counterpoint and he was like. I say let them die. Oh my god. It's way. funnier in the movie. Yeah. Obviously. surviving the disaster is a big part of.

the plot point. Um, we know some people. won't make it out alive, but um, usually. like most of the A-list cast will make. it out alive unless they're really. trying to like pull one over on you in a. in a scream sort of way. Yes. And you um. teased something just now. You you uh. some people will definitely not survive. One of the things about disaster movies. is all you have to do is basically see. one and the next one, maybe you don't. even need to see a second one. You can.

pick out very quickly who's going to. die. Yeah. Who's going to live? And the. reason why is. because stereotypes are pervasive in. disaster movies. Like you have like uh. the dumb brrawy guy or you know a smart. scientist, damsels in distress. Like to this day. disaster movies are sexist. I could not. come up with a single disaster movie. where the hero was a woman. Not a single.

one. In all the decades of disaster. movies, it's men. Most of the main. characters and leads are men. Yeah. And. the woman is basically there to. essentially be saved and maybe help out. some. Yeah. I mean, I guess more. recently they may throw you a bone with. like a woman as president, but then then. she's like commissioning the the team of. men to uh usually solve the problem. Good point. Right. So, you know very. quickly who the hero is, but there's. also plenty of other people you're like, I think they're going to live. And you.

can really kind of cut them into three. moral categories. Good, bad, and. redeemable. And redeemable can be like. the guy's ex-wife's new boyfriend who. you hate, but really he actually turns. out to be a good guy. He probably dies, but he'll die a good noble death. He. could also not die and become like a. sidekick. And then there's like the. shady rich people often the people who. are who are responsible for the disaster. through like their greed or something. like that. You know they're going to die.

a very bad death. And the the point is. is like it's a really simplistic way of. looking at humans. And I think that's. one of the reassuring things about it. that make them enjoyable. Yeah, for. sure. And I think we would be remiss if. we didn't bring up a little bit of a. prickly topic for our African-American. listeners. It has long been a movie. trope in horror movies, disaster movies. or whatever, where uh the black. characters will die almost certainly and.

usually first. And that has become a a. such a trope it's become a joke and. lampuned in like you know the parody. movies and stuff. Uh but we have to. mention that. And what I'm curious. about, and hopefully we'll hear from. some of our listeners, if that has now. become so ridiculous and crossed over to. where it's now just sort of funny and. expected and a movie thing and not like. truly upsetting, right? So, I'm I'm. curious how our how our African-American. listeners feel about this at this point.

in 2025. Yeah. There's usually about as. many black um characters as there are. women characters in disaster movies. Yeah. But like you said, similarly, they're often the president like Morgan. Freeman or Danny Glover or something. like that. I'd vote for Morgan Freeman. Yeah, for sure. But I heard the reason, you know, he wears those diamond studs. in his ears all the time. Yeah, he he's. been rocking those for a while. I heard. the reason why it's an old pirates thing. where you wear some sort of jewelry or.

whatever so that if you die away from. home, you have enough currency or value. or something on you to pay for your. funeral. That's why he does that. That's. what I heard. That's incredible. Yeah. It makes you want to vote for him even. more, huh? I just want to hear that. State of the Union. Yeah. Whatever speech he's delivering, it would be really smooth. I was going. to try and bust out of Morgan Freeman, but I just I think it would I would. embarrass myself. I've never tried. So, it's never good to to launch into your.

first attempt live on the air. Well, maybe we'll workshop it off air. Okay. Uh well, we have to talk about the hero. Um the hero most times is not like uh a. typical hero. It's usually an everyman. kind of character. Mhm. Who just like uh. like Armageddon for instance, you know, they put together a rough and tumble. team, you know, dirty dozen style. It. wasn't a bunch of like elite uh problem. solvers. It's they were like oil rig.

guys, right? Like drillers. Yeah. They. weren't even astronauts for Pete's sake. Yeah. They had to train him. I only saw. Armageddon once, so I'm I'm pulling a. lot of this from distant memory. Yeah. I'm more a Deep Impact dude. Oh yeah, that's what I heard. As a matter of. fact, I'm not entirely certain I've ever. seen Armageddon. Uh, you know, it was okay. It was it was. fairly, you know, schllocky big budget. sort of stuff. You just described almost.

every single disaster movie ever made. and the response too, your judgment of. it, almost every single disaster movie. ever made. Like they don't get you to. jump off off off the couch at the end. and scream bravo or encore. You know. what I mean? You just kind of like them. They're just kind of fun. Yeah. It's. it's summer movie popcorn fair. I I. still love these kind of movies. I think. there's a place for all kinds of movies. and I still love going to the theater. and seeing these sort of big budget like. it probably isn't a great film but it. might be a fun movie. Right. So within.

these um this structure these. constrictions people have learned over. the years how to kind of play with them. and make make new forms of disaster. films. And a really good example I think. so we said that um either a big disaster. affects tons of people or a small. disaster affects a little amount of. people. Um something that kind of. combines the two is Leave the World. Behind. Ethan Hawk movie. I don't know. that one. Oh it's great. It was on. Netflix. Okay. Ethan Hawk and Julia.

Roberts. So basically the there's a. cyber attack that just causes. civilization to essentially collapse. But we're just following like two. families who are kind of having to. figure out what to do and what's going. on and all that. I like that approach. Yeah, it was it was definitely worth. seeing. Um, and then other ones rather. than having kind of a schllocky humor. that really started to develop in the. late 70s and then kind of turned into.

like quips I guess in the '9s. Yeah. Um, there's some very very serious ones too. like the impossible. Oh boy. Not a. schllocky um depiction of the 2004. Indian Ocean tsunami. It's incredible. movie though. It is. It's so It's. probably the most realistic film I've. ever seen in my life. Yeah. I mean, I. remember I think I remember when it came. out. We might have even talked about. that on the air at some point when we. did the tsunami episode with the how.

they recreated that was just harrowing. Exactly. So, um that's Disaster Films in. a nutshell. And I feel like we could. probably take a break here and then come. back and talk about the history of. disaster films. What do you think? Let's. do it. [Music].

So, um unlike some other things, the. disaster films are one of those um. things you can explore and find that. there's an actual beginning and it's not. like this thing developed over time. There were disaster films because. there's there's these definitions, these. characteristics that you have to have. There were films along the way that just.

happened to have those. And the first. one was deluge from 1933. where if you watch it, there's a several. minutes of New York City being destroyed. by a tsunami and it's pretty impressive. for 1933. Yeah, for sure. Uh, and it. also sort of, as we'll see, and usually. they're the schllockier ones, but you. get a lot of these one-word title. disaster movies, right? Uh, especially. in the 70s, but then again, as we'll see. in the '9s, resurgent, things like. tornado, flood, stuff like that. Yeah.

You put an exclamation point at the end. of a natural disaster or force of nature. in your set. So, I didn't know I didn't. know any of these early early ones, but. um one from 1936. It was called San. Francisco, right? Yep. And it was made. 30 years after the 1906 earthquake and. about that earthquake. Yes. But it's. also apparently people break into song. in it here or there. So, it's sometimes. listed as a musical drama. Yeah. There's. another one called Old Chicago about the. 1871 Chicago Fire that came in 1938.

Uh, Titanic apparently was a favorite. subject of early disaster films and. actually stayed that way over time. Yeah. But it wasn't until nuclear. anxieties really started to develop as. the Cold War picked up and it was. reflected in movies that people started. imagining what would happen if all these. nuclear weapons went off. Yeah. And that. actually kind of created the first crop. of what you could really point to as the. earliest disaster films. Yeah. Kind of.

like the ones as we know it. uh in the. early '60s, Voyage to the Bottom of the. Sea was one in ' 61. Uh when a a nuke. powered sub uh that was radiation fire. coming from space, uh they were going to. bomb that radiation fire from below. Like anytime you're using a nuclear bomb. to, you know, launch it into a disaster, like I feel like that's happened a. couple of times at least. Sure. For. sure. Uh what else? There's um the day. the Earth caught fire. Not a good thing.

No. Um that that kind of wondered what. would happen if a couple of nuclear bomb. tests that happen to be carried out. simultaneously by the US and the Soviet. Union. What would happen? And they said, "Oh, well probably the Earth's axis. would be shifted and we would be knocked. out of orbit and we would start heading. toward the sun." That is cut and dry. disaster plot. Yeah, for sure. Uh, also. in the 60s we had Crack in the World and. for me one of the great movie titles of.

all time, Panic and Year Zero. Such a. great title. It is a great title. And. then of course, The Birds, an undisputed. disaster film. Yeah, I take issue with. that. The Night of Night of the Living. Dead is listed. That is not a disaster. movie. Well, that's a great question. because is a zombie apocalypse that a a. handful of survivors have to survive and. negotiate. That's an ongoing disaster. You have a group of people from. different walks of life. sometimes. stereotype coming together. Their lives. intersect through this disaster and then. they have to survive. Some people do,

some people don't. There's a hero. I. mean, in that sense, Night of the Living. Dead definitely qualifies. World War Z. would qualify. No. Yeah, I think that. there's like a I mean, there's room for. debate there. Like those could also be. horror monster movies, too. Yeah, I. consider those subg genres. I think as. soon as you add any zombie, it becomes. something else. Uh, something else. entirely. That's again, these are all. just my dumb opinions. Did you see um. Godzilla Minus one? No, but I've heard a.

lot about it, dude. Is it garbage or. great? No, it's great. It has a great. plot, great acting, great dialogue, and. then the action sequences are. unbelievable. I got to check that out. then. It's a really good movie. Again, is it a disaster movie? If you add. Godzilla, I don't know. Could make it a. monster movie. Yeah. Let's see what. Chuck says. Chuck monster movie. Okay, it is officially a monster movie then. Uh well, you know, I did host a movie. show for a couple of years. I know you.

did. That's why I deferred to you. That. makes me an expert. Uh the 70s is when. really things start get cooking uh with. all manner of disaster movies from uh. things like the Andromeda Strain in 1971. uh you know a Michael Kiteon novel. So. one of his early novels that was. adapted. I tried to watch that the other. day and the animal torture I could not. get past, man. That's when they just. didn't care about depicting that stuff. with any kind of tenderness at all, you.

know. Well, I stopped the movie and went. and looked it up like, did they actually. kill this monkey and these rats? Did. they? And no, luckily they did not. And. the ASPCA was on hand and signed off on. it. But what they did was they. suffocated it with carbon dioxide until. it um passed out. Okay. And then the. moment it passed out, they cut and then. they revived it. But that that monkey. was still suffering from this fixiation. during that those moments where they. filmed it. It's awful. Did someone do.

mouth the monkey resuscitation? Well, there's a there's a when the monkey. dies, if you look closely before they. cut, there's a shadow of somebody moving. toward it already. Are you serious? So, I think they used a little tiny oxygen. mask to revive it. Oh god. But it's. Yeah, that I mean that makes it a little. better and that they didn't kill him, but they still tortured him. So, I. couldn't finish that movie. Yeah, I. don't blame you. I never saw it, but I. remember that kind of as a hold over, you know, came out the year I was born. So, but I remember it just being a. thing. Yeah. Um, so, okay. Yes. You said.

we started off with Andromeda Strain, right? Uh, yeah. I mean, Airport was in. 1970 and that's the one that, you know, kicked off a huge I mean, it had. sequels. It led to uh airport 75, airport 77, and then Concord, Cola, and. Airport 79. Yeah. Which all eventually. led to Airplane uh as I mean, that had. to be the first um spoof, right? Like. disaster spoof. That's as far as I could. tell, unless I would qualify or include.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes as a. disaster spoof. And I'm not sure if that. came out before or after Airplane. I. think it was before, but Airport was a. very lauded film. It got 10 Oscar nods. It actually won Helen Hayes won for. supporting actress and it and this is. something that we'll see over and over. again. Most of these movies they make a. huge huge return on even if they cost a. lot to make. Like that cost 10 million. bucks in 70 1970 which was a lot but it.

brought in a hundred million dollars in. 1970. Yeah. And so that really caught. the attention of the studio bosses. They're like, "Let's do that again." And. like you said, they there were three. sequels to it. This is probably one of. my favorite movie franchises, although I. would Yeah, I would make the case that. the sequels, at least the first two. sequels, are better than the original. I. didn't see any of these. They're so. great. I watched 77 and 79 in the last. 24 hours, and I love them so much. And.

airport 75 is probably the best of the. bunch. All right, I'll check that out. And SE Airport 77 of course brings in. the Bermuda Triangle because I think. 1977 was peak Bermuda Triangle paranoia. Yeah, for sure. And then that Concord, the Airport 79, the Concord, it's people. keep shooting missiles at it and they. have to take like evasive action and. you're like, okay, this is definitely. when the genre really started to die or. died. It had already started. But one of. the one of the big things that Airport.

kicked off in addition to eyepopping box. office returns was that huge cast of. like where you recognize every single. person. Uh especially if you were alive. at the time and an adult at the time you. would recognize everybody in there. Sometimes there were cameos and what. they were following airport was based on. a novel by Arthur Haley and he had. written hotel. He one of his things was. a ton of different characters whose. lives kind of intersect in this issue or.

this problem or this disaster. So the. basically Arthur Haley the novelist. inadvertently invented the disaster film. through like his format. Yeah. And you. know they movie posters back then. reflected that too cuz I remember stuff. like Towering Inferno. There would be. the more artistic um like the inferno, you know, the building on fire, but then. like at the top or the bottom, they. would literally just have like uh frames. of people's faces of the cast like just. just tagged on there. Like look at all.

these all all the star power, right? And. as time went on, the the stars got a. little schllockier. Um. in in Concord, um Charo makes a. hilarious one minute cameo. Okay. JJ. Walker is one of the major minor. characters. He smokes grass the whole. time. Okay. Um it it I think in. Earthquake, which we'll talk about in a. second, Walter Matau makes this. inexplicable cameo a few times where.

he's dressed like a 70s pimp with a. curly wig and everything and he's drunk. out of his mind. Wow. Like that's his. character. um like they were definitely. known for cameos, but yeah, those. sweeping huge casts of generally A-list. and then former A-list stars. That was a. big hallmark of disaster films that came. around in the 70s. Yeah. And you know, they're trying to appeal to a broad. demographic. So, they would definitely. bring back like some of the stars from. like the golden age of Hollywood when. they were uh in their later years would.

be in these like Fred Estair was in one. of them, right? Yes. He I can't. remember. I think he might have been in. the towering inferno. Yeah. So, you. know, they're clearly trying to appeal. to uh all age groups. Um, another thing. they a lot of these had in common, at. least in the 1970s was a man named Irwin. Allen. Yeah. Uh, the master of disaster. He came up in the 1950s, but he really. hit his stride in the 70s with things. like Poseidon Adventure, the. forementioned Towering Inferno. Uh, each. of those was the top box office uh hit.

of their respective years. Yeah. Um, Poseidon Adventure very famously was. about a an ocean liner that flips upside. down and sinks basically. Such a good. movie, too. So, everybody is upside down. on this boat uh on this ship trying to. trying to get out while they're. underwater. Pretty great. Yep. And it's. a bunch of different people who are. stereotypes from different walks of life. who are led out to safety by an. everyman. In this case, a priest named. Jean Hackman. That's not the character's. name. That's the actor's name. That'd be.

pretty coincidental that Gene Hackman. played a character by named Gene. Hackman. Such a brutal, tragic, very upsetting end for such a. wonderful person. Yeah, upsetting is. definitely a good word for it. Yeah. God, can't stop thinking about it. sometimes. You should probably try to. I. think that would be for the best. I. know. Uh, Towering Inferno, of course, you know, we mentioned there was a fire. If you don't know this movie, you should. check it out for sure. It's one of one. of the good ones. But faulty wiring of. course uh makes it catch fire. People.

are trapped at the top. Uh but you've. also got, you know, sometimes it can. work in other mini disasters within it. And that's the case here where there's a. flood scene. Um because they're trying. to douse the fire and then all of a. sudden you've got a flood to to reckon. with. That's like a prestige disaster. film. They they played it straight. ahead. There's no schllock to it. The. cast was just amazing. And they did. something that would be picked up again. in like the '9s and then today's. disaster films where they had two heroes. who kind of had to work together. One.

was Paul Newman who played the architect. of this 135 floor skyscraper. Yeah. Just. totally fictional at the time. especially. Um and then uh Steve McQueen. was this fire chief and they had to work. together to figure out how to how to get. the people out of this building and keep. the or quench the fire. Man, McQueen and. Paul Newman. Does it get any better than. that? Not really. Maybe Paul Newman and. Robert Redford. Yeah, that's Sundance.

Kid. Oh, yeah. That was great. Um, okay. So, yes, if you see one disaster movie, see the Towering Inferno. Uh, yeah, agreed. Um, Earth, if you if you want to. see one that's kind of super schlocky, if you want to go down that avenue, you. could start with Earthquake from 1974. Yeah. Uh, old Charlton H was in that. one. People are in this case again. trapped in a skyscraper once again, but. this time it's an earthquake. Lot of uh, you know, when you see these earthquake.

movies, there's they're always shaking. the camera. Um, but what's funny is if. you ever see them being shot um, obviously nothing is moving except the. camera, so the people are all just going. whoa on just, you know, solid ground. It's always fun. Um, so Earthquake did. not really mean to be schlocky. It just. kind of ended up being schlocky. They. did a great job of doing it. unintentionally. And it wasn't the film. that like led to the end of the 70s. boom, but it was definitely one of the. early signals that this is not this.

party's not going to last forever. And. it's a good movie. I watched it last. night. No, I watched it early this. morning. Oh man. Um and Charlton H, who's a regular in these disaster. movies, he did great. Um, everyone did. really good in it. It was just some of. the premises and then also some of the. special effects. Like there's a scene. where the earthquake tremors are rocking. this street in LA. Yeah. And they're. just pushing over the facades. So you. can see that it's just this cardboard.

facade coming down stuff like that. And. then there's a very famous elevator. scene. Yeah. That's on YouTube. It drops. like all the way down um killing. everyone inside. But the way they show. the impact is they just freeze the frame. and then some animated blood splatters. across the screen for some reason. It. Yeah, it looks it looks really really. bad and is so abrupt and jarring and. weird. Um but it's like I said that part. is on YouTube if you just you know type.

in earthquake y movie elevator scene. There you go. It's so you know it's a. good scene if someone has taken the time. to clip it out and put it on YouTube, right? Uh yeah, it it is definitely. worth seeing. But um okay, you want to. take a break now and come back and talk. about the end of the 70s or push on. through until the 90s? Uh yeah, let's. maybe push on and then we'll stop at the. 90s. Okay, sounds good. So, like I said, uh it was kind of clear fairly early on. that this wasn't going to last forever. and it definitely did not make it out of.

the decade. It really kind of came to an. ugly end starting around 1978. Yeah. And you know, one one person's. great disaster movie is another person's. schllock. It all kind of depends because. some of the ones listed here is sort of. um being the lazier versions. Um. Avalanche and Meteor are not that's not. one movie. That would be pretty great. though actually. Sure. It'd be Meteor then Avalanche probably, but those are two different movies. Uh. the Hindenburg, I thought that was okay.

as from a being a kid and watching it. I. didn't see that one. Haven't revisited. Uh but then roller coaster. I as a child. loved loved that movie uh about a. terrorist. It's you know I again I don't. know if it holds up but it's about a. terrorist that's going to blow up a a. roller coaster. You know he's targeting. amusement parks. So are the people on. the roller coaster like having to go on. it like or stay on it over and over. again like it can't stop or something. like that? I don't think so. But like.

there's the bombers in the park and I. just, you know, I'm having these. fleeting memories. It's probably. terrible, but you know, as a, you know, 10 or 11 year old, it was great. Yeah, I. gotcha. And then there's Flood with an. exclamation point. Um, shout out to. Laura, who helped us with this, who came. up with this list of lazily named um, disaster movies. Kind of like they were. phoning it in. Yeah, Roller Coaster. isn't the best name. I'll admit that. Okay. All right. I'm going to watch that. one, though. All right. But a lot of. people who uh think about this kind of.

stuff point to the Swarm from. 1978 as the the one that was like, "Yeah, this is over." Not only was this. over, but Irwin Allen's career was over. because he had not one, not two, but. three disaster film flops from 1978 to. 1980. And that really ended the boom. Yeah, that that was pretty much it. the. swarm uh kind of I don't know if. Nicholas Cage if they were referencing. or paying homage to that with the bees. thing uh later in the wicker man. It.

became a very popular meme. The bees. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. From. Nicholas Cage. But uh in this movie in. the swarm uh there's a pilot that yells. bees bees. Millions of bees. Right. And. the bees take down an Air Force. helicopter. Of course they do. And the. way that they're overcome is somebody. figures out how I think it's Michael. Kaine leading the the cast. He's the. hero. Um he figures out that they can. lead these bees out to an oil slick in.

the ocean and then set the oil slick on. fire and no more bees. That's Hey, I. think that's a pretty decent, you know, uh disaster movie solution. Okay, fair. enough. But um I was reading a criticism. of that movie by Tyler Sage, I think on. a site called Ultimate Classic Rock of. All Things. And Tyler Sage says that the. cast seems either faintly embarrassed by. the proceedings or confused about what's. supposed to be actually happening. Yeah. I mean, that's all you need to know.

Like that's not supposed to happen in a. movie, you know? No, it's not. Uh so. Allan had a a black mark on his record. with that with the swarm. And then. beyond the Poseidon adventure, they. tried to recapture that magic in 1979. uh movie released seven years later, even though it took place the very next. day of the original movie. Yeah. And. that was Michael Kaine, too. But also. Sally Field, Telly Savalis, Peter Bole, and like if your cast like that can't. keep a movie Yeah. like make it good, then there's something really wrong with.

it. Oh, I thought you were about to say. afloat. I almost did. And then I was. like, "No, Josh, do not say that." Uh, he did produce perhaps one of the worst. entries Irwin Allen did of the genre. Um, with I don't think it was his swan. song, but it was definitely the end uh. in 1980, a movie called When Time Ran. Out that did have Paul Newman. Um, it. was about a volcano at an island resort, but he was very much forced into this. movie because of his contract. I don't.

think he at all wanted to make it. Uh. they cut the budget. Warner Brothers. did. Um so they didn't even have the. money to make it look okay. And it was. just it was really bad. There's a pretty. good quote in here too, right? Yeah. That um the eruption when it finally. comes is a wonderfully cheesy amalgam of. wobbly back projection, bathtub title. wave, and scared expressions from the. cast. Oh man. Uh so then because of all. this, because these movies just got. worse and worse, but then also like the. high drama that was played straight, uh.

it was just ripe for parody. And like. you said, Airplane was the one that you. really don't need to mention any other. parody. It's it's it as far as disaster. film parodies go. It just completely. captured it perfectly. Yeah. And that. movie holds up pretty well. I have to. say it's still a fun watch. Yeah, for. sure. Okay, I think we've made it to the. end of the 70s. The first real disaster. boom has come and gone and things quiet. down throughout the 80s and uh we'll let. you think about this quietly through.

this ad. [Music]. break. All. [Music]. right, we're back and we're going to. talk about the resurgence of disaster.

movies in the 1990s. And I may have. mentioned it on this show before, I'm. not sure, but this is one of my. legendary predictions, my friend. Uh I. can't remember it, but it was one of the. very very very early '9s disaster flicks. came out. I I wish I could have. pinpointed which one it was, but I. remember very distinctly at the time in. college telling my friends, I was like, "You watch I was like, they're going to. start making all of these movies again. just like they did in the 70s and.

there's going to be a ton of disaster. movies and it literally happened like. starting that year." Man, did you hear. that from the ghost standing in the. middle of the street? No, no, no, no. That was She whispered it to you. It's. probably pre- ghost, but yes, Shark. NATO, Jared from Subway, Hugh Jackman, and Disaster Movies. But the only four. things I've ever predicted, I don't. know. I think some more are going to. come to the four over over the coming. years. Chuck Stradamus. It could it.

could only have been one of just a few. uh movies because can't remember what it. was. Yeah, this whole this '9s disaster. boom started and peaked in within a. two-year period. And it got started off. you you could say in retrospect it was. started off by Outbreak which came out. in 1995. It's a EP epidemic disaster. movie. Yeah, that counts. I think most. people don't point to that and say that. kicked it off. It's more like they say. Twister or Independence Day in 1996.

kicked it off and then yes, you would. definitely lump Outbreak into it, but it. was probably one of those two movies. Yeah, it's um there was a movie called. Avalanche in. 1994. Uh so they were dabbling in that. world, but it was not a big movie at all. as far as like capturing attention. I. think uh Twister for sure. And that may. have been the one actually where I was. like, "Oh man, you cuz that is what I. think of as like typical disaster." I. don't I know this is controversial, but. I'm not sure I put Independence Day in.

disaster movies there. There's something. about when you add like zombies or. aliens and stuff. It just tweaks it. slightly for me from classic disaster. But again, just my opinion. Well, okay. So even if you accept um and not with an. A but a ex um Independence Day from this. list, then you still have Twister. I. think it was Twister. I remember the. entire country was talking about. Twister. Yeah. It's I famously said. Emily's uh favorite movies of all time.

are every independent film ever made in. Twister. Yeah. And I mean it's it's a. really good movie. Bill Paxton's amazing. in it. Helen Hunt does great, too. Like. it's a good movie. And one of the. reasons I think that it did kick off um. that that second boom in disaster movies. was that you could take the the disaster. formula but then apply emerging CGI. computer assisted um special effects. that were at the time it was like holy. cow we can do this now like the White.

House being blown up by the the alien. ship in Independence Day like Mhm. you. just had not seen stuff like that. before. This was all very new and they. were using it sparingly enough too that. it didn't look fake. Yeah, for sure. It It was like those. were really great special effects at at. the time. Twister looked really really. good. Um, we should also mention too, I. know we didn't go over this, but the uh. it's just now occurring to me Philip. Seymour Hoffman and Twister is also a. kind of a classic uh disaster movie.

trope character. Um, which is sort of a. a side character to the the guy in the. chair. Uh, you ever heard that? like the. the computer expert that just literally. sits in a chair the entire movie and. figures stuff out. Yeah. And usually has. a smart mouth always. Uh this is sort of. an adjacent thing though, Philip Seymour. Hoffman's character, which is sort of. he's not in a chair, but it's the. wisecracking irreverent kind of uh you. know, he's wearing the Hawaiian shirt. when everyone else has on like tactical.

gear, right? Uh that's you know, but. super smart and figuring stuff out. I'm. not sure what they call that in disaster. movies, but it's their version of Guy in. the Chair. I think I don't think people. have written enough about disaster. movies for anyone to name it. So, call. him call him what you want. Uh, a Hoffman. There you go. That's the. H. He was the Hoffman of the movie and. maybe one of the first. Uh, we got to. talk about Titanic. Um, it's a disaster. movie, but it's got so much story and. and romance. It's definitely a sub genre.

within it. I think Bill Paxton was in. that, too. Yeah. RIP, man. What a great. guy. Oh, I forgot he was gone. That was. so sad. Um, yeah, it was sad. So, one of the. other things, too, that that fueled this. 90s resurgence of the disaster boom is. that these movies, some of them, Titanic, Independence, Day Twister, they're among the highest grossing films. of all time. Yeah. So, just like in the. 70s, um, studios were like, "We can.

spend lavishly on a production, but. we're still going to make back 10 times. or more what we put into it." So, they're like, "Good. Let's start making. disaster films." And very quickly, after. some of these really creative original. disaster films, you could see in. theaters virtually at the same time, disaster films about the exact same. topic. Yeah, that was a thing for a. little while. Uh, I think I was still. getting Premier Magazine at the time and. I remember they started writing about, you know, these productions being kind.

of out trying to outra one another to. get to the box office first. Uh, maybe. to their disadvantage as a production, but very famously the the two biggest. examples or I guess four are Armageddon. and Deep Impact about a meteor striking. the earth, you know, to to basically. wipe out humanity, right? And then. Dante's Peak and Volcano. Neither of. those were that great. No, they weren't. I don't I was Volcano with Tommy Lee. Jones. Is that the one? Yeah. And Anne.

Heship again. Uh yeah. And Dante's Peak. was Pierce Brozen and um Linda Hamilton. Oh, Linda Hamilton. That's right. And. that's a really good example of like. just how disaster films like minimize. women and their contributions. Linda. Hamilton was well known by this time as. a female action star. Yeah. Like she was. in the Terminator movies. She was a. total BA. Yeah. Sarah Connor, right? And. but and in this movie, apparently she's. she's like a single mom who's totally. dependent on Pierce Broden to help her.

and her kids, she's like um kind of she. whimpers at times like Yeah. God. That's. just one of the big problems with the. the genre. Like if you can just kind of. hold your nose and make it through stuff. like that, then you're you you can enjoy. them. But if you focus on things like. that, you're probably not going to like. disaster films. Yeah, agreed. What a. waste of Linda Hamilton. What a shame. Uh, I gotta shout out a few more that. weren't listed here from the 90s. Uh, Hard Rain. Remember that one? Christian. Slater and Mini Driver. No, it was a it.

was a flood movie. It's about You know. what was it about? It's about a very. hard rain. Okay. Just won't stop. raining. Uh, friend, shout out a friend. of the show Mini Driver. Uh, listen to. her wonderful podcast on our own. network, Many Questions. Very nice. Uh, I don't know if you remember this one, Firestorm with NFL legend Howie Long. No. Yeah, that was one of the bad ones. I think he was a like a forest fire, like a fire jumper kind of guy. So far,

these ones you're shouting out sound. like Rift Tracks um candidates. They probably are. Um and then also some. of the one-word titles. There was a. movie called Tornado. Uh there was a TV. movie called Tornado Warning that. starred Gerald uh Gerald McCrainy from. Simon and Simon. Nice. I love that guy. Uh there was another movie called Flood. A second movie called Flood. Wow. And. then there was one from 1999, uh, which. is sort of when things started to peter. out, uh, called Storm with Luke Perry. and Martin Sheen. Wow. That is that's.

some 90s casting. It's Mini Driver and. Christian Slater that screams 90s pretty. hard, too. Yeah, for sure. But like you. said, there's one other thing. The 90s. definitely contributed to the hero. scientist where it wasn't it wasn't. necessarily some, you know, tough dude. It was a guy who had the smarts to. figure out how to deal with this or knew. what was coming. That's another trope. from um disaster films, especially now. Usually the hero is the only one who can.

see the impending disaster. No one will. believe him and then he ends up having. to save everybody else's tokus because. no one believed him and didn't take any. measures to to thwart the disaster from. happening. Right. And once again, you. were saying he because all of these. movies fail the Beal test for sure, 100%. Uh, and there's also a thing that popped. up in the 90s, which was the the like. the rival scientist. Um, if there was a. hero scientist, a lot of times there was.

an uh ant well not anti-hero because. that's still a hero. Uh, just the. anti-scientist who was still a. scientist. I'm clumsily working my way. through this, but uh they they thwart. the hero. It's, you know, like usually a. government scientist or something or. maybe an official and they dismiss. everything like uh that the the hero. scientist is saying, right? That's a it. can also be a government official very. frequently. They get their comeuppants. pretty commonly in 90s on disaster.

movies. Yeah. What do you call like Die. Hard? That's not a disaster movie, is. it? I've seen it listed. Yeah, I guess. it could be. I to me it's just a. straight ahead action film. I totally. agree. But it doesn't Christmas movie. like you would say all the people in all. the people in Nakatomi Plaza, that's a. disaster to them. Yeah. The world's. going about its business as usual, but. to them inside, they're in the midst of. a disaster. They have to survive. I I. don't know. I think just I don't know. I. I think so. The same thing with Speed.

In Speed, Keo Reeves, the hero, was a. SWAT member, right? Not an every person, right? die hard John Mlan. He's a cop. Even though he's off his beat, he's. still a cop. Like, the the hero has to. be some sort of everyman who may or may. not possess some special sort of skills. or knowledge that help him um overcome. this problem. And then his medal that he. may not even have known that was there. um is tapped and and he leads other.

people to safety. Yeah, for sure. Uh but. you know as the '9s wore on uh with. things like Luke Perry's movie RIP once. again in 99 uh things really kind of. stopped uh in the wake of 9/11. Um it. just wasn't something that people wanted. to see for a little while. So there was. there was a lull. You knew it would come. back. Um early 2000s had a few of them. here and there. There was one called the. core in 2003. uh where the inner core of the earth.

ceases to rotate and scientists once. again have to bomb it to get that thing. kickstarted just like uh like using the. paddles in the ER right clear. Yep. Uh. what was that? 2003. So yeah, the very. next year was The Day After Tomorrow. And that to me is the bridge between the. '9s disaster films and the ones that. kicked off in the 2010s. Agreed. It is. awesome. It's got a great cast. The. scientists are the heroes. There's a. bunch of different stuff going on. The.

world is being threatened. There's. amazing special effects of things just. going haywire. There's wolves. There's. wolves. Yep. And then that scene of the. tsunami flooding New York. There's a. shot that's the exact same shot of uh in. Deluge of the tsunami coming to New. York. So, I've read that it was probably. an homage to that. Oh, that's kind of. cool. episode too. Yeah. Uh 2009 was um. a pretty big year. This when they really.

started to come back, you know, pre2010s. uh with the the movie the Mayan calendar. anxiety movie 2012 came out. Do you. remember that? Yeah, that was Roland. Emerick, right? Yes. No, but I mean, do. you remember living in that time where. people were actually like a little. nervous about it was like Y2K light? Yeah. I mean, we did a podcast on it. We. totally did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And if I. remember correctly, we told everybody. it's totally fine. The Maya the Maya. calendar doesn't actually say the. world's going to end because a new.

calendar starts. That's right. Uh and. we're all here right now. So, thankfully. that came true. Uh 2012 was not a great. movie, but it did because of the the. scope of like just the world ending, they could be they could be like, "Hey, let's just do any disaster we want. anywhere all across the world." Not a. great movie. I watched that one. yesterday, too. I didn't think it was. very good. Oh, I liked it a lot. I think. to me, and I know you know this, but to. me, 2012 is basically up there with The.

Towering Inferno as far as like best. examples of a disaster film go. Okay, there you go. My favorite disaster film. is not listed here, but it is from the. 2010s as far as being an actual great. great film is Steven Solderberg's 2011. film Contagion. Yeah, that is a good. one. It is. I mean, it's a disaster. movie, but it doesn't play like one. because it is so realistically scary. Um, and doesn't have that sort of summer.

movie kind of schlocky appeal, but it's. it's a disaster movie for sure. Did you, like me, detect a note of hostility when. the medical examiner pulls Gwyneth. Paltro's face like roughly off of her. skull during her autopsy? I don't. remember that part. It seemed like they. that was gratuitous. like they there was. like Solderberg had a problem with. Gwynneth Paltro. Gwyneith Paltro. Oh, maybe. So, yeah. Um that was a really. good movie too and that would that'd be. an example of some of the highbrow ones. that started to come out in 2010 like. like we said the impossible. Um there.

was a Korean one called Pandora that. came out in 2007 about a nuclear. meltdown. um Sully about uh Captain. Chelsea Solenberger's uh landing in the. Hudson River where not one person died. A plane, I should say, landed a plane. Yeah, that was uh Hanks, right? Yeah. Yeah. He was in every single movie that. was out at one point, I think. Yeah, he. went through a string of playing real. life characters uh here and there.

That's right. Some of those weren't. great, but I did like the uh the one. about the the Somali pirates, Captain. whatever his name was. Captain Hoffman. Yeah, that was it. So, one of the other things that um that the. 2010 onward um disaster films did was at. the very least the studios figured out. like, hey, these are kind of like easily. translated internationally. And we don't. mean the dialogue's translated easily,

although it definitely is. Yeah, for. sure. And because everything's so. morally cut and dried, people anywhere. can get what they're seeing, even though. it's an Americanmade film about. Americans. But also in in these movies. that are like a worldwide catastrophe, you have the opportunity to take down um. uh landmarks all over the world. So in. France, they you they can see like the. Eiffel Tower going down. like, woo, France, you know. And then one of the. other things, too, is because of these. huge all-star casts, you can easily cast.

um foreign actors or actors who are. really big in the the country they hail. from, and that'll up the box office too. in that country. Yeah, it's all a it's. all a formula. Um, The Rock started. being in a lot of these. There was one. of the few movies I've ever walked out. on was San Andreas in 2015, uh, with. Dwayne the Rock Johnson. I did not think. it was very good at all. Uh he followed. that a few years later. You liked it. Yeah. I didn't see it in theaters.

though. I think if I had paid 20 bucks. to see it, I probably would have been. upset. Yeah. Uh and then he was in. Skyscraper, not to be outdone by San. Andreas. Uh another not so great movie a. few years later in 2018, but again, some. people love All the Rocks stuff. Sure. Just my dumb opinion. I had a um an idea. or a thought that I wanted to share. Chuck, let's hear it about the 2010s. boom. Um, it didn't burn out in one. decade. It's still they're still making. straight ahead 2010 style disaster.

films. And I was thinking that the. reason why is because there's so many. more studios now putting out so many. different types of movies that it it. hasn't become a glut of so- so movies. Or even if there are so so disaster. movies, there's still room to make other. good ones rather than just three or four. studios going all in on disaster films. for the same few years. Yeah. Just. spacing them out as, you know, like just. a something you can return to that's a.

pretty dependable release, but not like, hey, let's release nine of these in the. next two years. Exactly. There's a wider. variety, so it's been allowed to just. kind of continue on. And in my I my. opinion, it's gotten better. like Leave. the World Behind was really good. The. Wave, a Norwegian one that came out in. 2016, was like highly acclaimed. Um, Don't Look Up. Did you see that? The. satire from Adam McKay. Yes, I did. Uh, it was pretty good. actually. I liked it a lot. But it's uh.

it satarizes government and people um. not taking climate change seriously. But. it and it's a disaster film, but it's. not a parody of disaster films, right? It uses disaster films to satarize that. stuff. Yeah. Which is that's an. interesting take for sure, you know. No. You got anything else? Uh, no. I I I. feel like I need to watch more. I didn't. actually watch any full disaster films. again in preparation like you did. So, this has inspired me to go back and. watch some of those from the 70s that I. never saw. Definitely watch Earthquake.

and watch Airport 75. 75. And I still. haven't seen Towering Inferno. Oh, definitely see that, too. Yeah. All. right. Done. Okay, great. Well, since. Chuck agreed to see some movies that I. thought he should see, we've unlocked. listener mail. Uh, I'm gonna call this follow-up to. Morgana the Kissing Bandit. Hey, Chuck. and Josh and all that help make your. show awesome. Uh, my wife and I are. longtime listeners, but first-time. writers. My wife Jennifer and I love. having you entertain and educate us,

especially on long-distance trips with. the family. Uh, you help keep us awake. and focused with a pleasant side effect. of putting our 5-year-old Ben and. seven-year-old Ellaner asleep. That's. great. I love it when we can lull. children to sleep. We live to give. We. are on spring break traveling to my. in-laws house right now. And during the. drive, one of our episodes we listen to. was Morgana the Kissing Bandit. When we. arrived at our destination to ask my. father-in-law if he remembers her since. he is the biggest sports enthusiast I. know. Mhm. Get this dude. He said, "Of.

course." He sees her all the time. because she lives down the street. What? You ended your podcast with a mention. that you didn't know she was still alive. and what happened to her. And we wanted. to let you know she's still alive and. enjoying retirement with a full life. That is awesome. And cherry on top. This. is written to us by John Ritter. Wow. My mind is coming apart at the. seams right now. Chuck, maybe best. listener mail ever. So big uh hello to. John Ritter and your wife Jennifer and.

Ben and Eleanor. Yes. Hello and happy. travels to you guys. And hats off to. your dad, too, for knowing Morgana, the. kissing bandit. Yeah. And hats off to. Morgana. I'm glad you're I'm glad you're. doing great. Hopefully this message gets. to you. Yes. Uh this message brought to. you by John Ritter. Uh if you want to be. like John and get in touch with us, you. can send us an email. Send it off to. stuff at iheartradio.com. [Music]. Stuff You Should Know is a production of.

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