THE AMERICAN DISASTER

Appetite for destruction!

As the United States geared up for its 1976 bicentennial amid an atmosphere of cautious hope — darkened first by Vietnam, then by Watergate — Hollywood was unleashing mega-budget spectacles that gloried in catastrophe. Several examples of the 1970s "Disaster Movie" genre took high rank among the box-office smashes of all-time — making super-producer Irwin Allen a wealthy man — as megastar-studded casts faced cataclysms man-made, natural or (preferably) both.

The perils of rapidly-advancing technology were thrillingly explored in loving detail: the lethal sides of supersonic aeroplanes, luxury ocean-liners, vertigo-inducing skyscrapers and stomach-churning fairground attractions were sensationally emphasised on the most massive of canvases. Audiences around the world happily lapped them up and Oscar-nominations (sometimes even wins) followed, although critics were relentlessly dismissive.

Delivering immersive experiences that television couldn't dream of matching — culminating in the theatre-rocking (and eventually theatre-wrecking!) marvel Sensurround — these super-productions were the descendants of "golden age" forerunners like San Francisco (1936), in which Clarke Gable emerged from earthquake rubble with moustache miraculously intact.

In retrospect they now look like the last, desperately epic gasp of the studio system, magnificently unwieldy dinosaurs of the medium which retain their capacity to inspire awe half a century later. Of course, all were made without the "benefit" of CGI, showcasing the ingenious talents of practical-effects gurus such as Albert Whitlock — disaster-cinema's stealth MVP.

And as D. J. Trump's USA bombastically prepares for its 250th birthday ("Semiquincentennial") on July 4th, racked by internal strife unprecedented in living memory — to the extent that the union itself seems primed for collapse — it's the ideal time to revisit this unfairly-maligned cinematic epoch via the sub-genre's popcorn-popping pinnacles.

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

(Text: Neil Young)