The Day the Earth Moved

When the film begins, Steve and Harley (Jackie Cooper and Cleavon Little) are up in an airplane photographing in rural California. They have some weird and totally untested theories about earthquake prediction...but more about that later. Soon after they land, Steve is arrested in a crappy, tiny speed trap town and jailed for a few days. But a kid feels sorry for him and helps him escape. Later, when Steve looks through his photos he is confident (HOW?!?!) that an earthquake is about to strike that same town! Wow....what a coincidence.

The plot just meandered too much and the film never kept my interest. In many ways, it was disappointing and slow. I would say more but the film just never held my interest and there wasn't much to say about this installment of "The ABC Movie of the Week".

"Style" is what this mini disaster film has going for it.

The plot is standard procedure. No one will listen to a few nobodies who warn of impending doom, in this case an Earthquake.

The movie plays more like a pilot episode for a decent TV show of down and out types. The difference here is that the characters are people you can care about.

And that's just part of what make this work. A few dorks will only care about special effects and budget, which aren't a trademark here. However, this is entertainment for the rest of us.

The "style" is in some of the out of the ordinary things that happen. Our hero is virtually kidnapped legally, to help out a down and out town. It is a great piece of writing.

The writing of the characters, and the interesting desert scenery make this very interesting. There isn't anything "fantastic" about this, although a few eyebrow raising events.

This is what "style" can do for a film.

Even though this could be seen as a typical movie of the week. It was a pretty interesting one, especially for a combination disaster/science fiction pic. I especially loved the humor that Cleavon Little inserted in what could have been just another disaster pic. This definitely is a decent if not good movie of the week.

A sleeper film that was ignored unfairly, "The Day the Earth Moved" has some good entertainment value. Jackie Cooper stars as the pilot of an aerial photography plane who--along with his photographer--discovers an amazing characteristic about their film. When they realize what they have, they are forced to take drastic measures to save some folks in a small town from harm. The film is definitely television fare, but it does possess an underlying charm which makes it tolerable, and even exciting at some point. Jackie Cooper has been an underrated actor in Hollywood. He has always performed his roles well, and he invariably creates the aura of a jovial personality for his characters.

I can't tell exactly why but I kinda liked it. I half wonder if the movie Cars might have gotten a little inspiration from the storyline. Without giving anything away, I think those who who have seen both will know what I mean.