"Pollock" is simply a terrific movie. Now, here's one I watched last night, expecting it to be a ham-fisted and dated chuckle fest (I had not seen the movie since it's initial release decades ago) but it turned out to be a goddamn good movie ... ready? ... Okay ... Charlton Heston in Earthquake. The damn thing was involving as hell with sometimes biting satire (George Kennedy as an apathetic LAPD street cop, Marjoe Gortner in one of his trademark psychopath roles, this time with a unique closeted twist). Some of the soap operatic elements in the first act with retired football star Heston's complicated love life gets a wee bit tiresome but it all pays off in the climax.
And here's the best part about Earthquake I completely forgot ... L.A. is freaking destroyed in the movie. Wiped out. Terrific matte shots by Albert Whitlock.
One of the reasons, perhaps, that the movie works well outside its decidedly crowded genre is that it was directed by Mark Robson, a film-maker with some actually impressive credentials ("The Bridges of Toko-Ri", "Von Ryan's Express", Bogie's last film "The Harder They Fall") with a screenplay by ... Mario Puzo (!)