One of the movies that killed the disaster movie cycle despite writers including Carl Foreman and Stirling Sillipant and a genuine all star cast - Paul Newman as a rugged oil rigger, William Holden as a hotel owner, Jacqueline Bissett as Holden's secretary, Burgess Meredith as a guest, James Franciscus as a rich man, Veronica Hamel as his girlfriend. There's also Ernest Borgnine, Pat Morita, Barbara Carrera, Alex Karras, and others.
The original book was based on a real volcano eruption on Martinique which would have been far more interesting. I guess they had a failure of nerve.
Instead Allen pulls from his other hits - Paul Newman redoing his tough Toweing Inferno stuff, Fraciscus playing Richard Chamberlain in Inferno, a reprise of the crossing the gangway scene in Poseidon Adventure, a reprise of most of the people refusing to come along with the escapees in Poseidon, a reprise of Shelley Winters' death in Poseidon, the fact most of the film concentrates on a small group of refugees like Poiseon.
It's poorly directed and structured. I enjoyed people panicking and trashing the helicopter but it made no sense so many would stay in the hotel. And when they stay in the hotel it's unforgivably dull... everyone hangs around doing nothing and they're killed at the end. The opening location shots of Hawaii are nice but the volcano stuff looks cheap and studio bound. The action is dull - mostly walking over things and falling. Too many perms. Holden seems drunk, Newman looks bored, Bisset is trying. The only ones giving their all all the old character types like Meredith.
