Aftershock: Earthquake in New York

All you want to know about Aftershock: Earthquake in New York

Not to be confused with the 1999 USA Network made-for-television movie Earthquake in New York starring Greg Evigan.
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York

DVD Cover
Genre Disaster film
Running time 170 minutes
Distributor RHI Entertainment
Written by Chuck Scarborough
(novel)
Paul Eric Myers
David Stevens
Loren Boothby
Directed by Mikael Salomon
Starring Charles S. Dutton
Sharon Lawrence
Tom Skerritt
Lisa Nicole Carson
Cicely Tyson
Jennifer Garner
Editor(s) Christopher Rouse
Music by Irwin Fisch
Cinematography David R. Hardberger
Jon Joffin
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Flag of Germany Germany
Language English
Release date(s) Flag of the United States November 14, 1999
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Aftershock: Earthquake in New York is a made-for-television movie produced by Hallmark Entertainment that originally aired on CBS as a two part mini-series in November 1999. It brings together several big names of TV, including Charles S. Dutton, Sharon Lawrence, Tom Skerritt, Lisa Nicole Carson, Cicely Tyson, and Jennifer Garner under the direction of Mikael Salomon.

The film is based on a book written by TV news anchorman Chuck Scarborough and looks at the effects a major earthquake would have on New York City by following the effects on five families, including those of major political rivals ex-Fire Chief Thomas Ahearn (Skerritt) and Bruce Lincoln (Dutton).

Contents

Plot

The film follows the events of an earthquake in New York City through the eyes of several sets of people: Dori Thorell (Sharon Lawrence), her 9-year-old son, Danny (Michal Suchánek), and Dori's husband, Sam (Garwin Sanford); ballerina Diane Agostini (Jennifer Garner) and Nikolai Karvoski (Fred Weller), an immigrant taxicab driver; Evie Lincoln (Lisa Nicole Carson) a public defender and the client she had just gotten acquitted for murder, Joshua Bingham (JR Bourne), her grandmother Emily Lincoln (Cicely Tyson) and her father the mayor Bruce Lincoln (Charles S. Dutton); Fire Chief Thomas Ahearn (Tom Skerritt) and his daughter Christine, and firefighter Bruce Summerlin (Mark Rolston); reporter Jillian Parnell (Erika Eleniak).

Through the failing relationship of Dori and Sam, parental concerns about the vulnerability of children are explored. Danny has been injured in an accident two years previously, and at first Sam writes off Dori's concerns about earthquakes as imaginary, since they had moved from the quake-prone Los Angeles area to New York. The cliffhanger during the initial airing of the movie as a two-part miniseries, is Danny's survival of the quake that wrecks his school but leaves him suspended in mid air in a bathroom on a high floor. He is rescued by Dori, who is an experienced rock climber and climbs up the wrecked building.

Diane finds her father in the restaurant that she just had just left him at, but the building has collapsed on him and he dies. She is comforted and aided by Nikolai, who was driving her in his cab as the quake hits, as she tries to find her mother, even though she didn't want his help. She even ditches him at one point, but he finds her at her parent's house later. Later, she is saddened when she realizes that she has lost the diamond earrings her father gave her as a present. As Diane and Nikolai cross the city and try to avoid looters, they become close. In the epilogue, they are married and Diane is a prima ballerina.

Evie and Joshua are among people trapped in the Subway when the quake hits. Joshua takes charge, and in a subplot it is revealed that Joshua committed the murder of his wheelchair-bound wife, a crime of which Evie had had him cleared. He is willing to let the others to die to save himself, and shows an obsession with Evie. When he successfully separates her from the group, under the guise of going for help, he realizes she no longer believes he is innocent. He tries to kill her, but is interrupted by rescuers. In trying to get out, he dies during an aftershock.

Ahearn, at first seen on the point of resignation because of his differences with the mayor, joins with the mayor in taking charge of things. Despite their initial hostilities, they are able to work together. Ahearn's daughter and Mayor Lincoln's mother both die from injuries sustained in the quake. In the epilogue he is shown still in his post one year later, and he and the mayor are speaking together as friends about rebuilding the city.

The earthquake sequence shows many notable Manhattan landmarks being destroyed such as The Statue of Liberty falling into New York Harbor and the Guggenheim Museum collapsing in on itself. Also directly after the earthquake, footage from a CBS2 helicopter above the city show that The Brooklyn Bridge is destroyed along with other bridges leading out of Manhattan. The earthquake leaves most of the city's skyscrapers still standing. In an epilogue set one year later, the city is shown under re-construction.

Production

The film is based on a book written by New York area TV news anchorman Chuck Scarborough. He wrote the book to note that while a quake of the size in his story is extremely unlikely in the Big Apple, it is technically not impossible and preparation should not be completely absent from local disaster plans. There are fault lines capable of "intraplate" earthquakes in the New York metro area and more moderate but significant quakes in the 5-ish range on the Richter scale were centered within the city's boundaries in both 1737 and 1884, and one in the 4-ish range occurred just north of the city in 1985.

The helicopter featured in the aerial sequence clearly displays the CBS logo with a number 2. WCBS-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated and flagship station in New York City, operates on Channel 2.

In retrospect the film portrayed the World Trade Center surviving the earthquake and no damage to the buildings.

Cast

Reception

In 2000, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York was nominated for an Emmy award in the "Outstanding Special Visual Effects" category.[citation needed] Michal Suchánek was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot - Young Actor Age Ten or Under" category and for a YoungStar Award in the "Best Young Actor/Performance in a Miniseries/Made-For-TV Film" category.

References

 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)


External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftershock:_Earthquake_in_New_York"

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