9 minutes, 30 seconds too long

Okay. I know that “Earthquake” was an inexcusably cheesy movie, even by 1974 standards. I know you have to suspend your disbelief, especially when watching people stand there like idiots waiting for debris to rain down on them but never thinking to run away from the building… or drivers keep speeding down the freeway and swerve left and right instead of stopping… or people crowd into an elevator in search of refuge… or a guy smoking a cigarette runs into a house to turn off the gas… but nothing strains credibility more in this film than the idea that a huge earthquake like that could last more than 10 minutes.