Ryan O'Neal has died. He played rock musicologist Howard Bannister in What's Up, Doc? (1972) with Barbra Streisand. 

 

 

Sadly, Tanya Roberts has died. Her portrayal of a seismologist in the 1985 James Bond movie "A View to a Kill" inspired a generation of young women and men to become geoscientists. At least that's the way I would like to remember her.

  Fantastic geologic scenery from the Southern Appalachians (see www.movie-locations.com/movies/I/Last-of-The-Mohicans.php) enhanced by a superb performance from Wes Studi and Russell Means - a real American hero. The final chase takes place to "The Promontory" by Trevor Jones - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZisDHg6v0.

Best geology line in a movie

 "That's a rock." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEuKm8a8k8o

2012: The number of reasons this movie stinks

It's a long list, so it will take some time...

After a loooooong break, I'm back to finish off my critique of 2012. Suffice to say, it is one of the worst disaster movies ever made and, yet, it has some redeeming value. Most importantly is having Chiwetel Ejiofor play the geophysicist who discovers that neutrinos from the Sun are heating Earth's core and...well you know, death and destruction follow. Portrayal of geoscientists in films is something I take very seriously here at Reel Geology. Ejiofor transcends the material and Roland Emmerich's over-the-top direction. Unfortunately, in real life the geosciences suffer from massive "under-diversity". Hopefully his performance will help to correct this.

Another interesting aspect of 2012 is that there have been previous theories of Earth expansion. One of the early supporters of continental drift, S. Warren Carey of Australia, later switched to be a proponent of an expanding Earth (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth). I had the privilege of attending a series of lectures by Carey when I was in grad school at an esteemed university in the 1980s. I say this because the experience demonstrated beyond any doubt the depths to which academic institutions will sink in the quest to secure money from alumni. On the other hand, that same university awarded a degree to George H. W. Bush so it was nothing new.

Breakout Role for Rock Hammer

Always take your rock hammer with you no matter where you go! That's the take home message from "The Shawshank Redemption". Great attention to geologic detail throughout this morality tale - rock names are used accurately and that piece of obsidian that Morgan Freeman finds is the real thing.

Don't Take it for (Cary) Granite!

"North by Northwest" is one of director Hitchcock's best and in no small part because of the dramatic ending set atop the Mount Rushmore monument carved into Harney Peak Granite. Denied access to the real thing, the moviemaker had to resort to a Hollywood soundstage with huge background images and cliffs of concrete (see photo below). Check out the aplite and pegmatite dikes that cross-cut the faces of the presidents!

 

Worst Movie of the 00s...with Geology

"The Day After Tomorrow" has to be one of the worst sci-fi flicks of all time. One of the heros falls through a snow covered roof of a shopping mall in New Jersey! The only saving grace is a short scene that shows a TV broadcast of illegal aliens escaping across the Rio Grande from Texas into Mexico. Is this the future???

Accretionary Wedge #7: Geology/ists in the Movies

See Accretionary Wedge #7 at MagmaCumLaude for more movies with geology and geologists:

http://magmacumlaude.blogspot.com/2008/03/accretionary-wedge-7-geologyists-in.html

A 90s Movie with Some Geologic Content

I had to dig pretty deep to get a movie with some decent geology from the 1990s. "Tremors" will have to do. From the name of the fictional town (Perfection, Nevada) to Reba McEntire playing a survivalist, this movie never takes itself too seriously. Filmed on location in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Best Use of Paleontology in the Movies

"Bringing Up Baby" is a (perhaps "the") classic screwball comedy from the 1930s. Gary Grant plays the mild-mannered paleontologist to Katherine Hepburn's slightly ditzy socialite. Rapid-fire dialogue and unpredictable plot turns abound.

Best Sound Track for a Movie with Geologic Content

"Local Hero" has a minimum of geology even though its premise has to do with oil, but a host of memorable characters and great music are hard to resist.

Most Original Use of Igneous Rocks in a Movie

I would expect to see something about igneous rocks in a volcano flick, but in a screwball comedy? I had completely forgotten about the role that "rock music" plays in this classic from the 1970s until renting it recently. Lots of allusions to scenes from other movies.

Most Spectacular Geologic Action in a Movie

"Crack in the World" was undoubtedly inspired by Project Mohole in the 1960s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mohole). The story is complete with tension between colleagues and has impressive special effects for their time. The gravity-defying finish is awesome. This is one of my all-time favourites, in part, because all the action takes place in the southern hemisphere!

Update 2023: Novelist John Steinbeck was an amateur oceanographer. He visited the first stage drilling platform for Project Mohole and wrote about it for Life magazine: https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=9lEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA110&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Best Use of Mineralogy in a Movie

"Monolith Monsters" opens with a water-activated silica-sucking meteorite and ends with the hero saving the town by blowing up a dam conveniently located upstream of a salt mine. This 1950s classic contains heaps of mineral and rock jargon, some crazy ideas on silica biogeochemistry, and no "bad" two-legged aliens. Highlights are scenes of the crystal towers making their way down the canyon toward the town and of the professor and sheriff back in the lab trying to sort out what makes the crystals grow.

Worst Use of Geology in a Movie

"The Core" has an interesting premise and a great scene in which an inventor is offered a check for $50 billion to get a craft that can travel to Earth's core built in 3 months. But when the ship runs into a huge crystal-lined "cavern" in the deep mantle, the plausibility meter hits zero.

If you think such a trip is completely impossible, think again. Read about the "modest proposal" of Prof David Stevenson (a kiwi) from Caltech (https://www.wired.com/2003/05/prof-plans-probe-of-earths-core/).