The Day The World Ended (1976) (Stephenverse)

The Day The World Ended is a 1976 American disaster film directed by James Goldstone and it was produced by Irwin Allen. The movie stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, James Franciscus, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Burgess Meredith, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Pat Morita, Edward Albert, and Barbara Carrera. The movie concerns an active volcano that threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer and a drilling foreman.

Produced by Irwin Allen, The Day The World Ended's screenplay by Carl Foreman and Stirling Silliphant is marginally based on the 1969 novel The Day the World Ended by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts detailing the factual 1902 volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique, which killed 30,000 people in five minutes by a pyroclastic flow.

It marked the second time Newman and Holden appeared in a film together following the box office triumph of The Towering Inferno two years prior, as well as reuniting Borgnine and Buttons from The Poseidon Adventure. The Day The World Ended was released on December 25 1976 to critical, and commercial success, and it grossed $130 million in the United States and Canada and $262.7 million worldwide. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Paul Zastupnevich).

Plot
Shelby Gilmore (William Holden), who owns a newly constructed hotel on a remote Pacific island including a high-rise city, wants desperately to marry his secretary, Kay Kirby (Jacqueline Bisset), and proposes to her under the impression that she'll become his seventh wife. Unknown to Shelby, Kay is in love with Hank Anderson (Paul Newman), an oil rigger whose scientists are warning him that a nearby active volcano is about to erupt. Shelby's partner, Bob Spangler (James Franciscus), assures guests at the hotel that the threat of the volcano is a total exaggeration, explaining that it only erupts once every thousand years. Spangler is married to Shelby's goddaughter Nikki (Veronica Hamel) but is cheating on her with Iolani (Barbara Carrera), an executive with Shelby's hotel. Iolani is engaged to Brian (Edward Albert), the hotel's general manager. Unbeknownst to all except Spangler, who chooses not to reveal the secret, Brian is his illegitimate younger half-brother and therefore part-owner of the resort.

In the city, quests at the hotel include a bonds smuggler, Francis Fendly (Red Buttons), who is being tailed by a New York City private investigator, Tom Conti (Ernest Borgnine). Also on hand are Rene and Rose Valdez (Burgess Meredith and Valentina Cortese), who are retired circus tightrope walkers. Hank's oil-rig workers include Tiny Baker (Alex Karras), who has a wager going with cockfighting rival Sam (Pat Morita) with a prized rooster that has just been delivered to him. Sam and his wife Mona (Sheila Allen) own a local bar. Hank and Kay go for a picnic on the beach to discuss their relationship. During their time together, the volcano erupts and most of the island's population are wiped out. Tiny and all of Hank's workers are killed in town when a tidal wave crashes onto them. Sam takes Mona and two of his girls, Delores and Marsha, and escapes by car, while Hank and Kay rescue Nikki and some others at the stables by helicopter. The only survivors are those at Shelby's hotel, overlooking a disaster that will surely come straight for them, as the volcano is spewing fireballs. A fireball lands at the hotel - Conti is blinded in the explosion, to Fendly's horror. Some of the hotel guests panic and try to escape by stealing the helicopter, but it soon crashes, killing all those inside.

Hank insists that everyone must evacuate the hotel and journey to a safe side of the island to await rescue. However, Spangler convinces the majority of the guests to stay, including mistress Iolani. Shelby bids a farewell to Nikki, who insists on staying with her husband. After one final attempt to persuade others to join them, Hank and Kay leave the hotel with Shelby, Brian, Rene and Rose, Fendly and Conti, Sam, Mona and the girls, plus a few more guests. At the hotel, Edward Albert and Barbara Carrera in which she admits she loves James Franciscus, Nikki stumbles upon her husband's affair with Iolani, but now it is too late for her to follow the others though Spangler expels her from the hotel. Trucks carrying survivors manage to travel as far as a mountainside gorge which a rockslide has blocked the road. Everyone must cross the gorge on foot. Conti is guided by Fendly, and the two become friends. From there, the party comes upon a rickety wooden bridge over a river of molten lava. Hank crosses first to see if it is safe. The others go in pairs. Two native children, whose father died crossing the gorge, are afraid and run away. Rose, who had stopped to rest with Rene because of her weak heart, dies after telling her husband to find the children.

After an explosion beneath the bridge causes Sam and Marsha to fall to their deaths into the lava, Rene hoists a child onto his back and recreates his old tightrope act in getting the child safely across. Hank guides the second child to safety. The survivors take refuge in a cavern, during which time the volcano fully explodes and fireballs streak across the sky. Spangler gets his comeuppance when one huge fireball arcs directly towards the hotel, and the city; when it hits, the hotel explodes, killing him, Nikki, Iolani, and all those who had unfortunately chosen to stay. The survivors (fearing they're the only ones left on the island) continue on toward a beach to wait for rescue as the film fades to black as the blue screen credits roll in.

Cast

 * Paul Newman as Hank Anderson
 * Jacqueline Bisset as Kay Kirby
 * William Holden as Shelby Gilmore
 * Edward Albert as Brian
 * Red Buttons as Francis Fendly
 * Barbara Carrera as Iolani
 * Valentina Cortese as Rose Valdez
 * Veronica Hamel as Nikki Spangler
 * Alex Karras as Tiny Baker
 * Burgess Meredith as Rene Valdez
 * Ernest Borgnine as Tom Conti
 * James Franciscus as Bob Spangler
 * John Considine as Webster
 * Sheila Allen as Mona
 * Pat Morita as Sam
 * Lonny Chapman as Kelly
 * Sandy Kenyon as Henderson
 * Ava Readdy as Delores
 * Glynn Rubin as Marsha

Crtitical response
On release, The Day The World Ended well received by critics or audiences alike. The film currently holds a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 42 reviews. On Metacritic, it has a 68/100 based on 20 reviews meaning "Generally favorable reviews".

Difference compared to real-life release

 * The film uses a 145 minute extended cut instead of a 121-minute cut.
 * The film was released on December 25, 1976, instead of March 28, 1980.