Short Walk to Daylight

A forgotten disaster flick; and one of the first of the 70s RELEASED TO TV IN 1972 and directed by Barry Shear, "Short Walk to Daylight" chronicles events when eight people struggle to make it out of the dark tunnels of the New York subway system after an apparent earthquake. Although “Airport” (1970) is considered the first ‘disaster film’ of the 70s, it was “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972) that drove the craze home and honed the genre, leading to movies like “Earthquake” (1974), “The Towering Inferno” (1974), “Rollercoaster” (1977) and “Meteor” (1979). “Short Walk to Daylight” had a similar plot to “The Poseidon Adventure,” both featuring a small group of people trying to escape a disaster and not all making it. But "Short Walk to Daylight" debuted on TV seven weeks BEFORE "The Poseidon Adventure" was released in theaters. “Short Walk” came out October 24, 1972, while “Poseidon” debuted December 13th. Despite this, “Short Walk to Daylight” is actually the knock-off. What happened is this: Producers caught wind of the big production of “The Poseidon Adventure” and rushed to take advantage of the situation by producing a low-budget movie with a similar plot. This happens all the time to this day. Yet you can’t really call “Short Walk” a ‘knock-off’ since the disaster is so radically different. Plus “Short Walk” doesn’t have a whiz kid. The later wannabe blockbuster “Dayligh…

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