The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

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Directed by Ronald Neame.

Starring Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Gene Hackman, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowall.

The Poseidon, an ocean liner larger than the Queens Elizabeth and Mary combined, is charting its course on New Year's Eve. Just after midnight, Captain Harrison (Leslie Nielsen) spots the mother of all tidal waves. It is the last thing that Harrison and practically everyone else onboard sees before drowning -- the Poseidon is turned upside down, with only a handful of survivors. The ten lucky ones -- including Mike Rogo (Ernest Borgnine), Linda Rogo (Stella Stevens), Acres (Roddy McDowall), Belle Rosen (Shelley Winters), and Manny Rosen (Jack Albertson) -- led by no-nonsense minister Frank Scott (Gene Hackman), desperately attempt to climb from the top of the ship (now submerged) to the bottom (now "the top"). The film's theme song, "The Morning After," sung by Maureen McGovern, earned an Oscar. In addition, The Poseidon Adventure received the Special Achievement Award for Special Effects; L.B. Abbott and A.D. Flowers were the recipients. A sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, came out in 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

The Posideon Adventure (1972, U ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The Posideon Adventure is the only 70's disaster movie that might be called artistically good. Airport 1975 and The Towering Inferno might be more entertaining due to their trashness, and Posideon is not an excellent movie, but it has a few ideas and parts of the film are actully rather harrowing. You know the premise from the poster. A few seconds after midnight on New Years Eve, a tsunami hits a luxeray liner and causes it to turn upside down, killing almost all the crew. A Catholic priest (Gene Hackman) convinces a few of the passengers that there only way out is by heading to the top (bottom) of the ship, and hope for rescuers. The only people who will go with him is are the ship's cook (Roddy McDowel), a kid and his teenage sister (Eric Shea and Pamela Sue Martin), a cop and his former prostitue wife (Ernest Borgnine and Stellela Stephens), a Jewish couple trying to visit their grandson in Israel (Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters), the hysterical band singer (Carol Lynle ... " [More]

Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
by Risselada in Filmspotting

liked it.

"Here's a few more I haven't seen mentioned yet.I'm surprised no one mentioned what I thought was the most classic boat movie of all time L'AtalanteDead Man (all the scenes in his little boat)the same goes for Down By Law in the little boat in the swamp.I'm surprised no one mentioned The Life Aquatic With Steve ZissouSphere, although it's a much better book than a movieThe Poseidon Adventure not the greatest either, but maybe still worth mentioning Since you are saying WATER, what about movies with lots of rain in them like Blade Runner or The Hole (the latter is very wet overall!) " [More]

Mothra and analyzing B-Movies
by GradysGhost in GradysGhost Blog

liked it.

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"I came in early to work today only to find that the boss wouldn't let me clock in. So I went to the breakroom and turned on the TV and clickered through the "Movie and Event" channels. Everything was ending. Why watch the last twenty minutes of a movie if you've never seen the first and second acts?But one movie was just beginning. Mothra. Get this. An American visits an island near Japan where nuclear bomb testing took place years ago. Somehow or another, it left these twin girls fully matured but only a few inches tall. So the American steals them and puts them in a show for people to pay and see. They sing well, you understand, and they're freaks. But their songs have an underlying telepathic effect that calls upon the god those crazy miniature islanders worshipped - a giant moth called (you guessed it) Mothra (or Mosura in Japanese). The giant moth wreaks havoc on a cardboard Tokyo for awhile Godzilla-style (no, seriously) until the girls are finally retu ... " [More]

Hell Upside Down - An Oldie but ...
by slipofthetongue in SlipOfTheTongue Blog

liked it.

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"America loves disaster movies. A current crop of them is burning itself out now (The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon) but the genre will cycle around again someday. This recent wave has much to do with the readily available C.G.I. technologies that allow us to build entire worlds on our computer desktops, and more to do with our post 9/11 fears. As a form of release, disaster movies give us a way to live out our worst nightmares and emerge from these vicarious experiences alive and emotionally unscathed. AIRPORT launched the modern disaster genre back in 1970. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE followed in ‘72. You can choose to love these movies or to wince at their cheesy centers. These movies are replete with cornball heroics, craven cowards and unsuspecting victims. They are generally ensemble dramas which unfold like this… 1.) establish characters and setting… 2.) insert disaster (bomb on a plane, tidal wave, earthquake, raging fire)… 3.) let the audience w ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

The Poseidon Adventure was one of the first and best specimens of the disaster movie genre of the 1970s. The hallmarks of the genre are in full form: huge sets, a big budget, a star-studded ensemble cast, and a silly premise. Gene Hackman injects a renegade zeal into his role as the savior preacher; ironically, Hackman's other films during this era (The French Connection, Prime Cut) tended toward the violent and progressive. The action sequences involving the upside-down luxury liner are well-made, though, for many viewers, the primitive special effects make Poseidon a campy curiosity. Produced by Irwin Allen, the film was better received by audiences and critics than the original disaster flick, 1971's Airport. The Poseidon Adventure was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Song ("The Morning After") and an honorary award for visual effects. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

Tags: allstarcast , oceanliner , rescue , howmanymorelives , irwin-allen
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