The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Powerful

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The first must-see film of the year.

The film seems implausible to me and the plot flawed. A 90' wave is unlikely to be caused by an earthquake (yes, a vast moving mass of water, but not very high, is what causes a Tsunami, but would not be a threat to a liner in the middle of an ocean). And freak waves that high probably impossible in the med. Electricity and water equals sparks and fusing, yet everything in the film is light. However, what shines through in the script is the complex nature of the characters and the development of this and the nuances, and what really makes it watchable is the star quality of the acting.

This film is full of drama and tension.We meet many people, who take a New Year's voyage to Greece that may be their last.The Captain (Gene Hackman) tries to sail his ship,but meets with danger and peril. We meet many passengers like The Rosens ( Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters) or Mike and Linda Rogo (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens). It happens that the ship comes upon a tidal wave that may mark the end of everyone.In the struggle,the ship capsizes and things get risky; We find that the passengers must climb deeper through the boat to reach safety.True courage is knowing how to face what comes in front of you.Wisdom helps you to understand how to face reality head on.

A passenger ship turns over at sea.According to the DVD of this film, Irwin Allen did not direct this movie, but he wanted to direct it, he was always sticking his nose in the sets, and giving out storyboards (sheets of paper with drawings of what each scene should look like) to the British director...who just ignored Irwin.However, Irwin would have his chance to direct the sequel, Beyond The Poseidon Adventure (1979), which I personally think is a wonderful film filled with interesting (and sometimes amusing) people. John Williams did not score the sequel but another less known composer did a reasonable score for "Beyond".So there you have it, you can't just see the first movie, you have to see them both, as they are both great...but stay clear of the 2006 remake just titled: Poseidon.

I love – and I truly mean LOVE – those typically bombastic and ginormous-scaled disaster movies from the 70s and early 80s, but admittedly they are all exactly the same… The setting and type of catastrophe are always different, of course, but the narrative structure, cast of characters and action sequences are practically always alike! When all hell breaks loose, there's always one atypical hero who stands up and mobilizes a small group of reluctant followers to do the exact opposite of what seems logical and of what everybody else is doing. The group exists of stereotypes that complain the entire time about the decisions that are being made, and several of them obviously don't make it until the end of the movie, but eventually the hero's choices naturally turn out to be only slim chances for survival they ever had! Of course, being released in 1972, "The Poseidon Adventure" was one of the very first big-budgeted disaster movies and one of the first enormous successes of producer Irwin Allen, so it's only logical that it spawned many imitations and that the formula blatantly got copied by Mr. Allen himself. Nearly 45 years later, the film is still very exciting, the sets & stunts still look very convincing (without any computer generated effects) and it's also still extremely realistic when it comes to illustrating what happens when blind panic breaks out. For all passengers and crew members aboard the SS Poseidon, the New Year couldn't possibly start off any worse… Caught in an immense storm, the luxurious cruise ship gets hits by a massive tidal wave and capsizes, only moments after midnight on the 1st of January. With the captain and most of the crew members dead, the slightly controversial but authoritarian reverend Scott (Gene Hackman) profiles himself as the leader and rescuer of as many people as possible. He guides a small group towards the bottom of the ship – since it's upside down – but since they were celebrating the New Year in the restaurant on the deck, they have to climb huge Christmas trees and squirm through narrow ventilation shafts in order to reach the engine room. "The Poseidon Adventure" is incredibly fast-paced, all the big names in the cast depict their roles very energetic and John Williams delivered a tremendously great score. The script contains a few horrible clichés in terms of character development (for example, dominant males and docile women) but luckily the multi-talented actors and actresses deal with it very well. Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters and many others deliver stellar performances, and even Leslie Nielsen is memorable in his (too short) role as the amiable captain. Along with "The Towering Inferno" and the original "Airport", this is the most iconic disaster movie of the seventies!