MartinHafer In some ways "The Poseidon Adventure" is a bad film. The dialog is occasionally goofy and the characters are mostly caricatures. But you come to expect that from producer Irwin Allen....as his shows and movies were all about spectacle and disaster and had little in the way of realistic human interactions. In these ways, his films are a bit like Cecil B. DeMille's.I just saw "The Poseidon Adventure" today. It was my second time--the first was in the theater when I was a boy. Both times I enjoyed it....but this time I could really see how cartoony many of the folks were in the film. There's the preacher (Gene Hackman)...a profane man who curses a lot and seems to have no faith in anything but himself. Then, there's the obese lady (Shelley Winters) and there are quite a few fat remarks at her expense in the film. And, there's the angry man (Ernest Borgnine) and his ex-prostitute wife (Stella Stevens). There are more...all seemingly one-dimensional characters occupying this disaster-fest. But, oddly, despite itself the film IS entertaining and you won't be bored watching it. The special effects are amazing and the film satisfying if, at times, a bit silly.

gab-14712 The 1970's is the decade that gave birth to the disaster movie genre. In my review of 1970's Airport, I pointed out how that movie gave birth to disaster movies of that decade which in turn spawned disaster blockbusters of today's age. These kind of movies are meant to be dumb, silly fun and the makers of these kind of movies embrace what these movies are meant to do: to entertain. You won't be getting any thespian acting or a serious melodrama. Instead you'll get an onslaught of special effects and a thin story usually about trying to survive and that is quite okay by me. Another early example of a rather entertaining disaster film is 1972's The Poseidon Adventure. I enjoyed the film for what it was. It has a big cast of former Oscar winners and big-name movie stars, and they all seemed to have a grand ol' time. Sure, the dialogue is cheesy sometimes but the action is what we are here to see. And in that regard, the movie clearly succeeds.The plot remains simple and for good measure. The basic setup for the story is that a disaster strikes and the survivors must reach for safety. In this case, there is this passenger ship called the S.S Poseidon (loosely modeled after The Queen Mary) going on its last cruise before it reaches retirement. Out of nowhere, a large tidal wave hits the ship and turns the boat upside down. Now with everything in reverse, the survivors of the ship led by minister Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman) must climb to the now-uprooted bottom of the boat if they have any chance of escaping. See, this is a simple story but its a fun story regardless.Ah, let's talk about our characters. This movie is based off the best-selling novel written by Paul Gallico, and rumor has it that the characters are unlikable in the novel. Some of the characters are unlikeable in the film, but screenwriters Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes and seasoned British director Ronald Neame did a solid job in tweaking some characters as to make them more sympathetic. Now, all the characters do what you expect them to do in this type of movie, so expect no surprises. The character development was rather surprisingly strong for some characters. As for the acting, no one gives a career-defining performance but everyone does a solid job. Gene Hackman as Reverend Scott and Ernest Borgnine as Rogo are arguably the two leads. They had a fun time, but they may have overacted especially in Borgnine's case. Those facial expressions and the way he delivered the lines were cheesy, but fun. Check out the rest of this cast: Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Shelley Winters (who delivers a fantastic performance), Jack Albertson, Arthur O'Connell, Leslie Nielsen, etc. That is one heck of a cast.We don't see these movies for the performances, but rather for the special effects. It was amazing what this film was able to do with practical effects. The big tsunami wave that overturned a boat looked mightily impressive for a 1972 movie, but in reality it was just a large wave filmed in slow-motion off the coast of California. The production design was immense and the I love the way we see the capsized boat. Keep in mind the film was release before computers played a role in effects, which makes this movie even more impressive. If there is one thing I absolutely love, it's the way how the movie looked and sounded and how the visual effects were implemented in the movie.Another thing I liked very much is the score and the music. This film was composed by the young maestro, John Williams. Williams would eventually become a film legend with all the famous films he would score, but this is the movie that got him his big break. Some people go as far to call this his best score ever. I wouldn't go that far, but it's high on my list. The overall tone of the score is dark, but the theme is rather light and there is something about it that makes it special.When originally released, The Poseidon Adventure received good reviews with lots of praise going for the visual effects-and rightfully so. Of course this film is a blockbuster and not meant for any award recognition, but somehow it received nine Oscar nominations mostly on the technical side though. Although Shelley Winters received an nomination for best supporting actress. The film was very fun, and very entertaining. The story is nothing special, but if you're looking for a movie with great visual effects, campy acting, and a story about surviving then this film is for you.My Grade: A-

Scott LeBrun The so-called "Master of Disaster", Irwin Allen, was the genius behind this very early entry into that popular 1970s genre known as the all-star "disaster film". And "The Poseidon Adventure" is an acceptable bit of escapism. Based on the novel by Paul Gallico, and scripted by Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes, it tells of a luxury cruise liner crossing the Atlantic on New Years' Eve. An underwater earthquake causes MASSIVE tidal waves to occur, including the one that causes the ship to capsize. It's up to a limited number of cast members to make it to the bottom (now the top) of the ship, and hopefully escape.As directed by Ronald Neame, who also guided "Meteor", a late entry into the genre, this is solidly entertaining, even with its flaws. Admittedly, the characters' introductory sequences ARE pretty bad, and there are too many of them here who are required to spend their time being annoying, or abrasive, or both. It does take a while for the film to grab a hold of its viewers, but once the wave hits, and the action kicks in (about a third of the way through), it becomes pretty watchable. Just don't spend too much time thinking about it, and it works fairly well.Kudos to production designer William J. Creber and cinematographer Harold E. Stine for creating a "Hell on Earth" vision for our survivors to endure. You're not always convinced you're seeing upside down sets, but you may be amused regardless. John Williams' music adds the right rousing touch.The cast is saddled with some bad dialogue and some characters who are ridiculous at times, but they do their best. Gene Hackman is the hero, an irreverent priest, and Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters, Pamela Sue Martin, and Eric Shea play the imperiled passengers. Roddy McDowall and Leslie Nielsen are among the ships' crew. Nielsen, still a good eight years away from his career reinvention with "Airplane!", is solid as a rock as the too briefly seen captain.This is agreeable mindless entertainment that actually kills an hour and 57 minutes in a reasonably paced fashion. It can boast an Oscar winning song, in any event: "The Morning After".Followed by a sequel seven years later.Eight out of 10.

Coventry 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!