The Poseidon Adventure

The Poseidon Adventure

1972 "Hell, upside down."
The Poseidon Adventure
The Poseidon Adventure

The Poseidon Adventure

7.1 | 1h57m | PG | en | Adventure

When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.

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7.1 | 1h57m | PG | en | Adventure , Action , Thriller | More Info
Released: December. 13,1972 | Released Producted By: 20th Century Fox , Kent Productions Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.

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Cast

Gene Hackman , Ernest Borgnine , Red Buttons

Director

Ward Preston

Producted By

20th Century Fox , Kent Productions

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Reviews

Taylor Bowe Mcardle I have seen many disaster films in my day but The Poseidon Adventure is truly a film that will leave you on the edge of your seat because each moment after the being hit by a tidal wave is unpredictable. The survivors have to find a way out of the ship and a preacher (Gene Hackman) has to lead them out that becomes dangerous and often scary situations they face. Each cast member played their parts with emotion that becomes dramatic at times. All in all I thought this was better then the Titanic. I know they did a remake of this film in 2005 but as I always say, stick with the classic.
FlashCallahan A passenger ship, on her way to the scrap yard is pushed to her limits by the new owners to save on the dismantling fees. A tidal wave hits her, flipping her over so that all the internal rooms are upside down. A priest takes a band of survivors on a journey through the bowels of the ship in an attempt to survive.....This film has it all, a wonderful build up, some terrific set pieces, and most of all, a band of survivors you actually root for, because the acting is just so good.First and foremost, it's a disaster movie, and probably the most iconic made when Hollywood wanted to destroy everything in the seventies.Hackman is wonderful as the preacher, and his altercations with Borgnine only add to the drama. The last fifteen minutes of this film really hit the emotion button hard, when events take a turn for the worse.It's a grand film, made on a grand scale, and although there was a plethora of films that followed, each ones quality diminishing as the years went on, this still demands repeat viewings.A bonafide Hollywood classic.
waynewass427 It has been argued which of the 1970's "disaster genre" movies is the absolute best...Poseidon Adventure or Towering Inferno. As some IMDb members have pointed out, "Airport" started the genre, and films like Earthquake and Airport 75 were highly entertaining additions. But when it all boils down to it, PA and TI were the two most popular at the box office, each easily topping $100 million in domestic ticket sales.I saw Towering Inferno upon its theatrical release in December 1974, at the age of 9, and was crazy about it, because a) I wanted to be a fireman, and b) loved all the great action (especially watching the fire trucks racing through the rolling hills of San Francisco, and the Navy rescue helicopters, as well as the amazing John Williams soundtrack).However, as the years have passed by, and having watched the theatrical version of Poseidon Adventure on cable several times, I now feel that it is the better of the two movies.First of all, it is one hour shorter, which means we get more action per minute, and less "fluff".Perhaps most important of all, we get to see and know the main characters in much greater depth than we ever do in Towering Inferno. That alone makes for much greater drama, because we get to care for them more deeply.Also the underlying themes in PA, such as faith, new-found courage, self-sacrifice, overcoming self-doubt and arrogance, and learning to trust a child to help lead us to safety are so well written and acted out, it just adds all the more to the viewing experience.Above all else, what makes for a truly great disaster epic is having people we truly care about / root for.Poseidon Adventure does this in a way that Towering Inferno never accomplishes. In TI, Irwin Allen was going for true thrills, with less emphasis on the individuals. And with the drama / suspense of the blowing up of the water tanks, plus John Williams masterful score, it is a truly great "thrill ride", albeit with at least 30 minutes of excess running time.And, even though I love Steve McQueen's "Chief Michael O'Hallorhan" in TI, I dare say that Gene Hackman's "Reverend Scott" is just as good, if not more powerful and charismatic. If you want a truly epic "1970s disaster film", Poseidon Adventure delivers at every level.
Ruairidh MacVeigh From that time in movie history where our desire to build bigger and better things led us to make films that devoted their entire time do destroying those big and better things, and the Poseidon Adventure has gone down in history as one of the greatest disaster movies of all time. For me personally, it's a very good film, but there are some things that drag it down (pun possibly intended).What's the cauliflower? The film follows the passengers and crew of the SS Poseidon, sailing through the Mediterranean on its final voyage before decommissioning. On New Year's Eve the ship is at full sail, but in order to meet schedule the representative of the Shipping Line insists that the ship continues on course without taking on ballast, to the unsuccessful protest of the Captain. As night falls the passengers gather in the ballroom for their New Year's Party, but reports come in of an undersea earthquake that has triggered a massive Tsunami, which strikes the ship causing it to capsize because it's too top-heavy, leaving the entire vessel floating but upside down. The film follows a handful of survivors as they attempt to make their way to the thinnest part of the ship's hull in the hope that they can be rescued, dodging death on their slowly sinking vessel every step of the way!To me, the film is very very good at building the tension, the fact that these people are trapped inside a giant metal coffin with no way out. They have no idea whether going to their destination will result in the rescue, but that thin slither of hope keeps them going through all odds, and that's what keeps you gripped. You want to see these people escape, and you find it genuinely tragic when many of them die, some more suddenly than others.I do however have some peeves. One is the whole idea of the ship being stuck upside down like that. I somehow get the feeling that the vessel would still sink, with what air is trapped in the hull just finding a weakness and bursting through to let more water in. But that's technical shipbuilding babble that nags me.The other problem is that some of the acting does get a little corny at times, with some of the performances going a little over-the-top. Indeed a romantic relationship between two of the characters is a bit hard to comprehend as well, and ultimately leads to nothing.But other than that, the rest of the film is a very intense, very gripping thriller about escaping what can be some people's interpretation of hell. The sets and locations built to replicate the inner workings of the vessel are done perfectly, making you truly believe that you're actually in the bowels of an upturned ship. The action scenes are also quite poignant, keeping you on the edge of your seat as they dodge death at every turn, from boiling vats of water, to bursting bulkheads and collapsing pieces of the ship's interior.On the whole, as a survival thriller movie I'd say definitely give it a watch!