L'aventure du Poséidon

The Poseidon Adventure has gotten its reputation as the best of all the disaster films of the seventies, not just for the Special Effects good as they are. It's that select group of people trying to survive, they're a bunch you do get to care about even though some of them can be annoying as all get out.

The film is an adaption of Paul Gallico's novel which was written in the Thirties, but it was updated to the present for the film. While on the luxury liner Poseidon as a New Year's Eve Party goes on, Captain Leslie Nielsen takes note of an undersea earthquake and the tidal wave that will hit the ship in about fifteen minutes. But he's certainly not prepared for the wall of water that smacks the Poseidon broadside and capsizes it.

Before the big event and the special effects that got The Poseidon Adventure its Oscar in that department we are introduced to the group of people who elect to try and climb up to the keel of the capsized Poseidon while the rest remain in the grand ballroom. Leading the group is minister Gene Hackman and the rest are married couples, Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens, musician/singer Carol Lynley, hypochondriac Red Buttons, steward Roddy McDowell, and teenager Pamela Sue Martin and her little brother Eric Shea.

You do get wrapped up and sucked into the conflicts especially with Ernest Borgnine who's simultaneously got a war going with Gene Hackman and with his wife Stella Stevens. She's an ex-hooker who he busted several times and eventually married. He's got a rambunctious nature and Borgnine provides a lot of the interest here.

Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters are the typical elderly Jewish couple who are on a trip to Israel to visit the grandchild they've never seen. They're a calming and steadying influence on the others. So is Red Buttons who finds courage he never thought he possessed and he helps Lynley out who's devastated at the loss of her brother who was in the band performing at the New Year's Eve Party.

Gene Hackman as a minister takes his gospel from that noted skeptic Benjamin Franklin who said that God helps those who help themselves. For those who believe in a divine plan, he seems divinely sent to get these people to safety. Not all of them make it though.

The Poseidon Adventure got another Oscar for Best Song for The Morning After. Maureen McGovern's recording of that tune was playing everywhere in 1972. It's one of the few Academy Award winning songs that is still prized and remembered over the last 40 years.

Maybe Irwin Allen did a wise thing by not directing the film and letting Ronald Neame do it. Spectacle is great and I love it, but a good story with characters you care about is what makes the Poseidon Adventure the fine film it is.

for a disaster flick,this is one of the better ones.for 1972,it is well made and has some good effects.it's pretty convincing also thought the movie was compelling and touching,and sad,all at the same time.since we get to know the characters a bit,you can't help but feel for them in their(what seems hopeless)situation.i did think there were a few stereotypical characters,which was annoying,but the acting was decent enough.plus,the fact that the survivors had to go through what amounted to a labyrinthine maze as they tried to get out,really added to the feeling of hopelessness of the situation.i was also surprised at who ultimately survived and who didn't.for a nearly 2 hour movie,this one moves along pretty good.i was engrossed throughout.for me,The Poseidon adventure is a strong 8/10

The Poseidon Adventure is one of those movies I have seen at least once a year as long as I have been alive. I lived in Maine when I was a kid and we loved our natural disaster flicks. Of all the great disaster movies from the 70s, this has got to be the best one. Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelly Winters, Roddy McDowall, Leslie Neilson, and the list goes on.

The basic plot goes like this. The Poseidon is a cruise ship out for its last voyage and it is New Year's Eve. The guests are all celebrating while deep beneath the ocean's surface an earthquake is happening. The earthquake sets off a huge tsunami and the ship is knocked upside down. In order to be saved, a small group of people heads for the engine room at the bottom (make that top, since the ship is upside down) of the ship. At first, the ocean claims hundreds of the passengers until they are whittled down to about 10 people left. From here there are plenty of tense moments and a power struggle for control of the survivors. Typical disaster movie fare but done rather well.

This movie is a great main event for a disaster film weekend.

The clothes and the likes are really the only thing that date this film. 35 years old, and it still holds up well. No CGI featured, and none required. I have not read the book of this film, so I cannot say if it is an accurate adaptation, in the spirit of the original. I will say that it is a well-produced piece of fiction. The plot is quite good. The writing is good, and has very realistic, great moments. Dialog is well-done, and delivered equally well. The characters are credible and well-written. There is a reasonable amount of development and background for them. The special effects are undeniably excellently done. They are convincing throughout. Nature itself becomes the threat, with realistic physics. The camera-work and editing are nicely done, save for an awkward cut or two. Cinematography is effective. The pacing is solid for the whole film. As far as the technical aspect goes, the film is great. The acting is of high quality. The kid isn't the most annoying ever seen. The tension is admirable. I haven't watched particularly many disaster films... in fact, this film may be 50% of the total amount... so I can't say if this is an outstanding one. I'm not sure you can really watch this without noticing the theme of passivity versus activity... or, blind faith versus a more critical, independent faith. The film takes a definite stance on that. All in all, entertaining and worth your time. I recommend this to any fan of the actors and/or the genre. 7/10

'The Poseidon Adventure' is a supremely entertaining flick from the days when blockbusters were amongst the best movies out there. Rather than the worst.

Sure, it's corny and it's histrionics can seem overly familiar, but it still packs a punch. This is due to the fact that it's played completely straight. Well, relatively straight in the case of the Borgnine/ Stevens double-act. And it achieves real dramatic resonance from it's allegorical plot line. It pretty much created the template for the 'disaster' film.

Favourite bits:

Red Buttons' funky little walk up on deck.

The way Pamela Sue Martin and her date boogie down when they hit the dance floor.

Pamela Sue Martin's legs. Ditto Carol Lynley.

Lynley's hippy brother.

Roddy McDowall's accent and dialogue (consisting mostly of "yes, sir" and "I think so, sir").

Ernest Borgnine learning that kids can be useful as well as merely irritating.

Hackman's "Please, God - not THIS woman" schtick and death scene.

All of Stella Stevens' wardrobe.