The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Blistering performances.

A stellar cast are submarine but Gene Hackman soon sorts the men from the buoys when the drama unfolds. Ernest Borgnine chews up the scenery but Oscar nominated Shelley Winters provides great support in one of the great genre movies. The visual effects are better in the remake but in 1974 they reigned supreme and along with the set design making the tension run just as high in these rafters. Scored by John Williams, it won an Oscar for Elizabeth McGovern's performance of the song, "The Morning After".

The "awe" has gone from this film. Shelly Winters in unintentionally funny as she bravely swims underwater. The ending is anticlimactic as we are only shown the stern of the ship near the propellers. (Yes, they do show the smokestacks when it first capsizes.) So did they run out-of-budget for the special effects and miniatures in the finale? It should have been subtitled "Who Dies Next?" Dreadfully out-of-date since 1972. Watch "Titanic " instead and ignore the few "cuss" words and very brief nudity.

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.

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!