STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH - The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

(1972 )
With Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell, Eric Shea, Leslie Nielson
Directed by Ronald Neame
Reviewed by JB

Catch a wave! After an ocean liner is capsized by a tidal wave, a rag-tag group of survivors make their way "up" to the bottom of the boat in order to get to safety. Produced by Irwin Allen, this is the granddaddy of the "All Star" disaster flicks, and one of the best. Although the characters are mostly stereotypes - the liberal preacher who bucks against 'the old ways', the loud-mouth ex-cop and his louder-mouthed ex-hooker wife, the old Jewish couple who speak in questions ("Manny, are you there?"/"Where else would I be?") - Hackman, Borgnine and especially a tender Shelly Winters keep you caring about the group's fate. Stella Stevens, however, remains an irritant throughout, and, after years of getting laughs by poking fun at his own grave, dull image (an image on full diplay here), Leslie Nielson is now impossible to take seriously. When he says a line as simple as "By the way, Happy New Year", you just want to laugh.

The film has its flaws, such as loud and long speechifying and exposition taking the place of characterization, but compared to some similar films that followed, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE is one of the tightest examples of a genre that got increasingly flabbier and sillier as the years went on. The premise (down is now up) is so simple yet so irrresistable, and pulled off with such expertise and convincing panache, that THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE would still be a minor classic with a cast half as talented as this one. And to think - not one single computer-generated effect in the whole picture. Just pure old-fashioned movie making. - JB - JB

Remakes
The Poseidon Adventure (TV) (2005)
Poseidon (2006)

Sequels
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)