The Poseidon Adventure [1972]

Gene Hackman plays a maverick preacher named Scott who leads a group of survivors in a bid to save themselves, but only a select number of people follow him because the ship's purser insists everyone should stay where they are. Reverend Scott's followers include a man and wife (Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters) who were on their way to see their grandson for the first time, a young lady (the exceedingly cute, pre-Dynasty Pamela Sue Martin) and her annoying but generally helpful little brother (Eric Shea), an incredibly loud and obnoxious former cop (Ernest Borgnine) and his equally annoying former prostitute wife (Stella Stevens), a hardworking and all-around nice fellow (Red Buttons), a singer (Carol Lynley), and a shipmate (Roddy McDowell). Their journey "up" through the bowels of the ship in search of salvation is an arduous one that some individuals will not live to complete. The journey will be one of self-discovery and emotional trauma for all involved, though. Shelley Winters is absolutely wonderful in her role, although I myself found some of the comments by her and others about her weight being a burden to the group quite troubling. Red Buttons is also terrific, outshining all others in his humanity. Naturally, though, Reverend Scott is the most fascinating character of them all, and Hackman gives one of his finest performances ever in this role. His unorthodox religious views and behavior are brought into sharp focus at the end, as his character comes to take on a strange martyrdom both similar and wholly dissimilar to that of Christ himself.

The Poseidon Adventure clearly ranks among the best disaster films ever made. This is a very human drama, with some characters sacrificing their very lives for others, others complaining and rebelling at every turn, and the most vulnerable souls clinging to the hope of survival and placing all of their faith in a man who promises them safety and salvation. Allegorical questions such as why God allows the kind of human disaster that takes place on the Poseidon are fairly obvious, making this a motion picture that will stay with you long after the story is concluded.


Very good action/adventure epic   June 6, 2004
C. MCCALLISTER (The waters of the Great Lakes)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

"Titanic" was a very good love story blended with an emotion-laden setting and good music. However, I prefer Irwin Allen's epic "The Poseidon Adventure". A reputedly unsinkable grand luxury liner sets sail, despite storm warnings, just after Christmas. She is not on her maiden voyage, but actually headed for the scrapyards after one swansong voyage. A monster wave (can you spell T-S-U-N-A-M-I?) capsizes the huge liner, and a group of passengers, who believe that escape is possible and are not ready to sit around and passively wait for death or rescue, sets off to climb up to the (former) bottom of the ship to raise their chances of rescue.

The cast is all-star (Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelly Winters, Roddy McDowell) but Hackman stands out as the charismatic but hardened rogue priest who insists upon saving himself and anyone who will follow. With dramatic scene after dramatic scene, aboard what really looks like a capsized liner, the group gradually makes its way up (down?) to the bottom (top?) of the ship. However, in order to escape, Hackman has to . . . well, I won't spoil it for the entire generation that is too young to have seen this movie. Let's just say that the ending is as dramatic as everything else in this movie.

Oh, and this movie has its song too. "There's Got To Be A Morning After" by Maureen McGovern is a good competitor for Celine Dion's "The Heart Will Go On" from "Titanic".

Here's a good movie to own, as it can be watched repeatedly. There are good moral themes of sacrifice and redemption in the movie too. Watch it with your kids. Irwin Allen did many other epics ("Airport", "The Towering Inferno") that were very good, but this is the best of the lot. This one would get 4.5 stars if that were an option.


I was entertained   August 6, 2005
4 out of 7 found this review helpful

I'll be honest with you: i'm scared of deep water. Not the kind of deep water you find in a swimming facility but the kind of deep water you'll find on the sea. Therefore i really hate shipwrecks because the thought of being trapped in the middle of the ocean with several kilometers down to solid ground scares the pants of me. I watch "The Poseidon Adventure" though because i like to feel the chill down my spine, and i wasn't disappionted. The movie is about the S.S. Poseidon which capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea when hit by a 9 meter wave/tsunami, caused by an underground earthquake, on New Years eve. Gene Hackman plays the priest who, along with a couple of other people, tries to get to the bottom of the ship (which is at the surface of the water), instead of waiting in the ball room like all of the other guests.

The movie has a lot of twists and turns, and a very well playing Gene Hackman who delivers a great performance. It's certainly a movie that's worth the money, and it will entertain you for two hours as it did to me.