TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
The Poseidon Adventure [1972]
![The Poseidon Adventure [1972]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NF7GV3SFL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £5.99
Our Price: £14.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Hands down, this is the best movie (and was one of the first) to come out of the seemingly endless cycle of disaster movies that dominated box offices during the 1970s. It could even be argued that Titanic owes some of its success to the precedent set by this 1972 blockbuster starring Gene Hackman as a priest who leads a small group of survivors to safety from the bowels of a capsized luxury liner. From its stellar cast to its cheesy, Oscar-winning theme song, The Morning After, the movie has all the ingredients of a popular classic, beginning with a New Year's Eve celebration aboard the ill-fated Poseidon and ending as a pop allegory when the Hackman character becomes a Christ-like martyr. Filmed on spectacular sets where everything down is up and the ship's thick hull points in the direction of salvation, this is "a waterlogged Grand Hotel" (in the words of New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael) that is as entertaining as it is unabashedly brainless. The Poseidon Adventure is filled with performances that rise above the limits of the screenplay. It's also the only movie--unless you count her underwater corpse in Night of the Hunter--that lets Shelley Winters strut her stuff as an aquatic heroine. Who could ask for anything more? --Jeff Shannon
A great special edition DVD, but not such a great adventure film
Review date: 2007-11-09 Rating: 6 out of 10
The original The Poseidon Adventure isn't exactly a film so good that it couldn't stand remaking. The first half hour before the wave hits is like a very badly written episode of The Love Boat, with painfully on the nose dialog ("What kind of priest are you?" "I'm a renegade! The very best kind!") and hideously stereotyped characters. In fact, truth to tell, it's a pretty pedestrian affair even after the ship goes bottom up: strip away its high concept and all you're really left with is a long, slow wade to the grave for some of the characters en route to the cheapest closing sequence ever fobbed off on an audience in a major studio picture. Aside from the odd bit of dialog about the importance of life in the face of death or Gene Hackman's occasional tirades about or against God that hint at someone striving for a big theme, there's not that much of Paul Gallico's original religious allegory left either (if memory serves, in the novel the Reverend Scott had 12 passengers following him on his path to martyrdom). Worse, some of the performances are just excruciating to watch (particularly Red Buttons) while Roddy McDowall's attempt at a Scottish accent is particularly painful. It has its moments, but far fewer than you'd think.
No complaints about Fox's 2-disc special edition (be careful to order the right one, as Amazon has put these reviews under the 2-disc and single-disc editions) - a surprising commentary from Ronald Neame (who has never made any secret of his dislike for the film in the past), several featurettes, trailers and stills gallery - although it is irritating that Fox have inexplicably cropped the original 1972 making of featurette to 1.85:1 when it was originally fullframe.
Similar Products
Reviews
Classic period-piece disaster movie
Review date: 2006-09-29 Rating: 10 out of 10
Classic early 70s disaster movie which cased a trend culminating in The Towering Inferno. A luxury cruise-liner turns over after a freak wave with the survivors having to get to the bottom of the boat to escape. A small group lead by a maverick preacher (Gene Hackman) take a different route to the others and this film is their treacherous escape story.
Although detractors say that the characters are wooden and one-dimensional, they are memorable from Hackman's preacher to Ernest Borgnine's very patronising know-all and Red Buttons' shy yet determined young man. What is most shocking is the number of deaths - not just the other passengers but also several of the preacher's breakaway group graphically due during the escape attempt. It's a real case of will he/she or won't he/she be there at the end of the film...
The Poseidon Adventure is a superb period-piece disaster movie. Well worth seeing or revisiting.
Not bad
Review date: 2006-09-17 Rating: 6 out of 10
I was bored with the beginning of the movie, but it got slightly better as it went on. The special effects were not the best but still good.
The acting is strong and it makes you feel sorry for them and makes you hope they will get out alive. When Poseidon was capsizing, I didn't think it was that dramatic and intense like Jaws and The Towering Inferno. Some people died so quickly and you forget straight away about them, except when one woman had a heart attack. That was a really emotional bit.
The film is okay, but only buy it if you love the classics.
I was entertained
Review date: 2005-08-06 Rating: 8 out of 10
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.
Just as good the morning after.
Review date: 2005-05-02 Rating: 10 out of 10
I still remember the tremendous buzz of excitement that accompanied the original release of 'The Poseidon Adventure' There had never been anything quite like it before.Too young to see it at the time, I caught it a few years later at a school film night. Even after over 30 years this first Irwin Allen offering is still a terrific film . The story is well documented - giant tsunami capsizes luxury liner at the stroke of midnight on new years eve, and we then follow the trials and tribulations of a group of survivors as they battle their way to salvation. Ok - it's cheesy, and it leaves no cliche unturned in it's attempt at suspense and characterisation, but from the heartstopping disaster scene, to the last shots of the survivors' shattered faces as they finally reach freedom, this is truly the mother of all disaster movies, and it set the mould for the the genre through the seventies and beyond. There are some memorable moments - who can forget Shelley Winters' underwater excursion - and fine performances from Gene Hackman and Earnest Borgnine. A worthy addition to any DVD collection.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Red Buttons
Ernest Borgnine
Gene Hackman
Roddy McDowall
Carol Lynley
Creators:
Gene Hackman (Primary Contributor)
Ernest Borgnine (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036008013
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2003-06-30
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 112 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1972-12-13
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Hebrew (Original Language)