The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
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The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American disaster thriller film that was directed by Ronald Neame, and it was produced by Irwin Allen, and based on Paul Gallico's eponymous 1969 novel. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first film of the Irwin Allen's disaster film series. In this film, A passenger ship is en route from New York to Greece. On New Year's Eve, the ship is taken over by a tidal wave and it turns upside down, while the ten lucky people must escape from this capsized ship.
It was released in December 1972 and was the highest-grossing film of 1973, earning over $125 million worldwide. The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, and it was widely considered to be the best disaster film in the history of the disaster movie genre. The Poseidon Adventure became a cult film. It is in the vein of other all-star disaster films of the 1970s such as Airport and later ones like Earthquake (1974) and The Towering Inferno.
Plot
In the Mediterranean Sea, SS Poseidon was en route from New York to Athens, Greece for their retirement. On New Year's Eve, Poseidon is taken over by a tidal wave and it turns upside down. Almost all of the passengers die except for a few lucky people, would have to escape the upside-down of the ship.
Why It Rocks
- The concept about a few survivors going on an escape from a capsized cruise ship after the disaster is very creative. What's more, having a story about a cruise ship getting struck by a tsunami is very scary for everyone who are in the cruise ship at the sea.
- It has dramatic, tragic, and scary moments too, such as a scene where a 60 mph wave hits the Poseidon, capsizing the entire ship, killing a lot of people.
- A very solid, and a suspenseful story that tells people to take risks to their own lives during the escape, and survival, during their great escape from a capsizing cruise ship.
- John Williams' soundtrack in the movie is pretty good, as always, even so with Joel Hirschhorn, and Al Kasha.
- Irwin Allen did a good job producing the film, even his concept as well.
- The acting, for the most part, is pretty good, especially for the casts of Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, and other cats as well.
- Well done directing by Ronald Neame.
- Great cinematography that was well done by Harold E. Stine.
- The ending is good, all of the six survivors finally made it out of the capsized Poseidon and flies away in the helicopter despite the loss of a few dead survivors, ending the film on a sour note.
Bad Qualities
- The film can be a bit instance for a PG-rated film, although to be fair, the rating system was ineffective in the 20th century.
- It has a few padding that make the movie feel longer than it actually is.
- Some characters make idiotic mistakes, such as they don't let the survivors go on a Christmas tree as soon as the Poseidon started to get blown a lot.
Reception
Critical response
The Posidon Adventure was released on December 12, 1972, and it was well-received by critics and audiences alike. It received an 80% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews, gave the film a positive review, with an above-average score of 6.94/10. The critical consensus reads: "The Poseidon Adventure exemplifies the disaster film done right, going down smoothly with ratcheting tension and a terrific ensemble to give the peril a distressingly human dimension." Metacritic scores a film a 70/100 "Generally favorable reviews" and a 7.1/10 on IMDb.
However, some negative reviews, Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "the kind of movie you know is going to be awful, and yet somehow you gotta see it, right?"
Along with The Towering Inferno, Airport, and Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure has become a cult film, particularly among gay audiences.
Box Office
The Poseidon Adventure earned theatrical rentals of $40 million in the United States and Canada in 1973 being the highest-grossing film of the year and earned $75 million worldwide, from a worldwide gross of over $125 million.
Videos
Trivia
- Paul Gallico was inspired to write his novel by a voyage he made on the Queen Mary. When he was having breakfast in the dining room, the liner was hit by a large wave, sending people and furniture crashing to the other side of the vessel. He was further inspired by a true incident which occurred aboard the Queen Mary during World War II. Packed with American troops bound for Europe, the ship was struck by a gargantuan freak wave in the North Atlantic. It was calculated that if the ship had rolled another five inches, she would have capsized like the Poseidon.
- According to Ernest Borgnine and director Ronald Neame, Shelley Winters loved playing Gin Rummy. To keep her occupied during breaks in filming, Jack Albertson, who played her husband, would play Gin Rummy with her. According to Borgnine, Albertson ended up winning $260,000 from Winters. Both Borgnine and Neame said Albertson never got paid.
- It is said that 125 stunt people were used during the filming. No one was killed or injured.
- The entire movie is referenced in a Pokemon episode, complete with the rocking boat, the burning room, and Charmander burning a hole through the ceiling.
External Links
The Poseidon Adventure at the Internet Movie Database
The Poseidon Adventure on Rotten Tomatoes
The Poseidon Adventure on Metacritic
The Poseidon Adventure on Letterboxd
Comments
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- 20th Century Studios films
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- Thriller films
- Box office hits
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- Classics
- Based on books
- Suspense films
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- Films featured on Wikipedia's Films Considered the Best page
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