The Poseidon Adventure | Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine

The Poseidon Adventure | Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine | ..Better than the "remake"..

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The Poseidon Adven...

	The Poseidon Adventure Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine 20th Century Fox, 1999 average customer review:based on 161 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Poseidon Takes Me Way Back!

I first saw Poseidon Adventure on Christmas Eve 1972. I was nine and my brother was almost twelve. I vividly remember calling the theater and, because it was rated PG, asking the lady if my brother and I had to have an adult with us in order to see it! Well, needless to say, my 9-year-old eyes had never seen anything like it and to this day the movie has a certain hold on me. I bought the special edition dvd the day it came out. I watched it four times the first two days. Both commentaries are great but I think I like the commentary by Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley and Pamela Sue Martin a little better than the director's. It's fun to listen to the three ladies reminisce and laugh together. I have seen the new movie and I like it, probably because I like the premise of the story. It's just a very different take on the same premise. Poseidon Adventure will always be among my favorite movies.

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..Better than the "remake"..

As someone who's just seen the new "Poseidon", and having just seen the original after a long "hiatus", I felt compelled to put my two cents in.

While the new "Poseidon" was taut with non-stop action and special effects, I found it severely lacking in the character-development department.

Which brings me to the original. Although the dialogue is somewhat dated and the special effects do not match anything by today's standards, "The Poseidon Adventure" works far better in that it is a fine piece of cinematic story-telling. You get to know and care about these people, not witness two-dimensional characters taking a backseat to computer graphics technology. The people and the story of their escape and survival remain the primary focus of the movie, while the special effects enhance and supplement this goal; not the other way around.

For its time, "TPA" was brilliantly conceived and its effects, amazing. I was reminded, as I sat and watched the original, of just how real everything seemed. Never did I get the feeling that I was looking at a set. What also makes this film even more horrific and intense, imo, is that much of what happens is left to your imagination. There isn't this constant need to repeatedly display death and carnage for shock value or in order to prove that it exists. In fact, one of the most horrowing scenes is when parts of the ship explode, thereby putting those who have chosen to stay with the ship's Purser in peril. Thereafter, you witness these very same people frantically clammoring up the Christmas tree as they try to escape certain death. Heartbreakingly, the tree falls over from the passengers' weight, and all Reverend Scott can do is sorrowfully close a door to the screams and agony of those left behind. To me, that is one of the more powerful scenes in this film because of what you DON'T see.

As for the acting, the performances in this film really stand out and make up for any "cheesiness" in the dialogue. Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine are "over-the-top" as two of the main characters, and Shelly Winters more than holds her own as a Grandma yearning to make a difference. All of the actors do a splendid job in making you believe in their dilemma and in taking you along for the ride. You won't be disappointed.

Lastly, I had forgotten how "diverse" the dialogue was for its time, given the few curse words and light comedic moments. Stella Stevens' character declaring that she wanted to go first up the Christmas tree because she didn't "want to get stuck behind fat-*ss" took some edge off of the horror of their situation and made their characterizations even more real.

Whether or not you believe anyone can survive such a disaster, the story and performances in "The Poseidon Adventure" will make you think that it is possible, and herein is why the picture works and remains one of the greatest disaster films of all time.

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Don't Judge A Movie By Its Cover!

My parents bought this movie, but I wasn't extremely excited about watching it. It was filmed about 30 years ago, so I expected it to be fuzzy with lame special effects like so many of the other older movies I had seen. After I saw it, I got really into it and watched it again. The special effects were amazing, especially considering it was made in 1972. Right now, I'm doing research on the S.S. Poseidon ship to learn more about what really happened on that New Year's Morning.

Hell Upside Down: A Classic Of Its Kind

Today it seems that every third movie leans on CGI to a point at which the term "special effects" has little meaning--but there was a time, and not so very long ago, when the words had a very literal meaning. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, loosely based on the novel by Paul Gallico, was very special indeed. So much so that it was not simply a movie. It was an event.

The film's fame is such that the story is extremely well known. An aging passenger liner, the Poseidon, is making a final voyage at an unsafe speed and with insufficient ballast. Shortly after midnight on New Year's Eve it encounters a ninety foot tidal wave and capsizes, leaving a handful of survivors to fight their way to the only point in the hull from which rescue might come.

The opening sections of the film, during which we meet various passengers, was filmed aboard the Queen Mary. Once we enter the Grand Salon for New Year's Eve festivities, however, every set has been constructed to full size. There are no CGI effects, no rear projections, and (with the exception of long shots of the ship itself) there are no minitures. The cast works exclusively in the middle of tangible effects, and then as now, the result is remarkably disturbing. It looks real because it is real.

And it is really that sense of reality that puts THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE at the forefront of its genre. Disaster films have been popular since the silent era, but THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE was virtually without precedent in 1972. It is difficult to convey the visual shock the film had in its first theatrical release. People screamed and jolted in their seats, and when the ship capsized the entire audience leaned to the right, clutching at their arm rests and each other. You left the theatre physically drained, your conversation laced with nervous laughter.

It is true that the film's dialogue is more than a little corny, but this was indeed made at a time when children still said 'No, Sir' and 'Yes, Ma'am;' the film reflects its era, and many viewers were as shocked by the profanity as they were by the special effects. But whatever the film's shortcomings in terms of dialogue, there can no dispute about the plot: this is one movie that really moves, and with such speed and logic that you can barely catch your breath.

The cast reads very much like a Who's Who of acclaimed actors of the day. Leading man Gene Hackman was fresh from his Oscar-winning performance in THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Shelly Winters, Ernest Borgnine, and Red Buttons were all former Oscar winners. Carol Lynley received heavy-weight critical acclaim in earlier films and Stella Stevens was the popular star of many light comedies--and gave the performance of career when she stood her image on its head. Jack Albertson and Roddy McDowell were noted character actors, and even comparatively minor roles such as the ship's captain and chaplin went to such notables as Leslie Neilson and Arthur O'Connell. Together they make the unlikely nature of the story seem entirely plausible.

The recently released "Special Edition" DVD cannot, sadly, compensate for the loss of the big screen--but that aside it is really quite fine. The print is virtually pristine, and while the sound is a bit lacking it is solid enough to make me wonder at those who complain. The bonus material is also very good, including considerable "Making Of" information, brief interviews with surviving members of the cast, thoughts about iconographic subtext, and story board samples. The commentary track by director Ronald Neame is both informative and entertaining, and while the commentary track by Carol Lynley, Stella Stevens, and Pamela Sue Martin is somewhat spotty it is enjoyable none the less. Recommended as a classic of its kind.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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"to get out we have to go down"

this still is the best of the disaster movies to come out in the 70's and is still a very fine action movie today. gene hackman leads the cast as they are caught by a tidal wave on new years eve and capsized by it. now up is down,down is up,and the only chance to live means climbing to the bottom of the boat where there is a chance to survive. after that the movie moves so fast you won't have time to care about the holes in the plot or the things that don't make sense. turn off the brain and just lrt this one roll(no pun ment)

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