- Actors: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley
- Directors: Irwin Allen, Ronald Neame
- Writers: Paul Gallico, Stirling Silliphant, Wendell Mayes
- Producers: Irwin Allen, Sidney Marshall, Steve Broidy
- Language English, Hebrew
- Classification: PG
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- VHS Release Date: 19 Jan 1998
- Run Time: 117 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CJRL
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,899 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I totally agree that this is one of the best (and was one of the first) of the cycle of disaster movies. The setting is very original: an interior of a ship turned upside down! The cast is great (see other comments). I don't agree at all that it is "unabashedly brainless". The psychology of the movie's characters is superb; other disaster movies just don't stand the comparison. It is truly a thriller, one of those movies you get involved in, like in a game. I saw it years ago on the big screen and have been bought the DVD now because I want this movie to be part of my private collection (which is small). A final suggestion to all Amazon reviewers: please don't tell so much about the story, otherwise it isn't fun seeing the movie.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I will resist the urge to compare this 1972 classic disaster movie to James Cameron's Titanic because The Poseidon Adventure tells a very different kind of story. The first thing you notice about this film is its truly remarkable cast; there are no less than 15 Academy Award winners showcased in this epic film. While the special effects are very good for the most part, this film deals much more with the personal stories of the would-be survivors than it does the actual disaster. The Poseidon is carrying hundreds of passengers to Greece on its final voyage; the representative of the owner orders the captain to proceed at full speed, despite the captain's (Leslie Nielsen) concern about insufficient ballast after weathering a fierce storm at sea. As the passengers celebrate the New Year at midnight, the ship is hit with a 90-foot tidal wave caused by an underwater earthquake and turns completely over in the water.
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.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Stats: This DVD is very basic but has the film dubbed in three languages (very entertaining) with the original theatre preview which, unfortunately, truly dates it. The "Scene Menu" even has an upside-down ship with 'glugging noises' to entertain you while you decide if you want to see the ship turn over or see a heavy Shelley Winters underwear. However, for the first of it's genre, it is still a great film. We are treated to some major and minor stars all thrust into a drama at sea, where the best special effect is Shelley Winters swimming underwater to save Gene Hackman who is stuck under 10 pounds of tin foil. To be fair, the scene of the ship turning over in the ballroom is thrilling, even though the editing of the angles of the actors falling doesn't quite jive. A large earthquake caused swell is possible, but breaking exactly at the point the ship is turning one minute after New Years Eve? Okay...Hollywood. "Poseidon" is a well-balanced script, slowly knocking off one actor after another and the upside-down kitchens, toilets and hallways make for funhouse thrills. When the horrors and the drama almost become tedious, the writers throw in good laughable lines that save the story. Just to see Stella Stevens say, "I'm going next, in case fat-ass gets stuck" (Shelley Winters) is worth the DVD. Color quality is excellent and everyone looks so young, except Ernest Borgnine, who remains, uh, ageless. Oh yes. The better actors all get killed.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A classic film
A great film, the original still holds up today as the set hasn't dated badly at all (though some of the language and clothes are showing a little age). Read more
Published 9 months ago by Paul
Question please...
Please could someone answer a query for me? I would like to know if this 2 disc special edition (as pictured) has the booklet inside. Thanks.
Published 15 months ago by P. Mayes
What an Adventure!
A wonderful movie that will live until the Human race die out. It's hard to believe this beautiful work of art was created in 1972. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Rowan Charlton
Classic period-piece disaster movie
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... Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2006 by Greg Farefield-Rose
Not bad
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. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2006 by Mr. M
Classic!
The original. It shows that it was made in the 70s, but it is still a damn fine disaster movie.
I have to admit, I kinda like disaster movies. Read more
I have to admit, I kinda like disaster movies. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2006 by Sasha
A great special edition DVD, but not such a great adventure film
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... Read more
Published on 6 July 2006 by Trevor Willsmer
A blast from the 1970s
Watching this film again really does bring back the memories of seeing it for the first time in the cinema as a kid. Read more
Published on 25 May 2006 by D. I. Shipley
I was entertained
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. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2005 by "lofster"
Just as good the morning after.
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. Read more
Published on 2 May 2005 by A. Hanrahan
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