The Poseidon Adventure

Once the lady in question is overturned by a freak tidal wave the tone shifts from unintentionally comedic to undeniably exciting as renegade priest Gene Hackman leads a motley band of souls (including Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, and Roddy McDowall) on their upside down quest to escape from a watery grave.

The Poseidon Adventure is a highly imaginative and lustily-produced meller that socks over the dramatic struggle of 10 passengers to save themselves after an ocean liner capsizes when struck by a mammoth tidal wave created by a submarine earthquake.

A nightmarishly schematic fantasia of guiltless discomfort.

The effects here run the gamut from grandiose to goofy, but watch the upside-down ballroom sequence again. It's a set piece of pure destructive bliss, set to a symphony of screaming and breaking glass. Awesome.

It's a terrific piece of junk: the top-notch screenwriters (Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes) never let a cliché slip through the net, and Neame's anaemic direction ensures that every absurdity is treated at face value.

Expensive pop disaster epic, manufactured for the market that made Airport a hit. Ronald Neame directed, with dull efficiency.

Though tensions slacken and credibility is strained here, realistic technical effects make the stricken ship and the efforts of its survivors to escape a fairly spellbinding adventure.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It may be dated, but there's something about it that endures; the unique horror of the disaster still inspires tension, and a desire to see the survivors prevail through their trust and perseverance despite their differences -- in that sense, a timeless tale.

This is a film about people with clashing personalities, having to try and get on, a bunch of, you could say, rag tag types having to pull together to try and find a way out of their gloomy predicament. There are some instances of quite witty retorts given by passengers in response to what they believe to be fanciful suggestions. Given this film dates from the early 1970s, the special effects aren't plentiful or impressive when compared to todays standards but I felt the performances were alright overall (well, there are some instances of slightly over the top performances but others are alright) and so made up for that. I found it a fairly engrossing watch - quite a tense one at that and while its not quite Titanic (or, perhaps moreso the case, think of it as an older version of Titanic, on a (I assume) smaller budget), I would still recommend it to others as it is somewhat atmospheric, in a claustrophobic sort of a sense.

The film comes across as cliché, mostly because of a lot of similar films that have come after it. However, the Rogo character is irritating and doesn't make a lot of sense, and the film's portrayal of women as weaker and more hysterical than men comes across as sexist and frankly uncomfortable to watch.