The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Director: Ronald Neame

Starring: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters

A group of passengers struggle to survive and escape when their ocean liner completely capsizes at sea.

The film must have been exceptional at the time of release but unfortunately did not stood the test of time. The ship so clearly is nothing more than a model in a pond. The ship’s interior scenes were far more realistic and here the sets were quite impressive. The script was corny and silly, though, and at times it felt I was watching a comedy or spoof instead of a dramatic disaster movie.  The dialogue was really bad  – no, terrible, actually. At times the silly dialogue was just downright inappropriate and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell they were thinking! The acting was also over-dramatic and over-sentimental, and not believable at all. None of the characters were really fleshed out and seemed very one-dimensional. How did the preacher (Hackman) know so much about the ship anyway that he was able to lead everyone through an upside down ship to where they needed to be? At one point he says “Just one more door and we’re home”. What did he mean?? They’re in the middle of the ocean on a capsized boat!!! They had no idea what was waiting for them on the outside…

At the end our hero (Hackman) also seems to simply give up by ‘falling’ into an inferno. There didn’t appear to be any struggle on his behalf – he just let go for no reason. I didn’t find that scene one bit believable. I actually never realized how bad this film actually is.