Rating: 
Summary: The World Turned Upside Down
Review: A gigantic wave hits the USS Poseidon on New Year's Eve as revellers cavort in the ballroom, and knocks the ship upside down. The special effects as the partygoers begin to topple every which way is the forerunner to the sinking scene in "Titanic", but where that's just about the conclusion of that film, this is just the beginning! Gene Hackman, a disillusioned minister, realizes that the only way to get help is to travel through the bowels of the upside down ship in order to get to the surface. Most passengers disbelieve him, with the exception of NY cop Ernest Borgnine and his loudmouthed wife Stella Stevens; Jack Albertson and his wife Shelley Winters, en route to join their grandchild in Israel; Pamela Sue Something (TV's Nancy Drew) and her kid brother from "Yours, Mine, and Ours"; Red Buttons and Carol Lynley (who spends most of the movie in shock over her brother's death); and Roddy MacDowell, but he has a bum leg from the initial catastrophe. Well, in a disaster movie like this, starting out with a busted leg is like the woman coughing at the start of an Italian opera--chalk him off the list pretty early on. I like "The Poseidon Adventure" because it reminds me of Moses leading the Israelites thru the Desert. Ernest Borgnine keeps arguing with every decision Hackman makes, but in the end, does what the Man of God tells him to do. And like any good story of crisis, there are characters who make noble sacrifices of their lives so that the others may continue on with the journey--I don't want to spoil anything by saying who. If you like stories that illustrate the indomitable human spirit and will to survive, watch "The Poseidon Adventure" and be prepared for surprise plot developments!
Rating:
Summary: Best Disaster Movie
Review: Hell Upside Down defines this movie in correct term. It is a very exciting movie that will keep you awake. It is the best movie ever made. After you rent this movie, you will want to buy it. At midnight on New Years Eve the S.S. Poseidon, enroute from New York to Athen, met with a disaster and was lost. There were only a handful of survivors. They were led through the capsized luxury liner by a reverend (Gene Hackman).
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Action/Adventure/Epic
Review: "Titanic" was a very good love story blended with an emotion-laden setting and good music. However, I prefer Irwin Allen's epic "The Poseidon Adventure". A reputedly unsinkable grand luxury liner sets sail, despite storm warnings, just after Christmas. A monster wave (can you spell T-S-U-N-A-M-I?) capsizes the huge liner, and a group of passengers, who believe that escape is possible and are not ready to sit around and passively wait for death or rescue, sets off to climb up to the (former) bottom of the ship to raise their chances of rescue. The cast is all-star (Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelly Winters, Roddy McDowell) but Hackman stands out as the charismatic but hardened rogue priest who insists upon saving himself and anyone who will follow. With dramatic scene after dramatic scene, aboard what really looks like a capsized liner, the group gradually makes its way up (down?) to the bottom (top?) of the ship. However, in order to escape, Hackman has to . . . well, I won't spoil it for the entire generation that is too young to have seen this movie. Let's just say that the ending is as dramatic as everything else in this movie. Oh, and this movie has its song too. "There's Got To Be A Morning After" by Maureen McGovern is a good competitor for Celine Dion's "The Heart Will Go On" from "Titanic". Here's a good movie to own, as it can be watched repeatedly. There are good moral themes of sacrifice and redemption in the movie too. Watch it with your kids. Irwin Allen did many other epics ("Airport", "The Towering Inferno") that were very good, but this is the best of the lot. This one would get 4.5 stars if that were an option.
Rating:
Summary: Hell Upside Down
Review: This movie is action packed with breathtaking scenes. It is laced with thrilling stunts that are dangerous. At midnight on New Years Eve, the S.S. Poseidon, enroute from New York to Athen, met with a disaster and was lost. There was only a handful of survivors. They were led through the capsized luxury liner by a reverend (Gene Hackman). This movie is the most enjoyable movie ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Hell upside down
Review: The first of the (many) disaster movies of the 1970's. Luxury liner en route from New York to Athens is capsized by monster tidal wave, leaving small group of survivors to try to escape through upended hull. The first twenty minutes where we meet the characters is pretty awful, but all that falls away as disaster strikes and we get involved with the characters' plight. Great special effects with some of the interior scenes filmed aboard the Queen Mary. Great cast includes Gene Hackman as determined preacher leading the group, and Shelly Winters who's a burden until she has her moment of heroism. Ernest Borgnine is very effective as Hackman's antagonist, a loud and abrasive detective lieutenant. Leslie Nielsen appears as the hapless captain. Followed by a sequel in 1979.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Movie!
Review: I may be nine years old, but The Poseidon Adventure (1972) is a FANTASTIC MOVIE! A tidal wave (143 miles northwest of Crete), manages to flip a luxury liner upside down (this is based on the book by by Paul Gallico). Rev. Frank Scott (Gene Hackman), leads a New York cop (Ernest Borgnine), and his wife (Stella Stevens), a pop singer (Carol Lynley), a solemn "just there" guy (Red Buttons), an old man (Jack Albertson), and his wife (Shelley Winters;who fears a weight problem), a dining salon steward (Roddy McDowall), and a young girl (Pamela Sue Martin), and her brother (Eric Shea). And by the way...Leslie Nielson as the Captain? Great movie, though.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest of disaster movies... perhaps ever
Review: As I read some of the reviews I was frankly astonished that there was so much negative sentiment towards this film. There are alot of films where it's easy to imagine opposite points of view. To me this isn't one of them. And I don't care how contrived any of the characters may seem. I feel like the viewer is treated to a first rate drama. Man battles nature, man battles man, man battles himself. It's classic stuff. I think that often times viewers of film, particularly historically based film, expect too much from what has to be considered loosely based adaptations developed for dramatic effect. A smart alick kid, an ex call girl, 2 kindly grandparents, a brash irreverant reverend... come on it's damn near epic. The intensity of the film is palpable at times with a little comedy thrown and a dash of irony. I can't see how you could ask for more. Just a phenomenal film!
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated, but adequate disaster flick
Review: After having watched this movie, I am still left wondering what all the hoopla was about? This movie wasn't the first of the disaster movies (that honor belongs to 1970's "Airport"). Nor was there anything that sets this movie apart from other disaster-era works. It reminds me a lot of "Earthquake" in the way that there is a basic setup of the main characters and their roles, then the disaster hits, and then characters are knocked off on the way to safety. The only difference is the setting. I agree with a previous reviewer in that the setup of the conflict between Linarcos and Capt. Harrison wasn't fully realized. It only served as an explanation of how the ship was more easily capsized. However it does serve as a window into Leslie Nielsen's non-comedic acting. The other characters were too one-dimensional to be truly believable. Gene Hackman as an atheistic minister? Geez! Overall, though, the star-studded cast does a decent job with a marginal script. "The Poseidon Adventure" is entertaining enough overall to make it a worthwhile view, even with its obvious shortcomings.
Rating:
Summary: Things to do while enjoying this one
Review: Like bad dialogue? Well, if you don't have time to enjoy the whole thing, wait a few minutes for Hackman's first appearance, and listen as his character describes himself in words that would ordinarily be found scribbled on a screenwriter's legal pad. Hackman can do no wrong, but this is the worst line he's ever been given to read. (It's the very next thing after O'Connell all too pointedly calls him "REVEREND Scott.") Like open-ended plot points? Ask yourself: Why the conflict between the captain and Lenarcos (or however it's spelled) at the beginning? It never comes up again, since both characters are immediately killed in the Big Gulp. Must have been something to intrigue us while everyone was still boringly alive. It's cruel and all to easy to make fun of Winters in her underwater scene. Instead, ask yourself how the few remaining brain cells were removed from behind Stella Stevens' face to achieve that expression of hers when Hackman proposes a toast "to love." Like hot pants? *Remember* hot pants? Ernest Borgnine is just about the only cast member not wearing any, so enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: The First And Last of the Best Disaster Films
Review: 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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