Rating: 
Summary: Still holds up - DVD version a disaster
Review: 20th Century Fox missed the boat on this one. This movie holds up remarkably well considering most of the dialogue seems a bit dated now. Shelley Winters gives a good solid performance of the grandmother on the way to see her grandson in Israel. Hackman is a rebel priest, and Stella Stevens is the hooker made good by marrying cop Ernest Borgnine. Everyone is having a good time until disaster strikes. The special effects of the capsizing of the Poseidon were unsurpassed until Star Wars came along - and even then Lucas wasn't turning over a boat load of passengers. The grand piano crashing through mid air still gives me stomach pains. Yes, they don't compare to James Cameron's Titanic, but remember - they didn't have digital/computer technology back then. I still don't know how they did it. Which leads me to my next point.The real disaster is the treatment Fox gave the DVD. I didn't wait all these years for DVD technology to hear Dolby mono. The movie was originally released in stereo. Hearing all those screaming people from my center speaker doesn't cut it. Hearing John William's fine score, and the Academy Award winning "The Morning After" in mono is a real disappointment. I know there was a 'making of' documentary produced around the time the film was made. Why isn't it on the DVD? Why didn't we get a commentary track from some of the special effects wizards, cast, or director. They can't all be dead. Again, we waited for years for this to be released in a digital format, but my recommendation is to stick with the VHS version. At least that is in stereo.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Flush the Toilets
Review: This movie is great because it turns everything upside down. This really impressed me when I was a kid. They have to go down to go up, just like so many professions in life. This movie has a strong message of self reliance - don't wait around to be rescued, find your own way out. Under pressure society soon dissolves, reducing us to the level of rats in a maze. This movie is about human hubris. It would have been even better if everybody had died and, while we watched, somebody locked the theater doors and flooded the theater. Then we'd see who deserved to survive and who didn't. Let me tell you, it wouldn't be the people we voted for. This is going to happen to the World one day, but unfortunately it's going to be the people we vote for who'll survive.
Rating:
Summary: The only Good Disaster Flick from the 70's.
Review: Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine lead an all star cast, in a story of a handful of survivors trying to escape from the metal bowls of a luxury liner capsized by a tital wave. good performances of the various actors, the sets that were build for the movie are very impressive, and the various action sequences acheived on film using effective camera work. This movie is so much better then Titanic, and also unlike Cameron's over-rated film. The Poseidon Adventure had good actors working in the film.The James Horner music in Titanic is weak and ineffective compared to the epic music score herad on the Poseidon Adventure, scored by John Williams.
Rating:
Summary: Heck upside down
Review: This movie rocked. There's no way you can go through it without trying to guess who's going to live and who's going to die (unless you've seen it before, and then you've got an unfair advantage :). My only complaing and the reason this got 4 stars instead of 5 is that Roddy McDowall's character died to soon!
Rating: 
Summary: Sinking and Stinking
Review: This was among the first of the `All-Star' disaster movies of the 70's, and which were so well-spoofed in `Airplane!'. The plot involves a tidal wave that manages to flip over a large cruise ship, and the all-star cast (at least in 1972), which includes Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens, and Red Buttons. With the exception of Hackman (is this how you follow The French Connection ?), the rest of the cast was better suited to the Love Boat, and not this boat. The dialogue is inanely silly, and Hackman, playing a cussing, derriere-grabbing reverend, just screams through most of this. It may have some larger cultural significance, but The Poseidon Adventure simply sinks.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best survival movies ever
Review: For years I have been hearing about how good "The Poseidon Adventure" was, and I've been wanting to see it for a long time. I finally saw it and I definitely see what all the fuss was about. Passengers onboard the Poseidon ship are terrorized when the ship is caught in a storm and is overturned. It's up to Reverand Frank Scott (Gene Hackman), who becomes the leader wanting to save everybody by getting them out of the ship alive before it sinks, to convince the passengers to trust him and come along with him as a team. "The Poseidon Adventure" is one of the most exciting and interesting survival movies ever made. It has great acting by everybody, an interesting plot, and great special effects. When you see the underwater explosions and the scene where people are hanging on to an upside down table after the ship overturns, you'll see why it won awards for best special effects of the year. I recommend anybody to get "The Poseidon Adventure" and witness a great, classic movie.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie but for reasons other than the acting and th
Review: Excellent movie but for reasons other than the acting and the adventure. The movie is an allegory following the life of Jesus Christ from his birth to his death. It is a modern Passion play in the truest sense of the word and its wide appeal is due to the chord that the story of Christ touches in all of mankind. The movie begins with a rebel priest preaching to a small group of passengers on a cruise ship, which is destined for catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. The rebel priest is Jesus Christ. Jesus was also a rebel who was sent to change the status quo and bring the word of God to the people so that they can be saved. The tidal wave which was the hand of God, the father, in motion came upon the cruise ship and overturning it on Christmas night. The world is now upside down and there is debate as to the best course to be saved. The rebel priest says that all must follow him and have faith in him to be saved. Not all heed the call. Those few that do are the chosen ones and they begin by climbing the Christmas tree to follow their leader to the bottom of the ship. Those that remain perish. Those that go with the priest are an old man and his wife (Joseph and Mary), a former policeman and his wife who was once a prostitute (Peter the rock and Mary Magdalene) and two children. On their journey they encounter various trials in which their faith in the rebel priest is tested. They encounter a group of people going in the opposite direction led by a false prophet to their eventual doom. When the small group finally reaches the bottom of the ship and they are almost to their destination their way is blocked by flames. At this point the rebel priest throws himself at a large valve to close it off, and in a scene reminiscent of the crucifixion, the priest hangs on to the valve until the last minute and he falls to his death in the water and fire below. The path is now open and His followers enter the final door and at that moment they are rescued as men like angels descend from a helicopter to cut them out of the ship and save them. The movie is replete with analogies drawn from the Bible I leave it to the astute viewer to uncover them for himself.
Rating:
Summary: W O W ! ! !
Review: This movie paved the way for every disaster blockbuster we have been running to see each and every summer since it appeared in 1972. A vastly entertaining soap opera, set on a doomed luxury liner, this movie never fails to provide thrills, stunning (esp. for its day) visual effects, and performances that range from pure camp (Stella Stevens) to truly moving (Shelley Winters, who was nominated for an Oscar). The tidal wave turnover is still terrifying, and the various sub-plots and near-romances between ill-matched survivors never fail to be engaging; it's like a first-class version of Love Boat, upside down, of course. The theme song is one of those enduring, righteous pop wonders that is perfectly matched to the film.
Rating:
Summary: Dying to see the DVD version
Review: This movie is timeless and classic as "ABBA" and will remain one of my favorites for many years to come. I have the "DVD" version but am still waiting for my player to arrive to experience all the action and drama again. SUPERB!
Rating:
Summary: Has Hackman ever been better?
Review: Is there a more riveting disaster film? Is there a motion picture that better defines what it means to be a "guilty pleasure?" These questions merely hint at the giddy delights that await all viewers of this vintage 1970s overblown, overacted, overwritten masterpiece. The characters are little more than stock players straight out of central casting (the gruff cynic, the reformed prostitute, the lonely batchelor, the plucky kid, the aging couple), but, improbably enough, these people command our attention and generate interest in their plight. We're not talking high art here, but on the level of pure cheesy melodrama, few films have perfected the craft as well. And, as stated, Gene Hackman outdoes even his Popeye Doyle character as a skeptical, unconventional priest who roars and fumes his way through the capsized ship.
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