The Poseidon Adventure: A Review

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

There is a vicarious thrill in seeing others in danger, seeing who will live and who will die. The Poseidon Adventure may not be the first disaster film with an all-star cast in it. However, I find it wildly entertaining, slightly kitschy but with some surprisingly moving moments too.

It is New Year's Eve, and the ocean liner Poseidon is sailing to Greece on its final voyage. The Poseidon's Captain (Leslie Nielsen) is firmly against racing the ship to be junked and repeatedly warns the Poseidon's new owner Linarcos (Fred Sadoff) that the ship does not have enough ballast to go as fast as Linarcos wants.

The passengers, however, are oblivious to what is going on in the captain's deck. Robin Shelby (Eric Shay), traveling to join his parents in Greece, might know. He repeatedly visits the captain's deck and engine room, fascinated by the ship's mechanics. His sister Susan (Pamela Sue Martin) is fascinated in turn by renegade minister Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman). He is unorthodox both in his methods and his theology, much to the consternation of his mentor Chaplain John (Arthur O'Connell). 

One couple that will not be hearing Reverend Scott's message are Manny (Jack Albertson) and Belle (Shelley Winters) Rosen. They are on their way to Israel to visit their first grandchild. Belle has informally adopted James Martin (Red Buttons), an unmarried recently retired haberdasher. Also aboard the Poseidon is Nonnie (Carol Lynley), the Poseidon house band's singer who traded their services for free passage. Busboy Acres (Roddy McDowell) loves to hear them play. For their part, newlyweds Mike and Linda Rogo (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens) are in turns defiant and leery about the other passengers. Mike has recently retired from the New York City Police Department, where he met his wife, who was a former hooker. 

As it is New Year's Eve, a lavish party takes place. The Rosens and Mr. Martin are at the table with Reverend Scott. Robin and Susan Shelby are at another. The Rogos are mostly thrilled to be at the Captain's Table. He is urgently called up to the deck, where he learns that an underground earthquake has created a massive tidal wave that is about to hit the Poseidon. The tidal wave swamps the Poseidon, forcing the ship over and causing the passengers to literally fly through the air. With the ship now upside down, Reverend Scott gets our disparate group to go up. Who will live and who will die as the situation grows more perilous? 

I confess that my favorite part of The Poseidon Adventure is when the New Year's Eve party descends into total chaos. Seeing all our stars and the various extras and stunt actors slowly, then quickly falling and flying about is both thrilling and hilarious to me. I get that this is supposed to be terrifying, and it is. However, I have always found it a bit funny, seeing all these people attempt to keep themselves up while they are turning upside down. The highlight of this sequence is when one of the doomed passengers falls onto the glass ceiling, putting the coda on this thrilling segment of the film.

What screenwriters Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes (adapting Paul Gallico's novel) did well is to take time to establish the various characters and their situations prior to the chaos. We learn about the Rosen's hopes to see their new grandchild, Mr. Martin's loneliness, Reverend Scott's rebellious nature, Mike and Linda Rogo's tumultuous pasts, Robin's precociousness and Susan's unrequited love for the radical preacher. By getting to know the characters, we end up caring about them. We have a vested interest in what happens to them. 

We also know that, in good disaster movie tradition, not all of them will survive. That is part of the thrill: to see who ultimately makes it out alive. Perhaps this is a spoiler, but The Poseidon Adventure seems pretty hard on wives. The thrill comes from seeing not just who lives and dies but how they live and die.

The Poseidon Adventure does well to take its time not just building up the characters but building up suspense. It takes close to half an hour before we get to the tidal wave, leaving the audience in anticipation. Once we do get that climatic moment over with, The Poseidon Adventure becomes a survival film, introducing new obstacles and terrors for our passengers.

An element that I do not know is talked about often enough is how these passengers are not perfect. Scott and Rogo are almost always at odds, constantly battling over the rightness or wrongness of every decision. The conflict leaves the others more terrified, but it also seems real. Rogo does not argue just to contradict Scott. He has genuine fears and concerns. Scott, for his part, is arrogant and utterly convinced that he is always right. These are two alpha males battling it out for supremacy. It is great to watch.

The Poseidon Adventure boasts five Oscar winners (Borgnine, Buttons, Winters and Albertson, with Hackman winning his first Oscar during the film's making). As campy as The Poseidon Adventure may be, none of them phoned it in. Shelley Winters was singled out from the cast with a Best Supporting Actress nomination. As Belle Rosen, she gives a solid performance. While I think her comments about her weight and vocal mannerisms may now be mocked, her last scene was surprisingly moving. Belle Rosen genuinely cared for James Martin in a way only a Jewish mother could. She and Albertson worked well together, making the Rosens a nice couple.

They seemed to be counter to the Rogos, who were closer to comic relief. Stella Stevens in particular as the brassy ex-hooker who could tell Mike to cool it when needed. She too takes potshots at Belle, at one point openly saying that she would go first so that she wouldn't get trapped behind Belle if something else happened. Ernest Borgnine balanced his sometimes-unhinged overprotectiveness and defensiveness about Linda with his constant battling with Scott. Red Buttons had a more difficult task: making the Martin/Nonnie relationship work.

The late Gene Hackman excelled as God's angry man who was angry with God. He was defiant and kindhearted when needed. Reverend Scott was strong and arrogant but also genuinely pained whenever someone did not survive.  

Lynley's Nonnie was quite annoying, forever freaking out over everything. She also had the burden of apparently falling in love with a man almost old enough to be her grandfather. However, she and Buttons made that part of the film work. She also introduced The Morning After, the film's theme song that won Best Original Song. John Williams' score, also Oscar nominated, is not often mentioned when people go over his cinematic work. I think it should be more remembered, bringing out the danger and thrills of the film's story.

A bit kitschy and camp (Buttons telling Nonnie, "Your brother's dead" or Rogo ranting about his Linda lend themselves to parody), The Poseidon Adventure never skimps on what audiences wanted from it: thrills, some laughs, and a great adventure story. 

DECISION: A-