The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Directed by Ronald Neame. Starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall, Carol Lynley, Jack Albertson, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O’Connell, Leslie Nielsen, Eric Shea, Byron Webster, Fred Sadoff. [PG]

Irwin Allen’s risible trendsetter in the disaster movie sub-genre: big-name cast, wretched dialogue, accidental-camp melodrama, and the occasional large-scale sequence of special effects and destruction. Here, an enormous tidal wave capsizes an oceanliner, and the survivors must make their way “up to the bottom” for a chance to be rescued. Surprisingly dull for an “adventure,” with lots of low-suspense climbing and crawling and swimming to avoid the rising water in between poorly-written scenes of clichéd character drama—where are the sharks that ate Sam Jackson when you need ‘em? As the ostensible leader of the survivors, Hackman escapes unscathed, but he’s supposed to be playing a preacher, and nothing about his behavior, tone, or temperament suggests as much (the only purpose his background seems to serve is so that he can rant at God at the end to take him and spare the others). As for the Oscar-winning song “The Morning After,” even one of the characters in the movie asserts he can’t stand it—a wise fellow too unlucky to get out of the ballroom alive. The special effects also won an Academy Award. Music by John Williams. Followed by a sequel (Beyond the Poseidon Adventure) and a 2006 remake (title shortened to just Poseidon).

41/100