Poseidon Adventure

[Karl Heidenreich]

In 1973, as an 8 year old kid, my dad took me to the cinema to see the Poseidon Adventure. Not the first motion picture that I had seen it is the first one that impressed me, so much, that when I got out of the cinema I could remember the whole movie scene by scene. Now I can almost remember the movie dialogue by dialogue. As a child I saw it two times at the cinema and, later, some two more. Now I have the DVD and see it whenever I want, specially the part when the wave hits the ship.

A great movie, I believe. A cult movie (there are fan sites for it):

http://www.theposeidonadventure.com/index2.htm

The ship, as you may be aware, is the glorious HMS Queen Mary, which by the way, it is said that was really stricken by a mysterious wave during WII when transporting troops from USA to Europe.

There is also the rumor that the writer of the novel, Paul Gallico, was on board the Queen Mary when another wave hit her and make her almost go around, which was why he wrote the novel, years later.

The story is fascinating, don´t you think? Specially the reason why the ship did turn around: no so much balast, empty cargo bays, the ship was top heavy, a rush to fulfill an schedule...

Just some thoughts about a movie that I loved...

[marcelo_malara]

Karl, my father took me to that movie in the same year at the same age. It was one of the best movies I have ever seen, it caused a lasting impression on me: urinals hanging from the ceiling and lamps sticking out of the floor!!! Great movie, a pity that the remake was so Hollywood.

Kind regards

[José M. Rico]

Great movie.
I haven't seen the remake, but I believe the original one is much better, am I right?

By the way, we already talked about the Poseidon Adventure here:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=493&p=5036

[Legend]

I have seen the movie and thought it was amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by Queen Mary, from what I heard from shows and Ballard's book she had stability problems in her early years despite being over a thousand feet long. Wasn't the old guy the grandfather in the original Willy Wonka movie, not the one with that INSANE performance by Johnny Depp?

[marcelo_malara]

Yes Jose, the first is much much better. The same happened with Flight of the Phoenix, I saw the first one in TV many years ago, then the new one on DVD.

[Karl Heidenreich]

The remake is really disappointing, and it´s a Wolgang Petersen (Das Boot) movie. Incredible. And with the resources and effects available nowaday they could have done a masterpiece, no doubt. And I don´t see why they didn´t. Maybe because the movie is too short, some ten more minutes before the wave to have a good emotional crescendo, suspense: a warning from a neighbor vessel, a seismic station calling atention because a sub sea quake (or an erupting volvano near Azores or such). And the big failure were the characters: no Scott (Gene Hackmann) the priest, no Rogo (Ernest Borgnine), no Ms. Rosen (Shelley Winters), etc. etc. In the new movie there is these character that is a professional gambler which is a former USN officer, that could have been greatly exploited.
Well, the issue is that the original movie was great and the new not so much. Anyhow I buyed the DVD and have it home.

The idea was to talk about the original movie because I find two things almost simultaneously: the novel (incredible... and in Spanish) and the fan club website. So I wanted to share it with you...

Marcelo:

Karl, my father took me to that movie in the same year at the same age.

So, my friend, you understand very well what I think (No! I don´t think about it, I FEEL about it!) when I hear the song: A Morning After which is performed by Maureen McGovern.

Best regards.

[Legend]

Oh... I remember that song! I really loved her voice... "there has to be a morning afterrrr"...

[RF]

I think The Poseidon Adventure is a very good film and the producers certainly showed a good deal of imagination.

But could this happen in reality - I don't mean the ship capsising, but passengers escaping through the upturned bottom of the ship?

[surfsup]

I think The Poseidon Adventure is a very good film and the producers certainly showed a good deal of imagination.

But could this happen in reality - I don't mean the ship capsising, but passengers escaping through the upturned bottom of the ship?

It happened on two occassions that I know of and they were both Naval vessels. The rescue of survivors from both the Tirpitz and the Oklahoma during WW2. There were only a few rescued from both vessels when they capsized. They did'nt cut their way out and neither did the survivors of the poseidon. Rescuers cut into the upturned hulls to free those that they could.