A group of passengers must embark on a harrowing struggle for survival after a rogue wave capsizes their cruise ship at sea.A group of passengers must embark on a harrowing struggle for survival after a rogue wave capsizes their cruise ship at sea.A group of passengers must embark on a harrowing struggle for survival after a rogue wave capsizes their cruise ship at sea.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 13 nominations total
- Nurse
- (as Sheila Mathews)
- Mr. Tinkham
- (as Erik Nelson)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEven though her character is presented as an elderly, retired woman, Shelley Winters was only 51 years old when the film was made. Ernest Borgnine was actually three years older than Winters, despite the fact that his character treats hers like a old woman.
- GoofsLinda Rogo had to change into her husband's shirt because she didn't wear a bra and couldn't climb in her gown. However, when she is in the smokestack about to climb the ladder, a bra strap is visible. In the DVD commentary, Stella Stevens acknowledged that she saw this error in the rushes and pleaded to have it removed, but to no avail.
- Quotes
Mrs. Linda Rogo: I saw a young officer on deck the other day, and he looked DAMN familiar... even with his clothes on.
Mike Rogo: So... he recognized ya, so?
Mrs. Linda Rogo: So doesn't that bother you?
Mike Rogo: If it bothered me, I wouldn'ta married ya.
Mrs. Linda Rogo: Well first you arrested me six times.
Mike Rogo: Well I had to figure out some way to keep you off the streets... until you'd marry me.
- Crazy creditsThe song "The Morning After" is credited on screen as "The Song From The Poseidon Adventure"
- ConnectionsEdited into The Return of the Movie Movie (1972)
- SoundtracksThe Song from The Poseidon Adventure
aka "The Morning After" (1972)
Words and Music by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
Orchestration Alexander Courage
Performed by Renée Armand (uncredited)
The film is an adaption of Paul Gallico's novel which was written in the Thirties, but it was updated to the present for the film. While on the luxury liner Poseidon as a New Year's Eve Party goes on, Captain Leslie Nielsen takes note of an undersea earthquake and the tidal wave that will hit the ship in about fifteen minutes. But he's certainly not prepared for the wall of water that smacks the Poseidon broadside and capsizes it.
Before the big event and the special effects that got The Poseidon Adventure its Oscar in that department we are introduced to the group of people who elect to try and climb up to the keel of the capsized Poseidon while the rest remain in the grand ballroom. Leading the group is minister Gene Hackman and the rest are married couples, Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens, musician/singer Carol Lynley, hypochondriac Red Buttons, steward Roddy McDowell, and teenager Pamela Sue Martin and her little brother Eric Shea.
You do get wrapped up and sucked into the conflicts especially with Ernest Borgnine who's simultaneously got a war going with Gene Hackman and with his wife Stella Stevens. She's an ex-hooker who he busted several times and eventually married. He's got a rambunctious nature and Borgnine provides a lot of the interest here.
Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters are the typical elderly Jewish couple who are on a trip to Israel to visit the grandchild they've never seen. They're a calming and steadying influence on the others. So is Red Buttons who finds courage he never thought he possessed and he helps Lynley out who's devastated at the loss of her brother who was in the band performing at the New Year's Eve Party.
Gene Hackman as a minister takes his gospel from that noted skeptic Benjamin Franklin who said that God helps those who help themselves. For those who believe in a divine plan, he seems divinely sent to get these people to safety. Not all of them make it though.
The Poseidon Adventure got another Oscar for Best Song for The Morning After. Maureen McGovern's recording of that tune was playing everywhere in 1972. It's one of the few Academy Award winning songs that is still prized and remembered over the last 40 years.
Maybe Irwin Allen did a wise thing by not directing the film and letting Ronald Neame do it. Spectacle is great and I love it, but a good story with characters you care about is what makes the Poseidon Adventure the fine film it is.
- bkoganbing
- Feb 21, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Die Höllenfahrt der Poseidon
- Filming locations
- RMS Queen Mary - 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, California, USA(portions of this picture filmed aboard the QUEEN MARY in Long Beach, California)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $5,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $84,563,118
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $264,850
- Dec 17, 1972
- Gross worldwide
- $84,563,118
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1