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The Poseidon looks very much like a model - although the
sets are clever and intricate - but there's a certain something
about the movie that sort of catches you up and races away
with you.
The Poseidon Adventure is one of the classic disaster
movies and is the horrific story of a boatload of passengers
who are having the time of their lives on New Year's Eve,
when a tsunami-spawned tidal wave hits the suspect ship and
flips her over.
Most passengers die instantly - as does the crew - but a
handful, led by renegade churchman Gene Hackman, do their
best to climb up (or is that down) to the bottom of the ship.
It's a pretty good cast of about-to-die characters and includes
Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Jack Alberston, Carol Lynley
(hotpants 1), Pamela Sue Martin (hotpants 2), Roddie McDowall,
Stella Stevens, Leslie Nielsen and Red Buttons.
Despite the calibre of actor, the script is a bit daggy,
but the survivors do manage to make you care about what happens
to them.
If you haven't seen The Poseidon Adventure on the
box for a while then it is worth having a squizz at for old
time's sake.
The video transfer is of a very high quality and you won't
notice the occasional glitches. The sound, unfortunately is
mono, which is a shame because the echoey insides of the vessel
would have been perfect for surround. Never mind.
Now, I have to 'fess up that everytime I watch The Poseidon
Adventure I am reminded of a brilliant Mad magazine
take-off of the movie called The Poopside Down Adventure.
The sensational thing about the comic was that when they reached
the hull by the propellor, the kid - having been told to shut
up throughout the entire journey - pipes up and says: "Hey
Mr Rogo, the engineer told me it rights itself after two hours!"
Now that, would have been an ending!
Conclusion: Movie 70%, Extras 40%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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