The Poseidon Adventure

PG

Released Dec 12, 1972

1 hr. 57 min.

Adventure

Mystery & Thriller

TRAILER

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List

80%

30 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

En route from New York City to Greece on New Year's Eve, majestic passenger ship the S.S. Poseidon is overtaken by a tidal wave. With the captain (Leslie Nielsen) dead, surviving passengers, including the passionate Rev. Scott (Gene Hackman), band together in the ship's ballroom. The group struggles to avert fires, flooding, structural instability and mechanical malfunctions as they make their way through a maze of ladders and tunnels in their desperate attempt to escape a watery grave.

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Critics Consensus

The Poseidon Adventure exemplifies the disaster film done right, going down smoothly with ratcheting tension and a terrific ensemble to give the peril a distressingly human dimension.

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Fábio A

Uma história impressionante Um filme muito bem construído do início aos fim com um senario bem realista que muito bom ascensão de que tudo aquilo está realmente acontecendo os personagens são muito bom e a direção também e o elenco também é muito bom

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/20/24

Full Review

Dean W

Hands down the best disaster movie ever made. The sets the stories the humor the horror all top notch. The images of the upside down liner are haunting and riveting.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/01/24

Full Review

Mitch M

This is my favorite "disaster" movie. The acting is just superb, especially Hackman's preacher role. Considering when this movie was made, the special effects are excellent. This is one of those movies that I just never get tired of watching. I saw it back-to-back nights in the movie theater when it first came out.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Alec B

There's an argument to be made that it is the best of the 70s disaster movies (an admittedly low bar) as it isn't too long and there is a willingness to kill off characters (most of whom are not too insufferable) in unceremonious ways.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/24

Full Review

Jake D

This movie still holds up today!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/02/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Over 50 years old and this opened a new wave of disaster flicks in the mainstream of Hollywood Starring Gene Hackman, the late Ernest Borgnine, the late Jack Albertson, the late Roddy McDowell, and the late Leslie Nielsen The ship Poseidon is on its way an aging luxury liner from New York City to Athens before it is scrapped But an undersea earthquake near Crete triggers a tsunami, the captain tries to steer away from the 100ft wave, but the ship lists so badly from the impact that it flips around entirely Gathered in the promenade room for a New Year’s Eve party, the surviving passengers are the top of a ship that has now submerged, which means they’re at the bottom As the Rev Frank Scott, a minister who argues that people should help themselves rather than rely on God to do it This was second highest-grossing film to come out that year, trailing only The Godfather Didn't know it was based on Paul Gallico’s novel – which would be adapted two more times subsequently Corny, clanky but undeniably fun Some pretty decent effects as far as pyrotechnics with miniatures and low Dutch angles It's considered camp by todays standards and even modern blockbusters will be dated too But it did usher a new wave of disaster movies in Hollywood Hackman said it was the best job--a money maker as it were; Yet Hackman creates a character whose will to live – and to save other’s lives in the process – is a matter of religious devotion, a Job-like burden against a spiteful or indifferent God He strives to make the movie deserve his performance Hackman just keeps on providing the urgency and gravity that keeps the film from sinking the depths of self-parody Producer Irwin Allen and director Ronald Neame turn a simple fight for survival into an action showcase that nonetheless goes to greater lengths than necessary to develop its characters and make their survival (and sacrifices) meaningful to the audience The movie works because of its nightmarish scenario, a real situation in which actual victims struggle to make it out alive against all odds

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/13/23

Full Review

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Ronald Neame

Director

Irwin Allen

Director

Gene Hackman

Rev. Frank Scott

Ernest Borgnine

Det. Lt. Mike Rogo

Shelley Winters

Belle Rosen

Red Buttons

James Martin

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The Conversation

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Critical Consensus: "Poseidon" Sinks, "Luck" Is Lacking

The Poseidon Adventure: Trailer 1

3:14

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

The picture would be more fun if we cared about who got killed and who survived.

Sep 29, 2023

Full Review

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

What the glittering, star-driving survivalism of Poseidon Adventure actually presents is a nightmarishly schematic fantasia of guiltless discomfort.

Rated: 3/4

May 8, 2006

Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Neither as exciting nor as unintentionally funny as one would like it to be.

Rated: B-

Apr 19, 2006

Full Review

Rachel Wagner

Hallmarkies Podcast

Compelling characters I enjoyed following

Jan 8, 2024

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

When reviewed, for the benefit of 21st century moviegoers, this is a rather silly but sweet disaster flick with a lot of camp appeal. When critiqued, to better understand cinema, this really is a mold-breaking master work.

Rated: 8/10

Mar 6, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Silly as it is, it was probably the best of the cycle it started in earnest.

Dec 14, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

En route from New York City to Greece on New Year's Eve, majestic passenger ship the S.S. Poseidon is overtaken by a tidal wave. With the captain (Leslie Nielsen) dead, surviving passengers, including the passionate Rev. Scott (Gene Hackman), band together in the ship's ballroom. The group struggles to avert fires, flooding, structural instability and mechanical malfunctions as they make their way through a maze of ladders and tunnels in their desperate attempt to escape a watery grave.

Director: Ronald Neame, Irwin Allen
Screenwriter: Paul Gallico, Wendell Mayes, Stirling Silliphant
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 12, 1972, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 3, 2016

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