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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786300247031 Format: Color, NTSC ISBN: 6300247031 Label: 20th Century Fox Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: 20th Century Fox Release Date: December 07, 1992 Running Time: 117 minutes Sales Rank: 9039 Studio: 20th Century Fox Theatrical Release Date: December 13, 1972
Amazon.com essential video: Hands down, this is the best movie (and was one of the first) to come out of the seemingly endless cycle of disaster movies that dominated box offices during the 1970s. It could even be argued that Titanic owes some of its success to the precedent set by this 1972 blockbuster starring Gene Hackman as a priest who leads a small group of survivors to safety from the bowels of a capsized luxury liner. From its stellar cast to its cheesy, Oscar-winning theme song, The Morning After, the movie has all the ingredients of a popular classic, beginning with a New Year's Eve celebration aboard the ill-fated Poseidon and ending as a pop allegory when the Hackman character becomes a Christ-like martyr. Filmed on spectacular sets where everything down is up and the ship's thick hull points in the direction of salvation, this is "a waterlogged Grand Hotel" (in the words of New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael) that is as entertaining as it is unabashedly brainless. The Poseidon Adventure is filled with performances that rise above the limits of the screenplay. It's also the only movie--unless you count her underwater corpse in Night of the Hunter--that lets Shelley Winters strut her stuff as an aquatic heroine. Who could ask for anything more? --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Betty Boop
I was very pleased with the quality of the movie and the expedient service. Thank you!
Rating: - The Implausible Adventure
I am somewhat stunned that the prevailing sentiment about this film is so overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps it is a cultural effect or wistfulness for the 1970's. If so, I was not similarly affected inasmuch as I had not seen this movie until now (2008). The film lived up to its reputation for being an expensive disaster film with an all star cast. I found the special effects (especially the giant wave) to be amazingly good for the time, and was entirely entertained by the film until the ship capsized.
The film is ponderous, preachy, and pretentious. Worst of all it took extremely ... Read More
Rating: - my way to honor in the New Year
Every New Years's Eve, I watch this film to remind me that "life does matter very much", a very profound line spoken by Reverend Scott. I also like to be reminded that in a crisis, if a group pulls together, more than likely there will be a desirable outcome.
Rating: - Great suspense flick
Only the great Irwin Allen could produce a movie that artfully blends soap opera, drama, comedy and suspense. Especially memorable performances by Gene Hackman, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters and Ernest Borgnine.
Rating: - A Classic - One of the Best Disaster Films of All Time
Simply because of the sheer grandeur with which this film was made by mega producer Irwin Allen, you have to overlook the cliches and stereotypes that fill the cast. Shelley Winters shines as Mrs Rosen, and even received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. The basic plot - as if it needs to be told - involves a group of people trying to survive the terrible disaster which occurs aboard the S.S Poseidon when the ship is struck by a gigantic wave on New Year's Eve and turns completely upside down. The upside down set-pieces are exquisite, and still remain very realistic ... Read More
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