The Poseidon Adventure (1972) on Netflix
PG19721h 57mActionAdventureDrama
A tidal wave capsizes the liner SS Poseidon on New Year's Eve, trapping passengers inside the overturned ship. Reverend Frank Scott leads a small group upward toward the outer hull.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.1/1054,701 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
On New Year's Eve the aging SS Poseidon is on its final voyage from New York to Athens before being scrapped, with the owner's representative insisting on full speed despite the captain's safety concerns. Reverend Frank Scott, a minister bound for a parish in Africa, holds that God helps those who help themselves. In the dining room, passengers gather for the New Year's celebration, among them Mike Rogo and his wife Linda, siblings Susan and Robin Shelby, haberdasher James Martin, singer Nonnie Parry, Manny Rosen and his wife Belle, and waiter Acres. Word reaches the bridge of an undersea earthquake and a swell from Crete; the wave hits broadside and the liner capsizes. Trapped inside, Scott argues that the group must climb toward the hull, while the purser tells the crowd to wait for help.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The dining room set, the focus of the film as the ship capsizes, was built in sections that a forklift could tilt to simulate the roll and then mount upside down for the scenes afterwards. Storm scenes used cameras mounted on gyros, a 22-foot scale model served for exteriors, and the cast mostly did their own stunts.
- Before the final line-up, Sally Kellerman was considered for Linda Rogo, Petula Clark was offered Nonnie Parry and turned it down, Gene Wilder was originally cast as James Martin but dropped out, and Burt Lancaster was offered Reverend Frank Scott but did not feel the role was right for him.
- Mad's September 1973 edition satirised the film as "The Poopsidedown Adventure", and its cover was the first Mad cover not to show Alfred E. Neuman's face, showing him instead floating upside down with only his feet jutting out of an SS Poseidon life preserver. It became the best-selling issue in the magazine's history.
- Paul Gallico's novel was inspired by a 1937 trip the author took by sea, during which the ship turned on its side in high waves.
- "The Morning After", written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Song. In the film it was performed by Renée Armand, dubbing for Carol Lynley, while a version by Maureen McGovern became a hit single in 1973.
- When the film made its network television premiere on ABC on 27 October 1974, it earned a Nielsen rating of 39.0 and an audience share of 62%, making it the sixth-highest rated film ever to air on network television.
- Wendell Mayes, the first writer on the film, said he did it for the money: "I knew that it was going to be a big, bad, popular motion picture." After a couple of rewrites he asked producer Irwin Allen to relieve him of the job, and Allen brought in Stirling Silliphant, who changed it quite a bit.
