The Poseidon Adventure (1972 Film)

The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American action-adventure disaster film, directed by Ronald Neame, produced by Irwin Allen, and based on the novel of the same name by Paul Gallico. The film features an all star cast, including Gene Hackman, Carol Lynley, Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, and in an early screen role, Pamela Sue Martin. It won a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects and an Academy Award for Best Original Song (for "The Morning After"). Shelley Winters won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role. It also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Motion Picture.

The plot centers on the SS Poseidon, an aged luxury liner from the golden age of travel, on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrapyard. On New Year's Eve, she is overturned by a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake. Passengers and crew are trapped inside and a rebellious preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.

Parts of the movie were filmed aboard the RMS Queen Mary, whose encounter with a rogue wave in 1942 inspired the book upon which the film is based.

Boxoffice Magazine reported "The Poseidon Adventure" as the #1 Box Office Champ of 1973. By the end of 1974, it ranked among the six most successful features in film history, along with Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, Love Story, Airport, and The Sound of Music. It is in the vein of other all-star disaster films of the 1970s such as Airport and later ones like The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake. It was remade twice, first as a television special in 2005 with the same name, and a theatrical release with the name Poseidon in 2006.

A 1979 sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, was released later with an equally star-studded cast, but was a box-office and critical failure.