The Poseidon Adventure

russman3.0

Now this is a story all about how this boat got flipped-turned upside down

theriverjordan3.0

“The Poseidon Adventure” turns survival horror on its head by making the vices of its victims into their greatest moral strengths. Amongst the slate of other disaster films of its era, “Poseidon” is a league or two above the rest. That’s because - amidst the fiery devastation - it actually persuades the audience to care for its cast of characters. Each of the soon-to-be-sufferers in the film is introduced with a surefire vice: Gene Hackman’s preacher is a merciless objectivist, Ernest Borgnine married a prostitute and suffers from seasickness, and Shelley Winters’ retired shopkeeper has gained more than a few pounds in her silver years. Director Ronald Neame makes these failings so obvious; it seems to lay the fates of each character out in their first moments on screen. Except… Neame opts to steer the ship in a different direction. As the fortitude of the cast is tested while their ocean liner sinks, these faults become moral strengths. It’s as if to say; we are not burdened by our weaknesses, but emboldened by them in times of true crisis. While “Poseidon” hardly finds uncharted waters with regards to its genre contributions as a whole, Neame does at least deserve a salute for the arduous feat of remaining humanist under fire. Sweaty Dudes Cinema: Runner-Up: Nobody can see sweat when you’re downing underwater.

Brian Collins3.5

That grandson better like that goddamn necklace I tell you what