“The Poseidon Adventure” is an action thriller disaster movie, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes from the Novel by Paul Gallico and Directed by Ronald Neame.
The
story takes place aboard the SS Poseidon,
an aged luxury liner on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before
being sent to the scrapyard.
However
the new owners pressurise Captain Harrison (Leslie Nielsen) to push the
Poseidon to her limits to save on the dismantling fees at their destination and
as a result, on New Year's Eve, she is hit by a tidal wave which completely
capsized her, so that all the internal rooms are suddenly upside down with the
Passengers and crew trapped inside.
From
the ensuing chaos a rebellious Priest Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman) takes a
mixed band of survivors on a journey through the bowels of the ship in an
attempt to survive.
The
film won two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Motion Picture
Sound Editors Award, aided in no small way by a fine Ensemble cast including,
Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley,
Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell and Eric
Shea.
