In these days of remakes Hollywood shouldn’t tamper with the classics. What they should do is come up with original ideas rather than reject them.
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With New Year’s Eve right around the corner, I’ve always been drawn to the original The Poseidon Adventure (1972) but the mini-series (2005) and the current box office flop Poseidon do have their own styles.
Let’s first go back to 1972.
When the original movie came out, it hung around the theaters for quite a long time (it was the second highest grossing movie for that year) and audiences couldn’t get enough of it.
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Based on Paul Gallico’s novel of the same name, The Poseidon Adventure is about a handful of survivors on New Year’s Eve who push, pull, climb and swim toward the ship’s engine room after it is struck at midnight by a 90 foot tidal wave (due to a subsea earthquake). The S.S. Poseidon was also on it’s last voyage and would soon end up in a scrap yard.
While this was 1972, the special effects were top rate for a disaster film for its time and Shelley Winters also received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role as Belle Rosen. It did win one Oscar for Best Song- "The Morning After."
Disaster master Irwin Allen did do a sequel a few years later but it literally sank at the box office.
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If Allen were alive today I’m sure he would have had mixed feelings about the mini series. Fans of the original certainly do and when it was aired on television, footage was removed and it was trimmed down to a three hour event (the choppy editing has been restored for the DVD and the mini makes a little more sense) but it still doesn’t live up to the original.
This time around in a post 9/11 world, terrorists are planning on blowing up the ship in the middle of the ocean on New Year’s Eve. In the events leading up to the bombing the movie becomes more of a Peyton Place at sea.
Fans of the original (called "Poseidonites") are able to pick up on the inside homage to the original (i.e. the captain’s name is Gallico) and two characters from the original are brought back on board Mike Rogo and a widowed Belle Rosen.
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Rogo (Adam Baldwin) discovers the plot and while the Poseidon cuts through the stormy waters on New Year’s Eve a bomb is detonated which causes the ship to capsize before midnight.
The one thing I like about this retelling is they have survivors scattered throughout the ship and the main dining salon doesn’t flood as fast as in the original. It makes for better viewing as the story jumps around in the upside down ship.
However, there are two problems I have with this version: How is it possible to send an email for help? This time when the survivors make it to the engine room the rescue team is on the other side of debris waiting for them. How is this possible?
Five and a half months later Poseidon sailed onto the big screen. This had the potential to be a big hit but it fails after the first half of the movie.
The beginning I have no problem with. Everything held my attention until the survivors are stuck in a duct with water rising all around them. After they get out of their predicament then it’s downhill from there.
I also can’t figure out how Richard Dreyfuss had enough time to get back into the main ballroom after being out on the deck. Maybe it’s movie magic.
The special effects are top notch during the capsizing and for a change the extras really get into their roles by panicking the way people would react in that type of situation. They should all get special Oscars just for panicking alone!
Speaking of acting, while she doesn’t have a speaking role Stacy (Fergie) Ferguson as Gloria does a great job of "entertaining" the revelers and in a pivotal scene between her and the captain (Andre Braugher) her eyes and expression need no words. It still sends shivers up my spine.
One of the good things about the movie is they show different parts of the ship once again with survivors and the capsizing of the ship.
All in all each movie has it’s good and bad points, but if you plan on staying home this New Year’s Eve then maybe you’d like to have a Poseidon marathon. After a few drinks you might even think you’re turning upside down.
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Written by EricT - Visit Website
So true Eric. I have come to think that there is one main reason why remakes tend to be disasters. Most of those who choose remakes have run out of ideas in the first place. Therefore whatever creativity (and I use that word advisedly) they may bring to the project is as stale as three week old bread in your lunch box. What makes originals interesting, like much of Irwin Allen’s work, results from finding new material and baking the bread fresh.
Thanks for this review.
Jeff