The Poseidon Adventure

I first saw The Poseidon Adventure as a kid on the ABC Sunday Night Movie during the 1970s. ABC famously paid $3.2 million for a single showing of the film in 1974, and while I don't know if that's the exact airing I saw, I like to think it was. As a sensitive kid, the movie made quite an impact on me.

We watched the movie on Amazon the other night, because I haven't seen it in a long time and wanted to show it to Carol, who's never seen it. Aside from a just a couple dodgy effects, the movie holds up really well. If you're unaware of the plot, it's pretty simple. A cruise ship on its last voyage gets hit by a wave, capsizes and the survivors have to make their way to the surface through the upside-down ship.

The characters are mostly cliches - the old Jewish couple, the rebellious priest, the annoying kid - but the actors are compelling and the situation is dire. I especially enjoyed Ernest Borgnine shouting every single line, even before the disaster, and Gene Hackman is always great. Years before his starring role in a very different disaster movie that would redirect his career, Leslie Nielsen has a brief role as The Captain of the doomed ship. As with most of his roles pre-Airplane, it's fun to watch him in serious mode, because you keep expecting him to do or say something silly.

If you haven't seen The Poseidon Adventure, it's worth a watch. And to be clear, I'm talking the original version from 1972, not the remake from 2006, which I haven't seen.