The Poseidon Adventure Gene Hackman

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Ronald Neame
USA 1972

Hands down, this is the best movie (and was one of the first) to come out of the seemingly endless cycle of disaster movies that dominated box offices during the 1970s. It could even be argued that Titanic owes some of its success to the precedent set by this 1972 blockbuster starring Gene Hackman as a priest who leads a small group of survivors to safety from the bowels of a capsized luxury liner. From its stellar cast to its cheesy, Oscar-winning theme song, The Morning After, the movie has all the ingredients of a popular classic, beginning with a New Year's Eve celebration aboard the ill-fated Poseidon and ending as a pop allegory when the Hackman character becomes a Christ-like martyr. Filmed on spectacular sets where everything down is up and the ship's thick hull points in the direction of salvation, this is "a waterlogged Grand Hotel" (in the words of New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael) that is as entertaining as it is unabashedly brainless. The Poseidon Adventure is filled with performances that rise above the limits of the screenplay. It's also the only movie--unless you count her underwater corpse in Night of the Hunter--that lets Shelley Winters strut her stuff as an aquatic heroine.

Excerpt from Jeff Shannon's review at Amazon HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 12th, 1972

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DVD Review: 20th Century Fox (2-disc Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC

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Distribution

20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC

70's Disaster Flicks Invasion

Runtime

1:56:52

Video

2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.54 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio

English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUBs: French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)

Subtitles

English (hoh), Spanish, None

Features

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

Disk 1:
• Commentaries by Ronald Neame, Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens and Carol Lynley.
• Interactive Featurette: Follow The Escape
Disk 2:
• Featurettes: The Cast Looks Back / Falling Up with Ernie / The Heart of Disaster: Stirling Silliphant /
• The Heroes of The Poseidon / The Morning After Story / The R.M.S. Queen Mary / • AMC Backstory: The Poseidon Adventure
• Ronald Neame Featurettes: Sinking Corridor / Generations of Fans / Turning Over the Ship
• Storyboard Comparisons: Ship Capsized / Up The Vertical Shaft / Saving Reverend Scott
• Vintage Promotional Materials: Original 1972 Featurette / The Poseidon Adventure Teaser / The Poseidon Adventure Trailer / The Towering Inferno Trailer
• Interactive Gallery: American Cinematographer Interactive Article
• Still Galleries: Marketing / Publicity / Behind-the-Scenes

• Envelope of lobby cards

DVD Release Date: May 9th, 2006
Double Slim Keep Case in cardboard box sleeve
Chapters: 24

Comments:

As evidenced by the screen captures the image quality is very strong. Colors are bright, detail is pristine, black levels pitch - a huge improvement over the initial release. Extras out the wazoo - commentaries, featurettes, etc. etc. - more than even the most loyal disaster flic fan could tolerate. The price, like the other Irwin Allen film released by Fox at this time - Towering Inferno (include Universals Earthquake), it is ridiculously low-priced. These are the best deals in DVD this year for digital quality and package supplements.

Hard to deny that this is not one of the more gripping of the disaster films circa 1970. Very suspenseful and one of the more subtle interventions utilizing one man's search for God. Hackman et all are solid and it's another lazy day popcorn flic. Nostalgic value for many growing up in this films heyday.

Gary W. Tooze

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