Movie · 1972 · Adventure, Drama, Thriller · 1h 57m · PG · English
Curator score: 5.2/10 (84.7K ratings)
Hell, upside down.
Overview
When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.2/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.51/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 70
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Ronald Neame
Production
Kent Productions, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Carol Lynley, Pamela Sue Martin, Eric Shea, Arthur O'Connell, Leslie Nielsen, Fred Sadoff, Sheila Allen, Jan Arvan, Byron Webster, John Crawford, Bob Hastings, Ernie F. Orsatti, Erik L. Nelson
Where to watch
TCM
Curator Review
Verdict
A sturdy, old-school disaster thriller with real star power, inventive set pieces, and enough character work to make the peril matter. It’s dated in places, but the scale, suspense, and iconic moments still land.
Best for
fans of 1970s disaster movies
viewers who like ensemble survival stories
people who enjoy practical effects and large-scale set pieces
fans of tense, old-fashioned studio spectacle
Skip if
you want modern pacing and polished effects
you’re allergic to melodrama and broad character types
you prefer intimate survival stories over big ensemble chaos
Overview
The Poseidon Adventure is one of the defining disaster films of the 1970s, and it earns that status by balancing spectacle with just enough human texture. The premise is pure nightmare fuel: a luxury liner overturns, and the survivors must climb through a wrecked, upside-down world to escape. The movie understands that the best disaster stories are also group dramas, and it gives its cast enough friction, vanity, and vulnerability to make the journey feel personal.
Worth noting
What still works best is the movie’s sense of escalation. The set pieces are staged with real clarity, and the production design turns the ship into a hostile maze. It can be cheesy, and some characterizations are very much of their era, but that’s part of the appeal: this is lavish, earnest, and shamelessly engineered for maximum suspense.
Bottom line
It’s also a strong reminder of how much star-driven studio filmmaking could carry a genre picture. The performances are broad but committed, and the film keeps finding ways to turn personality into pressure. If you like your catastrophe cinema with a little pulp, a little pathos, and a lot of craft, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
russman (3★) · 902 likes
Now this is a story all about how this boat got flipped-turned upside down
theriverjordan (3★) · 287 likes
“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,… more
Brian Collins (3.5★) · 265 likes
That grandson better like that goddamn necklace I tell you what
eely (3★) · 262 likes
when shelley winters took that dive it was actually directly into my heart ♥️
Sam · 235 likes
that morning after performance… so iconic. this is beyond cheesy in structure/style and dated in some characterizations but it does (somewhat) effectively capitalize on its aspiring scale, most notably during the obvious climaxes. this sort of middling, lavish contemporary genre-epic is nowhere to be found anymore so i have to love it for being so emblematic of its time