Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
| Beyond the Poseidon Adventure | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Irwin Allen |
| Produced by | Irwin Allen |
| Written by | Paul Gallico (novel) Nelson Gidding (screenplay) |
| Starring | Michael Caine Telly Savalas Sally Field Karl Malden Shirley Jones Jack Warden Peter Boyle Slim Pickens Mark Harmon |
| Music by | Jerry Fielding |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Editing by | Bill Brame |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 1979 |
| Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a 1979 American disaster film, a sequel to the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. It was directed by Irwin Allen and starred Michael Caine and Sally Field. The film was a critical and commercial failure, highly disliked by co-star Angela Cartwright, and was the only Allen disaster film not to receive any Academy Award nominations.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film continues the story from the original movie's conclusion. The Poseidon is still afloat, and the six survivors of Reverend Scott's team have been rescued. A tugboat captain, Mike Turner, discovers the wreck of the ocean liner. Accompanied by second mate Wilbur and passenger Celeste Whitman, he heads out to claim salvage rights on the wreck, as the tugboat Jenny lost her cargo in the same storm that capsized the ocean liner.
They are soon followed by Dr. Stefan Svevo and his crew, who claim to be doctors who received the Poseidon's S.O.S. They are actually after gold and a lost plutonium shipment. They board the doomed vessel and become trapped. The group with Turner also encounters the ship's nurse, Gina Rowe, a passenger named Suzanne Constantine, and war veteran Frank Mezzetti who is searching for his missing daughter (Theresa Mezzetti), which they soon find along with the elevator operator named Larry Simpson and as well as a "billionaire" named "Tex". Later they find the blind Harold Meredith and his wife Hannah, who were waiting for rescue.
The water continues to submerge more decks and as more explosions occur. Turner and his group find Svevo and his men gathering a cargo of plutonium. Svevo tells Turner that he can't let them go now that they've seen what he and his men are doing. However, before Svevo and his men can kill Turner and his group, another explosion occurs, allowing Turner and his group to escape. Svevo and his men gather the plutonium and head back up to the hull of the ship, which is still above water but is slowly sinking.
In another section of the ship, Turner and his group find a gold treasure worth $1 billion. They gather it and escape from the Poseidon through an underwater side door. They swim to Turner's boat as Svevo's men see them and open fire. However, Turner's men make it to his boat and they sail away. Water continues to flood the Poseidon and cause the on-board boilers to explode, which causes the cargo of plutonium to explode. The Poseidon completely explodes, killing Svevo and his men.
On board Turner's boat, Celeste admits her love for Turner and they sail away into the sunset with the survivors and gold treasure.
[edit] Television version
The version shown on television contains 20 more minutes of footage. This extra added footage has not been released on the new DVD. There is an independent DVD available that does have the TV footage.
[edit] Characters
Salvage Team Captain Mike Turner (Michael Caine), Wilbur Hubbard (Karl Malden), Celeste Whitman (Sally Field)
Villains Captain Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas), Kurt (Paul Picerni), Doyle (Patrick Culliton), Castrop (Dean Raphael Ferrandini)
Passengers Frank Mazzetti (Peter Boyle), Theresa Mazzetti (Angela Cartwright), Harold Meredith (Jack Warden), Hannah Meredith (Shirley Knight), Suzanne (Veronica Hamel)
Crew Nurse Gina Rowe (Shirley Jones), Dewey "Tex" Hopkins, (Slim Pickens), elevator operator Larry Simpson (Mark Harmon)
[edit] Abandoned film sequel premise
In 1973, soon after the first film came out, producer Irwin Allen proposed a sequel that would have had the survivors testifying in a hearing on the disaster in Vienna, country of the Poseidon's parent company. While on a train to the hearing, a miles-long mountain tunnel would collapse, leaving the survivors of the train trapped inside, struggling to make their way out. This premise was eventually used in the 1996 Rob Cohen film Daylight with Sylvester Stallone.[1]
[edit] Relationship of Gallico's novels to the films
Paul Gallico's novel The Poseidon Adventure had ended with the ship sinking. The original film changed much of the novel's plot and ended with the ship still afloat. After the huge success of the film, Gallico was asked to write a novel that would be a sequel not to his first novel, but to the film. It would feature a new group of people entering the still capsized SS Poseidon, and could be made into a second film. Gallico wrote Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, which was published in 1978. However once again the film that followed ended up bearing little resemblance to his book. Instead of sinking, the Poseidon explodes.
[edit] Reception
Unlike its prequel, the film was met with generally negative responses from critics.
[edit] Media releases
A region one DVD version was released on August 22, 2006. A digital version is available for rental and purchase on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3. The film is also available in high definition on the streaming service of Netflix.
[edit] References
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010) |
- ^ From the Special Edition DVD Actor Commentary
[edit] External links
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure at the Internet Movie Database
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure at AllRovi
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure at Rotten Tomatoes
|
||||||||
