Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) Reviews

• Go back. Go...beyond.

  CuriosityKilledShawn2006-12-09

  Since the original Poseidon Adventure raked in so much dough, Irwin Allen wanted to get a sequel off the ground right away. It would eventually take him 7 years to get it made and in that space of time it would go through many changes. To begin with, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure was to star Borgnine, Buttons and the rest of the survivors. After being rescued by the French Coast Guard they were to be transported to safety by train through the French Alps. A tunnel cave-in was to trap them all over again amid other, more sinister, drama. That idea was soon squashed. Hackman didn't want to return (as Reverend Scott's brother!) and even though poster art was created (you can still find the train/gun image out there), that's about as far as production got. Allen focused on making other movies for the time being. Then, in 1978 he asked Paul Gallico to write a sequel. Gallico obliged but died before Beyond was published. His novel had Rogo, Martin and Manny Rosen being forced at gunpoint to return to the ship to plunder its secret cargo. Bandits, pirates, double-crosses and macabre plot developments followed. Unable to convince Borgnine and the others to return at this point, Allen changed the story to accommodate a bunch of new characters. This Mike Rogo became Mike Turner (Michael Caine) and Bandits and Pirates became Stefan Svevo (Television Savalas) and his group of terrorists. Beginning just before the storm in which the Poseidon capsized, Turner and his crew (Sally Field and Karl Malden) are out in Jenny the Tugboat. Turner loses his cargo and worries about the bank taking his precious boat away. New Years Day arrives and the sea is calm once again. Turner sees the French Coast Guard chopper buzzing overhead and figures there must be something interesting over the horizon. Interesting indeed. An abandoned 5-star, world-class super-liner designed to carry hundreds of wealthy passengers. There's sure to be riches to plunder and a quick trip down to the Purser's Office (the idiot who chose to die in the first) might save Jenny from the banks greedy hands. 'Doctor' Stefan Svevo (trying saying that while drunk) and his group of suspicious men dressed in impeccably white clothes follow Turner inside, hoping to save some remaining survivors. Yeah right! Svevo just happens to be after a secret cargo of guns and plutonium and has an agent still stuck on-board. Turner and his crew find the Purser's safe quite easy and load up on the loot. But they also find a bunch of stranded passengers including a very young-looking Peter Boyle, Slim Pickens, Mark Harmon and Jack Warden as a blind writer. His quick trip to pinch the riches turns into the much more noble task of leading the rest to safety. But once they discover Svevo's plot a fight breaks out. I think that BTPA has had an unfair amount of criticism. Until the 2006 DVD release the film suffered 27 years of pan and scan TV screenings and videos, which completely screws up the scope photography. Seeing the film in widescreen, as intended, gives it a much slicker look. But I wasn't too impressed with the set-decoration and lighting. The Poseidon was already trashed and unstable before the first survivors escaped. By now it should be seriously threatening to sink or explode and the sets should reflect how much stress the ship is under. But they do look too spotless and the lighting is too bright and un-atmospheric. And, just so you know, a ship of this size would have more than one kitchen. So moans about it 'already being flooded' are invalid. And I do think that the ending is kind of abrupt and rushed. It was a bit of a let-down having finish with such a lame, flippant finale. And, despite, previous criticisms, I do think that the characters are just as good as before. I felt sorry for Jack Warden when his wife died, or when Michael Caine realised that he lost the gold. Wilbur (Karl Malden) was a good character too and I think that his exit from the film was less than what he deserved. There is also more continuity with the original than the negative reviews proclaim. So don't let that put you off. It's had a bad reputation, but BTPA isn't as bad as pretentious movie zealots would have you think. If you are a fan of the original then it is at least worth a rental.

• Obviously inferior, but fun in a bad way!

  Poseidon-32000-04-21

  This horrifyingly bad and automatically inferior sequel to "The Poseidon Adventure" came and went in theaters so quickly that one could be forgiven for not even realizing that it ever existed! The real victim here was Paul Gallico, the author of the original story. When "PA" was made into a film, the writers changed several things around (as often happens). When plans of a sequel came about, Gallico wrote the sequel to the novel based NOT on his own great little book, but on the FILM's storyline. Then the filmmakers discarded his novel "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" and went with the version found here. So he adjusted his characters and story to fit Hollywood's version, only to have it abandoned in favor of this rehash. In it, two disparate groups join up to either salvage loot from the overturned vessel or rescue any leftover survivors. Instantly they are trapped as the boat belches and rocks continuously, yet they stay inside to find salvage, linger over conversations with newly discovered passengers and finally run around shooting at each other! The inexplicable cleanliness of the sets and utter illogic of the storyline pale in comparison to the hilariously bad dialogue and the banal music score. Previous, greater disaster movies had majestic scores done by excellent composers. This music has no memorable opening theme and features inappropriate and discordant music during scenes (often a whimsical "Flight of the Bumblebee" type of thing is heard.) Some of the dialogue has to be heard to be believed. One classic scene is when Knight dislocates her shoulder after grappling to save her blind husband Warden. Award-magnet Knight does a terrific job of displaying her injury and is carried over to a corner and revived realistically with smelling salts. Then purportedly-kind nurse Jones reveals an utter lack of bedside manner. Does she resort to the standard "You'll only feel a slight prick" or "This won't hurt a bit"??? Nooooo She grabs Ms. Knight's arm and goes, "This is going to hurt a great deal Mrs. Meredith, I'm so sorry!" Apparently, the violence of this scene was so intense that it had to be filmed through debris (fully obscuring Jones' face!) so as not to shock the audience! The characters are unwaveringly pathetic and annoying (and in many cases, just thinly disguised versions of folks from the original film.) Boyle is mercilessly loud and obnoxious, taking Ernest Borgnine's "type" to a new level of irritation. Cartwright is a little old to be playing the little girl sort of role that Pamela Sue Martin already did. Her costume makes her look like a frump. Pickens is hilarious, drawling out lines like, "Who's Svevo? As a matter of fact, who's Suzanne?" in a thick Texas accent. Jones' character is a drippy nurse and has to dredge up her own long-ago award just like Shelley Winters' swimming medal, to no good effect. Warden and Malden vie for audience sympathy with their afflictions, but don't get any. Field rubs immediate tarnish on her Oscar for "Norma Rae" with her over-the-top, "Three's Company" - level comedic attempts and Caine should have known better, but this was his period of making bomb after bomb. Still, it's fun on a camp level to watch once and future Oscar-winners slumming badly. Hamel, for the brief time she is on screen, is both alluring and amusing. Sadly, this and "When Time Ran Out" would slam the lid on any hopes of a film career, but she rebounded on television. Knight adds some much needed class, desperately trying to underact and say her lines with dignity amidst all the squalid overacting and preposterous situations. She is done no favors for this. Sadly, the old VHS and now the newly released DVD shear 8 minutes off the film's running time, cutting a lot of Warden, Knight and Jones' scenes, even removing the fact that Warden and Knight are authors! These were sentimental moments between all three and must have been spliced out in order to keep the action, such as it is, moving. It's a pointless, grave-robbing hack job intended to wring more money out of the classic original, but which sank like a stone at the box office. At least now it can be enjoyed for the audacious mess that it is!

• I think it's quite a good sequel.

  Dr Wily2004-03-20

  A lot of people don't like this picture, but, I think it works. It is helmed by a strong cast of principle performers and carried off by a unique twist on the sequel impetus. The idea is fairly original, as opposed to the usual: for this story, one would normally expect they'd just focus on another group of survivors and how they get out. Instead of dealing with people wanting to get out, the plot is spurred on by people wanting to get IN. Then, ironically, they become trapped and become the people who have to get out, along with some of those aforementioned survivors to keep with tradition. I also have to give the film credit for that little bits of continuity, like Linda's body is still lying near the entrance of the ship the crew uses, the same hole the original movie's survivors escaped from. In the end, the movie isn't as bad as it is often called.

• Return to the Poseidon

  chris_gaskin1232005-10-27

  Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is the follow -up to The Poseidon Adventure and I enjoyed watching this, despite reading bad reviews. Two rival parties board the upturned wreck of the Poseidon and rescue more people and also go looting after some gold and plutonium. They go their own ways and a motley collection of people are found including a blind man and his wife, the ship's nurse, a drunk and a father, daughter and her boyfriend. After several deaths, they manage to escape just before Poseidon explodes and sinks, taking with it the party who went for the plutonium. Although not as good as The Poseidon Adventure, this sequel isn't too bad with decent special effects. A good cast too: Michael Caine (Zulu, The Italian Job), Telly Savalas (Kojak), Karl Malden (The Streets Of San Francisco), Sally Field (Mrs Doubtfire), Anglea Cartwright (Lost In Space, reuniting her with director Irwin Allen), Peter Boyle and Slim Pickens. If you like 1970's disaster movies and Michael Caine like myself, I recommend this. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

• the plot is thinner than shaved ham,but the movie is actually quite fun

  disdressed122008-06-05

  it took awhile for me to get into this movie.but somewhere along the line,i actually started to enjoy myself.once you get around the wafer thin plot,it's not half bad.the trick with this movie is to not take it too seriously.for instance,as soon as the bad guys show up,you know they're bad long before they reveal their intentions.the only other thing they could have done to telegraph they were bad would have been to have been for them each to have a neon sign over their heads saying villain.it's that absurd.and there's some cringe worthy dialogue.however,the are some very witty one liners mostly courtesy of Sally Field,and their was an interesting,and(mostly)likable mix of characters.there were actually even a few exciting moments.of course,there are endless explosions.this movie doesn't hold a candle to the original Poseidon Adventure.it was actually fairly pointless,when you think about.but it was fun,and actually quite entertaining.for me,Beyond the Poseidon adventure is a solid 5/10