Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)

An extension of the previous film, wherein a cache of adventurers return to the overturned ship to seek several fortunes.

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Paul Gallico (novel), Nelson Gidding (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Michael Caine	...	Captain Mike Turner
Sally Field	...	Celeste Whitman
Telly Savalas	...	Captain Stefan Svevo
Peter Boyle	...	Frank Mazzetti
Jack Warden	...	Harold Meredith
Shirley Knight	...	Hannah Meredith
Shirley Jones	...	Nurse Gina Rowe
Karl Malden	...	Wilbur Hubbard
Slim Pickens	...	Dewey 'Tex' Hopkins
Veronica Hamel	...	Suzanne Constantine
Angela Cartwright	...	Theresa Mazzetti
Mark Harmon	...	Larry Simpson
Paul Picerni	...	Kurt
Patrick Culliton	...	Doyle
Dean Raphael Ferrandini	...	Castorp (as Dean Ferrandini)

Storyline

After The Poseidon Adventure (1972), in which the ship got flipped over by a tidal wave, the ship drifts bottom-up in the sea. While there are passengers still on-board waiting to be rescued, two rivalling salvage parties enter the ship on search for money, gold, and a small amount of plutonium.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | repeat sequel | psychotronic film | ship | salvage | 

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Taglines:

Terror Beyond Imagination.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return of the Poseidon

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 1973, Producer and Director Irwin Allen considered a sequel to The Poseidon Adventure (1972) that was set on dry land in a collapsed train tunnel. This premise was borrowed for the Sylvester Stallone action movie Daylight (1996).

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Goofs

The party has to avoid some hanging electrical wires outside the purser's office, and use a broken railing to hold the wires them to one side so they can pass. However, the person holding the wires back touches them anyway without being shocked.

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Quotes

Castorp: Why is Crate 16 so important?
Captain Stefan Svevo: Only one other person knew the answer to that, and that's why she had to die.

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Alternate Versions

ABC added 22 minutes of footage for its 1981 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in Cult Culture: The Poseidon Adventure (2003)

User Reviews

My favorite disaster/adventure movie ever!

How many movies get the chance of being made by the extraordinary,proficient,astonishing Allen and/or having Caine,Mrs. Field,Savallas,Shirley Jones in the cast?

Caine's role,in itself,is a jewel;he just fits in.He is energetic, lucid,sharp, intelligent,manly,as fit as a fiddle.Caine knows how to make a super-action flick,without needing to be Willis or Ford.He should be very proud of his role in "Beyond ...".For me,this is one of the most cherished Caine shows.(Caine is himself a cinema,he did an incredible number of good flicks.)Mrs. Field is enchanting,natural, inventive, fresh, luminous, spontaneous,funny,resourceful.(How do I miss an actress like her when I see that imbecile girls in so many cheap-looking shows!With few exceptions,such as Miss Rachel Luttrell,Miss Torri Higginson,or Mrs. Blalock,did you notice how many imbecile-looking girls crowd to fill the sets of the shows?)

The action does not stagnate for a moment.

Savallas got his bigger/better roles elsewhere;but the villain he does here is,as such,memorable and a landmark for the genre.He coins a comic strip villain.(I mean,Nero in Die Hard 2 ,Alan Rickman in Die Hard ,are zero compared to Savallas in "Beyond ...".)

The colors of this movie are delightful.

And how many shows offer so much fun?For me,only the first two episodes of Stargate Atlantis (Rising (Part 1)&Rising (Part 2)).

Many people,who commented "Beyond ...",have expressed a lot of reserves and reticence,about various things;I think they were unjust,and way too exacting.

Between 56 and 64 years,Allen made (i.e,directed and/or produced) several disaster movies:the diptych The Poseidon Adventure ,1972,and The Towering Inferno ,1974—for the movie theaters;then, another diptych—for TV this time: Flood! ,1976,and Fire! ,1977;then a trilogy,for the big screen again: The Swarm ,1978, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure ,1979, When Time Ran Out... ,1980—an activity that was ambitious and often successful.In '80,Allen was 64 years old.In his disaster movies that he made during the '70s,Allen uses the entire palette of the genre.His main merit is,of course,that of creating a very pure form of adventure movies.During '72-'80, The Master of Disaster also found time for some important TV work.So,he was for disaster,he was for Sci-Fi,sometimes he was for both of them—and always for fancy,adventure and fun. Fortunately ,he had the opportunity to develop fully his thoughts and to express himself plenary.

Some fans complain that The Master of Disaster's work was uneven,unequal;anyway,his best films are matchless in their genre.The man made at least 9 remarkable feature movies (of which some 6 are very good—the 5 feature films made between '72 and '80,and also Five Weeks in a Balloon ,1962;but the movies from '59-'61 are worth watching as well …),several interesting TV movies (in the '70s and '80s),and also several TV series and/or miniseries.I do not know any other director to be able of such a continuity in a couple of genres (the disaster/adventures,and Sci-Fi).