Just as for some of the people who commented on this movie, this was one of the first movies I actually sat through in the theater and followed the dialog. I must say I didn't like the dialog parts very much back then - I found it all way too heavy and overplayed - and I like it even less by now but working my way to the great actors themselves as opposed to the roles they are screaming rather than speaking, the movie works. The story is a bit too constructed but it is an exciting concept that belongs to the best of the 1970s disaster flicks. Of course the only real problem here is Leslie Nielsen who appeared after this in so many spoofs (playing it straight as in his former serious roles) All his scenes are unintentionally hilarious. It only (probably) works if one never saw Nielsen in any of his spoofs.
The acting and dialog sound today as if they try to emulate a popular stage piece or TV sitcom. The disaster movies that immediately followed are very similar in tone with the exception of (if it can be considered belonging into this category)"Jaws" which has much, much better acting that didn't age one bit (Scheider, Dreyfuss and Shaw are perfect in this).
So this movie belongs to a string of big budget (mostly disaster-) flicks that played it heavy and more stage-like as opposed to naturalistic, low key or over-the-top but virtuoso (Hackman comes close but the script and direction definitely are in the way here). This is rather sad since this actually is a throwback to the 1930s. Naturalistic and realistic dialog goes way back to the 1940s. I remember Earthquake to be worse than this and The Towering Inferno to be just slightly better in the story/acting/dialog department. By now these movies play very heavy since we live in times where dialog - in real life and on screen - has a totally different feel to it.
The set pieces are very good for the time and even the model work during the early parts is more than acceptable. I can see that the parts playing on deck have been filmed on the Queen Mary at Long Beach, CA. Very nice seeing that the modelmakers and set pieces took great care to make the "Poseidon" matching the Queen Mary regarding look and feel. Only Jim cameron's Titanic had the budget and technology to take it further.
This still remains a cornerstone movie - as it set the tome for a string of disaster flicks (1970's Airport was only the forerunner, not the pioneer - this goes to "Poseidon") and it works when one is willing to see the actors for themselves. Otherwise: check how many terms in Roger Ebert's glossary (=cliches) can be found. I have the feeling a very large number is there....
The acting and dialog sound today as if they try to emulate a popular stage piece or TV sitcom. The disaster movies that immediately followed are very similar in tone with the exception of (if it can be considered belonging into this category)"Jaws" which has much, much better acting that didn't age one bit (Scheider, Dreyfuss and Shaw are perfect in this).
So this movie belongs to a string of big budget (mostly disaster-) flicks that played it heavy and more stage-like as opposed to naturalistic, low key or over-the-top but virtuoso (Hackman comes close but the script and direction definitely are in the way here). This is rather sad since this actually is a throwback to the 1930s. Naturalistic and realistic dialog goes way back to the 1940s. I remember Earthquake to be worse than this and The Towering Inferno to be just slightly better in the story/acting/dialog department. By now these movies play very heavy since we live in times where dialog - in real life and on screen - has a totally different feel to it.
The set pieces are very good for the time and even the model work during the early parts is more than acceptable. I can see that the parts playing on deck have been filmed on the Queen Mary at Long Beach, CA. Very nice seeing that the modelmakers and set pieces took great care to make the "Poseidon" matching the Queen Mary regarding look and feel. Only Jim cameron's Titanic had the budget and technology to take it further.
This still remains a cornerstone movie - as it set the tome for a string of disaster flicks (1970's Airport was only the forerunner, not the pioneer - this goes to "Poseidon") and it works when one is willing to see the actors for themselves. Otherwise: check how many terms in Roger Ebert's glossary (=cliches) can be found. I have the feeling a very large number is there....