The Poseidon Adventure (2005 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Poseidon Adventure | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Putch |
| Produced by | Mary Church |
| Written by | Paul Gallico (novel) Bryce Zabel (screenplay) |
| Starring | Adam Baldwin Rutger Hauer Steve Guttenberg Bryan Brown C. Thomas Howell Peter Weller |
| Music by | Joe Kraemer |
| Cinematography | Ross Berryman |
| Editing by | Jennifer Jean Cacavas |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Home Entertainment |
| Running time | 173 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Poseidon Adventure is a 2005 action and adventure film based on a novel by Paul Gallico. It is essentially a remake of the 1972 film of the same name.
The plot centered around the S.S. Poseidon, a state-of-the-art luxury cruise ship on a cruise from Cape Town, South Africa to Sydney, Australia. On New Year's Eve, it is overturned by a terrorist bomb, killing almost all aboard. A passenger attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.
The film was made for television by Larry Levenson Productions, directed by John Putch, written by Bryce Zabel, starring Adam Baldwin and Steve Guttenberg. It was first aired on NBC as a single three-hour event on November 20, 2005. It also aired in 2005 on the Seven Network in Australia (with the name The New Poseidon Adventure), and in 2006 on the USA Network in the US. In this adaptation, the plot of the original book and first feature film was altered in that the ship capsized due to a terrorist act. Though many of the characters remained the same, several were added. The character of Mike Rogo was changed to a sea marshal who works for the Department of Homeland Security. The story was altered because it was felt that the original's disaster was unrealistic since a tsunami out at open sea is only a few inches high and does not to have the strength and size to seriously affect a large vessel. A bomb blowing a hole below the waterline in a large cruise liner could make it overturn, but because of the hole, the hull would not have any buoyancy and it would sink in a matter of seconds. The movie also features many people in an unflooded ballroom, while the adventurous group trying to reach the hole (on a higher level) are traversing flooded areas. This would be impossible, for obvious reasons.[citation needed] This movie received less-than-enthusiastic reviews from critics (although there were exceptions, such as The New York Times[citation needed] and the New York Post[citation needed]), as well as fans of the original.[citation needed] The movie was mainly put into production in order to ride on the wave of public interest that the 2006 Wolfgang Petersen adaption of the same story was expected to generate.
The final scenes of the film include details from the novel of the Poseidon's sinking that were not part of the original 1972 film adaptation. The final shot was from the air as the ship's propellers slipped beneath the surface, which, by design or coincidence, matches several photographs taken by a news plane of the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria in the 1950s.
Contents |
- Some characters and rooms were renamed to pay homage; the ship's captain was named Captain Gallico for writer Paul Gallico on whose novel the story is based; the ship's doctor was named Dr. Ballard for Bob Ballard leader of the 1985 expedition that discovered the remains of the Titanic; the ship's lounge named Jak's Lounge for Jak Castro president of The Poseidon Adventure Fan Club.
- Many new characters were added to this remake while only retaining a few of the original characters from the novel and film version. Some characters were simply renamed, others were dropped altogether.
- Armand Assante and Sam Elliott were both offered roles.
- C. Thomas Howell's father worked as a stuntman on the original film.
- Rutger Hauer as Bishop August Schmidt
- Adam Baldwin as Sea Marshall Mike Rogo
- Steve Guttenberg as Richard Clarke
- Bryan Brown as Jeffrey Eric Anderson
- C. Thomas Howell as Doctor Matthew Ballard
- Peter Weller as Captain Paul Gallico
- Alex Kingston as Suzanne Harrison
- Alexa Hamilton as Rachel Clarke
- Clive Mantle as James Martin
- Sylvia Syms as Belle Rosen
- Amber Sainsbury as Shelby Clarke
- Rory Copus as Dylan Clarke
- Geoffrey Pierson as Admiral Jennings
- Peter Dobson as Agent Percy
- Nathalie Boltt as Shoshanna
- Andrew Brent as Ronald Acre
- RMS Titanic
- RMS Lusitania
- SS Andrea Doria
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
- Poseidon (2006)