Linda Rogo: "So that's the cat this ship is named after, huh?"
Captain Harrison: "That's right, Mrs. Rogo. The Greek god
Poseidon. God of storms, tempests, earthquakes and other miscellaneous natural disasters. Quite an ill-tempered fellow."
A 1969 novel by Paul Gallico,
The Poseidon Adventure became a film in 1972 co-directed and produced by
Irwin Allen (starring the
Queen Mary).
On
New Year's Eve, the passengers and crew aboard the SS
Poseidon party without a care in the world. Despite protests from its captain, the ship, which is on its way to the scrapyard, still sails on across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Already behind schedule, the new owner's representative refuses to let the ship slow to take on ballast to help ride out some bad weather. Meanwhile, an undersea earthquake strikes near Crete and creates a
massive tidal wave. When the wave hits the
Poseidon, she capsizes. Now, one lone preacher, Rev. Scott, must get a group of survivors up to the bottom. But will they make it?
A sequel,
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, was made in 1979. Meanwhile, the original story was remade
twice within the course of six months around 2005-2006, as a made-for-TV movie and as the feature film
Poseidon; the latter production featuring the
Queen Mary II.
This work features examples of:
- Action Dress Rip: The women are wearing long gowns for the party, and have to remove them to climb out of the ballroom.
- An Aesop: Scott repeatedly makes the point that God helps those who help themselves, and this philosophy drives his actions through the plot. At times it reaches the point that the Aesop seems to be "doing anything at all is always better than waiting for outside help".
- All-Star Cast
- Anyone Can Die: Even more so in the novel, where Robin goes missing and isn't found again.
- Award Bait Song: "There's got to be a morning after..."*
A successful bait, in fact!
- Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Rogo and Linda
- Badass Preacher: Rev. Scott
- Bedsheet Ladder: Discussed, but rejected as a way of climbing out of the ballroom.
- Butter Side Down: The guy who falls through the stained glass skylight.
- Chekhov's Skill: Earlier in the movie, Mrs. Rosen proudly boasts that in her youth, she was a champion swimmer.
- Commander Contrarian: Rogo. Full stop.
- Developing Doomed Characters
- Disaster Movie
- Don't Look Down
- Doomed Contrarian: Played deadly (and immediately) straight with the purser and the people who stay with him. Conspicuously averted with Rogo, the most contrary member of the main group and one of the few survivors.
- the first one is actually subverted in the book, where the people who stayed in the ballroom are the first to be rescued.
- Enclosed Space
- Fanservice: "Just panties, what else do I need?"
- Nonnie and Susan don tight-fitting hot pants through most of the film.
- Foregone Conclusion: The intro blurb at the start of the film reveals that the ship is lost with only a few survivors.
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: The fact that Linda is wearing "just panties" underneath her gown is discussed as if she were Going Commando, with her husband saying she's got "nothing on under it".
- Well, she didn't have a bra on, for starters.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom:
Lookout: I never saw anything like it. An enormous wall of water coming at us.
- Good Shepherd: Reverend Scott.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Belle Rosen, Reverend Scott
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Linda Rogo was a hooker before her husband kept arresting her to keep her off the street.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Linda, in the novel.
- Infant Immortality: averted in the novel, but played straight in the film.
- Inspired By: The author was on the RMS Queen Mary during World War II, when it was hit by a rogue wave and was a degree or so from being capsized. Naturally, he was inspired by what might've happened if she DID flip.
- Irony: At the end of the novel, the characters discover a different, larger group of survivors who apparently had a far easier time making their way to safety by taking a route other than the one Rev. Scott pushed. (Averted in the film, where the remaining members of Scott's group learn they're the only survivors.)
- Or maybe not quite averted; the sequel Beyond the Poseidon Adventure does involve another group of survivors, albeit ones with no connection to the first group. They didn't have that easy of a time getting out, either.
- The Load: Mrs. Rosen is convinced she's going to be this, but winds up as (you should pardon the expression) a huge aversion.
- Lovable Coward: Nonnie in the film. However, this is quite subjective, as her cowardice almost gets her killed a few times.
- Mood Whiplash: Mrs. Rosen, despite being an overweight woman in her fifties, gets a triumphant moment wherein she manages to swim a great distance underwater to rescue Rev. Scott — then she suffers a fatal heart attack.
- The movie itself starts out as a kind of ensemble comedy, and then the wave hits...
- Nobody Calls Me Chicken: James has to "motivate" Mr. Rogo to continue after Rev. Scott dies, especially since it's right after Linda's death.
James Martin: Are you quitting, Mr. Rogo? Are you going out with a whimper, on your belly?
Mike Rogo: All right, you. That's enough!
- Not Now, Kiddo: Rogo, repeatedly, despite Robin having a comprehensive knowledge of the ship's construction.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Linarcos
- Panty Shot: Linda Rogo many times, as she spends the 2nd half of the film wearing only a button-down shirt, and panties, which get soaking wet. Averted with Susan, who had shorts on under her skirt.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Reverend Scott has a yelling-at-God moment just before his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: The reason Rev. Scott is aboard the Poseidon; he's been sent to be a missionary in "some new country" in Africa.
- Sexy Priest: Susan, at least, is clearly very attracted to Rev. Scott. Of course, part of that is Rescue Romance.
- Sinking Ship Scenario: May be seen as the template for film portrayals of the scenario for decades to follow.
- Skyward Scream: Or rather, Floorward Scream, from Susan after Rev. Scott's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Rev. Scott, just before his death.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Robin in the movie.
- Tagalong Kid: Robin's somewhat a mixture of this and Bratty Half-Pint. Somewhat averted in the movie in that he arguably is the one who knows the most about the ship.
- Tears of Fear: Nonnie does this, but given her situation...you'd be doing that, too!
- Tempting Fate: They think they can get an aging ocean liner across the Atlantic — on her final voyage, no less — without a hitch? Not in Hollywood.
- The 2006 remake inverts the situation but still plays the trope straight — the ship is brand new and is taking her maiden voyage.
- Too Dumb to Live: Linda Rogo. In the novel. In the 1972 movie, her death is an accident. In the novel? She rebels and tries to find her own way out.
- Twice Shy: James Martin and Nonnie Parry.
- The Unreveal: In the novel, Robin's ultimate fate is never learned, although he was presumably killed in a stampede of panicked survivors after the ship's lights went out.
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