Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

Infobox Film
name = Beyond the Poseidon Adventure


amg_id = 1:5294
imdb_id = 0078856
producer = Irwin Allen
director = Irwin Allen
writer = Paul Gallico (novel)
Nelson Gidding (screenplay)
starring = Michael Caine
Telly Savalas
Sally Field
Karl Malden
Shirley Jones
Jack Warden
Peter Boyle
Slim Pickens
Mark Harmon
music = Jerry Fielding
cinematography = Joseph F. Biroc
editing = Bill Brame
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = May 18, 1979 (USA)
runtime = 114 min.
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "The Poseidon Adventure"

"Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" is a 1979 American disaster film, a sequel to the 1972 film, "The Poseidon Adventure". It was directed by Irwin Allen.

Plot

Continuing from the original movie's conclusion (with the "Poseidon" still afloat) with the six survivors of Reverend Frank Scott's team rescued, a tugboat captain, Mike Turner, discovers the behemoth wreck of the settling ocean liner.

Accompanied by his privately ill second mate Wilbur (Karl Malden), and a passenger Celeste Whitman (Sally Field), they head out to claim salvage rights for the catastrophe, as the tugboat (Jenny) lost her cargo in the storm that capsized the ocean liner. They are soon followed by terrorists in disguise, Dr. Stefan Svevo and his crew, who claim to be doctors who received the "Poseidon's" S.O.S., but are really after gold and a lost plutonium shipment. Reentering the flooding time bomb, their lusts cause them to find themselves trapped within the doomed liner.

Along their journey of finding a new exit, they encounter yet another tribe of rough-rider survivors, such as a war vet, Frank Mezzetti, in a desperate search for his missing daughter, as well as a glamorous yet scandalous billionaire, "Tex". Some of the more timid types, though, join in the quest for survival: the ship's gracious nurse, Gina Rowe, along with the couple, the blind Harold Meredith and his wife Hannah, who, because of Harold's disability, originally were content with just waiting for rescue than joining in the effort of saving themselves. Along the way, they encounter even more frightening places within the coffin-like "Poseidon", and, along with the revelation of the terrorists' dastardly plot, and as the water continues to submerge more decks, the chances of escape go from unlikely to nearly impossible.

Television version

The version shown on television contains 20 more minutes of footage. This extra added footage has not been released on the new DVD.

Characters

Salvage TeamCaptain Mike Turner (Michael Caine), Wilbur Hubbard (Karl Malden),Celeste Whitman (Sally Field)

VillainsCaptain Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas), Kurt (Paul Picerni)Doyle (Patrick Culliton), Castrop (Dean Raphael Ferrandini)

PassengersFrank Mazzetti (Peter Boyle), Theresa Mazzetti (Angela Cartwright), Harold Meredith (Jack Warden), Hannah Meredith (Shirley Knight), Suzanne (Veronica Hamel)

CrewGina Rowe, nurse (Shirley Jones), Dewey “Tex” Hopkins, wine cellar clerk (Slim Pickens), Larry Simpson, elevator operator (Mark Harmon)

Abandoned film sequel premise

From the Special Edition DVD Actor Commentary: Producer Irwin Allen proposed an original sequel that would have the survivors testifying in a hearing on the disaster in Vienna, country of the "Poseidon"'s parent company. While on a train to the hearing, a mountain tunnel collapses leaving the survivors of the train to make their way out. A similar premise was used in the 1996 Rob Cohen film "Daylight" with Sylvester Stallone.

Although the original film abandoned much of the Paul Gallico original novel, he was asked to write a sequel novel that could be adapted into a film. He did and just as with his original novel most of it was jettisoned in favor of the resulting film.

The novel

Like the novel, the sequel picks up where the original leaves off. On the French Naval helicopter, Rogo forces the pilot to turn back to the wreck. After landing, Rogo, Manny Rosen, and James Martin get off. Manny wants to recover his deceased wife's body while Martin is simply looking for more adventure. Only Rogo does not reveal that he is supposed to protect half a billion dollars worth of government gold in the ship's hold.

Meanwhile, the owner of the "Poseidon" has hired pirate Captain Ilich Bela to recover the gold for his company.

Hely and several men are grave robbers. The men and Hely prepare to dive into the wreck to steal party jewels and valuables. Jason's ship is wrecked by the same wave which destroyed the "Poseidon". Some time later, Dutch freighter "Magt van Leiden" is shipping out when she comes across Jason in the water. Captain Klaas van Zeevogel and his daughter Coby spot Jason and pick him up. Jason asks if Klaas could sail him to the wreck of the "Poseidon" to pick up something.

Rogo and the other survivors are standing in the engine room when Jason and the van Zeevogels appear. By then, Bela's ship has arrived at the "Poseidon". After reporting that another ship is there, the employer tells Bela to disregard the salvage rights law and get on with the operation.

Inside the engine room, Jason orders Rogo to leave. After an extensive argument, they compromised that Jason can have his thing, Klaas can obtain salvage rights and Rogo can ship the gold into the "Magt".

Down in the flooded ballroom, Hely and her accomplices are trying to ransack the bodies. Just when the others refuse to rob the deceased, Bela's men arrive and kill all but Hely, who manages to swim away up to the engine room. Hely lies to the men that she was rescuing survivors when her friends got trapped, but Rogo is skeptical. Suddenly, a bulkhead/air pocket bursts, shaking the ship and pulling some of the water away, taking Mrs. Rosen's body.

The group opens a storage hold and finds a tiger in it. As they are exploring the ship, Bela's men drill a hole through the hulk and enter. One man named Anton has a brief fight with Rogo. Hely and Jason open the tiger cage and the tiger runs away. Manny finds Rogo's gun and points it at Bela, saying that if Bela kills the group, he will shoot. After the others escape to Broadway (the crew corridor), all the pirates simultaneously shoot Manny.

The group makes it to Broadway and begins to set traps for the pirates. Rogo hides in the theatre, Hely and Jason in the barbershop and the rest in the library. There, they find the last remaining survivor on the ship: the nurse. Bela orders Anton and several men to search for Rogo and his friend. One pirate ventures into the theatre and is killed instantly. Another is distracted by Hely's nudity and was stabbed by Jason. Anton goes into the library only to be showered by books. Anton then encounters the tiger and wrestles it until it both fall into a hole and drown.

Rogo finds Hely's purse of stolen goods and almost exposes her when she refused to open it.

Eventually, they find a way back to the engine room and discover Jason's parcel, which turns out to contain ammunition. They are captured by Bela, who has found the gold and is transporting it into his ship. Bela exposes Hely. Jason thought Hely loved him. Hely, to show her true love, dives into the ocean.

The captive group uses the ammunition to shoot Bela. Suddenly, Hely returns, suffering from the bends. Having knowingly sacrificed herself to help the others, she tells Jason that there is an erupting volcano directly under the "Poseidon". She then dies.

It is Rogo that the pirates wanted dead. Rogo fakes his death by having Jason plant blood on his forehead and knocking him out. Jason approaches Bela by lying that Rogo died. Bela agrees to let them go with Hely and Rogo. Just after burying Hely in the sea a distance away, the volcano erupts and destroys the "Poseidon" and the pirates and creates a new island.

That night, the survivors are celebrating. Coby reveals that she has rescued one bar of gold. When they reached Athens, Rogo lies about what really happened to conceal the truth about the gold. The group parts with Rogo telling Jason to buy a new boat with the gold that they rescued. Jason responds by saying that it will be called "Dumb Cop". Back at the shipowner's office, the manager reports that Bela and his men all died and the shipment was lost.

Media releases

A region one DVD version was released on August 22, 2006.

Translations

* French : "Le Dernier secret du Poséidon"

External links

*
*
* [http://www.iann.net/movies/beyondposeidon/ Irwin Allen News Network] (The Irwin Allen News Network's Beyond the Poseidon Adventure page)