The Perfect Film for New Year's Eve
Frequent readers will recognize this article. This is the perfect way to say good-bye to 2024 and to welcome the New Year!
Every year, for decades, I have watched this fabulous film on December 31st. Set on and around New Year’s Eve, it has action, suspense, thrills, special effects, great acting (both powerful and cheesy) and a New Year’s Eve party to remember! Join me in my annual tradition of viewing this disaster classic you might have missed!
Every year, on the evening of December 31st, my big celebration is watching the greatest New Year's Eve movie ever. The big moment in ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ occurs just as the crew and passengers are celebrating the arrival of the new year. The S.S. Poseidon, captained by a pre-comedy Leslie Nielsen, is overturned by a giant rogue wave just after the stroke of midnight. Not only does it become a new year, but it becomes a new, upside-down world for the people on board. Rev. Scott, played by Gene Hackman, must lead the band of lonely survivors from the ballroom to the engine room in the hopes of escaping this disaster. Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens and Shelley Winters are among the group that attempts to "go up to the bottom" in an effort to escape. Winters received an academy award nomination for her work as the overweight, former swimming champ that saves the day. Who, if any of them, will survive?
This is the crowning achievement of the 1970's disaster movie movement. From ‘Airport’ to this film to ‘Towering Inferno’ calamity reigned supreme. Irwin Allen, the king of disaster movies, produced and partially directed this film. Dozens of today’s filmmakers give credit to Allen for inspiring them to make movies and tell stories.
Around my house, 1972’s ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ is called "cheesetastic!". The script and characters are exactly what you would expect. But once the ship overturns and the adventure begins I find myself rooted to my seat awaiting the next pitfall. The effects hold up quite well in our present world of CGI. Everything in ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ is done with real people. The scene of the man falling through the glass ceiling is still a classic.
If you saw the film in a theater, especially back when it was first released, you may remember the entire audience leaning in their seats when the ship overturned. You know, of course, that leaning won't have any effect upon what is happening on the screen, but your body just leans anyway. It is that kind of shared experience, which only movies on the big screen provide, that are missing from sitting at home watching a DVD or via streaming.
Enjoy the disaster this New Year’s Eve!
Side notes: Take notice in the tree-climbing sequence. Hackman tells both Stevens and Pamela Sue Martin that they can’t climb “in those long dresses”. They remove the skirts to show off some very attractive legs and make the climb. Later, Shelley Winters does not remove her long dress, but has no trouble climbing the tree. Also, Stella Stevens was later quoted as saying she wishes she had saved the panties she wears through the escape sequences. “I could sell them on EBay and make a fortune” she would later quip.