Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979, Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Karl Malden, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, Slim Pickens, Shirley Jones, Shirley Knight, Veronica Hamel) – Classic Movie Review 8472

Alas poor Michael Caine! This is his second bad movie at the start of a bad late Seventies run for him, working in America on Irwin Allen’s 1979 Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, the terrible sequel to The Poseidon Adventure (1972), in which he, as ship’s captain Mike Turner, (plus Sally Field and Karl Malden) tries to beat horrid rival captain (Telly Savalas) to the salvage before the still-floating overturned disaster ship Poseidon sinks. Meanwhile, there are still passengers waiting on board to be rescued. It is an exciting set-up, isn’t it? So how could it go wrong?

Spare a thought too for poor Field (who had just won a Best Actress Oscar for Norma Rae) playing the ship’s nurse Celeste Whitman. The good old cast is mostly wasted, though Savalas does have a high old time as the bad guy. It also stars Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, Slim Pickens, Shirley Jones, Shirley Knight and Veronica Hamel, along with Angela Cartwright, Mark Harmon, Paul Picerni, Patrick Culliton and Dean Ferrandini.

The deficient screenplay is by Nelson Gidding, based on a novel by Paul Gallico. However, the screenplay was revised throughout filming, often with new pages arriving for scenes on the day they were to be shot.

The previous year, Caine had paired with Allen on the equally disastrous The Swarm. You would think that once stung, twice careful. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a disaster movie in every way.

Caine recalled: ‘I had no qualms about this one but I should have had. My first qualm should have been that Irwin Allen had decided to direct – he also directed The Swarm!’ Caine said The Swarm ‘was the worst movie I have done’, though arguably it is more fun to watch than Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. Field also commented on how much she hated Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and disliked Irwin Allen.

For Caine, The Island and The Hand were to follow, before career resurrection with Deathtrap. He is the ultimate Teflon actor, nothing in the way of movie bad stuff sticks.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8472

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