Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Encyclopedia
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
and starred Michael Caine
and Sally Field
. The film was a critical and commercial failure, highly disliked by co-star Angela Cartwright
, and was the only Allen disaster film not to receive any Academy Award nominations.
Accompanied by second mate Wilbur and passenger Celeste Whitman, he heads out to claim salvage rights on the wreck, as the tugboat Jenny lost her cargo in the same storm that capsized the ocean liner.
They are soon followed by Dr. Stefan Svevo and his crew, who claim to be doctors who received the Poseidon's S.O.S. They are actually after gold and a lost plutonium
shipment. They board the doomed vessel and become trapped.
The group with Turner also encounters the ship's nurse, Gina Rowe, a passenger named Suzanne Constantine, and war veteran Frank Mezzetti who is searching for his missing daughter (Theresa Mezzetti), which they soon find along with the elevator operator named Larry Simpson and as well as a "billionaire" named "Tex". Later they find the blind Harold Meredith and his wife Hannah, who were waiting for rescue.
Along the way, they encounter frightening places within the Poseidon as well as the revelation of Dr. Stefan Svevo's plot. As the water continues to submerge more decks, the chances of escape go from unlikely to nearly impossible.
Captain Mike Turner (Michael Caine
), Wilbur Hubbard (Karl Malden
),
Celeste Whitman (Sally Field
)
Villains
Captain Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas
), Kurt (Paul Picerni
),
Doyle (Patrick Culliton), Castrop (Dean Raphael Ferrandini)
Passengers
Frank Mazzetti (Peter Boyle
), Theresa Mazzetti (Angela Cartwright
), Harold Meredith (Jack Warden
), Hannah Meredith (Shirley Knight
), Suzanne (Veronica Hamel
)
Crew
Nurse Gina Rowe (Shirley Jones
), Dewey "Tex" Hopkins, (Slim Pickens
), elevator operator Larry Simpson (Mark Harmon
)
proposed a sequel that would have had the survivors testifying in a hearing on the disaster in Vienna
, country of the Poseidons parent company. While on a train to the hearing, a miles-long mountain tunnel would collapse, leaving the survivors of the train trapped inside, struggling to make their way out. This premise was eventually used in the 1996 Rob Cohen
film Daylight
with Sylvester Stallone
.
's novel The Poseidon Adventure had ended with the ship sinking. The original film changed much of the novel's plot and ended with the ship still afloat. After the huge success of the film, Gallico was asked to write a novel that would be a sequel not to his first novel, but to the film. It would feature a new group of people entering the still capsized SS Poseidon, and could be made into a second film. Gallico wrote Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, which was published in 1978. However once again the film that followed ended up bearing little resemblance to his book. Instead of sinking, the Poseidon explodes.
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
, a sequel to the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. It was directed by Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
and starred Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
and Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
. The film was a critical and commercial failure, highly disliked by co-star Angela Cartwright
Angela Cartwright
Angela Margaret Cartwright is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television...
, and was the only Allen disaster film not to receive any Academy Award nominations.
Plot
The film continues the story from the original movie's conclusion. The Poseidon is still afloat, and the six survivors of Reverend Scott's team have been rescued. A tugboat captain, Mike Turner, discovers the wreck of the ocean liner.Accompanied by second mate Wilbur and passenger Celeste Whitman, he heads out to claim salvage rights on the wreck, as the tugboat Jenny lost her cargo in the same storm that capsized the ocean liner.
They are soon followed by Dr. Stefan Svevo and his crew, who claim to be doctors who received the Poseidon's S.O.S. They are actually after gold and a lost plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
shipment. They board the doomed vessel and become trapped.
The group with Turner also encounters the ship's nurse, Gina Rowe, a passenger named Suzanne Constantine, and war veteran Frank Mezzetti who is searching for his missing daughter (Theresa Mezzetti), which they soon find along with the elevator operator named Larry Simpson and as well as a "billionaire" named "Tex". Later they find the blind Harold Meredith and his wife Hannah, who were waiting for rescue.
Along the way, they encounter frightening places within the Poseidon as well as the revelation of Dr. Stefan Svevo's plot. 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. There is an independent DVD available that does have the TV footage.Characters
Salvage TeamCaptain Mike Turner (Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
), Wilbur Hubbard (Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
),
Celeste Whitman (Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
)
Villains
Captain Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
), Kurt (Paul Picerni
Paul Picerni
-Life and career:Picerni was born in New York City, New York. He was an Eagle Scout who joined the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he served as a B-24 Liberator bombardier in the China-Burma-India Theater. He flew 25 combat missions with the 493rd Bomb Squadron of the 7th...
),
Doyle (Patrick Culliton), Castrop (Dean Raphael Ferrandini)
Passengers
Frank Mazzetti (Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....
), Theresa Mazzetti (Angela Cartwright
Angela Cartwright
Angela Margaret Cartwright is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television...
), Harold Meredith (Jack Warden
Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
), Hannah Meredith (Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
), Suzanne (Veronica Hamel
Veronica Hamel
Veronica Hamel is an American actress.- Biography :After Hamel graduated from Temple University, she worked as a secretary for a company that manufactured ironing board covers. She began a fashion modeling career after being discovered by Eileen Ford...
)
Crew
Nurse Gina Rowe (Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
), Dewey "Tex" Hopkins, (Slim Pickens
Slim Pickens
Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
), elevator operator Larry Simpson (Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon is an American actor who has been starring in American television programs and films since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS series NCIS.-Early life:Harmon was born Thomas...
)
Abandoned film sequel premise
In 1973, soon after the first film came out, producer Irwin AllenIrwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
proposed a sequel that would have had the survivors testifying in a hearing on the disaster in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, country of the Poseidons parent company. While on a train to the hearing, a miles-long mountain tunnel would collapse, leaving the survivors of the train trapped inside, struggling to make their way out. This premise was eventually used in the 1996 Rob Cohen
Rob Cohen
Robert "Rob" Cohen is an American film director, producer and writer.-Early life:Cohen was born in Cornwall, New York. He was raised and spent his childhood in the Town of Newburgh and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 1967...
film Daylight
Daylight (film)
Daylight is a 1996 disaster film, starring Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen, Dan Hedaya, and Danielle Harris. It was directed by Rob Cohen and released in theaters on December 6, 1996.-Plot:...
with Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
.
Relationship of Gallico's novels to the films
Paul GallicoPaul Gallico
Paul William Gallico was a successful American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures...
's novel The Poseidon Adventure had ended with the ship sinking. The original film changed much of the novel's plot and ended with the ship still afloat. After the huge success of the film, Gallico was asked to write a novel that would be a sequel not to his first novel, but to the film. It would feature a new group of people entering the still capsized SS Poseidon, and could be made into a second film. Gallico wrote Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, which was published in 1978. However once again the film that followed ended up bearing little resemblance to his book. Instead of sinking, the Poseidon explodes.