Updated: January 09, 2022

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

Directed and produced by - Irwin Allen

Written by - 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 by - Jerry Fielding

Cinematography - Joseph F. Biroc

Editing by - Bill Brame

Distributed by - Warner Bros.

Release date - May 18, 1979

Running time - 114 minutes

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.

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 ship. Accompanied by second mate Wilbur and passenger Celeste Whitman, he heads out to claim salvage rights on it, as the tugboat Jenny lost her cargo in the same storm that capsized it.

They are soon followed by Dr. Stefan Svevo and his crew, who claim to be doctors who received the ship's SOS. 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 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.

The water continues to submerge more decks and more explosions occur. Turner and his group find Svevo and his men gathering a cargo of plutonium. He tells Turner that he can't let them go now that they've seen what he and his men are doing. However, before they can kill Turner and his group, another explosion occurs, allowing them to escape. Svevo and his men gather the plutonium and head back up to the ship's stern, which is still above water but is slowly sinking.

In another section of the ship, Turner and his group find a gold treasure worth $1 billion. They gather it and escape from the ship through an underwater side door. They swim to his boat as Svevo's men see them and open fire. However, Turner's group makes it to his boat and they sail away. Water continues to flood the ship and cause the on-board boilers to explode, which causes the cargo of plutonium to do so. The ship completely explodes, killing Svevo and his men.

On board Turner's boat, Celeste admits her love for him and they sail away into the sunset with the survivors and gold treasure.

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 Team 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 Constantine (Veronica Hamel)

Crew Nurse Gina Rowe (Shirley Jones), Dewey "Tex" Hopkins, (Slim Pickens), Elevator Operator Larry Simpson (Mark Harmon)

Abandoned film sequel premise:

In 1973, soon after the first film came out, producer Irwin Allen proposed a sequel that would have had 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 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.

Value: Retails: $20.