The movie starts during the storm that capsized the SS Poseidon (even though there was no storm in the first), with Michael Caine, Karl Malden and Sally Field holding on for dear life in their tugboat(A tugboat??In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea??)The morning after (yes, I know) they see the French Coast Guard rescue chopper and track down the wreck of the Poseidon, its cherry red hull gleaming in the sun-even though its a 40 year old hulk on its way to the scrap yard! Caine and crew decide to loot the vessel of its riches. Once inside, surviving passengers and crew start popping out of everywhere. Also coming along is Telly Savalas playing a very evil doctor-madman trying to retrieve his plutonium from the Poseidons cargo hold. In between Sally Fields deadly case of the cutes, Maldens gas pains, and stiff acting from the others, Irwin Allen really tried to make a good movie, but should have left the directing to someone less "action oriented".The movie was released May 18th, 1979, and had a less than impressive box office return. Luckily most of the cast members like Michael Caine, Sally Field, Peter Boyle, Mark Harmon etc went on to bigger and better projects. When shown on network TV, 45 minutes of footage was added-but strangely adding almost nothing. Most Poseidon fans feel the best thing about the movie is the poster art by Mort Kunstler.
