While not the worst film ever made, there is after all 1973's Lost Horizon, this sequel to 1972's water and cardboard(character)epic is not a disaster film, but a disaster itself. Actually, there is no disaster here; it's a modern day pirate film. The original had five Oscar winners and no performances of any note while this has four Oscar winners and atrocious, unconvincing performances. Field in particular as would be comedy relief is embarrassing;the idiotic dialog would sink anyone, but she could have turned down the role. Directed by Irwin Allen, this is a tedious, uneventful, unimaginative waste of time with no purpose other than to hopefully cash in on the original's popularity. It doesn't even rise to the level of camp or so bad that it's good status which actually makes it less memorable and/or watchable than Ross Hunter's musical remake of Lost Horizon.

I can't claim to have seen the original 1972 movie, only saw the 2006 re-make, so I don't really know how this 1979 sequel was in comparison to the original movie that it was a sequel to.But being overly familiar with the storyline, it is still possible to watch the 1979 sequel. But it wasn't really an astounding experience, and the movie was just adequately entertaining.The marooned Poseidon is still afloat, when captain Mike Turner (played by Michael Caine) along with his crew Celeste Whitman (played by Sally Field) and Wilbur Hubbard (played by Karl Malden) come across the upside-down floating vessel and because of financial troubles, captain Mike Turner decides to venture into the vessel in search for valuables. Just as they are to go in, another vessel turns up with a rescue crew led by captain Stefan Svevo (played by Telly Savalas).The storyline was adequate enough, but there was just too little happening throughout the entire movie. And you didn't really sit with the sense of the people who ventured into the vessel were in any real peril at any time, especially not when they could afford all those breaks and sit down for something to eat as well.What was impressive about the movie was the talents that they had managed to muster together for this 1979 sequel, and that was actually what managed to keep the movie afloat - pardon the pun."Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" isn't really a memorable movie experience, and I doubt that this is the type of movie that you will watch more than once, because it just didn't have all that much to offer.

Being stuck in bed with the flu and feeling too rough to get up to find the remote, I actually watched this abomination from start to finish (how many people can say that? And for any who can - what's your excuse?). My God, has there ever, EVER been such a total mess released by a major studio? There is not one second of genuine tension in a supposed "thriller"; the script is inept and ludicrous; the sets look like they were leftovers from a low-budget TV movie; and the cast ... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!!! Sally Field gives what is without doubt the worst and most embarrassing performance of any Academy Award winner in history. Her irritating nasal whine and stupidly perky behaviour in what is meant to be a life-threatening situation are truly asinine. It's a wonder she didn't use all her future earnings to buy up and destroy every print of this turkey. Michael Caine, who now pontificates endlessly on the art of screen acting - even running master classes for would-be thespians - should be taken out and shot (preferably by one of Telly Savalas' henchmen). Angela Cartwright, an actress I usually like (and whose name isn't even in the opening credits, poor soul), is ten years too old for her role, and her horrible matronly yellow prom dress must haunt her nightmares to this day. Slumming it are Karl Malden and Shirley Knight - hopefully they collected a big pay packet to assuage their involvement. The whole film is a series of bad scenes, but one that especially sticks in my mind is the explosion which results in the "ceiling" (if an upside-down ship's deck can be termed as such) collapsing and a load of empty cardboard boxes falling through! Ooh, how scary! Really, really, terrible.

4 Oscar winners, Karl Malden, Sally Field, Shirley Jones, Michael Caine. Great character actors Telly Savalas and Peter Boyle. 1 hour 54 minutes of sheer tedium, melodrama and horrible acting, a mess of a script, and a sinking feeling of GOOD LORD, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?Irwin Allen was just trying to cash in on the popularity of the original classic disaster film with a grade D minus script, the actors were obviously just in it for the paycheck as well,... the horror, the horror!How insane are the characters that Caine, Savalas, Malden and Field are playing? Go into a potentially deadly sinking ship that's 1. on fire 2. Hot from steam 3. Slippery from water and oil, 4. boilers that are exploding every 5 minutes, etc., all for the love of money? Greed? 5. They have very little equipment, not even a pair of gloves or work boots in sight, much less a grappling hook, rope, etc.Stupidity!What were they thinking?Peter Boyle overacts so much that I just wanted to smack him! Stop it! And what's the deal with the bad toupee? Also, there is no way you can believe his character was a WW2 veteran.Caine, Field and Malden find all that gold and money and they are happy--whoopee! We're rich! (We may not live to spend it, but hey...)And yee haw, it's the great character actor Slim Pickens!Survivors galore! Jack Warden and Shirley Knight, too!The final dramatic sub plot about that scary plutonium never really went anywhere, it's like they forgot, sort of? Lots of holes in the script.This film has an illness that the strongest pill couldn't cure. I'm surprised Alan J. Smithee's name wasn't on the script, I'd be embarrassed to have penned this one!Oh the insanity, Oh The humanity! Oy Vey!The Horror, The Horror!It's like a bad two hour TV movie.At least the sets were made from recycled material from the first movie.The script needed to be on the compost heap...