# The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 action/adventure/disaster film about the capsizing of a luxurious ocean liner by a tsunami and the desperate struggle of a handful of survivors to journey up to the bottom of the hull of the liner before it sinks.
    Directed by Ronald Neame and Irwin Allen (action sequences only). Written by Wendell Mayes and Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel by Paul Gallico.

## Opening intro

* At midnight on New Year's Eve, the S.S. Poseidon, en route from New York to Athens, met with disaster and was lost. There were only a handful of survivors. This is their story.....

## Frank Scott

* [Appealing to the survivors in the ballroom]: I wanna appeal to you the last time. I know this much; the sea's gonna keep pouring in, we're gonna keep settling deeper and deeper, we may even go under before we get up to the bottom to cut our way out! But it's something to try, it's a chance, we might make it. You stay here, you'll certainly die!
* [Angry at the Doctor for leading his group of 44 the wrong way]: You're going the wrong way, DAMMIT! The BOW'S UNDERWATER!
* [Sees a blast of steam blocking the last way out, yells in frustration] What more do You want of us?! We've come all this way, no thanks to You! We did it on our own, with no help from You! We did ask You to fight for us, but dammit, DON'T FIGHT AGAINST US! LEAVE US ALONE! How many more sacrifices?! HOW MUCH MORE BLOOD?! [jumps to the steam valve, the steam on the valve's wheel searing his hands, but he holds on] How many more lives?! [turns the wheel of the valve, despite the pain] Belle wasn't enough, Acres wasn't, now this girl?! You want another life, then TAKE ME! [the valve finally closes, clearing the final obstacle.] You can make it. Keep going, Rogo! Get them through! [lets go of the wheel and falls into the flaming water to his death]

## Mike Rogo

* [To Reverend Scott after Linda has fallen off a catwalk to her death]: You! Preacher! You lyin', murderin' son of a bitch! You almost suckered me in! I started to believe in your promises, that we had a chance! What chance? You took from me the only thing I ever loved in the whole world, my Linda. YOU KILLED HER!! [Rogo breaks down]: You killed her.

## Linda Rogo

* I'm going next. So if old fat ass gets stuck in there, I won't get stuck behind her.

## Belle Rosen

* You see, Mr. Scott? In the water, I'm a very skinny lady.

## Dialogue

    Chief Engineer Joe: Chief here. Go ahead.
    Captain Harrison: Joe, what the hell's going on down there? Is there nothing more you can do with those stabilizers?
    Chief Engineer Joe: There's nothing wrong with the stabilizers, so there's nothing more I can do with them. Besides I got my hands full with this pump! You know damn well what the trouble is - it's that bastard Linarcos!
    Captain Harrison: Would you care to repeat yourself? He's standing right here.
    Chief Engineer Joe: Good! I hope he heard me!
    Captain Harrison: Alright Joe. Do the best you can until we clear this weather.
    Mike Rogo: How is she supposed to swallow that pill, when she can't even swallow water?
    Nurse Gina Rowe: [patiently] They're suppositories, Mr. Rogo. You erm, don't swallow them.
    Mike Rogo: Then what the hell do you do with them?
    Linda Rogo: For Christ's sake, I know what to do with suppositories! Just get them outta here!
    Mr. Linarcos: Order Full Ahead, Captain.
    Captain Harrison: I have already told you Mr. Linarcos, we don't have enough ballast yet to run at Full Ahead.
    Mr. Linarcos: I suggest we talk privately. (Linarcos and the Captain meet separately from the crew) I did not suggest Full Ahead, Captain. As the new owner's representative on this ship, I ordered it!
    Captain Harrison: Goddammit man the Poseidon is too fine a lady to be rushed to the junkyard on her last voyage.
    Mr. Linarcos: We're already three days behind schedule. And it's costing my consortium thousands of dollars every day to maintain a wrecking crew. I demand we dock Monday night-
    Captain Harrison: And I can't afford to gamble with the lives of my passengers!
    Mr. Linarcos: Your business is to deliver this ship where we want it, when we want it!
    Captain Harrison: Running an unstable ship at full ahead is dangerous!
    Mr. Linarcos: I am sure-
    Captain Harrison: Especially one as old as this!
    Mr. Linarcos: I am sure I don't have to remind you of my legal right to have you relieved of command. Three other officers aboard this ship have their Master's License. Now, order Full Ahead!
    Captain Harrison: You irresponsible bastard.
    Robin Shelby: Why don't you shove it?
    Susan Shelby: [angrily] Don't you ever say that to me again!
    Robin Shelby: Shove it! Shove it! Shove it!
    Mike Rogo: You know what it means to be picked out from all the people aboard to sit at the Captain's table on New Year's Eve? Well, I'll tell ya what it means. It means that all your worries about those other women looking on ya is a lot of bull.
    Linda Rogo: He only invited you because you're a Detective Lieutenant. Why don't you just go without me?
    Mike Rogo: And what am I supposed to do at midnight? Kiss the Captain?
    Linda Rogo: Don't knock it. [Linda enters the bathroom and closes the door]
    Mike Rogo: Why don't you admit the real reason? You're still afraid some bum will recognize you. Well that's pretty stupid! You're out of that business now, you're my wife. You can't keep running around pretending that every guy you bump into is a former customer. Linda, you hear me?!
    Linda Rogo: Will you shut up?! I'm busy in here! [Toilet flushes]
    Mike Rogo: You weren't even out on the streets that long! How the hell many guys did you know?! You realize how slim the chances are that even one of these characters is on this boat?!
    Linda Rogo: [opening the bathroom door] You don't have to shout.
    Mike Rogo: I SAID THA-...I said, do you realize, how slim-
    Linda Rogo: I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID! [sitting down on the bed] Mike? I saw a young officer on deck the other day. And he looked pretty damn familiar! Even with his clothes on!
    Mike Rogo: So he recognized you. So?
    Linda Rogo: But doesn't that bother you?
    Mike Rogo: If it bothered me I wouldn't have married you.
    Linda Rogo: Well first you arrested me six times!
    Mike Rogo: Well I had to figure out some way to keep you off the streets until you married me!
    Linda Rogo: [softening] Come here, you lousy cop.
    Mike Rogo: This is the first trip since we got married.
    Linda Rogo: Yeah, and why we didn't fly, I'll never know.
    Reverend Frank Scott: Well, since the Captain put me in charge. let's make a toast.
    Linda Rogo: Great. What do we drink to?
    Reverend Frank Scott: To love.
    Linda Rogo: Here here, to love. [to Mike] To love, dummy!
    Mike Rogo: Oh.
    [Discussing the approaching wave]
    Captain Harrison: It seems to be piling up those shallows... By the way, Happy New Year.
    First Officer Larsen: Thank you, sir. Same to you.
    Captain Harrison: [returning to the conversation] What's its speed?
    First Officer Larsen: 60 knots, sir.
    Captain Harrison: It must be mountainous...
    [Tidal wave is approaching the ship and the alarms have been sounded]
    Captain Harrison: [over intercom to radio room] Sparks!
    Wireless Operator: Yes, sir?
    Captain Harrison: Get off a Mayday!
    Wireless Operator: [puzzled] Mayday, sir?
    Captain Harrison: Yes, I said Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!
    Linda Rogo: [dazed] Jesus Christ. What happened?
    Reverend Frank Scott: We've turned over.
    Mike Rogo: Linda, Linda honey, are you all right?
    Linda Rogo: Hi... where the hell have you been?
    Mike Rogo: Where do you think? Flying around on my ass!
    Purser: For God's sake, Reverend, what you're doing is suicide!
    Reverend Frank Scott: We're cut off from the rest of the world. They can't get to us. Maybe we can get to them. You've said enough, now get out of the way.
    Purser: Pray for us, but don't do this! [to the others] Climbing to another deck will kill you all!
    Reverend Frank Scott: And sitting on our butts is not gonna to help us either! Maybe by climbing out of here, we can save ourselves. If you've got any sense, you'll come along with us. [to Rogo] Grab a hold.
    Reverend Frank Scott: Through the kitchen and go deeper and deeper in the ship till we reach the hull. That way!
    Mike Rogo: Then you just kick out the bottom and we swim ashore, huh?
    Linda Rogo: Or maybe you could just yell "This is the police" and it'll open right up!
    Mike Rogo: Don't be a smart ass!
    [Linda is about to climb up the Christmas tree]
    Reverend Frank Scott: Ok Mrs. Rogo, up you go. But you'll have to take off that long gown.
    Mike Rogo: Like hell she will!
    Reverend Frank Scott: She can't climb in it. It's too tight.
    Mike Rogo: She's got nothin' under it!
    Linda Rogo: Just panties. What else do I need?
    Mike Rogo: What do you mean what else do you need?!
    Reverend Frank Scott: Give her your shirt.
    Mike Rogo: But...my...
    Linda Rogo: Come on.
    Mike Rogo: Linda, next time you put something on like I told you to put on!
    James Martin: What do I tell I tell the others?
    Mike Rogo: Tell them to break out their hymn books and start singing "Nearer My God To Thee"!
    [The deck behind the group is flooding rapidly, they proceed down the hall]
    Linda Rogo: This is a bunch of crap. We're sinking and nothing's going to keep us from drowning.
    Mike Rogo: Keep moving.
    Manny Rosen: He's right, Mrs. Rogo, there are air pockets all over the ship.
    Linda Rogo: Air pockets?
    Manny Rogen: Yes, just because that deck is flooded doesn't mean this one will.
    Nonnie Parry: How long will we stay afloat?
    James Martin: [gently] Long enough.
    Robin Shelby: The Andrea Doria stayed afloat for 10 hours before she sank.
    James Martin: You see, Nonnie, everything's gonna be alright. We have a long time to go.
    Mike Rogo: Come on, keep moving, keep moving.
    Belle Rosen: You see, he's swimming through the corridors and up and down these stairwells, I'm the only one here trained to do things like that!
    Linda Rogo: Will you shut up?!
    Manny Rosen: Belle, be careful.
    Belle Rosen: Manny, you think I'm planning to be careless? [dives in]
    Mike Rogo: What the hell does he think she's doing?!
    Manny Rosen: Let her go! She knows what she's doing!
    [Reverend Scott pulls Mike Rogo up from the water. Nearby lies the lifeless body of Mrs. Rosen, who had just died after saving Scott]
    Mike Rogo: What the hell happened? You didn't pull the rope.
    Reverend Frank Scott: I got trapped. Mrs. Rosen freed me.
    Mike Rogo: Thanks Mrs. Rosen, if it hadn't been for you, none of us...[Scott grabs Rogo's arm, Rogo does a double take and realizes Mrs. Rosen is dead] Aww, Jesus!
    Reverend Frank Scott: Go back and tell the others.
    Mike Rogo: And what do I tell him?
    Reverend Frank Scott: Tell him nothing! Just go back and get him.
    Mike Rogo: Ya had a lotta guts, lady... a lotta guts.
    [Manny Rosen is embracing his wife's lifeless body and does not want to leave her]
    Reverend Frank Scott: Mr. Rosen...look...the last thing she said to me was "Give this to Manny to give to our grandson from both of us". Your place is with the living. If you don't come with us, her death is meaningless. Now come on.
    Manny Rosen: All right, you go first. I want to stay with her a little longer.
    Reverend Frank Scott: You've got one minute.
    James Martin: What kind of a policeman were you? You've done nothing but beef and complain. Always negative, always destructive. Well, now's you're chance to something positive for a change! [tauntingly] Are you quitting, Mr. Rogo? Are you going out with a whimper, on your belly?
    Mike Rogo: All right, you. That's enough!

## Taglines

* Hell, Upside Down.
* At midnight on New Year's Day the S.S. Poseidon was struck by a 90-foot tidal wave and capsized.
* Who will survive in one of the greatest escape adventures ever!
* Combining the talents of fifteen Academy Award Winners.

## Cast

* Gene Hackman - Rev. Frank Scott
* Ernest Borgnine - Det. Lt. Mike Rogo
* Red Buttons - James Martin
* Carol Lynley - Nonnie Parry
* Roddy McDowall - Acres
* Stella Stevens - Linda Rogo
* Shelley Winters - Belle Rosen
* Jack Albertson - Manny Rosen
* Pamela Sue Martin - Susan Shelby
* Arthur O'Connell - Chaplain John
* Eric Shea - Robin Shelby
* Leslie Nielsen - Captain Harrison

## External links

* The Poseidon Adventure quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Poseidon Adventure at Rotten Tomatoes