Saw it as a kid on TV in the 1960s and the scene with Stack trying to save his daughter had me riveted! TCM (without them, I would drop my cable) showed it the other night and it was thrilling. Beats "Titanic" anyday of the week!
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Well, boy howdy.....just saw the previews on TCM of this, previously unknown to me,movie. Looked hokey but, if it comes around and I am in my afterwork position on the couch and nothing better is on I hope to give it a watch. (yep, without TCM or baseball on tv, I would drop my cable)
shareThe sinking scenes at the end are pretty realistic. I won't say anymore as I don't want to spoil the movie for you.
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Robert Stack said they only 'cheated' with them running along the deck as the ship goes under. He said they built a deck a very short ways off the beach in Santa Monica, CA (or some local LA beach). He said the floating decks chairs got a big round of applause from spectators on the beach.
shareI saw this movie for the second time in my life today on TCM. The first time was in 1960 at a drive-in when I was 12 years old. I remembered it very clearly -- that's how good it is. Amazing performances from the entire cast, especially the little girl played by Tammy Marihugh. Her anguish over her trapped and injured mother is extremely convincing.
She also preformed some hair-raising stunts that made my eyes pop out.
The big difference between this movie and more recent films like The Poseidon Adventure is the amazing realism created by the use of an actual ship, instead of just sets and special effects (with a few exceptions).
Woody Strode is basically the hero of the story. His brave, sympathetic character made a strong impression on me in 1960. The scene in which Robert Stack trusts Woody Strode to put the little girl on a lifeboat was a significant social statement in 1960, accented by a scene shortly after that when a white male passenger pulls the crying girl away from Woody. The implication was that a black man carrying a white child was inappropriate.
Story elements like these elevate this story far above a simple disaster movie.
When vacationing in outer space, be sure to visit www.allsci-fi.us!
Well said Bruce_Cook.
They certainly don't make the great epics anymore. Now all the buzz is about flashy special effects and blasting your eardrums out in the theater. What ever happened to focus being on substance, story and great acting? Thanks for sharing your memories about the drive-in.
Well said both of you. I just watched it on TCM and haven't seen it in maybe 30 years. I forgot how really excellent it is. I, too, have specific memories of seeing it in a theater when I would have been 13-14. I've always loved suspense, and this movie may be the reason. And as you said, it's so real - not a bunch of CGI special effects. I wonder why it's not more well-known.
shareI really liked this movie, but lawdy I was hoping that screechy little girl would have been crushed to death by a large beam.
I was also annoyed by the "OMG! MY WIFE! MYYYYYY WIFE!" thing of Robert Stack. Right, you're in a catastrophic liner accident and your wife is so much more important than crew members or other passengers that you endanger them? I was hoping Edmund O'Brien would have punched his lights out when they were on the upper deck. And Woody Strode's character, what the hell? He decides to help them out ahead of his shipmates?!?! Grrrrrrr.
I can't believe I actually remember this, but the little girl won some sort of contest - maybe on Howdy Doody - don't remember, but it must have been the reason they put her in the movie. She was awful! Almost as bad as the kid who played (I hesitate to call her an actor) Bonnie Blue Butler in GWTW.
shareWell evidently the powers that be felt she was good enough to get other roles since she can also be seen in the Twilight Zone episode "Death Ship" in 1963 as Ross Martin's daughter and she had a few other credits. Then she grew up and became a stripper and got off for shooting her husband.
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