Which Poseidon Adventure character would you most like to sit next to at your next lavish New Year's Eve banquet?

Damn, it's a shame, but i still haven't seen either the original, nor the remake. When i do that (and i will, because to see, at least, the original is a must) i will happily return, on this thread and vote.

*or the remake

Eric Shea! Eric Shea!

Roddy McDowell. He was reputed to have a large penis and I'd be fondling it under the table.

Everyone touts WINTERS' performance but I always thought that STELLA STEVENS was the one who really made this film !

Loved her as Linda Rogo ! !

what a cast of ugly people...

Apparently young Mark Harmon was on that ship too but I think he was still in his cabin. I'll be blowing him under the table at my NYE bash.

Maybe after a few drinks Roddy would show us his famous party trick. That's why I voted for him!

I know he was an also-ran in the poll, but DAMN. Susan had good taste...

Stella Stevens seems like the Dream DL date. She's an old whore and an über-bitch. Think of the stories she's tell about her Chicago street walking days.

And her clothes...

The side boob on this doll could not be more accurate.

She wasn't the only doll!

I needed these as a kid.

I love how the Stella Stevens one is available in the party dress as well as the men's shirt that she has to wear to climb the Christmas tree. Well, a men's shirt and PANTIES.

Also, I am hopeful that the Pamela Sue Martin figure's mini-skirt is a breakaway that reveals matching cherry red hot pants underneath.

damn, how did I miss those action figures as a kid? Or as they more recent?

I want a Red Buttons doll! (Where is Carol Linley's?)

I don't believe they were ever actually mass-produced, r16. I think it was a vicious teaser played on gay men everywhere. And only another gay could possibly be responsible.

And for r9, here is that hot, doomed PSM tuxedoed suitor. The story about the dramatic fall from the table is pretty outlandish.

I always thought Leslie Nielsen was a silver fox in that captain's uniform. I wouldn't mind sitting next to him and listening to his deep voice all night. Or at least until he raced to the bridge for the capsizing.

Pre-CGI.

Stella Stevens' line reading of "Air pockets!" is immortal.

John C. Reilly bears a strong resemblance to Gene Hackman.

I would sit next to Nonnie, because, if anything would happen, everybody knows that the stupid, pretty, blonde girl never dies( everybody else dies protecting her). I'd hold on tight.

r7 - Mark Harmon was in Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, not the original.

The sequel is not good and I think he still needed a couple of years before he hit his prime.

The sequel also has possibly the worst performance of all time from a two time Oscar winner. Unless you count Christoph Waltz in "Big Eyes". It's a very close race to the bottom.

R22, Nonnie is the most simpering, pathetic character ever to emerge from a seventies disaster film.

I remember for the first time truly understanding that life isn't fair when she survived and Shelley Winters did not.

I know that, r23 - but his character was on technically on the ship so he counts - and I'm sitting next to him at my NYE shindig!

Even though she wasn't actually in the cast, I'd take Maureen McGovern (who popularized the theme song), so she could sing "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight.

At dinner, Shelley needled closeted gay Red Buttons endlessly about not finding the right girl and getting married. Is DL really ready for a whole night of that?

On the other hand, she was supremely fascinated by his collection of pills.

The gang turned out for another celebration many years later: Shelley's 85th birthday!

Shelley and Red. She died ten years ago. The world is a quieter place.

Shelley and Red on the red carpet. In their incipient dotage.

Forgot photo.

I have to admit that I chose Manny, a little Belle goes a long ways...

R18, Leslie was pretty hot when younger as well (from Tammy and the Batchelor):

Shelley of course, I want stories about all the men she banged. I bet she left some out in her book.

[quote] I want stories about all the men she banged.

Palm trees, swaying in the wind...

Mrs. Rosen. She'd hog all the rolls and butter, and fat people float.

r33, Can you imagine hearing Shelley in her grating voice comparing Burt Lancaster's and Sean Connery's ballsacs while the rest of the room sings Auld Lang Syne?

The sequel was so incredibly bad

A tipsy Winters would be a hoot.

Now, if you asked who would I most like to sit on my face: Gene Hackman.

r38 is going to end up in a catfight with Pamela Sue Martin.

Eric Shea as Robin Shelby didn't make the poll or the dolls?!

Well all I can say is shove it shove it shove it.

BTW he is adorable and so funny in Yours Mine and Ours. For a little kid he could deliver a comedic line with the zest of a young Bea Arthur. (and his little brother is the sweet voiced Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas special---"that is what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

Is The Poseidon Adventure worth a watch or is it just boring and dated now? It's one of those old films that's still mentioned sometimes in film magazines and websites (eg. tearjerking movie moment #67: Shelley Winters is too old and fat to save herself). It's on Sky On Demand and it expires at the end of the month.

It's pretty good, r41. Trashy for sure, but it has heart. You'll laugh when you shouldn't but that's part of the fun.

R41, it is slow and old-fashioned compared to contemporary films, but as r42 said, it has heart. The performances are phenomenal, and the journey to the hull of the ship is quite suspenseful. Compare it to the awful remake with Kurt Russell and you will understand its greatness.

I wonder if they were still fucking in the 70s, he really seemed to like her.

r44, I think Bill Holden may have been too drunk to fuck at that point, though he did snare Stephanie Powers.

William Holden (Towering Inferno) and Shelley could have compared notes on Irwin Allen.

That's Burt Lancaster with Shelley in that pic @ R44!

Roddy McDowall's dick doesn't seem that astonishing to me.

Hollywood lore has it so built up it seems that when Acres' leg was crippled in the capsizing, he could have just unzipped his pants and walked on it instead.

r46, the glasses are totally William Holden Towering Inferno! I need to pay closer attention to late-middle-aged Hollywood hunks.

She did fuck Holden, too. She really went through the ranks, and she had great taste.

Shea was always great but he fell victim to the worst thing that can happen to young Hollywood teens. No, silly, not molestation,. I'm talking about.. dum dum DUUUUUUM,.. Acne. Really bad acne. A career killer.

Eric Shea was great in Smile, sneaking naked Polaroid photos of the low rent teenage beauty queens like Melanie Griffith and Annette O'Toole.

[quote]William Holden (Towering Inferno) and Shelley could have compared notes on Irwin Allen.

They could've compared notes on Lucille Ball, too.

R49, when I talked about reeling in that 700lb swordfish with my dad, that part when I said I didn't mean to imply that you weighed that much... I lied.

Oh, r41 yes, you owe it to yourself to see it! It is one of THE cultural touchstones of the 70s! It is a well made true disaster movie, and although you may chuckle a couple times, it's just softening you up for the DEVASTATION you will feel as each character is bumped off!

The performances CAN'T be beat!

I think I remember Shelly Winters saying in an interview that when they cranked the set to rotate it, a lot of extras got hurt. Some with broken legs. No CGI. They did it in stages but they forgot to nail a lot of stuff down.

The remake was absolute shit. I saw it in IMAX and came away bored.

It featured Richard Dreyfuss as a suicidal gay, if that gives you a taste.

And the TV miniseries was unwatchable.

Got to see the original '72 movie on the big screen a few years back and it holds up amazingly well: funny, suspenseful, filled with heart. The last twenty minutes are both heartstopping and heartbreaking.

It really does know how to present characters who are full of life and seem real in a big-screen kind of way.

I think Jack Alberton's heartbreak after swimming through the corridor nearly broke me.

Manny Rosen might be the most pleasant person to sit next to for NYE, but probably not the most interesting.

R5 Stella Stevens was the best! Especially when she slaps whiny, shrieking Carol Lynley across the face and screams, "Shut up!" Because she did what all the other passengers were wanting to do.

No room for lazy acting on this set, even while Shelley and Gene Hackman are underwater.

Would Belle insist on keeping kosher?

I doubt it, r61, but I think you'd have to hear about her grandchildren all night long.

I would steer the conversation toward her swim team days.

Shelley should have a lot to say about underwater perils.

Pregnant Shelley about to be sent to the depths by Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun.

R62

(One) grandchild. Remember ? Three years old and they still hadn't met him. Oy !

Thanks R63 and R64 for pointing out this theme in Shelley's career.

That could be a thread in itself, themes or motifs that recur in actor's careers.

Bette Davis played a lot of characters named "Charlotte".

R56

regarding DAVIS' films where her character is named Charlotte: I can think of three;

THE OLD MAID . NOW, VOYAGER . HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE . & of course JUAREZ where her character is named Carlotta which is the Spanish variation I think

For Jeff Bridges the character name is "Jack".

R41 It's an amazing movie and holds up extremely well. The sequence of the ship capsizing is one of the greatest of all time! No CGI, it was all stunts and sets. They don't do stuff like that anymore. I've seen the movie countless times and still discover something new with each viewing. It's a true classic.

I loved Shelley Winters the most first time I saw it, but Stella grew on me. Every time I watch it, I still believe somehow Linda Rogo is gonna survive this time.

Linda Rogo clearly has her fans. I am 100% in favor of slapping Nonnie, but her comment about Shelley's fat ass was uncalled for.

Has anyone read the original novel by Paul Gallico? Linda was a screeching harpy through the whole thing. If she'd been written like that in the screenplay, there might have been cheers when she fell into the fire.

I am glad they opted for a more sympathetic portrayal. And Stella Stevens was superb.

Paul Gallico wrote the novel Beyond the Poseidon Adventure that became the horrible sequel?

The reviews on amazon suggest that Irwin Allen coerced him into it.

We nearly had another run-in with the survivors from the original.

From the wikipedia page on Beyond the Poseidon Adventure on an abandoned sequel idea:

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 Austria, the 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.[3]

Beyond is dreck. Look at this sad, faded imitation of Shelley's great swim. Poor Michael Caine cannot hope to equal his old Alfie co-star.

Irwin Allen should have gone with the train idea, but with a new cast.

Maybe The Cassandra Crossing got the train disaster covered.

Is this our last glimpse of Indian Lady?

Did she even get a cadaver shot? Or was she among those who elected to stay in the dining hall to drown or be crushed by the Christmas tree weighted down by an overload of panicked partygoers?

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure's trailer...

Who the fuck wanted to sit next to Nonnie? Explain yourselves.

Unless you are lesbians. She looked hot.

No love for Nonnie's brother, Teddy?

This Jesus freak with bangs would be welcome at my table.

Reverend Scott and the Chaplain get a closer look ON A CHURCH REVIEW SITE!

The borderline Daisy Dukes and halter top rehearsal outfit is an unfortunate look for Carol Lynley.

Teddy wears almost the same as his performance get-up, except the shirt is purple and the vest boasts a more daring design.

I saw the parody musical Poseidon! several years ago in Chicago.

It was actually funnier than in this clip. There was a running gag that Acres was a pedophile, which fell flat multiple times, but they made Nonnie so stupid that she couldn't even follow the lyrical theme of a song. I enjoyed that.

Oscar presentation for best song The Morning After with presenters Sonny & Cher.

Oscar host is future Beyond the Poseidon Adventure star Michael Caine!

The only other nominated song that I've heard of is Ben.

Band carnage. Goodbye Teddy.

Red Buttons explaining to Nonnie that he is dead is our first real glimpse into her mental development as a two year old.

I think if you sit next to Nonnie, you might need to cut her meat.

Leslie Nielsen is hot in uniform.

The Greek tycoon is drawn in by those beautiful eyes.

Regarding Best Song at r82 -

This was the year of Cabaret. Was it not common practice to add a new song when a film was made of an established musical in order to generate some new excitement and make a new number eligible for an Oscar?

If not, when did that practice start?

I think the cast had a chemistry that is seldom found in film.

For r27, Maureen McGovern singing the theme live.

She talks about getting the song at the end of the performance.

Together again. Thankfully, they have not neglected Hot Guy Falling from Table and Crashing into Glass, Ernie Orsetti.

Sexiest corpse on the ceiling.

Shelley wrote the best 2 celeb autobiographies ever. If you have t read them definitely check them out. She was smart, funny, lead a really interesting life and held nothing back.

Estelle Parsons (She should have been in it, but wasn't!)

r91, I was always holding my breath for Part III. She closed The Middle of My Century with the assassination of JFK, and promised a third volume that sadly never materialized, meaning that we never got her thoughts on her roles in the classics Poseidon, Bloody Mama, Cleopatra Jones, and a few hag-horror pictures like Who Slew Auntie Roo.

I think her days of fucking intensely hot men were drawing to a close, but her best roles lay ahead!

What kept Estelle Parsons off the boat?

[quote]And Stella Stevens was superb.

Now THERE'S a sentence you don't read every day!

This interview by Roger Ebert with Carol Lynley is pure gold.

I am stunned she ever worked again. I guess her career didn't ever reach the heights promised by Poseidon, however.

EBERT INTERVIEW:

It's finally happened. I went to interview a star, and she was eating caviar and drinking champagne. To be sure, Carol Lynley was wearing a kiddie sweater instead of a mink negligee, but what the hell. They probably don't even make mink negligees anymore.

Carol was visiting Chicago to promote "The Poseidon Adventure," a movie about an ocean liner that is turned over by a tidal wave. A handful of passengers (including Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Stella Stevens, Red Buttons and Miss Lynley) desperately try to escape by climbing through the upside-down ship.

"It was the most physically demanding role you can possibly imagine," she said. "We had to swim underwater, climb across tiny catwalks, walk over flames . . . and they kept us wet all day long. They hosed us down at least 20 times a day. And there were no safety precautions for the first two weeks of shooting. I'd be up there on a catwalk, and if I slipped, it was six stories straight down through flames to a concrete floor."

Did they use nets or safety belts or anything? Stunt men maybe?

"We couldn't. Ronald Neame - he was the director - didn't want to restrict his camera. If you use stunt men, you have to get camera angles where you can't see their faces. He didn't want to do that. When we look scared, it's real."

Why did you take such a difficult role?

"Everybody in town wanted it. This is, you know, a major motion picture. And I'm such a movie buff, I just loved working on it. Some of the others . . . well, for example, Red Buttons wouldn't climb up on those ladders until I did. I had to go first. Then he'd follow. He'd always go a little higher than me or swim a little deeper, but I had to go first, Red didn't like me very much. He made my life miserable because he thought I had a better part than he did. Of course, I did . . ."

She smiled and made herself a little caviar sandwich with some onions and egg yolk on it, and popped it into her mouth. She looked - how can I say it? Almost exactly the way she looked 15 years ago when she was the adolescent fashion model with the perfect skin and the perfect figure, the one all the skinny little girls with acne HATED when they read Seventeen magazine. I asked her how it had felt to be teenage idol.

"It was strange being an adolescent fantasy for other people. I was so cut off from the real world. I went straight into the movies as a teenybopper, and had a very protracted adolescence myself. I was divorced when I was 20, but I was an adolescent until I was 26. Then I was in Europe, living with this fellow and he kind of helped me out. Told me some things about myself."

Carol Lynley unhappy? And every other adolescent girl in the country dying to be Carol Lynley, with her perfect complexion and . . .?

"Actually, I had acute acne," she said. "It's the truth. They had to shoot me in long-shots because close-up the pimples showed. Finally, when I was 13, this director sent me to a dermatologist. He paid for my first visit, which was good, because my mother wouldn't have taken me otherwise. And the dermatologist peeled me. For two years. He had this method. I still have three tiny little surface scars."

She pointed them out, but I couldn't see them.

"They're hard to see," she said, "but they're there, all right."

I asked her what it was like working with such an interesting cast, including all those Academy Award winners like Hackman, Borgnine, Albertson, Buttons and Miss Winters.

EBERT INTERVIEW PART TWO:

"It was incredible," she said. "There was no vanity on this movie. There couldn't be. No makeup. No hair arrangement, because our hair was sopping wet all the time, Shelly Winters really looked awful. She SAYS she puts on weight for her roles, but actually she's that way to begin with. She lost a little weight on this picture. I defended Shelley a lot to everyone who hated her."

Really?

"She can be so selfish. Of course, I make a point never to get into fights with other actors. It's destructive. It depletes your energy. But Shelley can drive others to almost punch her in the nose.

"I was the one who defended her. Then she went on television a week ago and forgot my name. We worked together every day for four months and she forgot my name! She had her secretary call me up the next day and say how funny it was. I said I didn't think it was very funny. After all it was at my expense.

"I have a chance for the Academy Award nomination this role. SHE'S had TWO nominations, and I'VE never had ANY. She gives nothing away."

Silence. Carol ran her finger around the rim of her champagne glass.

"You know what I told her secretary?" she said. "I told her I was going to punch Shelley Winters in the nose!"

She giggled.

"I just love the idea of me leaping at her and putting hands around her neck," she said. "You know, Shelley responds to threats by physical violence. It shapes her up and gets her to cooperate. She was rather unpopular, because of her behavior. I was the one who stood up for her, and then she can't even remember my name.

Silence.

"It's such unprincipled behavior," she said at last.

R86 "Money Money" was written for the "Cabaret" movie (it's not in the play) and was nominated for a Golden Globe, but not for an Oscar. "Mein Herr" was also written for the movie. "Maybe This Time" was written well before "Cabaret" (for DL fave Kaye Ballard, of all people!) and added to the movie, but it wasn't written specifically for the movie.

How did all those songs get bypassed for nominations when Cabaret was picking them up left and right in other categories?

Awesome interview! Carole Lynley was the Noah Galvan of her day!

I wish Ebert could have interviewed her about Bunny Lake Is Missing! I want to hear her thoughts on the bullying Otto Preminger, closeted Olivier, hot Keir Dullea, and bitchy Noël Coward.

Coward did comment on Dullea:

"Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow."

Oh for that magical period between the studio era and the handholding publicists.

Carol Lynley should crank out a book just on making Poseidon.

["You know, Shelley responds to threats by physical violence. It shapes her up and gets her to cooperate.]

Carol Lynley's preposition choice confuses me. She responds to threats BY physical violence. I think she means OF, but BY suggests WITH, as in if you threaten Shelley, she will come after your ass with fists closed.

The distinction is important if you are seated next to her all night long.

What is this BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE so many posters are referring to? Could you possibly mean THE SALLY FIELD DISASTER FILME?

Shelley and Stella share an important connection. They both went on to square off against Tamara Dobson in the spectacular Cleopatra Jones films.

In the first one, Shelley plays a vicious, outrageously wigged lesbian madame whose prostitutes call Mommy.

In the second, even better sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, Stella Stevens plays a vicious lesbian drug kingpin based in Macao. Must be seen to be believed.

Sis! Sis!

Sis!

I always thought it would be fun if Cleopatra Jones turned out to be Indiana Jones' daughter and they shared an adventure.

"Indiana and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Doom"

Shove it, r109.

Shove it! Shove it! Shove it!

Carol Lynley's lost costume!

I agree that it is far too close to Stella Stevens' boobtacular white dress.

Nonnie is much better in her orange outfit that matches her bandmates' clothes.

You pompous ass! Lol always cracks me up when Hackman delivers this line. I think Hackman has disowned the film and refuses to talk about it even though it's a great disaster film. He should proud of it.

Gene Hackman is an incredible actor, but an incredibly pompous ass himself.

He should embrace Poseidon!

Maybe if Hackman had shown Poseidon a little respect, he wouldn't be trailing gimpy Acres in the poll.

HOT HACKMAN.

Standing akimbo and alpha!

CAROL LYNLEY SPEAKS OUT!

She calls Red Buttons a cunt about a dozen times in the course of a short interview.

Another patron saint DL.

CAROL LYNLEY SPEAKS OUT:

This bit of dirt was unearthed from Earl Wilson's 1974 book "Show Business Laid Bare" with quotes from his lunch encounter with Carol Lynley who gave her unkind remarks to him on Red Buttons which appear in the book. "The premiere tonight, " she said. Oh, Of course, now I knew. It was the premiere of the shipwreck picture 'The Poseidon Adventure' at the new National Theater at forty-fourth and Broadway, a most black tie gala affair to which I of course had tickets. "Isn't that", I said, which was a mistake, "the picture with Red Buttons ?" Very coolly Carol Lynley stated that it was. I didn't detect the true frigidity. "How did you get along with Red I ask." "How did I get along with him?" Carol said. "I hate him. He's a horrible human being!" Press agent Bobby Zarem nervously spoke up. "Oh I don't think you want to say that." "I DO want to say that." Carol's voice was clear and distinct. "I do dislike him thoroughly. I had to put up with during the picture, but I don't now." I hurriedly began taking all this down in pencil in my notebook, from which good interviews are made. "He and everything he stands for." she said. "he steals scenes; steps on lines. He would do the things any cheap nightclub comic would do, but it wouldn't work with me. He would pretend to be my friend but would try to unsettle me. When we were about to do a scene, he would say, "Gee, Carol, I hope you can do this one, you can do it, baby, don't be nervous.' I don't like him, and he knows it. He is not very good; he is not a funny man. Red is basically a master of ceremonies, and he's a good MC," Carol conceded, "but sitting around on the movie set, he's a cunt." "A cunt?" I'm afraid I lost my aplomb. "I'd never heard a man called that before, but maybe I hadn't been around in the right places. "That's what he is, a cunt!" she blazed up. " He has one of the worst reputations in show business and he lived up to it." "Let me get all these compliments down before you forget them." I was madly taking down her words. She wasn't smiling. "I have to say it" she said. "I will never work with him again. He's of the school that goes for the jugular and gets ahead by hurting people, by doing in the other guy. He's a cunt. Why don't you print that?" "I doubt that I could", I said. "Besides, I like Red." "Red gets on better with men," Carol said. "It's when he regards you as a superior opponent, as he did me, that he tries to do you in. It's distracting every day to put up with this onslaught from somebody who fears you're better than he is. "But," Carol continued, "I don't think Red can stop it. It's his coming up from the Catskills and vaudeville and burlesque. I think, HE thinks it's normal behavior." "Does he know how you feel?" "Oh"-she laughed-"he knows. I told him every day. He was really shitty to me but he would cover up. On our tour"-promoting the picture-"he leaped up and was kissing and hugging me and calling me darling. It was for the benefit of the press-and the benefit of him. It was such a schlocky thing and he's such a schlocky guy." "Schlock?" "Schlocky...cheap," Carol explained. "But the best word for him is he's a cunt."

Reverend Scott because he was kind of cute.

CAROL LYNLEY SPEAKS OUT (Part II)

"I'm an amateur etymologist," I said. "and I don't comprehend you calling a man a cunt." "A cunt" and now Carol was delineating it to me carefully "is not only feminine. It's feline, it's a situation or bitchiness, and it can be applied to a man. I think it's a wonderful description." "It is," I agreed. "but to a man?" Carol was patient. "Almost all my scenes in the shipwreck are with him. He plays a person who urges me to try to survive. His character is really subservient to mine, and that's why he tries to do me in. Besides, he used to be shitty to me in front of my daughter." She said. "Mama, why is he like that to you?" He said everything shitty to me that a man can say. Red also gets himself into situations where you think that he is going to die of an overdose of cuteness." It occurred to Carol that she should make it clear that she was not some kind of troublemaker and she told me she got along well with Ernest Borgnine....and with Shelley Winters....well..... (To me, Carol merely said that Shelley "wasn't that easy to get along with, but I got along with her. " But I was informed later that she was much more explicit to Roger Ebert of the Chicago-Sun Times in an interview she gave before mine in New York. He reported that Carol said "There was no vanity on this movie. No makeup. No hairstyle arrangements because our hair was sopping al of the shoot because of the shipwreck we were supposed to be in. Shelley Winters really looked awful. She says she put on weight for her role, but she's that way to begin with. Shelley can cause others to almost punch her in the nose. She can be difficult. I make it a point to never get into fights, it's so destructive. I defended Shelley to everyone who hated her. ("Yes", continued carol to Roger Ebert as he reported it. "I was the one who defended her then she went on television and forgot my name. She had her secretary call me and tell me how funny it was. I said I didn't think it was funny...at my expense. I told her secretary I was going to punch Shelley in the nose. I just love the idea of leaping at her and putting g my arms around her neck!.") "I guess I'll see you at the premiere tonight," I said." Who'll you be with?" " With my agent, Peter Witt. I'll be wearing a very old 1930's bias cut satin dress that I brought in. With a very short little jacket that's very full here." She said her hands to her bosom. "I guess Red'll be there," I said. "Of course. Overdoing his cuteness. He'll rush up and kiss me and hug me, and I'll hug him back. What'm I going to do? Call him a cunt? That's destructive, and I'm not destructive!" As a longtime acquaintance of Red's I wanted to tell him all the nice things I'd ben hearing about him from Carol, and I went to the premiere with more than my usual interest in such events. We sat in the same row. and as he climbed over me getting to his seat, I told him, "Wait'll you hear what I've got to tell you!"

CAROL LYNLEY SPEAKS OUT (Part III)

As I saw the tender scenes between Red and Carol on the screen..... "That's craft." Carol had said. We went over to the Allied Chemical Building to the Act 1 Restaurant to a post-premiere party, and there I found Red Buttons. Carol Lynley was there. First off, she had refused to pose for a picture with Red when a photographer asked her to do so. I had staked out a table at the front window sixteen floors up overlooking Times Square which can be especially beautiful on a wintry night with the clouds and the mist close enough you could almost touch them if the windows were open. Shelley Winters, sitting at an other choice table, was laughing and commanding me to come over, as she called for champagne. But there was Red Buttons. "Hi, Oil," he said, his third hello to me that evening. "Hi, you cunt", I replied. "What was that?" He definitely bristled. "Just repeated Carol Lynley's favorite name for you," I answered. "She says Red Buttons is a cunt." Red bit his lips. "How do you spell that?, With a k?" I tried to apologize. "Red, that's what Carol called you today when I interviewed her." I looked in my notebook. "No, she spells cunt with a c. She spells cunt with a small c." "Oh, that kind of cunt!." Red shrugged. "No comment!" "What's the story?" "Sure." I said, lying in my teeth. "OK, I got a call today from a radio broadcaster. He said, 'I did a radio interview today with, "The Psycho". I said "Who's The Psycho?" And he mentioned the lady you're talking about. But that's all I know about it, and I don't want to be brought into any feud, because I didn't have any!" The broadcaster was Earl Doud over at WOR, and he told me of his session with Carol Lynley. His program was laid in a mythical banana country, and he often had his guest interviewees participate with him in a light sketch he or some of his staff had written. When Carol came on his show to plug herself and the picture, he suggested she participate in a sketch of that kind. She refused in such strong language that he claimed he blushed through his beard. Red Buttons went through the Carol Lynley horror story for a year. Finally one reporter published what was supposed to be the inside story. Carol was in love with him, and he rejected her! (Earl Wilson did not print the inflammatory word and it did not appear in print until this book. Also of note is that Buttons was a happily married man and father of two. This piece appears in the section titled "Carol Lynley Speaks Right Out." And, Boy, did she ever !!!!

And she is fucking spot-on about Red Buttons overdoing the cuteness.

I've never forgiven him for stealing away Julie Harris as Lilimae on Knots Landing.

Deckside sermon.

Nonnie's brother Teddy looks like he had a rough Saturday night.

I wish nurses wore cloaks like Mrs. Irwin Allen.

Carol Lynley , a cunt with balls of steel!

Red Buttons tried to spin it that she was in love with him? He is either delusional or twice the cunt that Carol qualified him as!

Rogo doesn't get a doll? And he SURVIVED (and he was one of the Oscar winners they touted in the ads).

There is an interview linked somewhere above where Stella Stevens talks about how Irwin was glad she hadn't read the book and warned her not to. Because everyone hated her character in the book and they wanted to avoid that in the film. They succeeded.

I truly believe more people my age went into the movies (or aspired to) because of "Poseidon Adventure" than any other movie. It was sort of the "Star Wars" for one generation ahead. I saw it in the theatre at least a dozen times as a kid, many more as an adult. It never gets old.

My family got all dressed up and drove to a nice restaurant in downtown Philadelphia from the suburbs where we lived for my 10th birthday and then went to see the movie. It was a very big deal back in 1972 - the first and best disaster movie of all time.

Fergie ended up onstage in the soulless remake in the Carol Lynley role, though thankfully she did not joint the troop of potential survivors who headed toward the hull.

She got a hug from Captain Andre Braugher and then the water hit.

The Rosens received a sort of reunion when Shelley guested on Chico and the Man with Jack Albertson.

Also, Freddie Prinze wore jeans exceedingly well.

Director Ronald Neame was an old-school cinematographer.

You can tell.

r6, "We had faces!"

Now go back to Teen Wolf.

It's been hours. Can we please get another 1970s Carol Lynley interview?

This shot was a wet dream to any 12 year old on the planet. It gave me chills. Still does.

Nonnie got O L D

Nonnie didn't whine through all those air pockets to check out early, R134.

She will outlive you. And if you think you can take her on personally, look at the mess she made of Red Buttons in the interview up thread.

R41 here, I saw it today, it wasn't bad at all. The bits I laughed at I think were mostly meant to be funny anyway. And it wasn't too slow though at times I did think in a real life situation they'd have to get a move on rather than just stand around debating what to do. Some of the sets were pretty good. And it was fun to see Borgnine and Hackman squaring up to each other.

R113 Then I dread to think how he'd react if you mentioned the Superman films to him.

That kid though, why is it male American child actors in films made before about 1980 have the most annoying, loud, shrill "gee-whizz" voices?

R109 When Russell T. Davies (the man who brought back Doctor Who) was interviewed in Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe about scriptwriting, he said one of the worst bits of unnatural expositionary dialogue he'd seen was something where someone said "Happy birthday, sis!" ("Argh! No calls their sister 'sis'!")

Eric Shea's brothers voiced Linus in the Charlie Brown specials during the 1960s and 1970s, so I have a soft spot for his (similar) voice.

If you want anything to eat at your banquet, don't sit near Belle.

The stuff of dreams.

Acres' costume.

There should have been a note about crotch dimensions to accommodate Roddy.

This fan must've voted for Stella Stevens.

Astonishing.

I can see the hostility much more clearly on the faces of the wax replicas of Carol Lynley and Red Buttons.

Also, SOLD for $500. Are they now forever grimy and desperate in a gay's showplace living room?

Red Buttons had it even rougher in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Jack Albertson was scoring prime roles at this point!

Jack Albertson's sister Mabel Albertson's was also doing well.

Fat ass even tried to wolf down all my vitamin pills! Nothing was safe around that cow!

r41 / r136, were you able to cast your vote for a dining partner? Please share your choice and reasoning. It's so difficult for me to imagine this film from a fresh perspective.

All these years I had no idea Jack and Mabel were related. Both great actors.

R150 Susan, because I'm actually straight and I find her the most attractive.

r150, sexier than Stella in her motion sickness negligee?

They made Stella Stevens wear that negligee for cast photos? (See OP pic.)

Irwin Allen could have sprung for a better wig for his wife.

He was saving the hair budget for when she played the mayor's wife in The Towering Inferno.

Arthur O'Connell, who played the chaplain, went on to play the insufferable Mr. Goodwin in the seventies Crest commercials.

Amusing straight-guy appreciation of Poseidon Adventure.

Like our straight Poseidon newbie here, he has a thing for Pamela Sue Martin.

Nonnie's NYE outfit looked less outrageous than what was promised in this costume sketch.

This many gays and this is the best they could come up with? The bar for wit has hit the floor.

They should have just limited themselves to PSM.

Carol Lynley discusses Irwin Allen and Roddy McDowall here, but sadly no mention of Red Buttons.

Stella explains why Irwin Allen didn't want her to read the book and find out how awful the literary version of Linda Rogo was.

I don't know how this thread suddenly showed up, but I voted for Linda Drogo (Stella Stevens). I think I saw this movie as a teenager at the defunct Albee Theater in downtown Cincinnati.

Ha!

I knew Mrs Rosen would get the most votes.

I read the book. Stevens is right. The character is just so unbelievably mean in it. Almost to the point of silliness. She's just so incredibly nasty.

BTW I hated the book because the let Robin Shelby die.

so they can take the book and shove it shove it shove it!

[quote]BTW I hated the book because the let Robin Shelby die.

Robin's fate was uncertain. It was heavily implied that he may have died because he had disappeared, yet his mother was hopeful that he would be found alive.

It was always odd that two kids would go on a cruise by themselves.

bumping to read later

Josh Lucas 10 years ago.

This film made me love Stella Stevens as a gayling. I started to seek out everything she had done. Not long after I saw Poseidon, they showed The Mad Room on TV with Stella AND Shelley Winters - I was transfixed! It creeped me out as a kid. Then I saw Arnold in the theater (with Roddy McDowall) and it scared the hell out of me. When you watch it now it's a comical cheesefest, but in the theater I was TERRIFIED. Good times....

Mrs Rogo would have been a lot of fun to know.

bump

Apparently, Carol Lynley made up with Red Buttons because she speaks fondly of him in the video posted upthread.