The Poseidon Adventure - still a great piece of entertainment

I loved Mrs Rosen and Linda Rogo.

Watching the film recently, one of the most terrifying sequences was after Gene Hackman's pleas to the passengers in the ballroom to join his group are ignored, they are met with another explosion and the fear and panic causes many of them to climb the Christmas tree, causing it to fall. Hackman is helpless and you see him close the door to join his group with the screams fading as the door closes.

Manny, if I get stuck, push!

Why does Gene Hackman never show up for the reunions?

It's waterlogged.

I always thought Gene Hackman was sexy. Apparently he retired and runs a store with his wife in some remote city.

Hackman retired 10 years ago and has been living in Hawaii ever since. He does NOT own a store with his wife.

She had lots of guts!

I agree, OP.

It's a fantastically engrossing movie—as watchable as anything can possibly be—but it is profoundly depressing. God almighty. Once the characters start to lose their lives, it becomes a nightmare. Seriously, I have nightmares, or mere "bad dreams" that give me the exact same feeling I get from watching this movie.

It's like that early moment in The Yearling, with little Ricky Shroeder, when he discovers his parents are dead, but stretched out over the entire second and third acts of the movie.

Love it, but have no interest in watching again.

Sorry, I meant The Earthling, not The Yearling.

Gene Hackman is hot as fuck.

who is the second guy from the left in r4?

It's engrossing. It had a bug impact on me as a kid. However it's dated a lot. Why are the chair magically stuck to the floor/ ceiling even though we see people pushing them back earlier in the film? There's many faults in this movie.

What are you, a little fucking 9 year old Einstein?

No. He isn't R12. But he [bold]IS[/bold] an excellent actor.

Leslie Nielsen as the Captain takes me out of the movie, because I expect him to start going into his Frank Drebbin routine. But once he's out of the way, it's a terrific film.

Really holds up.

I like the optimism of "The Morning After", even though it's featured in an Iwrin Allen disaster movie. I don"t think she ever recorded it, but I would love to hear a Karen Carpenter version of that song.

You know, I watched The French Connection last week.

Remember when Gene Hackman was in everything? When I was growing up, he was always a familiar face on the silver screen.

Why did he disappear? There are lots of older man roles that he could have done well for the last 20 or 30 years, but I never see him. Did he formally retire?

One of those movies that when I flick past it on the TV, no matter how far into the running time, I always have to watch the to the end. "The Fugitive" is another.

[quote]who is the second guy from the left in [R4]?

He's Ernie F. Orsatti. He is sitting at the captain's table when it turns and does that amazing stunt (real) of falling from the table down into the lights. He was also the fireman that hangs from the elevator with Steve McQueen in "The Towering Inferno".

Huge film from my childhood. Loved it. THanks for jogging my memory OP!

On one Saturday during my youth, I sat in the theatre and watched it from the first matinee to the last evening show.

Dare I to even mention the remake?..............(sorry for sullying the waters)

R16, he's both. And I know a few other people who consider 70s Hackman (especially in The Conversation, Night Moves and The Domino Principle) deeply sexy in an imperfect, rugged daddy bear way. He was never conventionally attractive, but he looked like he'd throw you a mean fuck.

I know he had an island in the Puget Sound, I just assumed he'd retired there

There is a lot of dirt on this thread about the cast infighting.

Carol Lynley emphatically called Red Buttons a cunt in an interview. She could be looking at DL sainthood.

R28, Lynley was also not kind about Shelley Winters in an interview with Roger Ebert.

Just as it was opening, Shelley Winters was on Merv Griffin promoting the film. She kept calling it The Po-SID-ion Adventure, like it rhymed with Gideon. And with Shelley, there's no disputing anything she says. So my fertile eleven-year-old mind was quite confused.

I am a fan of the singer who did the studio version of "The Morning After"--not Mo Mcgovern, who did the single. Her name is Renee Armand. She toured with John Denver in the 70s and has a breathtaking voice still.

Gene was reportedly pissed about how he had to have a comb-over, just like that of producer Irwin Allen. Irwin even had his own hairdresser do Gene's hair.

How did ANYONE ever think comb overs looked good?

Shove it! Shove it! Shove it!

I always found Gene kinda hot.

I saw it when it with my Dad and older brother when it first came out, and I was a bit troubled by my attraction to Gene Hackman, especially since, at the time, my Catholicism was so deeply embedded that I couldn't understand the concept of a 'Reverend' who wasn't a priest. (And also, that was before I knew I was gay). I still didn't realize I was gay when I pretended to be one of the damsels in distress at the public pool, wrapping my towel around me as I plunged down the water slide.

[quote] It had a bug impact on me as a kid.

Are you sure that wasn't "The Fly?"

Gene Hackman supposedly has dementia or some other debilitating condition and has retired from public life.

Shelley Winters was always a whackjob. In one of her auto-biographies, she says she's never seen "A Place In the Sun" to the end. She said at the premiere, once her character drowned, she closed her eyes and refused to watch the rest of the movie.

r14 They were the tables not the chairs that were anchored to the floor. I assume it was standard to anchor the tables to the floor, so in rough weather the china, glasses, food, etc. would not be upset onto the floor.

R40, not to be a contrarian, but R14 actually has a valid point (look at this shot that I swiped from the related thread). Some (but not all) of the chairs are show stuck to the floor, which really makes no sense at all.

WW for R37! Thanks!

What much later disaster movies lacked was that sense that any character could die and die unexpectedly. It was a shock that Mrs. Rosen died - in The Towering Inferno, the body count was especially high and Jennifer Jones' death by falling out of the elevator was a total surprise. in Earthquake they killed Lorne Green and Ava Gardner and Charlton Heston!

When I went to see Volcano, there was no suspense at who would die - there was no star-studded cast. How I wish Tommy Lee Jones' daughter bought it toward the end of the film. That would have had some emotional heft.

And the effects were real, no fake CGI fire like in the remake, no real sense of danger.

Pamela Sue Martin comments on the DVD audio commentary that people give her a lot of grief over the scene where she removes her party skirt to conveniently reveal matching hot pants.

r42 totally agree. What is shocking about The Poseidon Adventure is that the big deaths come near the END, just when they're near being saved.

I love this film. I have it on DVD and showed it to my 7th graders when we returned from the Christmas break this past January. I was still not in a mood to teach and they were in no mood to learn, so we watched this and they loved the movie. It does have a New Year's theme to it after all.

Regarding the chairs, from the IMDB..."Just after the capsizing scene in the dining room, many passengers are seen clinging to the dining tables, which were bolted to the floor (now overhead). Many chairs had fallen, but several are still attached to the floor by ropes which were used to hold the chairs in place during rough weather."

Hackman really chewed the scenery in this one.

R36, much love for your story of pretending to be a damsel going down the slide. Sounds like something I would have done.

Hackman was never proud of his blockbusters. He was indifferent to Superman as well, even though he loved director Richard Donner.

I remember the original plan for the sequel was for the survivors to end up on the Metro in Paris which would be held hostage. They wisely changed course. I actually like Beyond the Poseidon Adventure.

Apparently the whole movie was done on a budget, with the special effects being considered very good for the time it was made. Ernest Borgnine stated it was his favourite film that he made as well.

[quote]I always found Gene kinda hot.

Despite the opinion of other commenters I concur that Hackman does have an unconventional sex appeal.

He's got a great voice, genuine presence and what a lot of actors lack on screen.....AUTHORITY.

And when his shirt tears at the shoulder he's got nice, dense looking, broad shoulders. No wonder Susan falls for him in the movie.

You pompous ass! lol always cracks me up when Gene says this in the film.

[quote] Why does Gene Hackman never show up for the reunions?

Because Stella Stevens is just too goddam scary looking to be around.

Plus Hackman is retired. He was filming it when he picked up his French Connection Oscar. I think he only did it for the money. Which is why most actors do big budget spectacular flicks. PA is so much more than that though. Great story where the special effects don't take precedence over the characters.

On TCM now. Love this film!

[quote]Lynley was also not kind about Shelley Winters in an interview with Roger Ebert.

I remember seeing LYNLEY on THE TONIGHT SHOW to promote the film. During the interview CARSON said something along the line of "and I understand that SHELLY WINTERS had to put on 40 pounds for the role."

LYNLEY laughed, rolled her eyes and said "so they tell me". Brought the house down.

[quote] Hackman does have an unconventional sex appeal. He's got a great voice, genuine presence and what a lot of actors lack on screen.....AUTHORITY.

There is a reason for that.

Gene Hackman, Cpl, USMC (1946-51)

Now I have to watch it. Good thing it's a Friday night.

The 2006 Poseidon was awful because the characters were awful.

In this film, the characters are flawed but you care about them and they cared about each other, despite the fact that they were mostly strangers to each other.

I really think this is the best disaster film because the pacing is tight, strong acting and writing, and you care about the characters.

I find I make at least one reference to "The Poseidon Adventure" EVERY DAY!

I should try that r62. "I'm getting through before fatass.." will come in handy on public transportation.

Air pockets!

Crazy how much this impacted me as a kid.

Just panties, what more do I need has been my mantra for years

I love watching Shelley Winters drown over and over again.

Shelley didn't drown. At least, not in this movie.

Great film but I still think they killed off too many characters. I would have liked it better if Roddy McDowell's character had lived and he should have been paired with Carol instead of Carol/Red. Kill off Red and the sister instead.

Rogo, you son of a bitch!

[quote]Plus Hackman is retired. He was filming it when he picked up his French Connection Oscar. I think he only did it for the money.

He probably took it because he had been working for over a decade and was considered a supporting actor and had two Oscar nominations in that category. "The French Connection" was his first lead. He was now in a whole new league and he kept the momentum going. Ironically his second Oscar would be for supporting.

Ah, memories. We saw this at the drive-in during our summer vacation. It must have been years after the release (1972) because my siblings and I recognized Pamela Sue as "Nancy Drew", and that didn't start until '77. But the rest of the vacation, when we went swimming, we would all do a Shelly Winters in the water impersonation.

Shelley did that swim herself and it was like 45 seconds under water. You've got to give her points and an Oscar nomination for that!

And Carol Lyndley couldn't act for shit.

Carol Lynley was the weak link. Her acting was awful, and her character was such an annoying delicate flower, constantly needing a male figure to rescue her. The other characters had fighting spirits, so you rooted for them. She should've gone down with the ship.

I used to watch this on New Year's Eve during my childhood...

[quote]She should've gone down with the ship.

Instead she went down on the director.

Watch Lynley and Buttons in the underwater scene. You can see Carol lose her breath and Red covers her mouth. that was real.

One of the best movie posters in history. Love the poster and the marquee in New York at the National Theater had "Combining The Talents Of 15 Academy Award Winners"!

Actually this is the one....

I prefer this poster.

I'm surprised Roddy's character dies so early and Stella's dies so late (considering how close she is to escaping), but that's what makes it so suspenseful. And no matter how many times I watch this movie, their deaths are still shocking.

How come Roddy is the only one not on the poster?? I can understand Leslie Nielsen because the scene in the poster takes place in the ballroom, but why didn't they put Roddy in there?

R82, Roddy is fifth from the left.

Attention should be given to The High and the Mighty...

R83- Ok, I thought that was Red Buttons. My mistake lol.

My favorite disaster film and very close to being in my all time top 10 favorite films.

First saw it as a little kid when they broadcast it on network television. I've seen it on DVD and blu ray a bunch of times and have seen it on the big screen in LA three times at the New Beverly and the Egyptian. The last time I saw it at the Egyptian, the director, Ronald Neame was there to do a Q&A, was in his nineties and was sharp as a fucking tack. He was highly entertaining and told some great stories.

I also went to the Egyptian several years ago to see a double feature of Bunny Lake is Missing and Too Late Blues. The first starred Carol Lynley and the second starred Stella Stevens and both were there to do a Q&A together in between films. They were a fucking hoot together, and at one point, they asked the audience if we wanted them to re-enact their big scene in TPA. Of course we all screamed for it, so they got up, faced each other, then Stevens grabbed a screaming Lynley by the shoulders, shook the shit out of her, backhanded her across the chops and growled for her to get a hold of herself. Brought the fucking house down.

Unlike Lucy and Ricky, Irwin Allen let Sheila Matthews Allen be in the show, bless her heart.

When the stuntman hits the glass, you can see the air bag underneath give way to cushion his fall.

But it was real and one of the best stunts in movie history. The guy was the same guy who hung from the elevator with Steve McQueen in "The Towering Inferno".

It's on AMC now. Always worth watching.

I hope you enjoy it r90. Wish I was you.

SHOVE IT! SHOVE IT! SHOVE IT!

Mayday mayday mayday!!!

Look! Live steam!

Maureen McGovern's SECOND greatest performance.

If my memory was correct, they use the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, as a design guide build their sets off of. Same Art Deco interior. Some shots were actually done on the ship.

And if you are really a fan of that move you should check out that ship. Its still docked in LB, part hotel, with restaurants and ball rooms. They have a fab brunch on Sundays pricey but you are paying for the environment. Whats cool about it is that its a real ship from the time, not a Disney faux recreation. One of the ballrooms looks almost exactly like the Poseidon Adventurer less the ledge they sat on. You have to kind of snoop around, not all rooms are open.

We may never sail like this again....

There's got to be a smoky after...

Cast in front of the RMS Queen Mary

Cpl Gene Hackman, USMC

....and why we didn't fly I'll never know.

R4 r20 r48 Hackman had onset of dementia or Alzheimer's - has difficulty remembering lines or something.

But it was a great run my friend. Sexy good actor. One of the greats who never turned in a mediocre performance. Respect.

I recently tried to watch the film for probably the first time (I might've seen it as a kid) but found it tedious, and even worse than the remake from a few years back. Some people are saying it's a timeless classic but in my eyes it's a badly aged disaster film. I totally get why some people love it, and probably the film was something totally new and different when it was released but seeing it now I'm not impressed.

I think those dementia stories may just be National Enquirer type stories. I don't know if they've been confirmed. (He is one of their frequent targets where they do that "sad last days" only with him they have been doing them for like a decade.)

He has had a few novels published in the last few years.

r101-is not one of us

God! Blasts from the past! This was hugely influential on me as a kid...

I always loved ships - especially passenger liners and would read everything I could find about them. The public and school libraries had quite a lot of stuff - and I used to read and re-read everything - especially about the Titanic.

Anyway - when Poseidon Advebture was due to be released here in Oz - it had lots of publicity and the story was condensed and serialised in one of the dailies. I demanded my mother take me to see it - within the first weekend of release...

And it fucked me up for years!

I was ten or eleven - quite tall and mature looking for my age - and can’t remenber what the film was rated - but I got in! - and it was so intense I practically had an anxiety attack the whole second half. Had nightmares for months (years!) afterwards - and still uneasy about it. I haven’t ever watched it since - in spite of still being ship-obsessed and all grown up now. It’s just a little no-go zone for me. Didn’t even wanna go near the sequel(s) either. In spite of the ships.

I think the reason it’s such a compelling story and you care about the characters - is partly the source material is so good. Paul Gallico is mostly forgotten today - but had many bestsellers back in the day - and was a consummate storyteller who never pulled punches. Bad things could - and often did - happen to good people. And in this instance, the screenwriters held pretty true to his storyline and characters.

That in itself is pretty amazing - Irwin Allen productions aren’t especially known for there great scripts ;)

^^ a couple of other Poseidon memories -

Did however love the theme song. Thing we ended up with it as a single it on some hit compilation album. Played it endlessly. I know - Mary!

And speaking of Mary - OMG! Pamela Sue Martin’s outfit!!! So fabulous. As was she. Loved her ever since. Nancy Drew, early Dynasty. She can do no wrong. Goddess.

Also remember the film just ran - and ran - and ran! - in the same cinema (in Sydney, Australia) and eventually the newspaper ads for it start featuring a little slash across the top saying ‘ninth big month’ - then tenth, eleventh, twelfth- etc. think it ran for thirteen months or more there. It really was a different time!

R104 here again -

Oh dear!

Meant to say Irwin Allen wasn’t known for their great scripts - not ‘there’.

Tiny little iPhone keyboards and screens aren’t always conducive to perfectly worded posts :(

Mea culpa!

One of my favorite disaster movies of the time. Poseidon Adventure, Airport, Earthquake, Towering Inferno. I loved them all. Even the more modern disaster movies like Twister, Volcano, and Dante's Peak.

I remember seeing Poseidon Adventure at our local drive-in the Skydrome in Lake Worth, Fl.

[quote]I recently tried to watch the film for probably the first time (I might've seen it as a kid) but found it tedious, and even worse than the remake from a few years back.

Go away.

Is it true that Shelly sucked off every man on set?

R104 Paul Gallico.... a faint bell rings about a London charwoman. Same same?

Yeah R110 - Gallico had a few sort-of mysteries featuring the canny London charlady - Mrs ‘arris.

He has quite a big output from the forties through to the seventies. The Snow Hoosecwas probably his most critically acclaimed work - and several others were adapted into movies.

^^ sorry - typo! the Snow Goose. Fucking iPhone!

Mrs. 'arris! That's right. I read most of them. Loved them. Thanks r111!

and Thomasina the cat

Pamela Sue Martin's best work, to be sure.

I watched it recently after all these eons and I can't get over how mean and I mean mean everybody is to each other!

Book spoiler!.......

The scene where Robin goes into the mens room is exactly like the book with the rows of urinals upside down and then the explosion but instead of the Reverend finding him, he is never seen again!

1972: Budget = $4.7M, Box Office = $127.3M

2006: Budget = $160.0M, Box Office = $181.7M

I would have loved that r86.

You can catch Carol Lynley in her god awful turn as Jean Harlow on YouTube. Really wretched film, worse than Carroll Baker’s version released that same year of 1965.

As we also have the Alien 1979 thread going, like that film, The Poseidon Adventure is one of those rare films where you are not really sure who will die.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Even though I have watched the film a number of times, I always find Linda's death very shocking, particularly because it's so late in the film.

R7, he did not retire to Hawaii! If you are going to attempt to correct someone, get it right.

They should’ve all died. Or maybe one escape but then fall at home and die.

I was in this film. I played panicky idiot number 2

[quote]I was in this film. I played panicky idiot number 2

Talk about typecasting!

[quote]They should’ve all died. Or maybe one escape but then fall at home and die.

Book spoiler!.......

When the survivors were being pulled from the hole in the hull, they look down and see more survivors being pulled out.

The Poseidon Adventure premiere opened the National movie theater in Times Square. David Merrick turned on the marquee in a televised world premiere. Unless it was filmed and I saw it later. The marquee sign was made of slats which turned from one logo to another. From the upside down ship artwork to something else. As a teen who was going to Broadway shows I saw it a lot.

Never saw the film. Except for Hackman they were all TV stars got on the cheap and I wasn't going to pay money to see a made for TV movie no matter what the special effects.

Even I know it's a piece o' shit

The novel is worth a read -- some differences. For example, in the novel, Linda Rogo doesn't just fall to her death into an oily pool of fire. She falls and is impaled on a jagged piece of metal. Also, the children are not traveling unaccompanied -- their parents, whose marriage is dissolving, is traveling with them. I guess they were eliminated for budget purposes, but who would ever send two unaccompanied minors on a month-long Atlantic crossing (the amount of time indicated in the book)?

Month long Atlantic crossing? I thought it took less than a week.

[quote] Month long Atlantic crossing? I thought it took less than a week.

The captain was a typical man. Wouldn't use a map or admit he was lost.

[quote] but who would ever send two unaccompanied minors on a month-long Atlantic crossing

Getting rid of the kids for a whole month? Most parents would be ecstatic.

I love as a thread ages and the vultures fly in to feed on the popcorn eating fans.

I didn’t read the whole thread, but did anyone point out that it is emphatically a B movie? Stella - Playboy Magazine centerfold - Stevens approaching menopause. Ethel Merman’s unexpected husband. Roddy McDowell, shocked that he wasn’t doing the 100th TV episode of whatever was about to be canceled. Then of course there’s Shelly - the slurring blimp - Winters, and Carol - the would have been a has been had she ever been anything in the first place - Lynley.

And all the Quinn Martin disaster movies looked just like his TV shows. Garish and cartoonish with a slavish literalness that underestimated the intelligence of the audience.

As many pointed out, Gene Hackman was in fact a real star at the time. There was a very strange ritual in the 70s of very big stars appearing in disaster movies. I guess it made them appear down to earth and introduced the unwashed masses to high falutin Hollywood actors.

In the Official Razzie Movie Guide it’s one of the 100 most enjoyable bad movies of all time.

[quote]Never saw the film. Except for Hackman they were all TV stars got on the cheap and I wasn't going to pay money to see a made for TV movie no matter what the special effects.

Are we supposed to be impressed with this foolishness?

Yes that's why I wrote it to fucking impress YOU!

It's still a lousy made for tv movie with a bigger budget.

At least that's what it looks like. But then so do most movies from the 70s.

R133 Quinn Martin? Oh, dear.......

R135 But as you haven't seen the film, how the fuck can you comment on the quality? Drongo

[QUOTE]At least that's what it looks like.

It's one of the most popular movies ever made, nominated for eight Academy Awards, including it's gorgeous panavsion cinematography, winning two including best special effects. The soundtrack spawned a number on hit record. It was remade twice to disastrous results both times proving how good it is but you think it looks like a TV movie without even seeing it. OK then.

Anyone remember "Beyond The Poseidon Adventure" (1979)? Sally Field is in it; I guess she needed the money.

I will never in a million years sit through a movie with BOTH Red Buttons and Shelley Winters. Why would God allow this?

^ I suppose Michael Caine did as well.

Michael Caine never turns down a good paycheque.

For Christ's sake! I know what to do with suppositories. Just get them outta here!

[quote]Gallico had a few sort-of mysteries featuring the canny London charlady - Mrs ‘arris.

I had a double paperback of "Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris" and "Mrs. 'arris Goes to New York" when I was a kid.

Sally Field did Beyond the Poseidon Adventure right after Norma Rae. She didn't know Norma Rae would bring her so much acclaim and an Oscar especially since every A-List actress in films turned down Norma Rae. Nobody knew it would become the success it did.

I actually think Sally is good in Beyond..." She's quite funny at times. The film itself is ok especially since Irwin Allen's films were going downhill with stuff like The Swarm and When Time Ran Out. (both of which got Best Costume Design Oscar nominations........can someone explain that?

Sally Field and Michael Caine did another flop together, Surrender... with Steve Guttenberg!

[quote]I will never in a million years sit through a movie with BOTH Red Buttons and Shelley Winters. Why would God allow this?

That's.... I will never in a million years sit through a movie with BOTH Academy Award Winner Red Buttons and Two Time Academy Award Winner Shelley Winters. Why would God allow this?.... to you, Bitch.

I used to love the disaster movies back then (even going to see Earthquake in sensurround), although my two favorites oddly enough were ones most people don't care for:

The Hindenburg

and my favorite, the anti-American Cassandra Crossing

r147 Featuring 0 time Academy Award Nominee OJ Simpson!

Poseidon Dolls!

R149 - OMG! The Poseidon dolls are beyond fabulous! Thank you!

R147 - I’m with you on loving disaster movies! They were an integral part of my youth! Saw them all - with my parents! It was so odd when uuu think about it - they were somehow perceived as a big event, family viewing experience. I mean - isn’t that odd?

I too really loved The Hindenburg. The whole thing had a titanic-like fascination for me. And I blame the genre as a whole for my endless fascination with those ‘documentary’ series like Sevonds from Disaster and the one about various plane crashes (which has different names depending which market you live in).

And it really all started with The Poseidon Adventure... (I love Airport too! But it’s hardly a real ‘disaster movie’ - disaster is averted and only one person - the deranged bomber - actually dies. You need higher stakes and a bigger body count for a real disaster flick!)

And R149 - just noticed! - there are two Linda Rogo dolls! Evening gown and oversized men’s shirt version!

Guessing the queens who did the design couldn’t bear to let the opportunity for a good frock go by - and it’s really the only significant costume change throughout - everyone else just wears what they had on at the party for the rest of the film - except Stella...

Just panties, why? What else do I need?

There's some interview from the 70s where Carol Lynley calls Red Buttons a cunt and goes into detail on why.

It's delish

R141 paycheque? IT'S PAYCHECK. GET OFF THIS SITE YOU LIMEY SCUM. HOW DARE YOU FLY A SHELLEY WINTERS BLIMP WHILE OUR DEAR LEADER WAS VISITING.

In case anyone's curious, the Wiki link here takes you to the synopsis of the book the film is based upon. Fascinating what the screenwriters used and what they left out. I love how towards the end, when the group we know from the movie are rescued, they discover there are other survivors...

I read the book in my teens and remember that ending. If I recall correctly the other survivors looked like they had merely walked to the escape point, as most of them were still properly dressed.

The book isn't as good. As said above the ending ruins the whole point of it all. The movie makes a good case for taking care of yourself and not waiting for help to arrive (goes together with the Reverend's sermon about God only having an eye on the bigger picture.) Plus I think on 9/11 this was played out when we heard how after the first plane crash people in the second tower were told to stay put. (even if now other plane had crashed it still would have been a good idea to leave considering the fire next door.)

Plus they kill off Robin Shelby which is just really annoying. I always thought the film was smart to have the kids travel alone (even though unrealistic). If they had been a family of four it would have been unrealistic to have all four get out unharmed. This way they got to have the two kids out ok and not have any Bambi's mother type deaths that would disturb young kids who saw it.

OH and plus in the book Linda Rogo is just crude and cruel and down right nasty. You are supposed to want her to die. The movie makes her more sympathetic. (Though I think they should have cut that line where she says "I'm going next, in case old fat ass gets stuck I don't want to be stuck on the other side." That is more consistent with how the character is in the book not the movie. In the movie she is pretty nice. She always seems to touched by Hackman's toast "to love!"

[quote]ough I think they should have cut that line where she says "I'm going next, in case old fat ass gets stuck I don't want to be stuck on the other side."

Nah, that line got a huge laugh every time I saw it and c'mon that's exactly what everyone in the audience was thinking too. And Stella Steven's look when she see's what happened is very touching and she regretted saying it. With all the Oscar nominations it received, I thought Stevens deserved a supporting nom too.