. a good script or director couldn not fix . the original poseidon adventure be a story of human courage triumph against terrific odds and personal tragedy . the survivor be lead by a charismatic figure of great spiritual strength who would take anything god throw at him . the follow up try to recreate the mix but fail through a formulaic script and pedestrian direction . irwin allen may have be a great producer of disaster flick and and do a fine job direct the action scene in tower inferno and but he just can not bring any human depth to his character . if the character aren not credible any danger they face also fall flat . the script also try to copy the original too obviously . so we have peter boyle do the ernest borgnine thing by be tough and obnoxious ( but he have a tender heart ) while karl malden be the red button moderate influence ( and be terminally ill for good measure ) while slim pickens do the comic relief for shelley winter and and so on . to make the story more contemporary we have a rogue arm dealer ready to flog weapon grade plutonium to the high bidder . a really nasty piece of work who ruthlessly abandon wound men ( the actor play his henchman be presumably pay a extra because they do not seem to have any line ) and have a woman shot in the back what a cad . thank goodness the french rescue service make the hole in the poseidon hull twice as large a in 1972 ( and on the other side of the propeller shaft ) so he could he get his good out . and while be on the subject and how do they get the crate to the . oh and forget it . i actually pay good money to see this when it be release . give the film current reputation this may seem odd and but it actually get quite mixed review at the time . some say it be junk and some say it be as exciting a the original . never mind and nobody can be right all the time .