20 Disaster Movies You Must See Before You Die
5. The Poseidon Adventure
Forget 2006's mega-budget remake - the original Poseidon Adventure is an absolute banger of a disaster film. After a tsunami capsizes a luxury ocean liner, the few remaining survivors attempt to make it out before they're delivered to the ocean depths forever.
The cast is stupid-good - including Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, and Leslie Nielsen - and director Ronald Neame matches them at every turn with his urgent, tightly wound direction.
A technical marvel that was nominated for nine Oscars and won two, The Poseidon Adventure's ingenious upside-down set design, claustrophobic sense of dread, and largely likeable roster of characters make this an unassailable classic of the genre.