What happens when an ordinary group of people is suddenly plunged into a catastrophic situation? Perhaps it's a sinking ship, or a raging fire. Perhaps a crippled jumbo jet, a devastating earthquake, or a volcanic holocaust. What happens at such traumatic moments? A "hero" arises, of course, and through his daring exploits manages to save all those in distress. Or maybe, in spite of his heroic efforts, he only saves a few .fortunate souls, including himself. Would you believe he saves no one, including himself? Somewhere among the above scenarios is a winning plot for any number of disaster movies-an art form apparently well suited to today's film audiences. It all started back in 1973 when The Poseidon Adventure-a rather contrived tale of a ship turned upside down-became a box-office sensation. Though the plot was weak, the Poseidon disaster struck a responsive chord in millions of viewers. How responsive? Over 160 million dollars gross so far!
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