Top Shipwreck Movies of All Time

[Dan]

This is a list of what I consider the best shipwreck movies of all time.

1. A Night to Remember (1958)
2. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
3. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
4. Juggernaut (1974)
5. Raise the Titanic! (1980)
6. Ghostbusters II (1989)-features the Titanic in a cameo role
7. Titanic (1996)
8. Titanic (1997)
9. Britannic (2000)
10. Titanic: The Animated Movie (2001)
11. The Little Polar Bear (2001)-features the sinking of a vessel called the "Black Mouth"
12. Ghost Ship (2002)
13. Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)
14. The Poseidon Adventure (2005)
15. Poseidon (2006)
16. 10.5 Apocalypse (2006)-features the capsizing of a cruise ship called the "Princess Isabella"
17. The Futurama Episode "A Flight to Remember" (1999)
-------------------------------------------------
"This ship can't sink!"
What a dumb ass!

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

Superman Returns featured a ship (well, rather large yacht) sinking in a fairly stunning sequence. It even breaks in half!!

I think that the two Poseidon Adventure remakes belong at about #50 and #51. Britannic is pretty awful. Titanic 96 belongs lower, it's a Walmart-style depiction of the disaster. Where is Titanic 53 or Titanic 43? I notice that all of the movies on this list are 1972 or later. Where is The Last Voyage?

I mean...Titanic: The Animated Movie?!

 

[Dan]

The list is in chronological order. I only put the movies I have. I don't know why people hate the Poseidon remakes, Britannic, Titanic 1996, and Titanic: The Animated Movie. I go by the CGI of the ships sinking. Please don't judge a movie before you see how the sinking sequences are. I thought the CGI shots of the ships' final plunges were awesome. I haven't seen Titanic 53, Titanic 43, and The Last Voyage. Maybe I'll add them to the list later after I've seen them.

 

[Dan Kappes]

Mark, I added my last name. I hope you like the list. It's in chronological order. I used the movies I have. I noticed some people hate movies. Before you comment on the list, note that I go by the CGI of the ships sinking to critique the greatest shipwreck movies of all time. I would appreciate it if you didn't judge a movie before you've seen how the sinking sequences are. I think the CGI shots of the ships' final plunges are awesome. I'm not saying you're a movie hater, I'm just preparing you for a better reply than Jeremy's, which is full of hate.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I would appreciate it if you didn't judge a movie before you've seen how the sinking sequences are. <<

There's a lot more to a movie and whether or not it can be considered "good" then just the sinking sequences. Cameron's "Titanic" has a pretty realistic and horrifying sinking sequence but as to whether or not the rest of the flick was worth the price of admission...well, that's a matter of some very sharply divided opinion.

 

[Mark Baber]

Mark, I added my last name.

Thanks, Dan. Much appreciated.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Dan, this is a debating forum for adults and when we post our opinions we expect some disagreement and we generally get it! You surely don't really consider Jeremy's reply to be "full of hate" just because he doesn't share your taste in films? He's entitled to his opinions, just as you are to yours. Relax and enjoy the discussions.

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

Where am I "full of hate"? That's actually pretty rude to say, given that I'm pointing out glaring omissions in your list and, since the thread is titled "Top Shipwreck Movies", that implies that you're taking the movie as a whole. I never said anything hateful, only expressed the fact that you omitted several films that should have been on there before others.

Perhaps a better thread title would be "Top Sinking Sequences"?

 

[Mark Baber]

1. Bob and Jeremy, please re-read Dan's message---especially the fifth sentence and the last--- with the thought in mind that "full of hate" means "hate of (at least certain) movies" rather than "hate of Dan."

2. Dan, please be more careful with your choice of words. Even if you meant what I think you meant (as reflected in paragraph 1) your message could have been more clearly and less inflammatorily worded.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

One sinking sequence I wish would turn up is the Lusitania scene from Lest We Forget (1918)

Rita Jolivet, film star and survivor, invested $40,000.00 + of her own money into a 50 foot long, buoyant, builder's model type of Lusitania reproduction. She used the model, between 150-450 drowning extras, and several overturned lifeboats in a sinking sequence (filmed in New York Harbor) which left even the more jaded and hostile critics groping for words. The scene ended with a tank shot of the 50 foot model sitting on "The sea bed." The film disappeared after 1921, as far as we can determine, but it could survive in an archive somewhere. Would be interesting to see the disaster recreated by someone who survived it and who had unlimited production funds.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>Where is The Last Voyage?

Generally in the DVDS FOR $5.99 bin.

Tammi Marihugh aside.... FAR aside, please...., that film is a puzzle. One gets the sense while watching it that the film company never expected the scrappers to approve their offer, never created a script beyond the basic story outline, and then had to improvise, hastily, when the ship was unexpectedly made theirs.

Fairly well done fire in what appears to be the cabin class dining room? Four second glimpse onscreen. Bow flooded far enough to pull it down almost as far as the well deck? Four second glimpse onscreen. Time devoted to establishing shots of extras running up and down staircases? 84 minutes of the 90 minute running time....

It's as if once they had the ship, they did not know what to do with it.

And the actual sinking, as depicted? No comment....

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

Oh, come ON, Jim. You know that you've got a thing for Tammi. Admit it, you've got an enormous poster of the little moppet hanging in your house. I know your type.

The sinking sequence is horrible. But the whole "wifey trapped in wreckage" thing is pretty good.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Admit it, you've got an enormous poster of the little moppet hanging in your house.<<

He probably wanted to just plain hang the moppit. Anything to shut her up. Hanging is pretty effective for that sort of thing!

 

[Jim Kalafus]

Have you SEEN the photos of Tammi when she was in her twenties and working as a ...hostess... in Vegas?

I assure you, Jermeny Sir...my mistake... Jeremy sir... that I own NO Tammi Marihugh memorabilia at all. Except for her Desilu audition, in which she plays Rhoda from the Bad Seed.

Wife in wreckage is an alright plot device, but they effectively kill suspense by cutting away to endless shots of people running up and down stairs. Think of what could have been done had they cut to scenes of ther ship actually sinking.

>I know your type.

I am unknowable. A mythical being shrouded in contradictions.

Yes, that was a joke...

 

[Bob Godfrey]

That's not a poster you can see in Jim's attic window, Jeremy. It's Ms Marihugh herself, imprisoned there for many years while Jim, suitably masked as 'the Phantom of the Sound Stage' struggles to teach her to act.