Goofs for
The Poseidon Adventure (1972) More at IMDbPro »

• Revealing mistakes: The rope that is used to swim underwater to the engine room is clearly secured, via hooks, in several places.
  
  
• Continuity: When Susan jumps from a table attached to the ceiling, she isn't wearing shoes. When she lands in the table cloth, she's clearly wearing shoes.
  
  
• Continuity: When Belle decides to go underwater and save everyone's life, the camera cuts to a closeup of her. She is fingering the swimming medal around her neck. But the surrounding shots have her hands clasped in front of her.
  
  

• Continuity: When Belle tries to talk Reverend Scott out of swimming, you can see her medal is above her waist, but in close-ups the chain is shorter and above her chest.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Reverend Scott is swimming to the engine room before he gets trapped, he swims up to the next deck, you can see the legs and fins of a crew member visible on that deck
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Mrs. Rogo's screams during the first explosion
  
  
• Continuity: A singer sings "Morning After", a slow song, while dancers are dancing quickly.
  
  
• Continuity: Linda Rogo had to change into her husband's shirt because she didn't wear a bra and couldn't climb in her gown. However, when she is in the smokestack about to climb the ladder, a bra strap is visible.
  
  
• Continuity: When Martin is placing all his pills out before New Years, there is no green pill. But when Mrs. Rosen asks him about it, it's there.
  
  
• Continuity: As Terry falls to his death in the encased light fixture, party guests are visible standing perfectly fine on the "ceiling"; in the next shot, all of the guests are sprawled about the "ceiling" in different stages of injury and death.
  
  
• Continuity: When Reverend Scott rescues Robin from the restroom, the ship rumbles and they are both doused with water. Seconds later, they are both shown with dry hair which they re-wet.
  
  
• Continuity: At the beginning, we see Robin walk up the stairs on the port side, but when he enters the wheelhouse it's on the starboard side
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As the ship is tipping over, a man in the dining room falls onto the Christmas tree and grabs onto it. Although the floor had become one of the walls, gravity is visibly still pulling him towards it. This is because although the dining room set could tilt on hydraulics for more serious angles, the camera was simply tilted.
  
  
• Factual errors: The pressure inside the ship would have been much greater than the outside pressure. With all the doors open inside the ship, when the torch first cuts through the hull the air would have rushed out and the ship would begin sinking faster.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the last scenes as they are exiting the ship and getting on the helicopter they walk over a clean hull. After being in service the keel would not be as clean as shown and easy to walk on.
  
  
• Plot holes: Acres tells Reverend Scott that the lights are on an emergency battery circuit, and are supposed to stay operational for three hours. However, the emergency lights are still working when the survivors reach the engine room and subsequently daylight - a time passage of six or more hours.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: 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.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Mr. Rogo, Susan and Robin are hoisting Belle Rosen up the ramp with the fire hose, Mr. Rogo is clearly struggling pulling her hefty weight up on one end of the hose, while on the other end of the hose, Susan is simply holding the end and Robin is blabbing away barely pulling at all.
  
  
• Continuity: The ship capsizes right at midnight. The combination of the length of the emergency lighting staying on, the rate of sinking and the story being acted out in "real time" makes it impossible for it to be daytime when they are rescued.
  
  
• Continuity: When the water starts flooding the dining room it sprays onto the light fixture causing them to go off. Seconds later it is spraying onto it again.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Right after the wave is spotted, the captain tells the helmsman "Hard left." No sea captain would say that, he would say "Hard Port."
  
  

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