# Does anyone remember this weird TV movie, possibly 1970s?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [October 18, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441 "2022-10-18T15:52:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/21 "2022-10-24T12:26:25Z")

</div>

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread! I had a vague memory of seeing an ad for a movie on TV when I was a kid that was about people trapped underwater in a boat for many years, but I couldn’t remember anything about it. I eventually convinced myself that what I had seen was an ad for a TV broadcast of The Poseidon Adventure, and I had misunderstood the plot. Because, like the OP, the plot I thought I remembered was so bonkers that I decided I made it up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/22 "2022-10-24T13:48:59Z")

</div>

A similar movie was [Airport 77](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075648/), where a 747 crashed into the ocean in the Bermuda triangle (of course, it was the 70s), then sank to 100 ft, but was somehow water tight, so the passengers mostly survived. They were down there for hours, not decades, but still utterly implausible. It does have a ton of great actors though - James Stewart, Christopher Lee, Olivia de Havilland, Jack Lemmon.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/23 "2022-10-24T14:54:07Z")

</div>

> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> flying the shuttle twice in one day

Three times, I think. IIRC, an character says “It’s lucky we learned to launch these quickly.” Totally absurd.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/24 "2022-10-24T16:32:15Z")

</div>

That’s the one! I remember the bit with the coffin and the part with the flaming passenger-way.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/25 "2022-10-24T20:58:01Z")

</div>

In fairness in the '70s everyone tended to wildly over estimate the space shuttle’s capabilities and how it would revolutionize access to space.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441/26 "2022-10-24T21:23:26Z")

</div>

It’s a sign that the makers _knew_ that the Shuttle doesn’t launch that quick, but [hung a lampshade](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging) over it.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-weird-tv-movie-possibly-1970s/973441.md?page=1)
