The Poseidon Adventure Part II - The Morning After

The Poseidon Adventure Part II - The Morning After is a 1979 disaster movie (in an alternate reality), based on Paul Gallico's 1976 book "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", itself a sequel to the 1972 film based on Gallico's 1969 novel, "The Poseidon Adventure". Directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, it starred Ernest Borgnine and Red Buttons reprising their roles from the original, alongside Jack Albertson and Carol Lynley who return in cameo appearances. It also featured an all-star cast, such as James Earl Jones, Franco Nero, Maggie Smith, David Warner, Ian McShane, Hardy Kruger, Simon MacCorkindale, Clive Revill and Caroline Munro.

Plot
New Year's Day, 1973, after the capsizing of the SS Poseidon, Captain Van Ze Vogel (Hardy Kruger) and his daughter Coby (Nastassja Kinski) and their first mate Vanders (Clive Revill) decide to claim salvage rights. There, they meet a flamboyant Cuban ex-pat scrap dealer, "Captain" Billa (James Earl Jones) and his Spanish mercenary lover/bodyguard Consuela (Caroline Munro). Van Ze Vogel and Billa team up to explore the ship before it sinks. They discover due to a gas leak, all fire has been sniffed out, and along the way discover at least one survivor - a young English crewman, Peters (Simon MacCorkindale). Billa due to his weight decides to get out, but stays in commmunication with Van Ze Vogel through walkie-talkies. Van Ze Vogel is brought by Peters to the gift shop, a confined space where a band of survivors were able to survive as the ship flooded. There, we meet a retired Royal Navy Admiral, Hawkinclough (Maurice Evans) and a steward, Mr. Bodley (Tony Beckley) but their appointed leader, a saleslady - Mrs. Galdbenschmidt is missing. After a brief time exploring, they find her dead - due to a "gas leak". Suddenly, a strut collapses and a wave temporarily bisects the ship with a stream of water, trapping the party on that side.

Meanwhile, on the French Riviera, the rescued survivors of the Poseidon are entombed in a hotel. The Shelby kids have left, reunited with their parents. Nonnie (Carol Lynley) wants to start a relationship with the older James Martin (Red Buttons). but the latter is uncomfortable, and just wants to be friends. Meanwhile, Manny Rosen (Jack Albertson) is leaving for Israel, and wishes goodbye to the others, but Rogo (Ernest Borgnine) is absent. We discover Rogo is down on the beach, talking to his friend, CIA man Horowitz (George Kennedy). We learn Rogo was assigned on board the ship to keep an eye on a shipment of gold, the "honey in a trap" to catch out the Athens-based Mafia contingent who were waiting at the docks to collect it. Rogo is angry, not just because he failed the job and lost his wife in the accident, but because it was his last job before retirement. Rogo vows to go back on board the ship. Returning to the hotel, he finds Martin, who now feels he has a new responsibility in life, and wants to go on a life of adventure after a lifetime of being a shy, retiring bachelor. They are told that a rescue mission is leaving Calais, headed by British adventuress Elizabeth Wolstenhuyter (Maggie Smith) and accompanied by two British intelligence men, naval intelligence marine expert Preston (Ian McShane) and SAS gun for hire Plater (David Warner), the latter trying to find a Soviet spy hiding among the crew. On board Elizabeth's refitted former pleasure boat, the Americans are given out to by the angry Elizabeth that "only Americans survive adventures like this". Rogo tells her that most on board were Americans, and informs her that he tried to save a Briton - Acres, but he died. They arrive on the Poseidon, and are met by Vanders, Billa, Coby and Consuela, who are making a hole in the other side of the ship to reach the stranded party.

Coby communicates with her father via walkie-talkie, only to hear him and the others screaming. Worried, she leads the entire party of rescuers in. Rogo tries to find his way back, realising that the ship is now without fire and light is coming through cracks in the surface. They reach a storage area and find the gold. Billa steals some, to Plater's disgust. Coby, Elizabeth and Martin (the latter two becoming more than friends) reach the survivors in the gift shop, the wave having migrated down the stairs and formed a pool in the captain's quarters. But Captain van ze Vogel, Peters and Hawkinclough are all dead, due to "gas". Rogo decides to get out, once and for all, realising that the gold is now useless. As the team get out, Vanders is staggered to meet his old friend Castellari (Franco Nero), a floorwalker on board the ship, who claims to be looking out for survivors. Vanders we then learn was a smuggler in the Amsterdam underworld, and Castellari is a mob assassin hired to look after the gold. Vanders is shot, after refusing to help Castellari, and it becomes a cat and mouse chase. We learn there is no gas leak. However, while Castellari attempts to trap our heroes, the ship once again overturns, this time the right way up. Along the way, the survivors find a scared Bodley, but Plater and Preston recognise him as the Soviet spy. Bodley turns on a lighter and causes an explosion. Plater is killed.

Castellari and Preston team up to help another out in their problems, and try to find their own way out, while Bodley becomes obsessed with punishing the "traitor" Billa, despite Billa having left Cuba before Castro took over. The ship is unsteady and about to sink again. The ship bisects into two. On one half of the ship, Preston, Castellari, Elizabeth and Rogo, on the other - Billa, Martin, Bodley, Coby and Consuela. Preston dies and Castellari falls, when half of the ship sinks. Rogo and Elizabeth swim to Van Ze Vogel's freighter, and move it towards the other half of the ship. Bodley admits that he and Castellari were murdering the other survivors, and that the gas leak was harmless to humans. Coby, Consuela and Billa get on board. Martin follows, and falls in love with Elizabeth. However, Castellari returns, dying but carrying gold bars in his clothes, as well as a bomb. Rogo goes back to find Bodley and Billa, to stop them from blowing up. Billa's ship leaves with Coby and Consuela on board, and some of the gold. Rogo goes back on board. He goes to find Castellari - the man he failed to spot, and the two fight to the death. After Castellari dies and the bomb goes off, the ship starts to flood again. Bodley tries to escape, but Rogo shoots him. Rogo tries to get out, Billa is unable to rescue him. He salvages some of Castellari's gold and tries to swim upward, but has a heart attack as soon as he reaches air. He gives the gold  to Elizabeth and the others but he dies soon after. His last words are: "See you, Linda".

The two surviving ships meet up at Calais, where Horowitz meets them. Martin tells him that Rogo is dead, but that they caught both a Soviet spy and the mob assassin. The Mafia in Athens have since been arrested, and Martin proposes to Elizabeth.

Changes from the Novel.
Though the basic plot of Rogo and Martin returning to the ship is in the novel, the only other things that are kept are the characters of Coby and Van Ze Vogel, though the character of Hely and Consuela are similar.