"Kick Him Off!" (SPOILERS)

Its funny how even the most "forgettable" of movies can sometimes yield one scene that astonishes the viewer and sticks in the mind long after the movie has otherwise faded from memory.

"Poseidon" has an example.

Its a 2006 remake, of course, of the 1972 "pop classic" and big hit "The Poseidon Adventure." Its a mystery how the MUCH bigger CGI spectacle of "Poseidon" failed to succeed at all with audiences -- I guess all those Oscar winners in the original, no matter how "corny" their characters, really connected with the audience more than the less starry stars of the new one.(I count only Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss and Andre Braugher in the new film as interesting stars -- and Dreyfuss was a Best Actor Oscar winner.)

Anyway, at a certain point in "Poseidon" we reach a re-do of the scene in which the characters are climbing up a tall shaft. Most of them are off the ladder and safely onto the floor above(really "below") but two are stuck -- Richard Dreyfuss and a waiter(one of the few nods to a character from the original film; Roddy McDowall then, Freddy Rodriguez now), are hanging over the abyss below them and a malfunctioning elevator.

Freddy is losing his grip and pulling hard on Dreyfuss's legs. "Alpha males" Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas -- the leaders of this group -- can see what is happening: The waiter will end up taking Dreyfuss down with him, two will die unless immediate action is taken.

Russell and Lucas make the call, yelling to Dreyfuss: "Kick him off!"

Its a stunning moment, unmatched, I think , in any of the famous disaster films of the 70's(Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Airport 75...The Poseidon Adventure.)

Its ruthless. Its not Self-sacrificing(as so many heroes and heroines usually do in disaster movies.) Nor is it villainous -- Richard Chamberlain's cowardly villain in The Towering Inferno threw a few men to their deaths trying to escape with him on an overcrowded breeches buoy(and then falls to his own death when it collapses.)

Its..pragmatic. One man dies instead of two. There's dark irony: Freddy let the older man go first(Dreyfuss), the older man's inability to climb with Freddy attached leads to the horrible decision.

And this is more horrible still: before kicking Freddy to his gruesome death(impalement), Dreyfuss cries: "I'm so, so sorry."

The film moves on from this moment with a residual "sting." Dreyfuss knows what he has done. Russell and Lucas know that they urged him to do it. The movie never quite recovers from this ruthlessness -- probably another reason folks didn't like this as much as the original.

Nonetheless, it is a shocking scene that generates thought("What would I do in the same situation?) and it gives "Poseidon" its one unique and memorable moment.