Explozia (1973) Online

True story of a cargo ship filled with fertilizer that catches fire while anchored in a river near a Romanian city. The sip has to be moved and extinguished before the ship explodes (think the fertilizer bomb that took out the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building a hundred fold fold).

Surprisingly good action drama that unfortunately has been titled to catch in on the Irwin Allen disaster film. This is not the piece of trash you think it is. This is actually a very good, far from typical (how could it be since its essentially true) story of a large number of people trying to come together to prevent their city from being leveled by an accident. Its one of those movies where you begin to wonder why, since its so good, you've never head of it before. Frankly its one of the few films I've seen in the past year that has actually made an impression on me.

Definitely worth a look

This movie is based on real events, placed somewhere in the '60. For sure, as it was created in the communist era, the facts are 'modified', more than a bit... Actually, the cities of Braila and Galati was really affected by that explosion. I'm pretty sure that a previous comment here was made without knowing the facts; the link between this movie, and 'poseidon adventure' is not existent - even for the small reason than in communist Romania, copying a 'decadent occidental' movie was strictly prohibited. After all, this movie was one of my childhood's greatest; good acting (as the cinematographic culture was in that era; probably, if Bruce Willis was acting also, he could be saving all of them), alert plot (even for now), good-written dialogues (i don't think if dubbed in other languages, the quality will remain)

A blazing inferno breaks out on the cargo ship Poseidon, which is carrying thousands of bags of potentially explosive fertilizer. A team of firefighters and government officials do their best to stop the Poseidon from blowing up and destroying the nearby city of Galati, Romania. Capably directed by Mircea Dragan, with a compelling script by Ioan Grigorescu, a constant fast pace, sharp cinematography by Nicolae Margineanu, a plausible story (the plot was inspired by a real life event that occurred in the early 70's), well-drawn characters, and a lively, rousing score by Theodor Grigoriu, this film makes for an extremely tight, gripping, and often thrilling viewing experience. This picture further benefits from bang-up acting by a fine cast, with an especially stand-out performance by Gheorghe Dinica as brave, rugged expert firefighter Salamander. Better still, there's no silly humor or sappy sentiment to detract from the nerve-wracking tension. The narrative remains taut and economical throughout, with no needless filler or padding getting in the way of the story. In addition, this movie shows how the catastrophe brings out both the best and worst in people: Several folks board the burning ship so they can loot it while a bunch of dock workers try to unload the fertilizer as fast as they can. A shamefully overlooked little winner.

The movie is inspired by a accident that happened in the 1970 near Galati, Romania. A team of firefighters is sent to an abandoned, burning ship, only to find out the ship is loaded with 80000 bags of fertilizer, which explodes at 300 degrees Celsius, making the ship a giant bomb that threatens to take out the whole city of Galati.

The prefect and the mayor desperately try to find a solution to the problem, and bring to their aid a chemist that tries to find a solution. On the ship, the fire grows stronger and stronger and the firefighters get the help of one particular firefighter, "nea' Gica", a skilled oil well firefighter that happens to be the godfather in a wedding that takes place on the shore of the Danube river.

It's not a flick, as others suggested, it doesn't relate to "The Poseidon Adventure", and the acting is done by some of the best Romanian actors, like Gheorghe Dinica, Toma Caragiu, Mircea Diaconu or Florin Piersic. Unfortunately, like all Romanian movies the sound is mono and rather poor, but hey! It's done in 1973.

Surpringly good obscure movie about a ship catching fire off the coast of Romania. The ship is carrying hundreds of tons of fertilizer and oxygen tanks, which, if ignited, would explode and take out the entire coastline shipping community. A small band of people (including an oil well firefighter) board the ship to try and put out the fire, but when it proves to be burning out of control, a group of about a dozen local dockworkers join in and try to unload the cargo before it ignites- three of them, however, are merely petty thieves out to loot the ship.

This is a surprisingly well done movie, most under-appreciated and unrecognized. I was happily surprised after watching this in the "Grindhouse Collection" DVD box-set. It's a great action/ suspense movie, with a bit of well timed comic relief. The pacing was good, it moved along well, and even the effects showing the ship engulfed in flames with plumes of thick black smoke pouring out were well done. The climactic explosion looked good, especially for a presumably lower budget movie like this.

Talk about a misleading title! Given the sensational English title and the fact this is a European-produced early 70's disaster flick, naturally everybody assumes it's a shameless imitation of the popular Gene Hackman classic "The Poseidon Adventure". But it's not, in fact, in any way related to this movie except that the ships have the same name. This production actually has a lot more story elements in common with "The Towering Inferno", but that movie didn't get released until 1974 so you can't call it a rip-off of that one, neither. "The Poseidon Explosion" re-enacts the supposedly true events that occurred near a Romanian harbor in the year 1970. An all-ravaging inferno breaks out on board a massive cargo ship carrying thousands of bags of explosive fertilizer. Despite of the devoted labor of professional fire-fighters as well as multiple courageous volunteers, the immense fire can't be extinguished and the inevitable explosion is guaranteed to destroy the entire harbor town of Galati as well. It was quite a surprise to find this movie in the Grindhouse Collection box-set. Granted it's an exploitation feature, but primarily this is a genuine and full-blooded 70's disaster movie. Everything that could possibly go wrong on board the Poseidon does go wrong, there's a realistic diversity between heroic characters and people that just intend to save their own butt, there's barely any time for sentimental sub plots and certain people you root for die a horrible death! That's simply the way it should be in this type of films. Superficially speaking, "The Poseidon Explosion" appears to be a poorly produced movie, but that's simply because the transfer to DVD looks cheap and the English dubbing was done by a bunch of illiterate amateurs. If you look beyond these aspects that are typical for Grindhouse flicks, you'll notice an eminent Romanian film with astounding special effects (the fires are menacingly real), devoted actors (Gheorghe Dinica is superb) and convincing set-pieces. Director Mircea Dragan maintains an atmosphere of non-stop suspense and the fire-fighters face a new type of deadly ordeal in every new scene. Now, that's cinematic excitement! "The Poseidon Explosion" is probably one of the most misunderstood movies ever made.

A Romanian movie, Explozia (1973), figures on a quite watchable "Grindhouse Experience" DVD. Although cut back from 112 minutes to 80 minutes, and somewhat poorly dubbed (admittedly, the dubbing definitely improves as the film progresses), this is actually a high-budget and rather classy film that even made it to the 1973 Moscow Film Festival – mainly because it was based on a true incident and shows how heroically the port authorities swing into action when disaster threatens to wipe out their entire city. Nonetheless, would you believe there are actually two or three bad fish in the barrel – looters who seize the opportunity to help themselves? The movie actually benefits from this policy of not strictly adhering to the Party line as it limns the heroic fire-fighters led by George Dinica who risk their lives to move the blazing ship out of the port. All the special effects are astonishing. Maybe they didn't do it that way, but it certainly looks to me that the film-makers set a real ship on fire. It actually seems frighteningly realistic – the sound effects are mighty persuasive too – and it's as close as I ever want to get to a fire of any description. The director, Mircea Dragan, was deservedly nominated for a Gold Medal at the Moscow Film Festival for his work on this film. (He and his co-director, Mihai Iacob, did win a Silver Medal at the 1961 Festival for their direction of Romania's first CinemaScope movie, a film called Setea or Thirst).

a movie who can be blamed very easy. but this reaction is only a childish attitude in contact with Explozia. because the film represents reflection of a period reality. not only the event who inspired story or the great actors , the tension or the shadows of ideological command but the admirable work. it is a good film for its precision and for the force to present a case with minimum concessions , using a memorable cast, create credible frame for each part. it is not a blockbuster and this is basic sin. but it is decent and fresh. it is a special proof for a director science to do a movie about a crisis situation. and this fact is important. the rest...silence or only insignificant details.

This was actually an exciting picture by Hungarian director Mircea Dragan.

Rcalling that the Oklahoma City bombing by Tim McVeigh had 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of fertilizer and nitromethane, this is a story of a beached ship with 4000 tons of fertilizer and gallons of fuel oil. The ship is on fire and if it reaches 300 digress, a whole city can be wiped out. Just Google the Texas City explosion to see what can happen in real life.

There was some good acting in this Romanian film. It has one of the greatest Romanian actors of all time in Gheorghe Dinica. The story itself will keep your interest, as it was inspired by a real event in 1970 near Galati, Romania.

And, to show that there are stupid people all over the world, there was even looters in a ship about to explode. There were some funny moments when they were throwing them off the ship.

Poseidon Explosion directed by Mircea Dragan is set on the banks of the beautiful Danube river this action drama has classic elements of slapstick comedy like The Three Stooges and ocean- bound scary movies all seen through a lens of chaos and bewilderment. An unexplained incident results in a ship loaded with materials suitable for homemade bomb makers in the vein of Timothy McVeigh being set ablaze with most of the crew out of commission. The situation endangers a nearby town. While the town leaders plod along choosing appropriate steps to avert tragedy, just about every townsman makes their way to the deck of the ship in preparation of a surprise ending. A lot of fun to watch after a night of drinking.

Obviously made on the heels of "The Poseidon Adventure", this low-budget Romanian flick concerns the efforts to stop a freighter (the S.S. Poseidon), loaded with fertilizer, AND on fire, from exploding in a town harbor. Horribly dubbed, horribly acted; it's a shame MST3K never caught this one.

A film for see for actors. political mark is obvious and the desire to propose a catastrophic film gives a decent solution but far to be an impressive one. a film about the efforts to save a Romanian city against a predictable explosion and to stop a freighter . dramatic. and real convincing if you saw it in the last decades of Communism. directed by Mircea Dragan, it is a fresco, like each film by him. impressive. for the actors, for the good intentions, maybe , a little, for script.

On a ship called the Poseidon, there is a terrible fire. The ship is carrying fertilizer (ammonia nitrate) and oxygen tanks, which could result in a gigantic fertilizer bomb.

This was directed by Mircea Dragan, a Romanian who is completely unknown in America.

There is some truly awful dubbing, but great if you are into that. Though there is a typewriter (telegraph?) that has no subtitles and could add something to our understanding of the film.

Apparently this story is based on a true event in June 1970. That, however, does nothing to change the fact it is not particularly interesting and even at just over an hour is a bore to watch.