"Leap of Faith" ("Poseidon")
Pencil Marks: Much to the dismay of Jake, the original Poseidon Adventure has always been one of my guilty pleasures. If the flick came on some Sunday afternoon, I had to put down whatever I was doing to sit and enjoy the disaster. Heck, I even dragged Jake out and about town on some sort of mythical scavenger quest years back when Fox Home Video released a Widescreen version of the film on VHS. YES, that long ago. I don't know what it is about the flick, I just enjoy the heck out of it.
So naturally when this summer's Poseidon was announced, Jake looked to me and said: "So, your drawing that one huh?"
Jake and I have this sort of running joke about C list actors appearing in films. Whether its Joe Don Baker, Wilford Brimley or Ned Beatty, if for some reason these character actors appear in a flick, that film is automatically relagated to Cheese Factor 11. And the original Poseidon features one of the biggest C List celebs of his time - Ernest Borgnine. Naturally Mr. Borgnine would HAVE to appear in our pic based on the film that he's not even in. Pay homage to the original I said. Screw the new.
On a side note.... there is this phenomenon in films called "gaffes". Gaffes are errors that slipped by the filmmakers and went up on screen, much to the delight of film geeks and buffs who like to pour over each scene for such mistakes. And since a large amount of gaffes can be found in disaster films, I felt it was only necessary to add one into our picture for this week. Any one spot it yet? - Tony
Ink Smudges: So let me get this straight, people: I say I prefer the old television show "Mission Impossible" over the recent blockbuster movies and I get heckled for 'not being with the times'. But when it comes to a picture based on "Poseidon", it becomes a homage to the original 1974 flick instead of the remake? Yeah. I thought as much.
All kidding aside, I don't think we could have done this picture without acknowledging in some way the classic film (which can be seen at least once a day on some cable station, I kid you not!). And fortunately for me, Tony's illustration got me to homage one of my favorite scenes: Gene Hackman as a ticked-off preacher falling to his death and cursing the heavens above as Ernest Borgnine watches. To me, that's one of Hackman's finest moments as an actor. You could just feel the raw hatred he had. And hey, any movie that would let Borgnine, Shelley Winters, and Red Buttons shine is alright with me. - Jake