Audiences barely had dried after embarking on The Poseidon Adventure when producer Irwin Allen decided to let his disaster river run inside America’s living rooms, by way of the made-for-TV Flood.
In the small town of Brownsville (located in Anywhere, USA), the sport of fishing attracts quite the tourist population and, thus, pays the bills. Private helicopter pilot Steve Brannigan (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice’s Robert Culp at his most Redford-esque) even flies filthy-rich anglers (including Planet of the Apes resident Roddy McDowall to and fro sweet spots for $150 a day, so one would be forgiven for thinking he may place his financial interest above the well-being of his fellow citizens, but nope — he and his aviator shades are our hero!
The same cannot be said for town council head John Cutler (Richard Baseheart, Allen’s City Beneath the Sea), because when the water level rises and the dam starts to burst leaks, he advocates against opening the spill gates to drain the lake, thereby scaring away the fish. He’s our bad guy, which we know before he voices placing profits above safety, because he has a mustache and smokes a pipe.
Guess what happens: Yes, the dam bursts and Brownsville floods, through the magic of miniatures and stock footage — some of it in black and white! Among the stars put in peril are Poseidon vet Carol Lynley as a pregnant woman overdue for a burst of her own, teen idol Leif Garrett as a kid spreading word of impending danger, Titanic’s Gloria Stuart as a grocery shopper unwilling to believe him, and Black Swan’s Barbara Hershey and The Doll Squad’s Francine York as nurses of the cozy, down-home hospital.
Viewers will be surprised at how entertaining Flood can be on a scale considerably lower than what Allen’s act-of-God blockbusters were used to, and shocked at how director Earl Bellamy (who followed this up with the following year’s Fire, also for Allen) allows karma and comeuppance to punish Cutler. Let’s just say it’s the kind of bold move upon which network prime time frowned. —Rod Lott