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Goliath Awaits

  • TV Mini Series
  • 1981
  • PG
  • 3h 20m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
Goliath Awaits (1981)
AdventureDramaRomanceSci-FiThriller

A team of scientists discover a secret underwater community within the wreck of an ocean liner that sank during World War II.A team of scientists discover a secret underwater community within the wreck of an ocean liner that sank during World War II.A team of scientists discover a secret underwater community within the wreck of an ocean liner that sank during World War II.

  • Stars
    • Mark Harmon
    • Christopher Lee
    • Eddie Albert
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    1.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Stars
      • Mark Harmon
      • Christopher Lee
      • Eddie Albert
    • 38User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Episodes2

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    TopTop-rated1 season1981

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    Top cast58

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    Mark Harmon
    Mark Harmon
    • Peter Cabot
    • 1981
    Christopher Lee
    Christopher Lee
    • John McKenzie
    • 1981
    Eddie Albert
    Eddie Albert
    • Adm. Wiley Sloan
    • 1981
    John Carradine
    John Carradine
    • Ronald Bentley
    • 1981
    Alex Cord
    Alex Cord
    • Dr. Sam Marlowe
    • 1981
    Robert Forster
    Robert Forster
    • Cmdr. Jeff Selkirk
    • 1981
    Frank Gorshin
    Frank Gorshin
    • Dan Wesker
    • 1981
    Jean Marsh
    Jean Marsh
    • Dr. Goldman
    • 1981
    John McIntire
    John McIntire
    • Sen. Oliver Bartholomew
    • 1981
    Jeanette Nolan
    Jeanette Nolan
    • Mrs. Sarah Bartholomew
    • 1981
    Duncan Regehr
    Duncan Regehr
    • Paul Ryker
    • 1981
    Emma Samms
    Emma Samms
    • Lea McKenzie
    • 1981
    Alan Fudge
    Alan Fudge
    • Lew Bascomb
    • 1981
    George Innes
    George Innes
    • Dave Winter
    • 1981
    John Ratzenberger
    John Ratzenberger
    • Bill Sweeney
    • 1981
    Julie Bennett
    Julie Bennett
    • Sylvia King
    • 1981
    John Berwick
    • Crewman
    • 1981
    Kirk Cameron
    Kirk Cameron
    • Liam
    • 1981
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews38

    6.61.2K
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    Featured reviews

    7moofyieman

    Great idea, many flaws

    When I saw this mini-series in 1981 I was very young and it made a real impact on me. The idea of a ship that sunk 42 years ago (1981-1939) and still had survivors is a great idea for a movie, or mini-series in this case.

    As a viewer you have to buy a lot of unbelievable stuff to still enjoy it. First the enormous pressure at a depth of 300 meters to which the ship sank in matter of minutes. Somehow this pressure was no issue for all the people aboard but for the divers in 1981 it was because they have to compress and decompress for days! Then somehow the ship didn't leak at all at this depth and didn't so after 42 years in saltwater! Air, drink water, food and electricity made possible by the genius leader of the survivors. If you buy in to that, you are set to go. Oh, and there are the bow people who can survive by stealing from the others for years despite being hunted down with guns. How difficult would it be to just bar the entrances to the bow? Then, nobody - NOBODY- is happy to see the divers after 42 years. The leaders OK, they have their little empire to lose, but the hundreds of people who are treated as slaves? No cheers, laughs, clapping or happiness at all? And the first two questions what comes to mind, -who won the war and how is this rescue mission going to be organized- are addressed only after a day or so.

    BUT, as a film lover you must have a flexible mind and then a very interesting en nice story will unfold. If some producer would remake this movie, it surely must address the plausibility I wrote above. The story of people stranded together making a new society with all the good and bad human qualities is worth any storytelling. Therefore it is after 35 still a good story to tell and to watch with good actors like a young Mark Harmon and Christopher Lee.
    7ebeckstr-1

    Fun stuff, now commonly available on streaming and DVR

    Goliath Awaits is available on YouTube in its full, unedited format, and is also available for purchase on DVR. Just do an internet search and you will find it.

    If you can suspend your disbelief, this is a very enjoyable science fantasy, with reasonably good acting and writing. The plot moves along at a brisk pace, and manages to avoid the boring melodrama that one might expect in a two-part mini-series of this kind. It hails from the hay day of 1970s and 80s made-for-tv horror and science-fiction movies, and holds up surprisingly well if you enjoy the latter, which is almost a genre unto itself.
    8yonhope

    A good movie if you can stretch believability

    Hi, Everyone,

    I worked on this movie at The Queen Mary (ship) in Long Beach in May of 1981. The crew and cast were fun to be with. I was an extra who was supposed to be a passenger on the Goliath down at the bottom of the ocean. We were all still alive years after the ship sank.

    A group of us were taught the dances of the 1920s (Lambeth Walk, Charleston). We worked in the cargo hold of the Queen Mary for some of our scenes. There were good guys and bad guys. Frank Gorshin and Christopher Lee were the villains. Christopher Lee was the Captain who kept the people alive and wanted to stay underwater when the rescuers arrived.

    John Carradine was a very pleasant man to work with in his scenes. He had arthritis but he managed to negotiate the stairway that led down into the hold of the ship. Mark Harmon was the hero who arrives to rescue the passengers.

    This movie was originally shown over a two night period on TV. It later was packaged as a VHS movie with some scenes edited out, but the short version seems the better and more fast paced of the two.

    There is one scene where the music does not match the dancing in the background. Watch for dancers moving at the wrong tempo. The scene was rehearsed at one speed (No music actually is played. The dancers are given a tempo and they dance without music while the dialog is being recorded. The music is inserted later.)and different music was put in for some reason.

    I liked the movie but it was not great. It was an interesting idea that will hold your attention for a couple of hours. If you like ship movies, try "Sea Chase" with John Wayne and Lana Turner or "Assault on a Queen" with Frank Sinatra.

    Tom Willett
    6kevinolzak

    Christopher Lee and John Carradine

    1981's "Goliath Awaits" was a huge ratings winner for Operation Prime Time, enabling independent UHF stations the chance to compete with the 'Big Three' - ABC, CBS, NBC - but at lower advertising rates that benefited everyone but the networks, in those early days before cable really took off. A highly improbable scenario is made believable by a strong cast of familiar faces, but nominal lead Mark Harmon is often too shrill to be effective. The ocean liner Goliath is sunk by German torpedoes in 1939, yet the 337 people found alive more than 40 years later survived due to the ingenuity of first officer John McKenzie (Christopher Lee), rightfully revered as their leader and captain ever since. A rescue team of four (Mark Harmon, Robert Forster, Alex Cord, John Ratzenberger) venture inside to offer their solution to the inevitable collapse of this insulated existence, only one month left before the fuel supply runs out for good. We have a number of fine character vignettes, in particular John Carradine (veteran of OPT's 1979 miniseries THE SEEKERS) as Ronald Bentley, famed swashbuckling movie hero, in perhaps a nod to one of his dearest friends, the late Errol Flynn. As one of the original survivors from the long ago sinking, he has spent the time educating the young about his life experiences, enjoying the one movie of his that has survived the years, wanting to be remembered as the virile young actor he once was, great with action, less so with dialogue. Still, it is Christopher Lee who stands out as the ambiguous McKenzie, who resists any attempt at rescue, knowing that his days as absolute ruler were bound to end sooner or later, his mysterious associate Dan Wesker (Frank Gorshin) a self appointed 'Angel of Death,' dispensing with people unable to work or feed themselves. Originally broadcast in two parts at over 3 hours-plus, it's never boring and makes good use of stock footage, thanks to the editing skills of director Kevin Connor, who had previously worked with Lee and Ratzenberger on the 1979 "Arabian Adventure." Not all our questions are answered, and the climax is unfortunately drawn out too long to sustain the tension, but overall a commendable effort that stayed with viewers over the decades since, much like the occupants below the sea.
    yenlo

    Chilling beginning then sinks.

    An ocean liner goes down during WWII and a number of passengers survive and establish a civilization under the sea in the wreck. The film starts out good but then begins to wither. Too many little subplots are injected into the story, which sink it. (No pun intended) It begins to take on a Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea TV series episode type plot and the chilling Twilight Zone potential of the picture is lost. Christopher Lee does a superb job as the ship captain and is the film only really interesting character. A man who has gone from captain of the ship to absolute God in his underwater kingdom. The other characters particularly the Navy personnel who discover the wreck are weak to say the least. John Carradine co-stars as a silent film star who was aboard the liner when it went down and is now revered by the younger generation as one of the `Elders' Frank Gorshin is also aboard as the captains sinister law enforcer.

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    Related interests

    Still frame
    Adventure
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance
    James Earl Jones and David Prowse in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Sci-Fi
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The scenes of the "Goliath" at sea are taken from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The model was first used in Titanic (1953), and refurbished to resemble the Queen Mary.
    • Goofs
      In the beginning one of the techs has a side-scan sonar image of the R.M.S. Goliath in profile, as if were laying on its side. We later see that the Goliath is upright on the ocean floor.
    • Quotes

      Paul Ryker: [tapping message from inside Goliath] Goliath. On board, 337. Danger. Air toxic. Beware McKenzie.

    • Alternate versions
      Released on video at 110 minutes.
    • Connections
      Edited from The Black Knight (1954)
    • Soundtracks
      Happy Days Are Here Again
      Written by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen

      Performed by the Ovaltineys

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 11, 1981 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Goliath - Sensation nach 40 Jahren
    • Filming locations
      • RMS Queen Mary - 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Larry White Productions
      • Gay-Jay Production
      • Columbia Pictures Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 3h 20m(200 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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