Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

threehundred60decrees These might not be spoilers, but better safe than sorry."The Goliath Awaits" appears to be loosely based on the science fiction novel "The Watch Below" by James White. In it, a few passengers and crew of a trading vessel sunk in World War II manage to survive because their supplies include pedal-operated electric generators, light bulbs, bean or pea plants for food and air replenishment, and a huge trove of powdered eggs and powdered milk. Water is collected from condensation and, if I remember correctly, also distilled from brine somehow. To pass the time and keep sane they play a memory game, recalling every detail of their lives including everything they've ever read, seen, and learned. And so they pass on their knowledge to their children who pass it on to theirs.Unlike in "Goliath" there is a science fiction element to the story: 150 years after the sinking their descendants are rescued by aquatic aliens who fled their dying world hoping to find refuge in Earth's oceans. The crew of the spaceship were similar to the denizens of the wreck in that they were descendants of the original crew, who had discovered that repeatedly entering suspended animation caused crippling brain damage. The shipwrecked Earthlings use their well-trained memories to learn the aliens' language and plead their new friends' case to wary Earth authorities. (The novel all along cross-cuts between similar events in the wreck and the spaceship, such as the breaking off of rival factions and their later reconciliation.)A major technical flaw in a story like "Goliath Awaits" is that a sinking ship is basically a falling object. The Titanic, for instance, did not settle on the ocean bottom 12,000 ft. down, it SLAMMED into it. I don't have the figures for how fast it was determined to have been moving just before impact, but these vessels are found lying in pieces. (The ship of "The Watch Below" was in much shallower water and was visible from low-flying observation aircraft.) If the people on board aren't killed or badly injured in the crash it is doubtful that there would be enough integrity in the hull to maintain air pressure for long.The movie was diverting if predictable. The lack of pallor of the people and the good condition of their clothes was an omission typical of American TV of 1981. Ridley Scott-type production design had not yet penetrated television and wouldn't really start to until MTV's influence was felt (in shows like "Miami Vice"). It takes more time and money, so the financiers would not budget for it until forced to do so by competition.

xbrad68 Goliath Awaits came out in 1981 and the special effects for it are aging gracefully. The notion of people living in a sunken ocean liner may seem far fetched but as Neil Peart of RUSH wrote "We suspend our disbelief and we are entertained." Director Kevin Connor does a nice job of directing thus helping to salvage a soggy script. The mysterious disease that befalls the passengers of the GOLIATH makes the viewer curious about its origins. Later in the movie it is revealed that the ships Doctor is singling out people that he doesn't approve of. The doctor is of course extremely bigoted and wrong to use euthanasia on the ships passengers. The luxury of unused sheets of paper to the children of the ship is revealed. The Captain of the ship seems well meaning but the thought of using geothermal vents for power and oxygen is far-fetched given the ships level of technology. Who knows if Aliens could be powering underwater spaceships from geothermal vents. If so then the Aliens have accomplished an impressive feat. Goliath Awaits inspires humans to think about living in underwater homes for years at a time. Such an underwater project should be made part of the NASA space program. Humanitys survival in a big bad universe might depend on underwater habitats. In Goliath Awaits you feel sorry for the passengers stuck shoveling coal at the same time you are wondering why they have never run out of coal. I gave Goliath Awaits a 10 out of 10 for its novel plot.

yenlo 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.

eric91411 I am reaching way back into my memory for this one, for I saw it on T.V. in 1981 and haven't heard anything about it since, except in 1992 when a co-worker and I got on the subject of shipwrecks and somehow we both remembered this movie from our pasts. We were so vague on the details we had both thought it might have been a dream until we corroborated each other's memory!Brilliant how an "offshoot" society--a microcosm of our own, with all the various social strata--was represented. There was even a sub-sub-society, the "Bow People," who terrorized those in the main part of the ship.Also, chilling how the ship's brass were "relieved" to find out that Hitler had been defeated--not even realizing that they had established their own police state far below the surface of the ocean!