This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Saw it first when I was about 12 years old and have never forgotten it. It does have some pretty campy dialogue and scenes, but at the same time it is gripping in a way that's not easy to forget. The characters are also memorable. I have seen this movie gain more notoriety recently and sense that it is becoming a cult classic. Something about the period and its status as the vanguard of disaster movies, plus those great Shelley Winters underwater scenes, I can see why. Climb aboard!