The Cassandra Crossing (1976)

A hospital terrorist in Geneva manages to escape security, but not before contracting Bubonic Plague in the medical lab; he stows away in the baggage car of a Swiss train bound for Sweden, later mingling with the commuters (he touches a baby, food in the kitchen, he shares water with a pooch, and even approaches a cleric-collar wearing O.J. Simpson!). Doctors and military men are onto him, however, and soon the train is re-routed--towards a Polish bridge on the verge of collapse! Producer Carlo Ponti (via Lew Grade) employs a large group of famous faces for the guest-star roles, ensuring that his wife, Sophia Loren, gets plenty of Movie Star Close-Ups. Loren and Richard Harris aren't terribly credible as bickering/kissing ex-marrieds (she attempts to re-seduce him wearing a black negligée), but at least they're better than Lee Strasberg as a former prisoner-of-war and Martin Sheen as a heroin-addict passing himself off as Madame Ava Gardner's boy toy. Decadent, divine Gardner (with Bassett Hound in tow!) gets her share of close-ups too, and also the pithiest lines. The cinematography is quite impressive, and Jerry Goldsmith's score is enjoyably melodramatic, but the writing, editing, and direction are each lousy. This hit theaters on the tail-end of the all-star-disaster-epic craze...and failed to revive the dying genre. Easy to see why, most of the passengers seem as fatigued as the plot. ** from ****

Fmovies: Suspenseful and intriguing disaster movie with all-star-cast and well-directed . Exciting and interesting catastrophe movie with some clichés and stereotypes , containing enjoyable performances from Burt Lancaster , Richard Harris and Sofia Loren . This disaster movie blends action , intrigue , breathtaking spectacle , suspense and emotional byplay . ¨Cassandra crossing¨ was a successful film that grossed at box office . The film's storyline features the potential outbreak of a deadly pneumonic plague virus on a train from an germ infected passenger and the legend of the Cassandra Crossing add to the suspense . As passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease . As a motley group of passengers are quarantined on a train destined to prevent the spread of the disease at the cost of their lives . One of them is Doctor Chamberlain (Richard Harris , though Peter O'Toole turned down the role) along with his ex-wife (Sofia Loren) . Furthermore , a suspicious priest called Haley (James Coburn turned down the role of Haley which was in the end played by 'O J Simpson') , a millionaire spouse (Ava Gardner) , her lover (Martin Sheen) , among others . The Fear Is Spreading but nobody will let them off the train . As when the train carrying plague approaches a weakened bridge the events go wrong .

This is and amusing and entertaining disaster movie though has some sloppy executions . This formula intrigue movie belongs to catastrophe genre of the 70s , being the undisputed king , ¨The towering inferno¨ along with ¨Earthquake¨ , ¨Two minutes warning¨ , ¨Rollercoaster¨ , among others . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of a decent acting by protagonists and overwhelming action scenes . It blends thrills , chills , shootouts , noisy action-packed , government intrigue, international smuggling , and many other things . It is a crossover in which "Outbreak" meets ¨Under siege 2¨ , "The Runaway Train" and ¨Death Train¨ , taking parts here and there . The "Cassandra Crossing" of the film's title refers to a bridge in the movie called the Kaslindrliv Bridge, being shot in France and Italy . The architectural structure used to play this was the Viaduct of Garabit which is located in the South of France , it was built between 1881 & 1884, and was manufactured by Gustave Alexandre Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame . This moving picture which is short in realism instead we have far-fetched but moving blow up , crossfire , fighting , it should please most adventure-action buffs . The main and support cast is frankly good , it is plenty with known faces such as Ingrid Thulin , Ava Gardner , Lee Strasberg , Lionel Stander , Lou Castel , Ann Turkel, John Phillip Law , Ray Lovelock , Alida Valli and several others . Producer Carlo Ponti saw the movie as a showcase for his wife Sophia Loren . The movie also co-starred the then husband and wife actors Richard Harris and Ann Turkel, with Turkel being pregnant during principal photography .

Luminous and shimmer cinematography by Ennio Guarneri . Fitted to action and stirring misical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith . This improbable motion picture was professionally directed by George Pan Cosmatos . He's a good director who got a great success with ¨Tombstone¨ and flops as ¨Shadow conspiracy¨, ¨Leviathan¨, ¨Escape to Athena¨ , ¨Massacre in Rome¨ and this ¨Cassandra crossing¨ was a hit at European box office . This typical epic disa

I happened to catch this film today on a cable channel. It was worth watching again. Unlike other disaster films, this film was an original set on a train with a plague ridden passenger. Aboard this Paris bound train, it's changed to a place in Poland which was a concentration camp to quarantine the passengers. What the passengers don't know is that they have to cross "The Cassandra Crossing" which is poorly constructed bridge in Poland that can't handle the train's weight. Even the former residents have left living there because of the bridge's danger. I thought this film has a lot of thrilling sequences even with the seventies music and score by Jerry Goldsmith. The cast is first rate with the late Richard Harris (who should have been knighted), Sophia Loren, Martin Sheen, Ava Gardner, Lee Strasberg, even O.J. Simpson is cast in an unusual role. I haven't watched anything with Simpson since 1994. I thought Lee Strasberg was brilliant as was Burt Lancaster and Ingrid Thulin as well.

The Cassandra Crossing fmovies. An infected terrorist escapes from a Geneva chemical institute and carries a deadly plague to a European express train.

Coolly devised, fashionable, rather silly, but undeniably entertaining and spectacular disaster thriller with an abundance of topical pulp elements, handsome production, superficial writing, a curious lack of cinematic invention, and nothing much for its star cast to do. Watching it now, one can observe many components clearly influencing today's filmmakers.

This is not one of those soulless, uninteresting all-star packages of the '70s, like "The Towering Inferno" or one of those pseudo-artsy "entertainments" like "The French Connection"; it's a vigorously directed, tightly edited thriller that grabs you by the throat right from the opening sequence and keeps its grip throughout. Sure, it contains most of the expected disaster-movie cliches (peculiar love-hate relationships between characters played by big stars of the era, useless supporting roles - especially Ava Gardner's -, etc...), but the directing is so efficient, and Burt Lancaster is so convincingly hateful, that you find yourself completely absorbed. In my opinion, a first-rate movie, with a spectacular finish. (***)

A trainload of European and American travelers becomes doomed when a medical terrorist infected with bubonic plague stows away and brings the deadly disease on board. As a way of taking care of the mess, the military solution, which wins out over the medical one, in your typical heated and ongoing debate between a colonel and a doctor, is to seal the train shut, occupy it with well-armed soldiers dressed in white jumpsuits and gas masks, and then send them all to the "Cassandra Crossing", a high metal bridge spanning a river far below, that's just waiting for a reason to collapse. However, a passenger rebellion is organized that's quite exciting, as OJ Simpson (a cop) teams with Richard Harris (a doctor) and Martin Sheen (a heroin addict and the companion of Ava Gardner), to free the train, and somehow disconnect the cars. Given a little more drama and attention, the rebellion could have really made this film great, but the film fits into a suitable conclusion that doesn't do much justice to the issues it deals with.