Sophia Loren

Richard Harris

Martin Sheen

O. J. Simpson

Ava Gardner

Burt Lancaster

Lionel Stander

Ann Turkel

Ingrid Thulin

Lee Strasberg

Lou Castel

John Phillip Law

Ray Lovelock

Alida Valli

Stefano Patrizi

Thomas Hunter

Angela Goodwin

Carlo De Mejo

John P. Dulaney

Fausta Avelli

George P. Cosmatos

Tom Mankiewicz

Robert Katz

Ennio Guarnieri

Carlo Ponti

Giancarlo Pettini

Jerry Goldsmith

Françoise Bonnot

Roberto Silvi

Aurelio Crugnola

Mario Liverani

Adriana Berselli

Aldo Gasparri

Roberto Pignotti

Action

Thriller

The Cassandra Crossing

International Cine Productions

Associated General Films

ITC Entertainment

Germany

Italy

United Kingdom

United States of America

_**The Horror Express**_

A passenger train traveling from Geneva, Switzerland, to Stockholm, Sweden, is infected by a strain of pneumonic plague via a terrorist. Under questionable orders, the US Colonel in charge of the situation (Burt Lancaster) reroutes the train to Poland where it has to cross a long defunct steel arch bridge.    

“The Cassandra Crossing” (1976) is a disaster thriller that’s part train movie and part plague flick. It’s not great like the later “Runaway Train” (1985) nor as good as “Outbreak” (1995), but it’s almost on par with “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory” (1995). 

Besides Lancaster as the Colonel, the impressive cast includes: Ingrid Thulin as the doctor the Colonel contends with; Richard Harris as a famous neurologist; Sophia Loren his ex-wife; Lee Strasberg a Holocaust survivor; Ava Gardner a wealthy aging lady; Martin Sheen her dubious boy toy; OJ Simpson a “priest”; Ann Turkel a hippie-ish musician; and John Phillip Law the Colonel’s subordinate.  

Comparing this to the highest standard of 70’s disaster flicks, “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), it’s just not as compelling because “Poseidon” has superior human interest, a more remarkable challenge and better women. Parts of it are quite good though, even great, like the superb sky-view cinematography and the score by Jerry Goldsmith. The last act is thrilling and worth the price of admission, but the first 90 minutes contains too many tedious parts with characters you don’t much care about.

Sophia still looks good at 41 during filming whereas Richard Harris was 45, but looks older. Gardner was 53 during shooting and also looks older, but then the last movie I saw her in debuted a dozen years earlier wherein she was still alluring. Hey, age happens.

The film runs 2 hours, 8 minutes. Interiors were shot at Cinecittà studios in Rome with exteriors done in France and Switzerland. The steel arch bridge pictured in the movie is in reality the Garabit Viaduct in southern France, designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1880-1884, who later constructed the Eiffel tower.

GRADE: B-