Tockinit not horrible nor great

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

minch007 recently watched this one again after about 30 years, I well remember being pretty freaked out by it as a kid and realised it probably influenced me to seek out the thrill of disaster movies and the yuck factor/suspense of plague movies ever since. So I would have to count it as one of the most influential movies for me personally. Seeing it again, I enjoyed it on other levels...the impressive cast, the melodramatic score, the clever camera work, and the 70's style (especially the control room technology). It still has the suspense and something else I totally missed seeing it as a kid...a conspiracy element. Movies of this era lack the technical sophistication of more recent ones but can more than make up for it with the extra attention given to the craft of movie-making, basically everyone seems to take their jobs more seriously which can result in a film that the audience can take seriously too, essential for a plot that relies heavily on suspense. In sum, despite some corny moments, some inconsistent pacing and the odd plot hole, Cassandra Crossing is a better disaster movie than most, with a genuinely non-Hollywood ending that doesn't disappoint.

Michael_Elliott Cassandra Crossing, The (1977) *** (out of 4) Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Lee Strasberg, Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster pick up paychecks in this 70's disaster film that seems to have been forgotten over the years. Three terrorists try to blow up a hospital in Geneva but things go even worse when one comes into contact with a Bubonic Plague and escapes capture. The sick man then jumps on board a train and soon a government man (Lancaster) isn't going to let anyone off. A doctor (Harris) and his ex-wife (Loren) try to help those on board but things take an even bigger turn when they learn they have to cross a bridge that won't hold the weight of the train. It seems this film hasn't the reputation of some of the more popular disaster films, which is a little surprising because this here is a pretty good movie in its own right. Perhaps the government propaganda gets in the way for some but this was only one minor issue in the film. For the most part it featured some pretty fun performances, a tense story and an ending that I didn't see coming. Simpson as a preacher was pretty funny before the twist as was Sheen playing the boy-toy to Gardner. Gardner seems to be having the time of her life playing the diva and barking orders to the younger man. Both Loren and Harris turn in fine performances and I thought their melodrama actually worked pretty well. Lancaster plays a guy you really love to hate and he too delivers a fine performance. The film certainly deserves its R-rating as we also get some pretty graphic violence along the way so be sure you're not watching the edited down PG version. In the end I'm really not sure why this film seems to have been forgotten but fans of the genre will certainly want to check it out. While it's certainly more political than some of the films that came before it, there's still plenty here to enjoy.

Syl 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.

thinker1691 It's amazing how Hollywood can so dramatize a real story, making it nearly unrecognizable from the truth. There was a tiny article written in a French newspaper describing the theft of a bio-chemical or a plague-like virus stolen from a Swiss Laboratory in 1970. The item was soon recovered. Not long after this movie " The Cassandra Crossing " appeared in movie theaters. The story? A laboratory theft of a deadly virus, by inept thieves who then escape, boarding a commuter train. Not realizing their infectious condition, they expose everyone on board. When the European authorities take control they appoint a Col. Stephen Mackenzie (Burt Lancaster) to take strict measures to quarantine all the passengers and forbid them to get off the train. The military's plan is to allow the sealed train to make for a dangerous and dilapidated rail crossing where the whole train can be destroyed along with its entire compliment of terrified passengers. Unaware of these lethal procedures and distrusting of the military is passenger/doctor Jonathan Chamberlain (Richard Harris) who having been advised by Dr. Elena Stradner (Ingrid Thulin) who works for the Laboratory, understands the Col's concern, but is suspicious by the cryptic answers he is given. A whole plethora of Hollywood stars emerge to enhance this dramatic triller. Among the more interesting are Martin Sheen, Lionel Stander, Lee Strasberg, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner and John Phillip Law. Although there is much excitement and dark drama exercised in the film, some of it becomes campy and disingenuous. Nevertheless, the movie has become something of a cult Classic to be enjoyed by all. I would venture it's due to Lancaster's seriousness. ****