Good concept, poorly executed.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I haven't seen this one in years and it's surprising how much actually stays in your memory. Luckily for me, a TV station that specialises in old movies and television dramas decided to show this flick. It was the star-studded cast that drew me to it, along with the storyline - I do like a good disaster film.The first thing I have to do is praise the opening sequence as being one of the best I've ever seen. It's a flight across Geneva to the World Health Organisation. It's such a steady and beautiful shot that it really sticks in my mind. We then find out why we're at the WHO. A terrorist group are about to break in and try to blow up the building. However, their attempt is foiled. Though, in the process, a couple of them are doused in a liquid that contains a fatally infectious disease. One of the two is shot on site, though the other makes it out of the building to escape into a nearby rail station and an awaiting train. Once onboard the audience is privileged to watch the spread of the infection as the escapee stumbles through the carriages.What adds to the power of the film is the interconnecting stories of the travellers on the train. Some are hiding secrets, some are hiding from life, some are trying to make the best of the life they have, and some are falling in love. The diversity of characters and their realism only adds strength to the story and film. Though I will say that the strongest and best character, for me, was Herman Kaplan who is brilliantly portrayed by Lee Strasberg.On the whole, the directing and story is pretty average, though there are a few good scenes, such as the helicopter pickup - this gets you on the edge of your seat. Then when we're coming to the climax the continual flashes to the dilapidated bridge do add an air of expectation and tension.If there is one drawback it's the length of the film. It could have done with losing a few minutes, just to tighten up the pace a little. But that's it. The ending is superb and actually sent a shiver down my spine and left a sarcastic smile on my face.This is a pretty good film to watch on a Sunday Afternoon when you're podged with Sunday Dinner. I would recommend this one to all the thriller and conspiracy lovers out there in the world, well worth a view or two.

The 1970s had a genre that many loved but which I personally hated....disaster films. They all had a couple things in common-- all-star casts filled with MANY 'special guests' and some sort of impending doom for them all. There was "Airport" with a plane about to crash due to a maniac with a bomb, "The Poseidon Adventure" with a ship that capsizes, "The Towering Inferno" with it's huge skyscraper ablaze, "Earthquake" with an entire region under attack from the forces of nature...not to mention the killer bee pics!! In general, the films were very superficial and if you've seen one you've pretty much seen 'em all.In the case of "The Cassandra Crossing" you have the basics of this formula. It all begins with three criminals or terrorists breaking into a government facility. The place holds deadly illnesses and in the process of stopping them, some of the crap in the containers is released and one of the criminals escapes. It's a bummer (good 70s lingo, huh?) and the infected criminal boards a train...and everyone aboard is now potentially going to die. But the Colonel in charge of this* (Burt Lancaster) decides that no one will leave the train...and the disease will run its course. And if that means holding everyone captive in the train, so be it. What does the bridge at Cassandra have to do with all this?Through the course of this very long movie, you see lots of soap opera-like stories unfold...the old Jew who is afraid because the train is being re-routed to Poland (where he was in a death camp during the war), the rich lady and her boy-toy, the special agent posing as a priest, the doctor and his ex-wife and more. None of the stories are all that engaging and are the usual genre stories. Overall, I found it to be a rather long-winded and occasionally dopey time passer--just the sort of thing that folks seemed to love back in the day but which is no longer popular (thank goodness). It's not a terrible movie (until the ending!)...but it is silly when you think about it. *Apart from this Colonel, you see no one in any authority handling this situation. This is odd...and odder still that only a Colonel is in charge of such an important case. And how can a mere Colonel get the governments in Switzerland, Germany and Poland to take directions from him? Also, when the passengers begin fighting against the trained soldiers, how is it that the passengers are so proficient and the soldiers are complete idiots?? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Hooray, another 70's disaster flick! I love them so much that I put up my own sort of five-point checklist for this genre. Five little traits to see whether a film is a cheesy and clichéd 'so-bad-it's-good' blockbuster guff … Or a surprisingly atypical and innovative hidden gem! The best thing about this checklist is that the audience always wins, regardless of the particular film passes or fails the test. If a film scores 3 points or more, you're guaranteed to have found an undemanding but fun popcorn film. If the film scores less, you might just have stumbled upon an original disaster film full of genuine shocks and effective surprise twists. "The Cassandra Crossing" scores pretty high on the scale, alas it's a prototypic 70's disaster movie with all the commonly known clichés and stereotypical characters. In all honesty I must admit I was hoping for a much better film in this case, however. The concept of a bacterial virus spreading itself amongst the unsuspecting passengers of an intercontinental express train offers so much potential greatness. There isn't any setting more appropriate for a disaster movie than an inescapable, claustrophobic high speed train! Unfortunately, the plot almost immediately reverts to all the dire clichés of traditional American disaster flicks. This is a European co- production and thus should have formed the unique occasion to handle things a little bit differently; like "Bullet Train" and "Virus" did for the Japanese disaster movies. We have a cast full of stereotypical characters muttering the most pitiably banal dialogs you can imagine (albeit they're all A-list stars and starlets), absurdly grotesque action sequences that might as well feature in any other disaster movie ever made, lousy attempts to evoke sentiments of empathy and plot twists you can see coming from multiple countries away. A Trio of Swedish terrorists break into the buildings of the International Health Organization in Geneva to plant a bomb, but their incentive fails thanks to some very alert security guards. Two of them die at the spot, but the third one escapes although exposed up close to bacteria containing a deadly and highly contagious pneumonic plague. The infected terrorist hops on the Intercontinental Express from Geneva to Stockholm, where he naturally comes into contact with many of the passengers, including children, a prominent neurologist and his ex-wife, a spoiled rich woman and her younger tomboy and an oddly behaving priest. Although local scientists are working hard to find a cure, the American Colonel McKenzie is very reluctant to call off the quarantine and even ordered for the train to alter its route towards a notorious former concentration camp in Poland via the ramshackle Cassandra Crossing. I'm not entirely sure if it were intentional (actually, I hope not) but George P. Cosmatos' script contains a few elements that leave a sour aftertaste. Basically the innocent plague carriers are being transported towards annihilation, like Jewish people were during WWII. I truly hope he's not comparing the victims of both situations.

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.