The Cassandra Crossing
1976 UK
Dir: George Pan Cosmatos
Str: Richard Harris, Sophia Loren, Burt
Lancaster, Ava Gardner
Is this movie actually a turkey movie as many reviewers said?
According to Mick Martin & Marsha Porter's Video Movie Guide, The
Cassandra Crossing is a turkey, and it is simply dismissed with just one line telling "A plague infected
train heads for a weakened bridge". Then, some Japanese movie review says that there is a critical error in
this movie. Firstly, I thought what's that? But as I read the review, it eventually turned out to be a very subtle
flaw. That is, the direction of the flow of the scenery viewed from the inside of the train through a window suddenly
changes from one scene to another being only separated by a very brief intervening scene in-between. I had never
noticed such a mysterious phenomenon despite the fact, by then, I had watched the movie at least five times. So
I watched again, and confirmed it's true. But, so what? Even the most observant viewer wouldn't notice it unless
s/he knew in advance the presence of that very flaw. I don't know how the reviewer could find it. But, anyway,
I can understand what he wants to say; that is, if there is such a scene as described above, it, no matter how
trivial, may well prove the attitude of the director, and, therefore, there must be many of this kind of flaws
other than that. Honestly saying, I must confess it's true there are many. Before mentioning them, it would be
necessary to explain the story.
What an unbelievable story! A member of a terrorist group
carries deadly virus aboard on the international train, and the
train
proceeds head first to the abyss of dilapidated bridge "Cassandra
Crossing".
The story begins with the scene where two members of a terrorist group try
to assault the huge building of some kind of world health organization located upon in Geneva by sneaking into
it, though I don't know what kind of business the terrorist group has with that institution. Unfortunately for
them, they are caught sight of by a watchman. When they try to escape, they are trapped in a laboratory that preserves
a lot of specimens of various diseases. One of them is shot to kill. Another manages to escape the building, but
not before being contaminated by deadly virus as a bullet shattered a glass vial containing it. After that, he
embarks on an international express train, which means all of the passengers of that train will be exposed to the
most dangerous virus human being has ever known. However, there always is a hero in this kind of movies. The
Cassandra Crossing isn't an exception for that. It turns out that a world famous doctor (played by always overacting
Richard Harris) is also aboard on that doomed train with his ex-wife (played by always too much makeup Sophia Loren).
Meanwhile, Colonel MacKenzie (played by at that time always playing bureaucrat Burt Lancaster) sets up the headquaters
for countering this international disaster. He contacts Harris on the train, and instructs him to find out the
plagued terrorist who might be dead by that time. Although he finds out the terrorist, eventually the terrorist
dies. By this time, many of the passengers have got sick. Now, the train has become a none-stop deathtrap because
Lancaster doesn't want to stop it, the ostensible reason of which is to prevent the plague from spreading all over
Europe by the plague-infected passengers sneaking out of his control. Finally, Lancaster makes a decision to completely
seal the train off from the rest of the world, and take them to a facility situated in Poland, which means the
train will have to cross the bridge known by the name "The Cassandra Crossing" whose stability is in
question especially for those who once lived near it, but not necessarily so for Lancaster. Thus, the train embarking
hundreds of passengers goes straight ahead toward the abyss despite the fact many passengers are gradually recovering
from their illness by the effect of oxygen, not by the endeavor of the world famous doctor, i.e. Richard Harris.
The rest of the plot I'm not going tell, for the movie belongs to a category of suspense movie, and complete divulgence
of its plot might water down the element of suspense.
Here, I've enumerated many of flaws of this movie. If you try, you
will be able to find out more.
As I said before, I myself can enumerate several flaws of this movie, the purpose
of which, however, is by no means to debase the entire movie; in that case, I wouldn't have written on it in the
first place (I've never written any review about a movie that is not my favorite at all). First example; it's strange
that only three staffs (Burt Lancaster, Inglid Thulin, John Phillip Law) are dealing with this international disaster
at the headquarters. I am even wondering if they might have tried to cut the budget for making this movie. Second
example; it's strange that main characters but Martin Sheen never contract the plague despite the fact the probability
of catching it is supposed to be 60%. I think that 30% would have been sufficient enough to convince the audience
that they didn't get it because of sheer chance, even though still 30% would be unacceptable statistically. But,
I can easily guess that it is likely that they might have considered that saying 30% might have given the impression
that the plague wasn't so deadly after all, and delute the overall effect of the movie as a suspenser. Third example;
it's strange that when Lancaster is stalling about the matter that the train is going ahead to Germany instead
of France by saying bombs have been set up all over the railway in France by some terrorists, no one doubts the
credability of that cockamamy story other than just fussing about their own situation. Why the train should go
ahead to Germany without stopping at any station in order to detour France that has only temporarily become dangerous,
I can't surely understand. But, anyway, I've never been to Europe. So, this might not be so strange for those who
have long been living in Europe. Especially, Japanese tend to consider the national borders to be very strict,
for Japan doesn't have any national border line on land. Therefore, the impression might exist only in my imagination.
Fourth example; it's strange that Martin Sheen who once, by his cowardice, rejected to go ahead to the engine car
to control the whole train by advancing on the top of the roofs of the train tries to do so once again by inching
through the side of the train where he can secure his foothold only on the marginal edge of corrugated iron. Do
you think inching through the side of a train like a crab is easier than advancing on the top of the roofs of a
train? He who thinks so (obviously Martin Sheen is one of such) must be utterly crazy even if he is once a prominent
mountaineer. Fifth example; it's strange that the world famous doctor (Richard Harris) shows his efficiency only
by his mascle power, but never by his speciality, i.e. medical practice. Although I stop enumerating the flaws
at this point, if you try, you will certainly be able to find several others, I guarantee. Additionally saying,
this movie also has a scene where a girl is singing a song. The reason why I said "also" is because,
in the 1970s, it seems to have become a tradition of disaster or panic movies that, somewhere in the movie, a girl
sings a love song. For example, "Wherever love takes me" in "Gold"(1974), "The
Morning After" in "The Poseidon Adventure"(1972), and "We may never love like this again"
in "The towering Inferno"(1974). I remember that the later two got the Oskar, and that all of
them were excellent songs. But, the song sung in The Cassandra Crossing is disastrous, more disastrous than
the virus itself. I even wonder that the same Jerry Goldsmith who composed the excellent opening theme played by
a full orchestra also composed this rubbish too. Quite doubtful.
In spite of all of what I've said, The Cassandra Crossing is still fun
to watch. This movie should be considered as a suspense movie,
not
as mere another panic movie that was quite flourishing in the
1970s.
I think I've said too many negative aspects of this movie. Nevertheless, I
have no intention of disposing of it as just one of those crap movies. As I said before, I've never reviewed any
movie that I consider is a total shit except mentioning it in the reviews of other movies as a bad example. So,
I'm considering that The Cassandra Crossing is still fun to watch. I'm going to explain why I think so.
In the 1970s, there appeared many disaster and panic movies. The Cassandra Crossing can be regarded as one
of them. However, being different from those movies such as "Earthquake"(1974) or "The
Towering Inferno", The Cassandra Crossing has suspense elements. Because, as a premise, the passengers
on the train don't know exactly what is happening, and, therefore, they are always anxious and nervous about whatever
might happen (Incidentally, one of the causes for this uncertainty seems to be brought about ironically by the
very presence of the buaurocratic efficiency of Burt Lancaster, the purpose of which, contrary to this outcome,
must have been to reduce the uncertainty itself. Therefore, it could be said that, by the presence of Burt Lancaster,
the buaurocratic way of crisis handling might be being criticized by this movie, though I have no intention of
explicating this aspect, for I think there might be dozens of other good movies for such kind of matter.). On the
other hand, in the case of "Earthquake", as the earthquake is instantaneous, which means it is
either all or nothing, so people either don't know anything about the earthquake before it happens, or know exactly
what has happened after it happened. Therefore, here no element of suspense by definition. In the case of "The
Towering Inferno", they all know what has happened once the fire started. So, it certainly causes panic
and fright, but not anxiety that is the essense of suspense movies. And, there is another thing. Other panic or
disaster movies are lacking the element of movement. By contrast, most of the scenes of The Cassandra Crossing
takes place in a rapidly moving train. Furthermore, the fact that most of the scenes takes place in rapidly moving
vehicle doesn't by itself ensure that the audience will get the feeling of rapid movement out of the movie in question.
For example, on an airplane, there is no suggestion of rapid movement becaude of the lack of static objects comparing
to which viewers can feel tremendous speed of that airplane. Anyway, I quess it's impossible for oridinary people
to feel real speed of an airplane, for it's beyond human ability to handle its own sensory input. In short, usual
people would never be able to feel real speed of an airplane directly. And, also I think that speed is a notion
involving relativity, which means the speed of a certain object is only knowable through comparisons to other objects.
Anyway, in this respect, The Cassandra Crossing certainly has the feel of rapid movement due to the fact
that most of the scenes takes place in a train moving through beautifully shot scenery of European continent. And,
therefore, the audience will certainly be able to feel very easily the speed of that ill-fated train, and, at the
same time, by it, the tension coming from suspense elements will all the more mount effectively. If any doubt,
I can say the most notable example of this effect can also be seen in the marvelous movie "Runnaway Train"(1985).
Just watch the train running against the background of beautiful
scenary of Europe.
Although I must confess that the reason why I like the movie might be affected
by the fact that I like to just get on a train, and go wherever it goes, I think, even so, it's unfair to dismiss
the movie so quickly as many reviewers have ever done. Additionally saying, Jerry Goldsmith's gorgeous full-orchestrated
scores seem to have succeeded in considerably augmenting the atmosphere of the movie too. To tell the truth, I
feel I've spent too much space for writing negative aspects on this movie, but, as I said before, I am still thinking
that The Cassandra Crossing is, nevertheless, fun to watch. So, forget all those flaws, and watch the train
running against the background of beautiful scenery of Europe. It's quite exhilarating too.