Blast from the Past:
Cycle of Disaster Movies, 1970-1979
George Pan Cosmatos directed The Cassandra Crossing, a disaster thriller, starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, Burt Lancaster, Lee Strasberg and O. J. Simpson.
Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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With the backing of the media tycoon Sir Lew Grade (head of British broadcast network Associated TV) and the Italian producer Carlo Ponti, the international ensemble was expected to attract widespread audiences. The producers were so confident about success that rights were old prior to filming, to British and American distributors.
Ponti also saw the production as a showcase for his wife, Sophia Loren, then at the height of her international fame
The take concerns a diseased Swedish terrorist who infects a cross-European train of passengers as they head to a derelict arch bridge which is liable to collapse.
When the existence of a plague (vaguely described as pneumonic) is revealed at the US mission at the International Health Organization, three terrorists seek to blow up the US mission. Two of them are shot by security personnel, one mortally, the other escapes. Hospitalized and quarantined, the surviving terrorist is identified as Swedish.
Elena Stradner and U.S. military intelligence Colonel Stephen Mackenzie argue over the nature of the strain, which Stradner suspects is a biological weapon, which Colonel Mackenzie was in the process of being destroyed.
The movie was more popular in foreign (non-English speaking) markets than in the U.S. or U.K.
Credits:
Directed by George Pan Cosmatos
Screenplay by Tom Mankiewicz, Robert Katz, Cosmatos; Story by Katz, Cosmatos
Produced by Carlo Ponti, Lew Grade
Starring Sophia Loren
Richard Harris
Burt Lancaster
Ava Gardner
Martin Sheen
O. J. Simpson
Lee Strasberg
Cinematography Ennio Guarnieri
Edited by Roberto Silvi
Françoise Bonnot
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release dates: Dec 18, 1976 (Italy & Japan); Feb 9, 1977 (U.S.); March 31, 1977 (UK)
Running time: 129 minutes
