The Cassandra Crossing

In Brief: The Velveeta runs thick in this Lew Grade and Carlo Ponti co-production that tries cash in on the waning days of the 1970s disaster movie craze with this weird hybrid medical-thriller-and-disaster picture. The Cassandra Crossing (1976) is directed with minimum artistry by George Pan Costamos (who would change the Pan to "P" and go on to other things like Rambo: First Blood Part II). Filled with bad process work, and cursed with laughable model work, almost none of it works. What we have here is a train (just brimming with generally past-their-prime stars) hurtling toward possible doom so the world will be saved from — and will never know of — a deadly plague carried on board by a Swedish terrorist, who got it in an illegal American research facility. The whole thing is being overseen by stiff-backed Col. Burt Lancaster, who is more concerned with secrecy than the thousand souls aboard the train. Clunky dialogue, disinterested actors (some of whom ease their frustrations by overacting), a plot that doesn't make good sense and a general air of ennui don't help. Star-gazers and admirers of the disaster genre may get more out of it.