The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Directed by George Pan Cosmatos
Genres - Mystery, Culture & Society, Thriller |
Sub-Genres - Disaster Film, Action Thriller |
Release Date - Feb 9, 1977 (USA) |
Run Time - 125 min. |
Countries - Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, United States |
MPAA Rating - R
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Synopsis by Paul Brenner
This bizarre entry into the disaster film genre concerns a group of hapless passengers aboard a transcontinental luxury train who are infected with a viral plague by a group of terrorists. Burt Lancaster plays military man Mackenzie, who wants to send the train across a rickety bridge so all the passengers will die, with Mackenzie reasoning the tragedy will give the terrorist movement a bad name. Among the passengers on the train trying to build up antibodies are Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain (Sophia Loren); Nicole (Ava Gardner), who is embroiled in an affair with a younger man named Robby Navarro (Martin Sheen); and Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain (Richard Harris), a physician who wants to save the passengers but ends up duking it out with the terrorists.
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Keywords
plague, terrorist-attack, train [locomotive], virus