The Cassandra Crossing
| The Cassandra Crossing | |
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| Directed by | George Pan Cosmatos |
| Produced by | Carlo Ponti Lew Grade (executive) |
| Screenplay by | Tom Mankiewicz Robert Katz George Pan Cosmatos |
| Story by | Robert Katz George Pan Cosmatos |
| Starring | Sophia Loren Richard Harris Burt Lancaster Martin Sheen O.J. Simpson Lee Strasberg Ava Gardner |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Ennio Guarnieri |
| Editing by | Roberto Silvi Françoise Bonnot |
| Studio | ITC Entertainment |
| Distributed by | AVCO Embassy Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 1976 |
| Running time | 129 Minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Cassandra Crossing is a 1976 British thriller film directed by George Pan Cosmatos and starring Richard Harris, Sophia Loren, Martin Sheen, Burt Lancaster, Lee Strasberg, Ava Gardner and O. J. Simpson.
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[edit] Plot
The plot hinges on two conflicts. The first concerns the existence of a strain of plague (vaguely identified as pneumonic) at the U.S. mission at the International Health Organization. Three terrorists seek to blow up the U.S. mission; two are shot, one mortally, by security personnel but one escapes. The surviving terrorist is hospitalized and quarentined and identified as Swedish. Dr. Elena Stradner (Ingrid Thulin) and U.S. Colonel Stephen Mackenzie (Burt Lancaster) (Military Intelligence assigned to the IHO) argue over the nature of the strain, which Stradner suspects is a biological weapon but which Colonel Mackenzie claims was in the process of being destroyed.
The third terrorist escapes and stows away on a transcontinental train bound from Geneva to Stockholm. Dr. Stradner believes that the train should be stopped so that the terrorist can be removed and quarantined, but Col. Mackenzie is concerned that all of the passengers on the train may have been infected. Mackenzie insists on rerouting the train to an abandoned ex-Nazi railroad line to a quarantine camp in Janov, Poland. However the line crosses a dangerously unsound steel arch bridge known as the Cassandra Crossing, out of use since 1948. Mackenzie understands that the bridge might collapse as the train passes over it.
The presence of the infected terrorist, and the rerouting of the train, precipitates the second conflict, among passengers on the train; they include Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain (Richard Harris), a famous neurologist, his ex-wife Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain (Sophia Loren), and Nicole Dressler (Ava Gardner), the wife of a German arms dealer. She is embroiled in an affair with her young companion Robby Navarro. Navarro is a heroin trafficker being pursued by FBI agent Haley, who is traveling undercover as a priest.
Mackenzie informs Dr. Chamberlain of the presence of the stowaway, who is found, but attempts to remove the stowaway via a helicopter are unsuccessful because the train enters a tunnel. Chamberlain is also told that the plague has a 60% mortality rate. Mackenzie, however, informs passengers that police have received reports of anarchist bombs placed along the rail line, and that the train will be rerouted to Nuremberg. There the train is sealed with an enclosed oxygen system and a U.S. Army medical team is placed aboard, with the now-deceased stowaway being placed in a hermetically-sealed coffin. Dr. Chamberlain learns of the risk of the Cassandra Crossing. He also begins to suspect the disease is not as serious as originally thought: few of the passengers have become infected and few of those have actually died. He radios MacKenzie suggesting the infected portion of the train be uncoupled and isolated, but MacKenzie has no intention of stopping the train: if the expected Cassandra Crossing collapse occurs it will neatly cover the fact that the U.S has been harboring germ warfare agents in a neutral country. Passengers on the train work alone to stop the train before it reaches the Cassandra Crossing.
The passengers manage to seize the back half of the train roughly 1 km before the bridge and detach it, hoping that with less weight, the front half will cross safely. But the bridge collapses, killing everyone aboard the front half. The back end applies the brakes and stops just before reaching the downed bridge.
[edit] Cast
- Sophia Loren as Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain
- Richard Harris as Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain
- Burt Lancaster as Col. Stephen MacKenzie
- Martin Sheen as Robby Navarro
- Lee Strasberg as Herman Kaplan
- Ava Gardner as Nicole Dressler
- O. J. Simpson as Haley
- Lionel Stander as Max (Train Conductor)
- Ingrid Thulin as Dr. Elena Stradner
- Alida Valli as Mrs. Chadwick
- John Phillip Law as Major Stark
- Ann Turkel as Susan
- Ray Lovelock as Tom
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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