Avalanche Express

This regular action tale contains thrills , intrigue , tension , excitement galore , entertainment and loads of falling snow . Suspenseful spy movie packs exceptional plethora of prestigious actors incarnating the motley group of spies for this All-Star Adventure and sadly ending picture for both , actor Robert Shaw who was very ill during filming and filmmaker Mark Robson . This his last movie was a jinx , appropriately titled ¨Avalancha express¨. Soviet KGB General Marenkov (Robert Shaw who died during its production) defects to the Americans and together with his CIA handler Harry Wargrave (Lee Marvin , he is mentioned in the novel the movie is based on) they plan an operation meant to reveal the Russians are attempting to develop biological weapons and several KGB agents in Europe . During the trail they must survive a lot of dangers : spy-catchers , terrorist attacks , crossfire , double-crosses and avalanches . All planned by a Russian top agent named Col. Nikolai Bunin (Maximilian Schell) . As the route of the train journey on the "Atlantic Express" , was from Milan, Italy to Rotterdam, Holland.

This exciting film contains noisy action , thrills , shootouts and results to be mediocre . And a great cast though wasted formed by the Hollywood Wax Museum . Besides , a large support cast such as Maximilian Schell , Joe Namath , Horst Buchholz , Mike Connors , Claudio Cassinelli , David Hess , Sky du Mont , Dan Van Husen and Günter Meisner . The picture has elements of ¨disaster genre¨ as when a train is threatened by lots and lots of falling snow . Passable acting by trio protagonist : Lee Marvin , Robert Shaw and Linda Evans . Robert Shaw is acceptable as KGB head who tries to defect , Shaw passed away during filmmaking , in fact most of his dialog had to be dubbed by a mimic . Colorful cinematography in Panavision by Jack Cardiff , though uncredited . Thrilling as well as atmospheric musical score by Allyn Ferguson .

Lavishly produced by Guthrie and Robson with a reported budget of $12 million , it was the most expensive film project shooting in Europe . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Mark Robson , though the film's closing credit tells the following : "The producers wish to express their appreciation to Monte Hellman and Gene Corman for their post production services¨ . In the early 40s Mark Robson was much involved with the low-budget terror unit in charge of producer Val Lewton , for whom made ¨Seventh victim¨, ¨The ghost ship¨, and ¨Island of the dead¨. In the late 1940s Robson joined Stanley Kramer's independent company and directed his biggest commercial hit to date with ¨The champion¨. Years later Robson made another good film about corruption in boxing world titled ¨The harder they fall¨ with Humphrey Bogart. In the late 1960s, his work did decline . And of course , ¨Von Ryan Express¨ was one of his best films ; this one is certainly one of the best movies ever made about the WWII escapes . And this ¨Avalanche Express¨ turned out to be an unfortunate film in which Robson and his main star , Robert Shaw, died suddenly from heart attacks . As Monte Hellman finished the direction and Gene Corman -brother of Roger Corman- completed Robson's duties as producer . In spite of a top-notch cast , spectacular images , tense images and noisy action , all of them don't make this one a good effort of its kind . This is an ordinary spy movie , being a little boring and embarrassing . Rating : 5 .

A would-be epic Cold War actioner, AVALANCHE EXPRESS is one of those all-star-cast '70s disaster-style movies. This one's adapted from a Colin Forbes novel, featuring Robert Shaw (who died during production) as a defecting Russian agent who must flee on a train across Europe while being pursued by his murderous countrymen. Luckily, he has tough guy Lee Marvin on hand to protect him.

The film's directed by Mark Robson (who also died during production), who once upon a time made some chilly Boris Karloff flicks like BEDLAM and ISLE OF THE DEAD. Sadly, it's a bit of an inglorious exit for both star and director, as this is a strictly ordinary movie that feels strained throughout. The narrative veers between muddled and boring, which is never a good sign.

The calibre of the writing just isn't up to much, and while the various action bits are okay, they aren't anywhere near of a quality to make this a decent production. Instead we get a cast going through autopilot for the most part; Marvin is hardly stretched and Shaw is too ill to do much. Maximilian Schell is totally non-threatening as the villain (and what's up with that ridiculous disguise?), and the less said about Linda Evans's wooden turn the better. The most fun comes from seeing cult actors like David Hess and Claudio Cassinelli in minor parts.

With a cast as talented and diverse as the one assembled for this espionage-cum-disaster caper, the expectations are great. The execution is sadly lacking. Robson's last film concerns a Russian military defector (Shaw), aided by CIA agents (Marvin, Evans & Connors principally), pursued by a Russian patriot (Schell) determined to capture or kill his quarry. Amid all the frantic chases, double-crosses and narrative cul-de-sacs, an avalanche threatens to derail a train carrying the defector and his minders. Cobbled patchwork of a feature film, with erratic editing and a plot so riddled with contrivances, that you're confounded by the fuss. Why it wasn't made more simply is obvious - the storyline is so aimless and superficial, there's just not enough material to sustain a feature length movie.

Disappointingly pedestrian performances from Shaw, Marvin, Evans and Connors lend very little to the quality of the picture, while Schell at least applies some effort in his stereotypical Cold-War silhouette. He also has the best of the uninspired dialogue. Former NFL star Joe Namath isn't bad as one of the good guys, and Kristina Nel (where's Marthe Keller?) makes a reasonable terrorist. With names like Horst Buchholz, Claudio Cassinelli and Vladek Sheybul in bit parts, the opportunities for success were endless. Sadly, none of it comes to fruition.

If you were expecting some improvement from the foreshadowed avalanche, you'll be disappointed to learn that it's anticipation is more exciting than the execution. Although there's a few decent action sequences and colourful location work, mostly the film is just talky and pointless. Notwithstanding the well documented challenges encountered making this film (i.e. the death of both director Robson and star Shaw), it's difficult to imagine how much better this film could've been had they both lived to see completion. Maybe better they didn't, although it's a great shame that this underachievement is their collective swansong.

The ONLY reason "Avalanche Express" will ever be mentioned again is that actor Robert Shaw died while the film was in production. Sadly even his voice is heard only briefly in two scenes. The rest of his lines had to be dubbed.

It is one of those goofy espionage thrillers with a large cast of mostly has beens that were popular in the 70's. Where else can you see a movie with Joe Namath, Linda Evans, AND Lee Marvin? Yes, bad movie lovers, this is the film for you.

For fans of Shaw , probably any other film he made is better then this one. Pay tribute to this fine actor by watching "The Sting," "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3," "Jaws," or "Black Sunday." Let this drivel disappear into oblivion as it was meant to.

This movie is fairly entertaining. It has good action scenes, especially the avalanche (although it looks phony by today's standards). Lee Marvin gives conviction to his role of a Colonel in trying to get a Soviet defector safely to the United States and trying to stop a Soviet biological war plot. Linda Evans is always beautiful and seems credible in her role. Maximilian Schell is very good as the villainous Russian agent determined to stop him. Unfortunately, Robert Shaw is miscast as the Soviet general trying to defect. This was Shaw's last film and he was obviously badly dubbed by another actor because he was so ill his voice was so weak. His performance is understandably hurt by these two problems. Also: can you really take a movie seriously that has Joe Namath (yes that Joe Namath) as a spy. This is a mixed bag that gets a 5/10