Avalanche Express (1979)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Colin Forbes (novel)
Abraham Polonsky (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 October 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

The Fast Track For All-Star Adventure.

Plot:

When a senior Russian official, Gen. Marenkov, decides to defect to the west, CIA agent Harry Wargrave is sent to lead the team to get him out...

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Train | Europe | Avalanche | CIA Agent

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Col. Harry Wargrave
Robert Shaw	...	General Marenkov
Linda Evans	...	Elsa Lang
Maximilian Schell	...	Nikolai Bunin
Joe Namath	...	Leroy
Horst Buchholz	...	Scholten (as Horst Bucholz)
Mike Connors	...	Haller
Claudio Cassinelli	...	Molinari
Kristina Nel	...	Helga Mann
David Hess	...	Geiger
Günter Meisner	...	Muehler (as Günter Meissner)
Sylva Langova	...	Olga (as Sylvia Langova)
Cyril Shaps	...	Sedov
Vladek Sheybal	...	Zannbin (as Vladets Shebal)
Arthur Brauss	...	Neckerman

Runtime:

Ireland:88 min | UK:85 min | USA:88 min

Country:

USA | Ireland

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1979) | Finland:K-16 (1989) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | UK:PG | USA:PG

Company:

Lorimar Productions (Ireland) Ltd.

Trivia:

Rich Little dubbed virtually all of 'Robert Shaw''s dialogue, but insisted he not be paid as he was a big admirer of Shaw.

Joe Namath is AMAZING as Leroy!!

Where do you start? With Robert Shaw's dubbed voice? The clear as day models used instead of real trains? Joe Namath acting as 'Leroy' as if he's important to the film? or the plot? This film is atrocious in so many ways - maybe it's because the film was cursed? Robson and Shaw both died during the making of this film.

Watch the opening credits - and see a MODEL train, fake snow, models of mountains - oh, it's so bad it makes Ed Wood's films look good! Lee Marvin looks confused, Linda Evans acts like she's passing gas most of the time, and Joe Namath - well, he acts like Joe Namath, not the 'Leroy' he should be playing.

The film's plot just plods along and is inane and boring. The strange 'plot twists' aren't that - they are just ho-hum clichés of espionage thrillers.

What a film, a bad film, a piece of garbage. Why doesn't Warner Bros break out a widescreen 2 disc special edition of this turkey? just to make a profit? I'm sure some Linda Evans fans would buy it.

And oh yeah, the guy who played Reinhardt in 'The Black Hole' is in this as well.