The Cassandra Crossing
Encyclopedia
The Cassandra Crossing is a 1976 British
disaster film
directed by George Pan Cosmatos
and starring Richard Harris
, Ava Gardner
, Sophia Loren
, Martin Sheen
, Burt Lancaster
, Lee Strasberg
and O. J. Simpson
.
) at the U.S.
mission at the International Health Organization (based on the World 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. The movie ends with the rear passengers walking away.
in southern France
, built from 1880 to 1884 by Gustave Eiffel
, who later constructed the famous Eiffel tower
.
At the beginning of the film passengers arrive at Geneva railway station to embark on the train. The scenes were shot at Basel
central train station. Where Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain enters the station the green coloured trams (belonging to the Basel public transport company BVB), and Basel's Central Station Square can be seen in the background.
The studio artwork shows a typical US diesel locomotive that doesn't resemble anything seen in the film, along with a pantograph
for overhead electric wires.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
directed by George Pan Cosmatos
George Pan Cosmatos
George Pan Cosmatos was a Greek/Italian film director. After studying film in London, he became assistant director to Otto Preminger on Exodus , Leon Uris's epic about the birth of Israel. Thereafter he worked on Zorba the Greek , in which Cosmatos had a small part as Boy with Acne...
and starring Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
, Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
and O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
.
Plot
The plot hinges on two conflicts. The first concerns the existence of a strain of plague (vaguely identified as pneumonicPneumonic plague
Pneumonic plague, a severe type of lung infection, is one of three main forms of plague, all of which are caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is more virulent and rare than bubonic plague...
) at the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mission at the International Health Organization (based on the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
). 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
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Dr. Elena Stradner (Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
) and U.S. Colonel Stephen Mackenzie (Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
) (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
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. 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
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
railroad line to a quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
camp in Janov, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. However the line crosses a dangerously unsound steel arch bridge known as the Cassandra
Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
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
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
), a famous neurologist, his ex-wife Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain (Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
), and Nicole Dressler (Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
), 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
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
.
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
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. 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
Hermetic seal
A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...
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. The movie ends with the rear passengers walking away.
Cast
- Sophia LorenSophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
as Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain - Richard HarrisRichard HarrisRichard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
as Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain - Ava GardnerAva GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
as Nicole Dressler - Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
as Col. Stephen MacKenzie - Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
as Robby Navarro - Lee StrasbergLee StrasbergLee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
as Herman Kaplan - O. J. SimpsonO. J. SimpsonOrenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
as Haley - Lionel StanderLionel StanderLionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
as Max (Train Conductor) - Ingrid ThulinIngrid ThulinIngrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
as Dr. Elena Stradner - Alida ValliAlida ValliAlida Valli , sometimes simply credited as Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films, including Mario Soldati's Piccolo mondo antico, Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case, Carol Reed's The Third Man, Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido, Luchino Visconti's Senso, Bernardo...
as Mrs. Chadwick - John Phillip LawJohn Phillip LawJohn Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
as Major Stark - Ann TurkelAnn TurkelAnn Kathryn Turkel is an American actress and model.Turkel studied at the Musical Theatre Academy.She was photographed for American Vogue...
as Susan - Ray LovelockRay Lovelock (actor)Ray Lovelock , is a film and television actor primarily known in Europe.-Early life:Lovelock's mother was Italian and his father was English. They met during the Allied occupation of Italy in World War II...
as Tom
Production
The bridge depicted in the film is actually the Garabit viaductGarabit viaduct
The Garabit Viaduct is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truyère river near Ruynes-en-Margeride , Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region. The bridge was constructed between 1880 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin, and was opened in 1885...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, built from 1880 to 1884 by Gustave Eiffel
Gustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French structural engineer from the École Centrale Paris, an architect, an entrepreneur and a specialist of metallic structures...
, who later constructed the famous Eiffel tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
.
At the beginning of the film passengers arrive at Geneva railway station to embark on the train. The scenes were shot at Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
central train station. Where Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain enters the station the green coloured trams (belonging to the Basel public transport company BVB), and Basel's Central Station Square can be seen in the background.
The studio artwork shows a typical US diesel locomotive that doesn't resemble anything seen in the film, along with a pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
for overhead electric wires.