The Cassandra Crossing

Cinephile deep dive

The take

George P. Cosmatos directs. Ennio Guarnieri behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Roberto Silvi cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Italian, German, Swedish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 150 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Dialogue crosses 5 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Swedish.
• 3International production across 4 countries: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States of America.
• 4Directed by George P. Cosmatos, shot by Ennio Guarnieri. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Roberto Silvi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Sophia Loren and Richard Harris and Martin Sheen carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "The Fear Is Spreading".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0074292 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 18 themes, including "suicide", "quarantine", "hippie", "bridge".
• 11Released under 41 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Ennio Guarnieri

Original score

Jerry Goldsmith

Editing

Roberto Silvi

Production design

Aurelio Crugnola

Costume design

Adriana Berselli

Runtime

129 min · 2h 9m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$6,000,000

Box office

$15,300,000

Return

255% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Cassandra Crossing (1976) ↗

Also by

George P. Cosmatos

• 
  Tombstone

  1993 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Rambo: First Blood Part II

  1985 · ★ 6.7
• 
  Massacre in Rome

  1973 · ★ 6.3
• 
  Cobra

  1986 · ★ 6.2
• 
  Leviathan

  1989 · ★ 6.0
• 
  Of Unknown Origin

  1983 · ★ 5.8

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Cassandra Crossing (1976) - Trailer HD 1080p

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2021-09-27
  ★ 6/10

  The Horror Express A passenger train traveling from Geneva, Switzerland, to Stockholm, Sweden, is infected by a strain of pneumonic plague via a terrorist. Under questionable orders, the US Colonel in charge of the situation (Burt Lancaster) reroutes the train to Poland where it has to cross a long defunct steel arch bridge. “The Cassandra Crossing” (1976) is a disaster thriller that’s part train movie and part plague flick. It’s not great like the later “Runaway Train” (1985) nor as good as “Outbreak” (1995), but it’s almost on par with “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory” (1995). Besides Lancaster as the Colonel, the impressive cast includes: Ingrid Thulin as the doctor the Colonel contends with; Richard Harris as a famous neurologist; Sophia Loren his ex-wife; Lee Strasberg a Holocaust survivor; Ava Gardner a wealthy aging lady; Martin Sheen her dubious boy toy; OJ Simpson a “priest”; Ann Turkel a hippie-ish musician; and John Phillip Law the Colonel’s subordinate. Comparing this to the highest standard of 70’s disaster flicks, “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), it’s just not as compelling because “Poseidon” has superior human interest, a more remarkable challenge and better women. Parts of it are quite good though, even great, like the superb sky-view cinematography and the score by Jerry Goldsmith. The last act is thrilling and worth the price of admission, but the first 90 minutes contains too many tedious parts with characters you don’t much care about. Sophia still looks good at 41 during filming whereas Richard Harris was 45, but looks older. Gardner was 53 during shooting and also looks older, but then the last movie I saw her in debuted a dozen years earlier wherein she was still alluring. Hey, age happens. The film runs 2 hours, 8 minutes. Interiors were shot at Cinecittà studios in Rome with exteriors done in France and Switzerland. The steel arch bridge pictured in the movie is in reality the Garabit Viaduct in southern France, designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1880-1884, who later constructed the Eiffel tower. GRADE: B-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• IN

  International Cine Productions

• AS

  Associated General Films

• 

  ITC Entertainment

  GB

Key crew

• Special EffectsAldo Gasparri
• Set DecorationMario Liverani
• EditorRoberto Silvi
• Executive ProducerGiancarlo Pettini
• EditorFrançoise Bonnot
• Production DesignAurelio Crugnola
• ProducerCarlo Ponti
• Costume DesignAdriana Berselli
• Special EffectsRoberto Pignotti

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• suicide
• quarantine
• hippie
• bridge
• train crash
• murder
• drug dealing
• doctor
• train
• terrorism
• disease
• drugs
• dog
• plague
• disaster movie
• suicide bomber
• germ warfare
• fake priest

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1977-02-09R

Also known as

International titles

• Cassandra CrossingIT
• På andra sidan bronSE
• Cassandra-broenDK
• Перевал КассандрыRU
• El puente de CasandraES
• 카산드라 크로싱KR
• カサンドラ・クロスJP
• Bestemming CassandraNL
• The Planet of HorrorsUS
• Το πέρασμα της ΚασσάνδραςGR
• Kassandra geçidiTR
• Cassandran siltaFI
• Kassandran siltaFI
• Bron över KassandraFI
• Treffpunkt TodesbrückeDE