CIA agent Harry Wargrave is sent to aid Gen. Marenkov, a senior Russian official, who is defecting to the west. Wargrave decides they should travel to safety on a train across Europe, the "Atlantic Express". During the journey, they must survive attacks by terrorists and an avalanche, all planned by Russian spy-catcher Nikolai Bunin.
Lee Marvin Robert Shaw Linda Evans Maximilian Schell Joe Namath Horst Buchholz Mike Connors Claudio Cassinelli Kristina Nel David Hess Günter Meisner Sylva Langová Cyril Shaps Vladek Sheybal Arthur Brauss Sky du Mont Richard Marner Arnold Drummond Paul Glawion Dan van Husen Rainer Steffen Dieter Groest Hans-Jürgen Leuthen Maximilian Wolters Gudo Hoegel Rudolf Waldemar Brem Erland Erlandsen Walter Kraus Osman Ragheb Show All…
Lawinenexpress, El tren de los espias, Экспресс-лавина, Pânico no Atlântico Express, Lavine ekspressen, Ekspres pod Lawiną, El tren dels espies, Atlantin pikajuna
Germany12
USAPG
Germany
USA
I watched this for Horst Buchholz and he ended up appearing 1h 7m into this 1h 27m movie... You know, sometimes I wonder why I submit myself to his filmography but then he appears on the screen and he has such a magnetic presence. He deserved better movies!
I'm surprised I ended up not liking this one. I mean, a spy movie where the protagonists are confined in a moving vehicle? This was made for me!
And yet, it ended up being incredibly boring. Also, the avalanche and the express didn't play a big role in the story, and the action sequences were all quite slow and dull.
The story... I didn't really get it. I have no idea who…
A film that would probably be long forgotten if it wasn't for a double tragedy, the deaths of both director Mark Robson and star Robert Shaw during production. Robson was specifically brought on board due to his previous experience on train film Von Ryan's Express (1965) was replaced by Monte Hellman who directed the remainder of the shoot. Shaw was in poor health throughout and nearly all his dialogue had to be dubbed. His untimely death leaving the producers with a massive hole they couldn't fill.
The Cold War inspired film is a muted, slowly paced and rather dull affair. It's brief runtime of 85 minutes and quantity of plot holes leaving an impression that there was…
I love trains and I love a good thriller, so I naturally love a good thriller set on a train. Too bad this was a sluggish disappointment.
Avalanche Express could have been epic. The concept had potential, and it had that cast. Lee Marvin is a favorite of mine, and Robert Shaw too. These guys, plus Maximilian Schell, sharing scenes with TV actors like Mike Connors and Linda Evans (already sporting that Dynasty hair) just seemed odd to me. Joe Namath comes across as the most heroic of them all, and I did not see that coming.
The big avalanche scene looked like it was filmed with a tiny train set and some cocaine. Probably was, this was 1979, after…
A cold war action thriller about a defecting Russian general, directed by Mark Robson and featuring a very well-known cast, yet you probably haven't heard of it. Why? Check out the trivia on IMDb. Tragedy. And the movie suffered from it. Robert Shaw is underwhelming (for understandable reasons), the fact that all his dialogue was re-voiced doesn't help either and Lee Marvin's performance is hampered by a boring love interest. Only Maximilian Schell, playing the Russian baddie, seems to be in his element here.
In terms of plot and such it's not a very smooth affair either. Movies like this usually have about two hours on the clock, Avalanche Express doesn't even hit the 90 minute mark. There's something missing…
I liked you better dead.
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A gruff piece of cold war ratatata that doesn't have much going for it beyond stoney masculinity and the throbbing sensuality of travel by rail.
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Lee Marvin's voice sounds like an expensive vibrator.
“Joe Namath as Leroy”
It’s hard to expect much from a movie when one of the stars and the director both die from a heart attack while filming. Monte Hellman and Gene Corman (Roger Corman’s brother) flew in to finish Mark Robson’s directorial efforts and producer work, respectively.
The acting all feels phoned in. Lee Marvin looks, feels, and acts ancient, despite being 55 years old. Honestly, none of performances feel like the actors want to be there. The plot is needlessly convuluted. Way too much so for my late-night brain. It’s rough that Avalanche Express has all the elements to work out, bu I guess it’s just a decade or so too late.
One of those films lost to the no man's land of Time. Almost profoundly uninteresting with its bungled narrative but it still barely stays afloat with some of the spiciest of ingredients to win me over.
1. Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw. Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw do not need to do much on screen to keep me bare-minimum engaged and they do just that; tow the bare-minimum. Robert Shaw and its director both infamously died during production and there is a palpable fog of death hanging over the whole film, making it eerie and foreboding. Shaw's voice is even completely dubbed over because his illness was robbing him of his baritone roar.
2. Trains. A great train vista and…
When both a film's director as well as its lead actor die during production one probably shouldn't expect the movie as released to be a masterpiece, and Avalanche Express duly fails to overcome its troubled creation. Mark Robson had previously directed another high adventure on rails in 1965's Von Ryan's Express, so seemed a natural choice for this story. And this is a somewhat unfortunate final movie for the great Robert Shaw, particularly because his voice was dubbed due to the producers deciding his character should speak Russian in the opening scene and needing consistency thereafter (as well as compensating for the weak delivery of the by then very ill actor). Shaw plays Marenkov, a Soviet general who decides to…
Linda Evans shooting at terrorists. ✅
Linda Evans making out with Lee Marvin. ✅
Linda Evans jumping from a moving train. ✅
Too bad the rest of this is a jumbled mess. Even the titular avalanche failed to impress. At only 85 mins it drags and I spent the first half trying to decipher who was who and what the motivations were before I finally gave up and accepted this is just a movie with explosions and gunfire with no real purpose.
Honestly quite forgettable for having a decent cast and for the time a large budget. Convoluted plot with characters you didn't really care for plus personally I would have rather watched the model train go around the staged set for the same length of time. Not the worst but still sub par.
Una película de espías muy influenciada por la moda del cine de catástrofes, tanto por la catástrofe en sí (un alud en este caso concreto) como por intentar un reparto bastante lujoso.
Una pena que la cosa quede un tanto desganada y que doblasen a Robert Shaw con una voz bastante raruna.
How could anyone resist a spy thriller with Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw and Maximilian Schell that takes place largely on a train? Judging from the reviews and ratings I see, lots of people, and they have cause, but I am not in their number. By any reasonable standard it’s pretty bad, and dumb, but it gave me 85 minutes of fun which was the point. I have spent much longer with much better films and gotten less out of them. It is probably a two star movie, but I’d give it at least three stars for enjoyment so I will split the difference. For fans of that aspect of filmmaking it has model work in that sweet spot of making you wonder for a second if they are models and appreciating their scale and artistry, another source of genuine pleasure for me. And the avalanche is pretty great too.
