Avalanche Express is a 1979 Cold War adventure thriller film starring Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, Maximilian Schell, and Linda Evans and produced and directed by Mark Robson. The plot is about the struggle over a defecting Soviet general. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky was based on a 1977 novel by Colin Forbes. It was the last film for Shaw and Robson, who both died during the production in 1978.

Plot
Soviet general Marenkov (Robert Shaw) decides to defect to the West and CIA agent Harry Wargrave (Lee Marvin) leads the team that is to get him out. Wargrave decides that Marenkov should travel across Europe by train, on the fictional Atlantic Express. The idea is to lure the Russians into attacking the train and thus discover who their secret agents in Europe are. Consequently, during the train journey they must survive both a terrorist attack and an avalanche, all planned by KGB spy-catcher Nikolai Bunin (Maximilian Schell).

Cast
Lee Marvin as Col. Harry Wargrave
Robert Shaw as Gen. Marenkov (Voice later dubbed by Robert Reitty)
Linda Evans as Elsa Lang
Maximilian Schell as Col. Nikolai Bunin
Joe Namath as Leroy
Horst Buchholz as Julian Scholten
Mike Connors as Haller
Claudio Cassinelli as Col. Molinari
Kristina Nel as Helga Mann
David Hess as Geiger
Günter Meisner as Rudi Muehler
Sylva Langova as Olga
Cyril Shaps as Sedov
Vladek Sheybal as Zannbin
Arthur Brauss as Neckermann
Sky du Mont as Philip John
Richard Marner as General Prachko
Arnold Drummond as Commissar (Maxim Gorky)
Paul Glawion as Alfredo
Dan van Husen as Bernardo

Production problems
During production in Ireland, both director Mark Robson and starring actor Robert Shaw died of heart attacks within weeks of each other. Monte Hellman was brought in to finish the direction and Gene Corman (Roger Corman's brother) was called in to complete Robson's duties as producer.Robert Rietti was hired to re-record Robert Shaw's dialogue in the opening scene, as it was decided to redo that scene in Russian with English subtitles instead of having the Russians speak broken English. As a consequence, for continuity, all of Shaw's dialogue throughout the film was re-recorded by Rietti.
Hellman, Corman and Rietti were not credited for their work, but the film's end credit contains a note stating: "The producers wish to express their appreciation to Monte Hellman and Gene Corman for their post production services."

Critical reaction
Vincent Canby of The New York Times criticized the film's tackiness, suggesting it was copied from The Cassandra Crossing and likening it to the work of exploitation filmmaker Lew Grade, criticising the actors as appearing "at a loss".Time Out called it "awful", "formulary" and "hammily acted" but explained its curious editing as resulting from the production problems. The Radio Times gave it 2/5 stars, noting its disjointed quality but praising the acting and snowy special effects. Leonard Maltin's annual publication "TV Movies" gives the film a BOMB rating.

See also
List of American films of 1979

References
External links
Avalanche Express at IMDb
Avalanche Express at the TCM Movie Database
Avalanche Express at AllMovie
Avalanche Express at the American Film Institute Catalog