On A List of Movie Reviews

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Avalanche Express (1979)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 2/21

AvalEx
2/21: How is this for entertainment: a Cold War espionage thriller starring Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, and...Joe Namath?!?

Avalanche Express is the name of the game. However, it's not a good movie with more negatives than positives. The cast is fine and I like the European scenery, but the editing sucks. Showing an avalanche once or twice is sufficient, but more than ten times? Ditto for the painfully obvious miniature toy train.

The heavily-dubbed Robert Shaw has a powerful presence but is hardly seen much because he was sick during the filming before dying of a heart attack afterwards. So did director Mark Robson from the same cause of death. Lee Marvin is at his silver-haired best, but that's all he can muster. Joe Namath is, well, Joe Namath. Maximilian Schell is wasted, but Linda Evans has a few moments of movie greatness.

Initially, the storyline is confusing to follow which will be clarified in time. When the action gets going, the film is watchable. But it's boring to watch people taking their places for a while. Most of that should be cut out to be more like Where Eagles Dare.

All in all, Avalanche Express can be exciting here and there but is mostly done in by the ordinary filmmaking style.