Flat Country

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

AVALANCHE EXPRESS Directed by Mark Robson Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky

The express is a train carrying a defecting Soviet general from Milan to Rotterdam, accompanied by a crew of se cret agents who are supposed to protect him until he spills all his secrets to our side. The avalanche is but one of the many none too subtle attempts by Soviet intelligence to silence him before he gets too chatty. One keeps wondering why he was not simply bundled on a U.S.-bound plane in Italy in order to avoid all this huggermugger. There is talk about his being so important that rolling him all the way across the Continent will draw many So viet agents out of deep cover, thus crimping the enemy's espionage style. But all we ever see are dozens of anonymous goons blasting away with submachine guns every time the train is halted, so that ploy appears to be a wasted effort.

What with the plot being so linear and the characters being so flat, there is nothing to hold one's attention except the sad reflection that the late .Robert Shaw (who plays the general, and whose last movie this is) spent too much of his career on such dismal efforts, as did Di rector Robson (The Champion), who has also died since principal photography was completed. Also present are Lee Mar vin, Linda Evans and Joe Namath, who wears cowboy getup to play a CIA type.

It does not exactly help him to melt into the background the way spies are supposed to, but then our undercover people have not been having much luck in that respect lately. Maybe he is supposed to symbolize something. Or not. Who cares?

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