Avalanche (1978) User Reviews

Not great movie but I earned a bit letting them kill me off.

[redrockmin · 5/10 · 16 June 2008]

I am a bit embarrassed to admit I was in this movie. A bit, but, hey I had fun filming & was paid pretty well. Actually I was several scenes. I was a student at Fort Lewis majoring in Theater. Our troupe was invited to audition to be paid extras. It was spring break & I was earning money for my upcoming wedding. Not bad pay for a college student.

The snow and cold was real. It snowed the whole time we did any outdoor scenes. A fun mess when you add shredded plastic, Styrofoam boulders, and huge wind fans.

I lived in the area for quite a while & I too find this movie funny. I love the scene when Rock Hudson walks over to a window and states when he saw that mountain he knew he had to live there. That mountain is nowhere near Durango. As for the avalanche, well lets just say it is very hard for an avalanche to travel up mountain. But this one did to start at Tammeron and end up wiping out Purgatory mountain (now known as Durango mountain). Very funny stuff if you are from the area.

In the original credits Fort Lewis College Theater Department was listed but I see we are not here. As I was the only member to stick around during th break to work on the movie I must say I am disappointed but not surprised.

One of the premieres were held in Durango. I was not as pleased with the final product as I was when we filmed. We never saw the whole script so the movie was very different from what we were told. But all in all a good time and a not as bad as it could have been film. Wish I could say I went on to better movies but I went on to be a full time mommy and wife.

If you ever lived in the area it is a fun watch. You will see bloopers in things others will never notice.

Rock Hudson and ski-resort dwellers get buried in styrofoam blocks!

[Aussie Stud · 3/10 · 5 February 2002]

"AVALANCHE" is definitely one of the weaker entries into the 'disaster' genre that populated the 70's and early 80's. A cast of fading actors and the "who's that?" of Hollywood headline this atrocious production that delivers more laughs than anything.

Following the formula of its preceding disaster foes, "AVALANCHE" combines interwoven plot-lines involving love affairs and the disaster itself. Thrown into this sorry melange are Rock Hudson, Robert Forster, Mia Farrow and 50's silver screen star, Jeanette Nolan.

In "AVALANCHE", Rock Hudson is David Shelby - a well-meaning but extremely foolish ski-resort owner who has ignored all warnings from environmentalists in building a new ski-resort while removing all the trees in the process which spells the perfect recipe for disaster. Robert Forster is the environmentalist who warns Hudson that removing all the trees from the mountain will result in causing deadly avalanches. Mia Farrow is Hudson's ex-wife, new love interest to Forster and Jeanette Nolan is Hudson's flighty mother who likes nothing more than a Bloody Mary to sip on every five minutes.

Also thrown into this sordid tale are further cardboard cut-out characters including a champion skiier who is hell-bent on bedding as many women as he can before the screen credits go up and his jilted lover (wonderfully portrayed by Cathy Paine) who hams it up in a campy performance that involves her threatening to slice his cheating 'ass' with a butter knife before having a cup of milk thrown onto her as she falls to the floor screaming hysterically.

Rock Hudson in his early 50's (his first foray into the 'disaster' genre) appears like a disheveled modern-day version of William Shatner. Spending precious minutes on-screen wearing nothing but turtle-necks and begging Mia Farrow to 'come back' to him, he looks quite ridiculous in a role that was intended for someone in their 30's as Mia Farrow is only about 33 years old at the time this movie was made. Much like "EARTHQUAKE" where Charlton Heston was courting a young Genevieve Bujold and "THE CASSANDRA CROSSING" where Ava Gardner was shagging a youthful Martin Sheen, the love affair in this movie is quite unbelievable.

Robert Forster, fresh off his canceled television stint in the short-lived 1974 "NAKIA", proves a credible character as an environmentalist who foresees the inevitable disaster, yet cannot convince a soul to believe or listen to him. As a result, the second plot line enters and we see him and Mia Farrow sharing a love scene together.

Jeanette Nolan in all of her faded beauty, spends most of her screen time either getting drunk on a Bloody Mary or hamming it up as the 'ever-loving mother' who travels everywhere with her gay companion.

The setting is Hudson's ski resort. Everyone is there for the grand opening which also includes some ridiculous mini Winter-Olympics festivities which has several hundred people either cross-country skiing, down-hill skiing, ski-dooing or watching the skating events and of course, what better day would there be to have a disaster than on this particular day?

The biggest laughs here of course is the disaster itself. In reality, there is nothing the slightest bit amusing about an avalanche, but while watching this movie, you can't for a second take it seriously. A huge snow wedge hangs over the resort, loosely hanging on a snow-capped mountain that is broken off once a small charter plane crashes into it. Once the avalanche starts, the laughter begins. Stock footage of avalanches are spliced onto the film (you can tell by the grainy imagery and the totally different mountain ranges). The snow itself is nothing more than a smoke-machine adjusted to 'fast forward' and huge blocks of styrofoam that are hurled through the air and bounce off the victims as they try to run away.

One particular hilarious scene involves a skater who is still spinning pirouettes on the ice as the avalanche engulfs her and the crowd (like she couldn't hear or see the avalanche coming until it was about one foot away from her?). Another hilarious scene would involve a 'gas' explosion inside the resort that is nothing more than a 'puff of smoke' that sends one chef flying backwards into some shelves and an unlucky female that goes sliding along a counter while knocking off bowls of food onto the floor. But the one scene that really killed me was seeing the 'animated sparks' that flash from the broken gear box that controls the ski-lift. We actually get to see this twice during a climatic scene involving a man and a child dangling from a broken ski-life. Here, rescue workers scramble to rescue the child using a safety net below, yet the man that is left dangling spends about three minutes complaining that he cannot 'let go' and when he finally does (as a result of getting electrocuted), his lifeless body misses the safety net anyway!

Furthermore, back in town as the ambulances and rescue workers are dispatched from their outposts, it just goes to show that if the avalanche didn't kill you, then these silly fools just might. In a totally ridiculous scene, ambulances and fire trucks spin out of control as they skid across the icy roads, causing serious fender-benders and sending one poor by-stander into a store-front window in a shower of shattering glass.

Unfortunately, the person who I felt sorry for the most was Jeanette Nolan. Once she gets trapped inside the hotel resort with her 'companion', it takes her no longer than five minutes to go into hysterics and play the "We're all going to die!" card as she digs at the snow with a chair. Then she starts to lose her mind as she plays the "We go back a long way..." card with her companion as she strikes the keys of a busted up grand piano, warbling a few notes of a song long forgotten. On top of that, she passes out just as Hudson and Forster make their way into the resort from the outside. After she has been resuscitated and placed into the back of an ambulance, she and Mia Farrow are driven to the hospital by some suicidal maniac who insists on doing wheelies on black ice and devastated terrain that results in the ambulance crashing through a bridge and into a chasm, Farrow managing to fall out of the car in time but leaving Nolan and the driver to meet a fiery death as the car explodes at the bottom of the chasm.

The climatic and grand finale scene of the film involves Mia Farrow hanging off the broken bridge railing and Hudson and Forster coming to her rescue. And when the day finally rolls to its end, Hudson and Farrow toast to the past events with a bottle of Champagne!!! Timeless!

If you want to see a scene involving Jeanette Nolan doing her best 'Saturday Night Fever' impression on the dance floor, then this is the movie for you. If you want to see a pandemonium scene involving screaming victims getting hailed with styrofoam blocks, then this is the movie for you. However, if you want to see a half-decent disaster movie, then "AVALANCHE" is not the movie for you. The only thing that really separates "AVALANCHE" from the rest of the disaster entries are the few nude scenes that are thrown in involving a woman baring her breasts and buttocks in a 'steamy' pool scene that really does nothing much for the movie itself.

This has got to be one of the stupidest movies that I have ever seen!

My rating - 2 out of 10

Typical 70s disaster entry

[Boyo-2 · 4/10 · 13 August 2001]

Hey, someone had to die of a little snow in the 70s..it was bound to happen. If whatever hack made this hadn't bothered, Irwin Allen would have..but to give credit where credit is due, Allen would have cast this better. Even if the movie stunk to high heaven (hello, 'The Swarm'), at least there were enough stars to keep you from falling asleep.

Also to give credit where it is due, there is some really beautiful cinematography, especially in outdoor shots of Mia Farrow swimming and another scene of a skier trying to outdistance an avalanche is shot very well.

However, once the cast starts talking, the groans can begin. Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow seem like they wouldn't even converse at a cocktail party; they are from different cinematic solar systems and should not have been paired here at all, even if they are a divorced couple. Robert Forster is semi-interesting as an predictable love interest for Mia and an ecologist who can predict the entire movie in his first scenes if only the screenplay had allowed him.

Impatient action fans - tune in one hour after it started to see the extras get killed. Before that is alot of drama, and after that is the rescue, and that's all, folks.

Not exactly PR for Durango, CO

[Rat Man · 29 April 2000]

I lived in Durango, CO when they filmed this movie. This makes it all that much funnier. You cannot take this movie seriously.

The avalanche is actually fan blown styrofoam. Half the mountains pictured in the movie, don't actually exist.

If you are a Durango resident, watch this movie for kicks. If not, don't even bother, you're better off watching the weeds grow.

This is a perfect movie for Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Avalanche: Middle of the road disaster flick

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 4 February 2018]

I'm not a fan of the disaster genre, they're always the same.

• Introduction of characters
• Expert warns people of imminent disaster
• Powers that be ignore expert
• Disaster happens
• Then either a lot of running and talking about what is happening until it ends or some pseudo science to fix it

This is no different and what's strange is just how little of the film the disaster takes up.

Starring Robert Forster, Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow this is more like a soap opera where an avalanche just so happens to take place.

Swinging 70's, polystyrene snow and merciless deaths this has it's merits but certainly pales in comparison to the better films within this sub genre.

The Good:

Cast do a decent job

The Bad:

Predictible

Soap opera like

SFX are poor even for its time

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Unless your name ends in Campbell don't be a Bruce, you are no worthy

Death by polstyrene looks as painful as it sounds

Let it snow, let it snow, let it storm!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 25 November 2010]

I'm an avid fan-boy of 1970's disaster movies. Not so much because they're intense and captivating since, quite frankly they're not, but actually just because they're so exaggeratedly clichéd and kitschy. You can easily summarize ALL the 70's disaster movies ever made with one and the same synopsis, only the nature of the disaster differs. It can be a fire, flood, volcanic eruption, virus, shipwreck or – like in this case – an avalanche! The main difference between this film and the majority of classic titles (such as "The Towering Inferno" and "The Poseidon Adventure") lies in the budget. Usually Irwin Allen produced this sort of stuff and he had plenty of money to spare. "Avalanche", on the other hand, is a Roger Corman production and he's mostly (in)famous for delivering cheap and extremely low-budgeted cult films. A half-decent disaster movie is simply impossible to accomplish without a bit of budget, and this clearly shows in "Avalanche". The special effects are pitiable, with whole bunches of people getting buried underneath thick and oddly shaped boulders of Styrofoam. But, aside from the budgetary restrictions, "Avalanche" does live up to four out of five essential disaster movie trademarks. #1: there needs to be at least one major star and a long list of secondary stars. Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow were big names around the time, but the supportive cast is a bit disappointing. I assume that Roger Corman spent all his actors' budget on the aforementioned two names and Robert Forster. #2: The characters are usually split into two camps with completely opposite ideals and/or initiatives. Why, yes! Although the "righteous" camp is extremely small this time. Rock Hudson is the owner of a fancy winter sport resort in Colorado and he keeps on expanding the area to lure more tourists. Robert Forster is the tree-hugging reporter who endlessly warns him that the expansion needs to stop otherwise there will be avalanches. #3: regardless what type of disaster we're dealing with, variants of the exact same perilous situations are always applicable. Too true, we have people that are buried alive, trapped in ski lifts, crushed or dead in gas explosions. #4: always remember that, when the situation appears to be at it worst, it can and will still get even worse! That's another true cliché of the disaster film! In "Avalanche", for example, there's a sequence in which an ambulance transporting people who narrowly escaped dead already, crashes into a ravine! Only for die-hard disaster movie fanatics.

Why Mia? WHHYYYY!

[kurtman-3 · 2/10 · 3 March 2007]

I love disaster films, even the bad ones, but this one is completely horrible. From the acting to the special effects this one is crap. The script is laughable and the whole affair is absolutely boring. The "Avalanche" doesn't happen till around the hour mark and all we get till then is totally blinding boredom. Mia and Rock barely have anything to do (god knows why they actually did the movie), Robert Forester is hot but the character is bland, and Jeanette Nolan is under used in the only entertaining role in the flick. The rest of the cast are forgettable and not all that all-star. The action is contrived and "special effects" are for the most part low-budget 70's-ish.

This movie would make a great sleep aid. It's bad, not enjoyably bad, just bad. It's bland and pointless. Skip if at all possible.

Ski away from this avalanche of ineptitude

[jjnxn-1 · 2/10 · 16 May 2013]

Dreadful, horrendous, awful and terrible are all words that don't even begin to describe how bad this movie is. Rock and Mia, about as mismatched a pair of costars as could be imagined; he towers over her and they share no chemistry whatsoever, would make more sense as father and daughter than ex-spouses but that is the least of this picture's problems. Some of the cast try to maintain their dignity and soldier on while being faced with stupid words to speak and idiotic situations to react to. Nonsensical happenings, bad special effects and rotten direction all add up to a textbook example of why the disaster epics ran out of steam shortly after the release of this dog.

Bury it in the snow

[JasparLamarCrabb · 2/10 · 20 October 2014]

Roger Corman's cheapo entry in the disaster movie sweepstakes. It has not aged well. Hard headed land developer Rock Hudson builds a ski resort at the foot of not so stable mountain. Environmentalist Robert Forster tries to stop him. When there's an avalanche, shown via some dim special effects, a lot of people are trampled, buried in snow and asphyxiated. Hudson yells nearly every line of dialog in what is perhaps his worst performance. Forster looks tired (or bored) and Mia Farrow (as Hudson's ex-wife) is simply out of place in this type of movie. Jeanette Nolan, who once played opposite Orson Welles in MACBETH, is featured as Hudson's free-spirited mother. Barry Primus is cast as a talk show host! Directed, very blandly, by former actor Corey Allen. Lewis Teague did some of the second unit work.

Mediocre disaster effort.

[onnanob2 · 5/10 · 30 August 2002]

New World Pictures added additional scenes to a Japanese disaster movie, and released "Tidal Wave." Then they released a documentary on disasters titled, "Catastrophe." New World Pictures was ready to add its own disaster movie to the genre in 1978. That movie was "Avalanche," and the cast included Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, Robert Forster, and Jeanette Nolan. Possible SPOILERS ahead: Rock Hudson plays David Shelby, the owner of a new resort hosting festivities, and winter sporting competitions. Mia Farrow's character is his ex-wife, Caroline Brace, coming for a visit. He wants them to get back together again, but she is unsure. Caroline finds the company of Robert Forster's character appealing, and a love triangle develops. Disaster strikes when an avalanche hits the resort, ski slopes, and ice skating arena. "Avalanche" suffers from its low budget. Some interior scenes are very darkly lit. Most of the avalanche special effects looked unconvincing; especially the blue screen avalanche effects. Stock footage of avalanches are unconvincingly added to try to spruce things up. There are even times when the snow flakes look fake. The script offers several silly instances of drama before the avalanche strikes, and some of the dialogue is dreadful. The ending is absurd with Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow having a champagne toast after his mother (Jeanette Nolan), and many other people have died from the disaster. The film presents characters in danger, but doesn't really create suspense. Rock Hudson's character is mostly unappealing, because he's constantly angry and shouting at people through the course of the story's first day. Most of the acting is passable, but there are some minor characters (the television crew, the secretary, etc.) that are badly acted. Robert Forester does a fine performance. Rock Hudson seemed to overact a bit. The score is effective in giving the film an isolated feeling. "Avalanche" is not a terrible film; it's more mediocre, but I don't think too many people would enjoy it.

OK

[scottyhill-24375 · 5/10 · 13 February 2019]

Not as bad as I thought it would be. Although the dialogue is very stunted and some cardboardy characters, the plot is straightforward. Compared t some other 'big' disaster movies, it works out a little better

Hilariously bad in places

[mmillington554 · 8/10 · 9 August 2020]

Everythibg about this film failed. From the script, to the acting, to the direction, to the editting, to the sets. Artificial, contrived, and completely pointless. The end product was an hilarious, entertaining film full of seriously bad special effects. A true homage to much that bad about 1970s film making. It deserves an entry in the top "so bad its quite good" league table.

Disaster Film, 70's Style -- On Ice!

[nogimmicks · 7/10 · 31 January 2005]

Fun and entertaining low-budget disaster epic produced by the king of low-budget, Roger Corman (His style: Light, and get away...). Obviously made on the heels of disaster blockbusters like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake, Avalanche is a pretty standard disaster film -- it gathers a large number of broadly portrayed characters to a location, then proceeds to put them into deadly peril. But since this is Corman, we don't have the big-name cast here -- the biggest name is Rock Hudson, not exactly Heston or Newman, but you work with what you got. The special effects are cheap but effective -- they may be double exposures, stock footage, and Styrofoam blocks but the editing is tight and the shots are generally well composed. The acting is middle of the road, TV melodrama kinda stuff, but wholly serviceable for the genre. Plus, at about 90 minutes, it doesn't ever drag on -- Corman's efficiency at work. And watch for a scene involving a pot of soup which is downright hilarious.

This film really deserves a 6, but it made me smile, and was original enough (there's not that many disaster films out there about avalanches, after all!) for me to grant that extra point. If you like disaster films, then check out Avalanche.

The exploding ambulance scene at the end... Bah Ha

[rickellison-96644 · 5/10 · 19 June 2019]

I love a good 70's B movie and this does not disappoint... cheesy dialogue, funky outfits, hilarious hairstyles and goofy special effects. It's all here. If the 1st 3/4 of the movie doesn't entertain you for some reason...skip to the last 15 minutes for the ambulance scene...utterly ridiculous.

Hudson and cast choke on plastic snow and a bad script.

[Poseidon-3 · 9 September 2002]

Checking in rather late, though not at the tail end, in the 1970's disaster movie cycle, this Roger Corman cheapie is only entertaining in fits and starts. Hudson (looking ragged and drunk at times) has just built a huge winter paradise in the mountains of Colorado. His ex-wife (Farrow) comes to the opening, for old times sake, while employee Forster foresees danger in the snow caps. Hudson's mother (Nolan, in a white fright wig) wines and dines with abandon. There are also trite and annoying plot threads about a studly skier, a TV show host (Primus) and his unfaithful wife and a nervous ice skater. Aside from having less than stunning production values, the film's main problem is that it takes an hour for the title event to occur and then races through all the resultant carnage with choppy editing and distorted timing. The viewer must endure a shabby, clichéd script and some bad acting while waiting for the Styrofoam chunks and plastic snow to may their way down the hill. Hudson is bad. He barks and yells inappropriately when he isn't wooden. Farrow looks idiotic much of the time and is completely mismatched with Hudson. (She learned nothing from this experience as she was soon to film the disastrous "Hurricane", another career killer. Thankfully, for her, Woody Allen was just around the corner!) Forster actually outshines the others with his charm and conviction in a thankless part. Nolan shamelessly hams up her role in a desperate attempt to add life to the often dull proceedings. She is funny, but not always in the way intended. Primus had worked for Corman before, so he should have known what he was in for. On the plus side, there are a few hooty lines of dialogue and some unintentionally hilarious, overwrought, emotional scenes among the lesser players. Also, a few of the ice and snow effects and destruction scenes are solid (most, however, are shoddy.) One hilarious scene has a skater spinning obliviously while snow encompasses her. In another, folks digging a hole out of an enclosed lodge keep knocking against the rubber "snow" so that it springs back! Then there's the rescue workers who, after witnessing an electrocution, allow the victim to fall onto the ground instead of into their net, which is right under him! There's also an ambulance door that apparently flies open simply by leaning against it. One distinction: This has to be the only 1970's disaster film that has nudity. Hudson (in a bid to reinforce his heterosexual image?) has a secretary that walks around his chalet naked! If the film had spent a half hour getting to know the people and an hour rescuing them (instead of the opposite), it might have been more entertaining. The way it stands, viewers wind up not really liking the characters and can barely keep up with the rescues!

mediocre disaster porn elevated by MST3K

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 19 April 2017]

Once again, I'm not so certain if it were not for the return of Mystery Science Theater and having this particular title (one of the many that they've taken on over the years from Roger Corman) I would have gone out of my way to see it. And surprisingly it has a pedigree cast, and for a Corman production for one of the handful of times in his career he spent a little extra money - though, also as well, it didn't make money back. The reasoning to make it seems fair enough: cash in on the disaster-movie binge of the period (Irwin Allen became for a short time a little like a bigger-ish spending Corman for these disaster flicks with Towering Inferno for example), and have a little of Jaws in there for good measure. Of course the creature this time is the actual avalanche itself, though that doesn't happen for more than halfway into the movie.

What we get stuck with, then, are the human beings and their (sorta) dramas and conflicts; a day later after seeing the movie, I remember that Mia Farrow - who looks like she sorely needs some actual direction to work from - is trying to avoid having to talk long with her ex played by Rock Hudson, though since they're in the same spot she doesn't have much of a choice. While he is running what is a sports competition (I think?) and there's also some small drama involving an ice-skating competition (yes, this is a plot point, and it comes back around during the act of the title), and not to mention Robert Forrester, who I didn't even know was in the movie until watching it, who is the Sheriff ala Jaws of the movie trying to warn people about the oncoming avalanche that could happen.

So many stupid things happen here (not least of which how the avalanche gets started), and Farrow and Hudson have less than zero chemistry. What makes it fun (outside of the robot commentary) is that the actors are taking this ever so seriously, even Farrow who seems like she should be having fun (and, occasionally, like when she's in the car trying to get away with some of the others after the avalanche happens, is having *too* good a time, smiling and looking like she has that less-than-zero direction going on), and the cheesiness of the effects. But the funniest WTF part of all goes to Rock Hudson's character's mother, who has some of the battiest dialog in moments. Oh, and I'd be remiss not to point out a moment where a character falls out of a moving/spinning-out-of-control car as it then careens off a cliff. That's pretty hysterical and awesome to behold, commentary besides.

I think the frustrating part of Avalanche is how long it takes for it to happen, and then how comparatively to what comes before how fast the post-avalanche events occur. There's a death-defying rescue of characters, and Hudson and Farrow sharing some champagne (I won't say when they do it, that's a spoiler, pshaw me to do such a thing for AVALANCHE!) And then... the movie just ends. It's a slim 90 minutes where we get to see characters who don't have much chemistry act off one another - Forrester is a little better than Hudson with Farrow, but not by much - and other side characters who don't get much developed aside from their tropes. So it's a knock-off of what was already a silly genre of the 70's - and man oh man is this very 70's (a performance midway through at the ski-lodge by the rock band Paladin is evidence of that), but for the purposes of MST3K it works like gangbusters.

The Snow Is Snowing, The Wind Is Blowing, And They Won't Weather The Storm

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 12 May 2007]

I was surprised to see that Avalanche was produced by Roger Corman of all people. I would think that even the skimpy budget that this film had by Irwin Allen standards was not something Roger Corman was used to dealing with.

Corman didn't spend it on big name guest stars for sure. His stars are Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow. Hudson is the Donald Trump like owner of a big state of the art ski lodge which is hosting that weekend some winter sporting events. He's been told like William Holden in The Towering Inferno that the lodge is in a bad place and the snow looks like it's about to come a tumbling down.

Tumble down it did during a storm when a plane crashes into the top of a mountain. The Avalanche starts and it buries the whole cast in that white stuff.

This is a disaster film made on the cheap, some winter sports footage mixed with real avalanche footage and some cheesy special effects by seventies standards to bind it together. The plot such as it is, is almost non-existent, the characters are never developed in the slightest, so you don't really care about them.

I guess the lesson to be learned from Avalanche is for Roger Corman not to try to be Irwin Allen.

Worst Movie of All Time

[Julian-23 · 1/10 · 18 May 1999]

Avalanche is, quite simply, the WORST movie I've ever seen.

The plot is dreadful, the script horrendous, the acting pathetic.

I remember quite clearly that the patterns on the wall of the cinema were more interesting to look at than this piece of trash.

Avalanche is a very poorly written and acted film with no substance.

[man_your_ugly · 3/10 · 15 October 2003]

Though Rock Hudson is my favorite actor, his acting in this film is very amateurish and highly unbelievable. Mia Farrow's performance is also wooden and I have seen better acting in school plays by grammar school students. Of course, the fact that other than a fake avalanche, there is no substance or story line that I could perceive to this film. The only good actor was Robert Forster and he also had the best script. I couldn't believe it was made in 1978 because I felt it probably was one of the training films made by new actors and actresses in order to develop their craft for Mia and Rock. I wouldn't view it again.

OMG!! This is available on Amazon Prime Video!

[jelad612-1 · 4/10 · 7 June 2019]

Go watch it NOW before it disappears forever! I remember watching this when I was a kid, and even then we all burst out laughing during the avalanche. This movie is absolutely hilarious- you'll laugh your head off. As a drama, I rate it a 4, but if you watch it and think of it as "Airplane!" In the Rockies, it warrants a perfect 10. It it SO unbelievably over-the-top and campy, it's hard to believe they didn't intend it that way. I'll give them a pass on the special effects, since in the late 70s this was about the best they could do, but I can't forgive Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow for appearing in this just for a paycheck. Jeanette Nolan is the best thing in this film, and Robert Forster does a good job in his role (and he's much more handsome than Rock Hudson)! Everything else is a laugh-fest.

This would have been the best disaster film...in 1948!

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 13 September 2020]

With pastel blues all over, this looks like it was done in the artificial looking Cinecolor, a photography process that was utilized for 1940's and 50's B pictures to make them look more expensive than they were. It also features the funniest disaster sequence ever that has skiers flying in hysterical ways and victims of the avalanche being shown having tons of snow shoving them around as if it were a 1940's cartoon.

You aren't supposed to laugh at human beings in peril, but here you can't help yourself. The pairing of Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow romantically is laughable, not only for their difference in ages, but mainly because they have zero chemistry. Other character's stories are set up in ways that makes them boring, and other than a brief avalanche towards the beginning where skier Rick Moses avoids being crushed by purposely flying into a tree, nothing of note happens.

Poor Jeanette Nolan, once again sporting a ridiculous hairstyle, is your stereotypical overaged Auntie Mame type as Hudson's mother, and overacts before and after the avalanche. Hudson doesn't act so much but simply seems to be wondering why he is doing this, something that the audience quickly figures out within the first half an hour. Fortunately this clocks in at a passable 90 minutes so not a lot of time wasted, and plenty of horrible special effects to laugh at.

Death by Styrofoam snow is without a doubt a terrible way to go...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 2 March 2024]

I didn't know about this 1978 natural disaster movie before now in 2024, as I happened to stumble upon it by random luck. And of course I had to sit down and watch it, as it was a natural disaster movie that I hadn't already seen. Plus, the fact that the movie was starring Mia Farrow and Rock Hudson, well that just was an extra cherry on the icing.

The storyline in "Avalanche" was pretty straight forward. It was an entertaining enough script and storyline, but writers Corey Allenm Frances Doel and Gavin Lambert didn't exactly throw together something that was particularly outstanding. But it was definitely a watchable and fair enough movie, mostly because of the acting.

There are some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Mia Farrow, Rock Hudson, Robert Forster, Steve Franken and Barry Primus. The acting performances in the movie were good, and that definitely helped to spruce up an otherwise generic script and narrative.

The special effects in the movie have no aged well, and it was painstakingly obvious that it was Styrofoam used in the hectic avalanche scenes, and that just gave the movie a stupid feel and made it feel amateurish. But I am sure that back in 1978 this might have passed as being good. And you don't really buy into the scenes where the layered snow crash down upon the people at the resort, it just didn't look realistic.

The synopsis should have read: "The vacationers at a winter wonderland struggle to survive after an avalanche of Styrofoam crashes into their ski resort. Their holiday then turns into a game of survival."

If you enjoy natural disaster movies, then there are far better movies out there. Director Corey Allen's 1978 movie "Avalanche" was not all that impressive. Watchable, sure, but not something I would rush out and get to watch.

My rating of "Avalanche" lands on a five out of ten stars.

"You re like the weather. You just happen."

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 26 March 2022]

That is how bad the dialogue is in this movie. The acting is worse.

The cheap special effects are hilarious. You won't feel guilty laughing because the characters are so annoying you won't care about them.

Jeanette Nolan is on board to give it a cheap TV movie feel. I think Rock was hungover most of the filming.

A lesser entry in the 1970s disaster film cycle, to be sure, but I enjoyed it.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 28 February 2016]

Rock Hudson is entrepreneur David Shelby in this production, legendary independent filmmaker Roger Cormans' (belated) contribution to the cycle of disaster films in the 1970s. David doesn't want to let anything stand in the way of his dreams, and he's also still hung up on his younger, estranged ex-wife Caroline Brace (Mia Farrow). David owns & operates a thriving ski resort, and makes the fateful move of deciding to clear some trees from the mountain. Know it all photographer Nick Thorne (Robert Forster) is aware that this is unwise, but his warnings fall on deaf ears. This, of course, paves the way for the event of the title to eventually take place.

Yes, the script to this one (by actor turned director Corey Allen and Claude Pola) is uninspired, and one does grow impatient getting through the not terribly interesting stories of the characters. Yes, the acting in "Avalanche" is not so hot, but the actors & characters remain reasonably likable. There are no real villains here; some of the people may make questionable decisions, but there were very few characters that this viewer wanted to die horribly. The photography by Pierre-William Glenn of the wintry landscapes *is* first rate, and may provide some sustenance for viewers who are otherwise bored with the movie. The music by William Kraft also serves its purpose.

If one is able to get through the opening half of "Avalanche", they might find the resulting mayhem watchable. The avalanche action is mostly stock footage combined with original footage handled by the very capable, under rated director Lewis Teague, and the action scenes are pretty decent, even if the special effects aren't always up to snuff.

There are some fine actors in this thing, even if they're not utilized all that well. Jeanette Nolan plays Davids' lively mother, Rick Moses the conceited star skier Bruce Scott, Steve Franken the perpetually worried looking Henry McDade, Barry Primus the nice guy sportscaster Mark Elliott, and Antony Carbone is Leo the coach.

"Avalanche" may, in the end, be more for completists of this short lived genre than fans, but it's not totally without entertainment value.

Seven out of 10.

Mother Nature wins again.

[mandagrammy · 5/10 · 21 February 2022]

Just one question... isn't the sound of a fiery crash and avalanche a little too loud not to notice as a warning on a mountain? This is a direct-to-video version of an exciting disaster flick of the 70's, with a very thin plot and uninteresting characters. I did give the film a couple of extra stars simply because the action scenes were pretty good, and probably the only thing exciting about the movie. I hope that Rock Hudson, Mia Farrow, and Jeanette Nolan got a good payday out of this, because their talents were wasted on it.