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.

Roger Corman might have been a tad late when it came to jumping on the 70's disaster flick bandwagon, but what this item lacks in fancy large scale scope it more than compensates for with a deliciously tacky surplus of cheap'n'cheerful exploitation cinema thrills.Loud and huffy millionaire David Shelby (broadly essayed with blustery brio by Rock Hudson) is on the verge of opening his posh new ski resort in the Colorado mountains. Crusading environmentalist photographer Nick Thorne (a solid and engaging performance by the ever-reliable Robert Forster) tries to warn Shelby about the threat of a possible avalanche to no avail. Among the guests attending the gala event are Shelby's estranged wife Caroline (a winningly warm portrayal by a radiant Mia Farrow) and Shelby's sassy fireplug mother Florence (Jeanette Nolan, who brings plenty of delightful spark to her role).Director Corey Allen, who also co-wrote the compact script with Claude Pola, keeps the familiar, yet still engrossing and entertaining story moving along at a brisk pace, makes neat use of the breathtaking rocky and wintry landscape, and pulls out all the hysterically absurd and exciting stops once the titular catastrophe occurs. And boy does this baby kick into priceless kitschy overdrive when that happens: Cocky champion skier Bruce Scott (hunky Rick Moses) tries (and fails) to outrace the avalanche, a pretty figure skater gets taken out while in the middle of her swirling routine, and a sexy neurotic gal (foxy brunette Cathey Paine) winds up buying it just as she's about to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. Barry Primus acquits himself well as smooth reporter Mark Elliott. Steven Franken also contributes a sound turn as uptight book keeper Henry McDade. The (far from) special effects are hilariously hokey: The massive chunks of snow are clearly made out of Styrofoam and the poorly matted in snow has an odd bluish hue in several scenes. A wild sequence depicting a snow mobile race in which the participants play dirty rates as a definite sidesplitting highlight; the fact that the folks in charge of rescuing any survivors prove to be even more dangerous than the avalanche supplies additional unintentional belly laughs. Both William Kraft's lively score and Pierre-William Glenn's crisp cinematography are up to par. As a yummy extra plus, there's even a decent sprinkling of tasty gratuitous female nudity. A real campy hoot and a half.

Avalanche (1978) ** (out of 4) Rather cheap disaster film has Rock Hudson playing a tycoon who builds a state-of-the-art ski resort even though some warn him that danger could strike. At the opening a photographer (Robert Forster) tries to warn the tycoon once again before taking his ex-wife (Mia Farrow) to bed. Sure enough, the next day an avalanche takes place. This was produced by Roger Corman and I must admit that I was a little shocked to see his name attached to a disaster film. It's clear he stuck to his guns and didn't spend too much money on special effects but it's also clear that everyone involved seems to have wished they were somewhere else. This is a really, really bad movie that is thankfully bad enough to where bad movie lovers will find a few things to be entertained by. I guess we could start with the performances since the majority of them are embarrassingly bad. Just check out the first scene where we see Hudson and look at how badly overacting he is. None of his performance gets better as it's clear he was just picking up a paycheck. Farrow also sleepwalks through her role and Jeanette Nolan gets the part of the elderly woman who tries to give the film a few laughs. Cathy Paine is rather embarrassing as a jilted lover. Other actors fail in cardboard character roles but at least Forster comes off fairly good in his brief, supporting part. The biggest disaster in this disaster flick are the special effects. Corman apparently wanted to skip the majority of the special effects and just buy up stock footage from real avalanches but this is so incredibly silly that it's obvious when this footage comes up. It never makes much sense in terms of what's going on with the avalanche because the footage, when mixed together, seems extremely out of place and the bad editing doesn't help cover this up. When the real effects are used it just seems like fake pieces of ice being thrown around as people scream. One of the dumbest scenes happens with a woman is skiing on some ice as people all around her are screaming and getting crushed yet she never notices. We even get an ultra-cheap explosion where people are so fakely thrown back and into various objects. All of these supposed dramatic moments just contain one laugh after another. I guess the most shocking thing is that this PG-rated film contains several nude scenes including one with a female going full frontal. Fans of the disaster genre will probably want to watch this just so they can say they've seen it all but this is a very bad movie. It's not nearly as awful as WHEN TIME RAN OUT... but it's still pretty bad. Thankfully, it's bad enough and campy enough to get several laughs.

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.