'The Passage' (1979) - J. Lee Thompson.

This late 70s exciting WW2 actioner by versatile film-maker J. Lee Thompson concerns the precarious flight of a well-to-do middle-class Bergson family over the increasingly treacherous mountains of the Pyrenees has an exceptionally brilliant cast with James Mason as the desperately fleeing scientist being relentlessly pursued by the cruel Malcolm McDowell who takes what could have been a generic black-hatted Nazi villain and imbues it with his own inimitable dark charisma, a sinister sadist who will quite literally stop at nothing to capture his quarry! Just like an exquisitely pulpy comic strip brought to vivid widescreen life, with the majestic Pyrenean mountain range making for a a no less threatening nemesis than the tyrannical SS Captain Von Berkow! 

'The Passage' is a thrillingly paced, pulse-poundingly eventful chase through occupied France and across the perilous peaks of the Pyrenees, with explosive bursts of rousing action, strong exploitative scenes of bloody violence and a tantalizing interlude with a suitably distressed-looking Kay Lenz being ruthlessly debased by the villainous SS swine Von Berkow! In addition, there is a brief, blink, and you'll miss him appearance by future national treasure Jim Broadbent, a bizarrely colourful cameo by Christopher Lee as 'The Gypsy', plus an enjoyably bellicose turn from Anthony Quinn as the beleaguered family's reluctantly heroic guide 'The Basque', so, what's not to like? And cult horror fans might also care to note that future 'The Beast Within' star Paul Clemens plays professor Bergson's son Paul, and the film's gifted composer Michael J. Lewis also scored the spooky Roger Moore classic 'The Man Who Haunted Himself'.