OBJECTIVES: I. Evaluate the safety of sequentially administered vaccinia-carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) vaccine and ALVAC-CEA vaccine (CEA-Avipox vaccine) in two schedules and with the addition of sargramostim (GM-CSF) plus or minus interleukin-2 (IL-2) in patients with CEA expressing tumors. II. Compare the CEA-specific cellular immune response in cancer patients randomized to receive a single vaccination with vaccinia-CEA vaccine followed by three boosts with ALVAC-CEA vaccine (V-A-A-A) or the reverse vaccination sequence (A-A-A-V). III. Determine whether the addition of GM-CSF alone or with IL-2 enhances the immune response to sequentially administered vaccinia-CEA vaccine and ALVAC-CEA vaccine. IV. Compare the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ELISPOT with lymphoproliferative and cytotoxicity assays for measuring CEA-specific T lymphocyte immune response.