Starring: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown, Tony Bill Directed By: John Sturges Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 11, 2005 Running Time: 150 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 23, 1968
Amazon.com: Out of step with the public mood when it was released in 1968, Ice Station Zebra has held up decently as a Guy's Movie. Based on an Alistair MacLean novel, the film is half submarine picture and half spy puzzler, short on action but long on military chatter and espionage gamesmanship. Rock Hudson, looking seasoned and just a little miffed, gives one of his better performances as the captain of a nuclear sub, ordered to the Arctic to check out a disturbance at a research station on the floating ice. He doesn't know the mission, but he's stuck with mysterious passengers: haughty British agent Patrick McGoohan, back-slapping Russian operative Ernest Borgnine, and hostile Marine captain Jim Brown. McGoohan gets the film's best lines and finest fur jacket, but Brown is pretty cool in a smaller role.
John Sturges directs, with customary deliberateness; at times the movie seems to be suffering from iron-poor blood. Much of the dialogue is pretty sharp, especially in the submarine half, enough to keep you engrossed if you're in the mood for this kind of thing. When the action shifts to the ice, the studio-bound sets inevitably take their toll. It's not hard to see how this large, old-fashioned project misfired in the era of Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, but the more tantalizing question is: Why did this movie become an obsessive favorite of Howard Hughes? Maybe he liked how clean it all looks. --Robert Horton
A neat thriller A Russian spy satellite comes down at the North Pole and it's a race between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to see who gets there first. Rock Hudson as the U.S. sub commander, Patrick MacGoohan as a mysterious British agent, Ernest Borgnine as a Russian defector and Jim Brown as a hard nosed Marine officer. Not quite up to the novel from which it was adapted but still, an entertaining window on a past era: the Cold War. Also starring Tony Bill as a young Marine Lt. and Alf Kjellin as a Russian officer.
OK, But The Book Was Better, And Made More Sense This film was adopted from Alistair MacLean's novel of the same name, but the novel had the advantage in that it made sense. The film has some good scenes but is infected by Hollywood's view that the two super powers were morally equal. And although both Patrick McGoohan and Ernest Borgnine are fine actors, they are given some stupid lines. The character of Jim Brown isn't in the book (that I recall). I'd recommend the film despite its flaws but, since it's Hollywood, don't expect a logical plot. (Oh, and in the book, the good guys get the material, the Soviet lose. In the film, it's a draw)
Suspense without all the dizzy special effects. I purchased this one to watch with my 11 year old son. It evoked good conversation about the "cold war" which he knows very little about. His Gramma used to travel back and forth to Russia during this time and my household growing up was full of these types of discussion. This isn't a fast paced movie and one must listen carefully to the dialogue to figure out the mystery. I am very satisfied with it overall. Don't expect high tech scenery or effects, just a well written story.
What just happened? As with any good espionage movie, the viewer is left to puzzle over who works for whom. As an added layer, better espionage films leave the viewer to wonder about who is playing whom. Although this film has the elements of a better espionage film, it seems more of an afterthought.
This movie from the late 1960s is based in the Cold War conflict and has both the spy game as well as a submarine under the polar ice cap. The movie spends almost too much time in the submarine and not enough at the ice station, but given the race to complete their objectives, this is probably more realistic.
Rock Hudson and Patrick McGoohan play their roles well and have the dialogue available to explore their roles. Jim Brown is well suited to his role, but he wasn't given enough to fully show his ability. Ernest Borgnine played the Russian defector, but his beret and accent made it difficult to see him as Russian.
This is not a blockbuster or an epic film (even though it plays an overture in the beginning and has an intermission). It is a fairly good movie from the Cold War and is good for a casual view.
a great spy movie! Finally this thing is out on DVD! Would have been nice to have more extras, but guess we all should be glad it's out at all. The quality of the transfer seems to be really clear, with no visible 'glitches'.
Bought "Ice Station Zebra" mainly because I'm a big Patrick McGoohan fan. :)
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