Ice Station Zebra
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Movie Reviews of Ice Station Zebra
Movie Review: THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE
Summary: 5 Stars
Join the avant-garde composers, Soviet politburo members, and eccentric millionaires who compulsively watch this movie over and over again because it is the single best movie ever made. It has the perfect formula: Submarines + Ice + Rockets + Patrick McGoohan + More Spies + Stunning Landscapes + Ernest Borgnine. Plus a moral too! And the most beautiful photography in any spy movie.
McGoohan is fantastic -- playing his standard type of character, but smoother than the original Danger Man, and not as paranoia-inducing as The Prisoner. And I'll tell you, I had to stop watching the Prisoner, not because I got too paranoid, but because I should have been more paranoid about the REAL dangers around me, and not puzzling over cute philosophical problems of identity.
One recent review here calls it a "guy movie." Now I'm not sure if that's true, but in my experience I HAVE found women not to appreciate it as much as men. Yet it isn't crass or trivial like other great guy movies. It might be -- and I'm sure this isn't "politically correct" -- that women don't see as stark a divide between being the good guy and being the bad guy, between honesty and treachery. Maybe for good reason! Maybe being put in a bind all the time means you need to be a bit more flexible.
But the key spy-hunt aspect left all my women-friends that I watched it with cold. This is even true for the last one who -- honest to goodness -- basically was a spy. How could a woman who was "dating" me as part of her private investigation business (or partnership, she worked with three others) as a way to get (successfully) incriminating evidence -- how could she fail to get worked up as the noose closes on the TRUE Russian spy? She fell asleep on the couch. Whereas even though I've watched it at least 50 times, my heart pounds anew in the same places. It's that good a movie. And with Patrick McGoohan now passed on, it is unlikely that there will ever be a spy movie this good. [59]
Movie Review: Americans and Soviets Race to Ice Station in the Cold War
Summary: 5 Stars
A team of American marines and naval personnel aboard a nuclear submarine are ordered to a tiny observation camp on the ice near the North Pole. The Americans have been receiving distress signals from the camp but cannot reach anyone by radio. What at first appears to be a simple rescue mission changes dramatically when the sub picks up a British secret agent and a Russian double-agent as passengers. The nuclear submarine races to the camp when the true mission is disclosed and word reaches them that the Soviets are also heading to the pole by jet to recover a spy satellite.
The cast is awesome and their acting really stands the test of time. Rock Hudson is superb as the mission's leader Submarine Commander Ferraday; Patrick McGoohan is excellent as the evasive and secretive British secret agent; Jim Brown is outstanding as the tough American Marine Captain; and even Ernest Borgnine is believable as oddball Russian expatriate Boris Vaslov (although I kept thinking of him driving a cab for Snake Plisken). Director John Sturges had the technical language of the crew aboard the sub carefully screened for accuracy to increase the sense of reality in the film. Although the special effects were cutting edge for 1968, they may seem a bit fake to current audiences. And for trivia buffs -- Ice Station Zebra was the favorite movie of billionaire Howard Hughes, who would watched it fanatically in his Desert Inn hotel room.
I recommend this movie for a couple of reasons. First, it is a well done film with top shelf acting and character development. The plot is great and you won't be disappointed by the ending. Second, this is an excellent example of the workings of espionage during the Cold War years. It's a good movie to show the younger generation when they ask questions about the Cold War. But honestly, it's a great suspense movie with spies, traitors, jets, paratroopers and a nuke sub.
Movie Review: Could have been a stage play
Summary: 5 Stars
From the initial credits we see that this film will have something to do with satellites, the soviets and the U.S.
Looks like an accident has happened at the North Pole (Ice station Zebra). The U.S. with Brittan, and the soviets are rushing to the rescue. Both are hampered by a snow storm. The U.S. has sent a submarine to the rescue. However it looks like something covert is afoot. The submarine is being packed with marines and an unscrupulous acting character. What is the secret? Will the sub even make it to the pole? And if so what will they find? Why are the soviets so keen in helping?
Because critical scenes take place in the snow our characters are color coded:
Brown furry top with brown trousers = David Jones (Patrick McGoohan)
All blue = Cmdr. Ferriday (Rock Hudson)
Brown practically furless with black and white bands = Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine)
Orange and yellow = sub crew
All white with m16's = marines
All white with AK's = soviets
* You may have guest that it is a mans movie with all men *
This story as adapted for the movies could make a pretty good stage play as the real action is the bantering and posturing during a face to face confrontation. Another movie adaptation from the author (Alistair MacLean) is "The Guns of Navarone" (1961).
The original music for this film also stands on its own; you may want to buy the sound track.
The Bedford Incident
Movie Review: Cold War heats up on the ice!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has a strong star name cast - Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, Rock Hudson and Jim Brown. McGoohan is brilliant as ever. A perfectionist of an actor, he once again is play a Brit super-spy (Secret Agent, Prisoner). It's a role he is comfortable with and he brings his subtle, yet incisive touches to conjur this character alive. Borgnine, never gives less than 110% to a role is perfect at the anti-Russian Russian. Brown to fierce as the man no one really likes and suspects he might be more than he pretends. Hudson is the weakest link. His lines were written to come out of an actor with the same power and presence as McGoohan and Borgnine - Robert Mitchum. Had Mitchum played the role this movie would have been dead on target. Against McGoohan and Borgnine, Hudson shows he had all the range from A-B. In the very dramatic scene where McGoohan is telling how to wreck a sub, he is dead on perfect - every word every gesture. Hudson gives his rebuttal and comes across as trying to echo McGoohan's strength. Mitchum could have looked McGoohan in the eye and it would have been a long staring contest before either blinked!
It's a race to the North Pole to reach a weather station that has gone out of contact after a camera that contained spy film lands there. You have the Russians rushes to reach there, and the US group with their multinational spies trying to make it there first.
Great adventure from start to finish a good adaptation of Alistair MacLean's best-selling book.
Movie Review: One of My All-Time Favorite Movies
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this movie!
The acting is first-rate. I was never a fan of Rock Hudson, but was very pleasantly surprised at his performance in this movie. However, Patrick McGoohan, one of my favorite actors, stole this movie. His character was so calm cool and collected until that great scene in which he explodes with a diatribe that ends with "Just get me there!" The way McGoohan delivers those lines is superb.
It's also a movie that keeps one guessing about who the good guys are, and the final showdown is a nail biter. I don't think I took a breath until it was over.
I saw where someone said it's a good "guy movie," but it's also a great movie for us females who like a well-written, well-acted and well-directed movie, even an action-adventure one.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to see what a really good movie looks like.