Ice Station Zebra
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Movie Reviews of Ice Station Zebra
Movie Review: The Cold War Doesn't Get Much Colder
Summary: 4 Stars
American and Soviet teams race toward the polar ice cap to rescue an ill-fated scientific expedition. At least, that is the cover story. A polar storm prevents an air operation, so the US Navy rushes a nuclear submarine to the spot. In typical Allistar McClean fashion you expect to see sabotage and undercover undercover agents playing against one another.
In reality, the polar rescue is a secondary mission with both sides trying to recover a downed satellite film canister.
Rock Hudson fills the part perfectly as the submarine's captain. Serious and rarely smiling, he is portrays the ideal naval officer. By the time the film premiered, the audience was already familiar with actor Patrick McGoohan from his role in SECRET AGENT MAN/DANGER MAN and the only recently televised THE PRISONER. In fact, his portrayal of a British secret agent is little different then the character we came to know on television.
Jim Brown and Ernest Borgnine complete the cast. The sole miscasting of this film was Borgnine as Russian agent Vaslov. In the 1960s we all came to recognize Borgnine as Commander Quinton McHale in MCHALE'S NAVY. He just doesn't seem fit the role of a Russian -- and his accent is horrible.
ICE STATION ZEBRA was the "Das Boot" of its era. Expect all the usual submarine antics to include some very good second unit photography and underwater special effects. The surface polar ice set is somewhat exaggerated (more appropriate for an Irwin Allen television production) and the confrontation between the sub captain and Soviet paratroop commander runs a little long, but overall this is a great film to watch.
ICE STATION ZEBRA appeared on movie screens at the height of military activity in Vietnam in the late 1960s. As such, the US Navy nervously withdrew permission for director John Sturges (The Great Escape) to film a single frame aboard a real nuclear submarine. A traditional diesel sub was substituted. In some of the aerial shots of the sub on the surface you will see that the "nuclear" submarine has a traditional shark-nose bow. The interior submarine set is fantastic.
The complete soundtrack to the film has also been recently re-released after years of being available as an import only. It is the perfect soundtrack if you are driving by the water or cruising through heavy snow flurries.
Great film at a great price. For those of you who are THE PRISONER fans, this movie is traditionally viewed as Number 6's (Patrick McGoohan) last mission before he was taken to the village.
Movie Review: Rock cool as atomic sub commander
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this movie so much that after seeing it, I bought the Alistair MacLean book of the same title -- and couldn't make heads or tails of it: It sure was totally different from the movie; about the only thing that was the same was the sub, and the polar ice station.
The two reasons I wouldn't give this one the full five stars are (1) the polar scenes were sort of unrealistic; one could envision the set carpenters cutting, glueing, and spray-painting the pieces of plywood to form snow-covered ice boulders, and (2) Jim Brown hadn't learned to act; he was stiff as a poker -- although, in all fairness, his role was by and large a rather thankless one.
The rest of it held up from start to finish; nerve-racking suspense; great undersea scenes and special effects with the sub threatened after someone aboard sabotaged it. A superb, magnificent score (I can't think of enough great adjectives for that) by Michel LeGrand.
McGoohan is perfect -- totally believable in his role as a British agent; Borgnine overacts, sometimes irritatingly so, but part of that is the character he plays (even the commander found him irritating occasionally), and Rock Hudson is Mr. Cool -- just the kind of guy you'd want commanding such a mission. Although how his six foot five inches could fit into the confines of a crowded submarine, I don't know. But one willingly suspends disbelief. Hudson is such a much better actor that he was given credit for being during his lifetime -- I'd willingly sit and watch him read the phonebook. Hard to believe that any one man could be that impossibly good-looking. But he was.
Memorable lines: When the young Marine lieutenant, obviously a bit nervous about being in such close proximity with a bunch of torpedos stacked next to the bunks, asks Hudson if the torpedos have nuclear warheads, Hudson reassures him that they don't; they're merely Torpex, he says, and each torpedo has no more destructive power than about 400 pounds of TNT. When the lieutenant tells Hudson that neither he nor his men have ever been on board a submarine before, Hudson's response is, "Rest easy; I have." And the viewer believes him.
This one's a don't miss on many levels: the plot, the climax, and definitely the STAR.
Movie Review: Entertaining film, McGoohan fans take note!
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, Let's get the warts out of the way first:
For a 1968 film the special effects are a throwback to the Fifties, the pro-nuclear comments by Borgnine sound absurd in today's light, there are some story points that require a certain degree of suspension of disbelief, and the acting is pure Hollywood for a film of it's time.
That said, this is a terrific film and entertaining from start to finish - a real popcorn movie with an wonderful intro theme. intermission, and lots of grand shots of the submarine in the ocean.
It watches like an extended episode of Secret Agent ( I'm a great fan of Patrick McGoohan so call me biased!) and he doesn't disappoint. He brings all the low-key, sly elements of John Drake to this character and they may as well be one and the same (after all, you never do learn his real name in this film!).
The plot is marvelous Cold War skullduggery with a boy-scout-ish quality that I truly miss in modern action films.
It is my understanding that Howard Hughes had this film screened in his home repeated during his years of mental breakdown. Was he merely amused or involved in a similar event (he did make Project Jennifer a reality - the potential raising of a Soviet nuclear submarine)? Who knows, but it does make for some fascinating trivia!
Overall, for the asking price this is a heck of a lot of entertainment with little blood, no swearing, great suspense and magnificient shots - a film truly made for the wide-screen, and one the whole family can watch.
I've recently had the pleasure of watching the PBS 'Nova' program "AstroSpies" which re-introduces the Corona satellite program, declassified in 1992 - something I wasn't aware of.
Wikipedia states:
"The 1963 thriller novel 'Ice Station Zebra' and its 1968 film adaptation were inspired, in part, by news accounts from April 17, 1959, about a missing experimental Corona satellite capsule (Discoverer II) that inadvertently landed near Spitsbergen on April 13 and was believed to have been recovered by Soviet agents."
Movie Review: Pretty decent movie despite of itself.
Summary: 4 Stars
I would rate this movie as 3.75 on the five star system. I found Ice Station Zebra to be quite an interesting and entertaining movie. A great cast led by Rock Hudson proves to be superb and fun to watch. The movie was adapted from the Alistair MacLean's novel. Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare were both taken from MacLean's novels and both were great movies.
The Cold War situation really don't looked that dated to me. Its part of history. The script is well written and although the special effects on ice and snow appears to be bit cheesy by today's standards, it doesn't take away from gripping story about espionage, betrayal and secret microfilm. The photography was superbly done, even on the cheesy ice and snow area. Personally, I didn't see anything wrong with Ernest Borgnine playing a Russian, If Sean Connery can, why not him? I felt sorry for Jim Brown again, cutting a promising football career only to be killed off in movies. Patrick McGoohan was great and he and Hudson carried the load of the film.
The film became infamous when it was learned that it was Howard Hughes' favorite movie of all times but that shouldn't distract from the fact that its a pretty decent film. Its on my guilty pleasure list of films I like despite of some flaws. What some flaws? Well, the movie more closer to a drama, not action adventure as some folks may have thought. When I first saw this movie at the age of ten, even I could figured out that Ernest Borgnine may end up being a the bad guy. It was bit obvious. The ice and snow set were really pretty lame but it can be overlook. And for some of you guys out there, there is no female in this movie!! (All male cast.)
The DVD edition of this film proves to be quite good. The images are clear and crisp, the 5.1 DD works pretty decently although not very aggressively. There is a short documentary on the film and some trailers to watch. Definitely not much on the extras.
Movie Review: What just happened?
Summary: 4 Stars
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.