Ice Station Zebra (1968)

[lester1/2jr]

               This movie is 2 1/2 hours long and the entire first half is superflous.  Also, before I forget, there are no women in this movie.   Had i known that i would likely not have rented it.  There's nothing a group of all men can do that I am interested in.   Things pick up in the second half when we actually get to the Ice station and it becomes a fairly non descript somehat colorful sort of james bond meets commie scare dealy.  Rock hudson isn't that great as the main guy and Jim Brown is like " someone tell me when blacksploitation is coming so I can do something that doesn't suck and have more than 2 lines in it".  The incidental music is provided by an orchestra like in 1940's movies making this even cornier than it already is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7ls7v2uYQ

[Trevor]

I read somewhere that Ice Station Zebra was Howard Hughes' favourite film: I wonder if there is any truth to this? 

[Neville]

I sort of like the film, but it has a fatal flaw: John Sturges gets things moving quite nicely while in the submarine, but then afterwards, the scenes in the arctic are just boring. See, I feel just the opposite as lester.

Anyway, overlong film, and uneven, but the cast is alright and has some great scenes. And although I think Alistair McLean was a hack writer, I'll admit he handles well the increasing paranoia and the plot twists.

To Trevor: I read that too. The IMDB says Hugues used to phone his own TV in Las Vegas to keep programming the film. It was aired around 100 times. This said, they also say he watched "The Conqueror" starring John Wayne almost non-stop. Which means "Ice station zebra" may have been the least cuestionable of his film choices.

[lester1/2jr]

I can't "fathom" your preference for the nuclear sub part



also, I can sort of see why hughes would have been obsessed with this.  it was not the direction movies were going but in his mind it could be.  it had elements of movies from the 40's but was made in 68.  to me it came off as new wine in old skins

[Menard]

I liked this film, and, seeing that lester didn't, makes it that much more enjoyable for me.

[lester1/2jr]

I liked the sealab parody of it.  also be sure to see mandy and lester my new movie advertised here

[The Burgomaster]

I think this is a very good movie.  I agree they could have cut 15 or 20 minutes out of it to pick up the pace, but it's still a solid thriller.  Eventually, Michael Bay will probably direct a remake with a lot of spinning cameras, explosions, CGI, and women (probably Clare Danes or someone like that).  This version should appeal to a wider audience . . . especially if it has nudity.

[lester1/2jr]

it would be male nudity

[Raffine]

it would be male nudity

Ernest Borgnine?

Naked?!?

[Neville]

I don't think it would have nudity of any kind, but sure it would have lots of dumb politics and every object passing in front of the camera would make a satisfying "zoooom".

What else? Blue or redish lights in every scene inside the sub, insane product placements (like the soviets wearing Karhu parkas) and nausea inducing editing in every scene that wouldn't involve two people talking.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Based on the book by Alistair Maclean. Having read the book and seen the film, I prefer the book to the film.