Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Memorable, crazy movie

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Here's a modern take on this 1968 epic: fantastic! Just got the BluRay release and it runs like an old David Lean epic with a title screen & music before the movie starts and, again, at Intermission. Performances are excellent all around, and the fX, all done prior to CGI, are remarkable. Suspense builds as Rock Hudson's nuclear sub streams North with spymaster Patrick McGoohan in tow, soon joined by a Russian defector, Ernest Borgnine, and a serious swat team led by James Brown (ex-NFL).Progress to the North Pole is slow and the sub is hindered by sabotage. The process of finally surfacing & crashing through the polar ice reminds me of similar scenes to come in Firefox a few years later. But our heroes are on a quest to rescue a cannister of spy film shot by a surreptitious satellite. To do so will be no picnic: watch for a great scene where a few Americans tumble into an ice crevice, which begins to slide shut. Ouch. Edge of yer seat... Horrible way to die: stuck & frozen in ice.Terrific story & cinematography. Based on the Allistair MacLean story. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2 July 1968 by Filmways, Inc. Distributed by Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. New York opening at the Cinerama Theatre: 20 December 1968. U.S. release: 23 October 1968. U.K. release: 9 November 1969. Australian release: 3 April 1969. Sydney opening at the Plaza (as in New York, London and other major roadshow engagements, the 70mm Super Panavision anamorphic print unsqueezed through a single projector on to the theater's Cinerama screen).Running times: 150 minutes (US and Aust), 145 minutes (UK). The DVD is available on Warner Home Video. Rating 10/10.SYNOPSIS: U.S. Navy Commander James Ferraday, stationed in Scotland, receives orders from Admiral Garvey to take his nuclear submarine to a British North Pole weather station called Ice Station Zebra. Ferraday's mission, which he does not yet know, is to recover a capsule from a grounded Russian space satellite containing reconnaissance photographs of all U.S. and Russian missile sites. Also aboard the sub are two British agents, David Jones and Boris Vaslov, the latter a communist defector, and two U.S. Marine officers, Lieutenant Russell Walker and Capt. Leslie Anders. En route, the vessel is sabotaged and almost exceeds its implosion depth before the crew can repair the damage and regain normal depth. Ferraday's suspicions that Vaslov is responsible are rejected by Jones, who vouches for his associate's loyalty and, instead, accuses Anders of sabotage. NOTES: Daniel L. Fapp was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for his Cinematography, losing to Pasquilino De Santiis for "Romeo and Juliet". Millar and Johnson were nominated for the same year's prestigious award for Special Visual Effects, losing to "2001: A Space Odyssey".Initial U.S.-Canadian film rentals gross: a disappointing $4,655,000 (just a mere $5,000 more than the initial domestic rentals for M-G- M's 1950 "Annie Get Your Gun"). As the distributor, M-G-M would have made money on this deal, but Ransohoff and Filmways would have been lucky to break even.COMMENT: We've been in submarines and journeyed to the North Pole before via movies, but not to the pole in Cinerama via nuclear submarine. Not that audiences noticed much difference between this one and Fox's 1954 CinemaScope thriller, "Hell and High Water". Nonetheless, it's he-man adventure, this race to the pole by Americans and Russians, with spies and double crosses and gunpoint confrontations once we finally get there. If you're not too bright, you may not tumble to the identity of the spy on board the sub but this, if anything, adds zest to the last phase. If you're not sure who the baddies or goodies or doubtful characters are, there's more suspense and surprise ahead amid the ice floes. John Sturges has ably directed it all with his usual competence.OTHER VIEWS: The most exciting movie ever made. - Howard Hughes.

A satellite capsule parachutes onto the frozen Arctic. American submarine captain Commander James Ferraday (Rock Hudson) of the USS Tigerfish is ordered up north for a secret mission under the cover of rescuing a British civilian weather station, Ice Station Zebra. He is joined by British agent Mr. Jones, Soviet defector Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), and Captain Anders (Jim Brown) and his marines.The dialog, the acting, and the camera work are all very static and stiff. There may be a couple of interesting technical aspects. The submarine diving and surfacing looks good. The underwater stuff looks good for a model. It has the rolling submarine deck. On the other hand, the Arctic exterior looks too fake. The movie lacks tension or energy. The first exciting action is breaking through the ice at the end of the first half. There is simply not enough exciting stuff going on.

I am always bemused at how some films seem to generate such wild swings between love and hate. How is it Sheepshaggers Convention is held in such high regard by so many? How is it that Ice Station Zebra is held so low? There are a few films we all seem to love, but ISZ is one most seem to hate. I simply adore this film, It transports me completely. I think the dialogue is some of the most memorable and exciting of any film of this genre, there is a precision that is key to to the brilliance. The film is beautifully paced and directed, There is no clunkiness or waste and the performances and characterisations are outstanding, especially McGoohan and Hudson. I for one truly believe Rock as he tells the young Sergeant, worried that he has never been aboard a submarine before, ''Don't worry, I have'' Or when one lad starts praying as the sub is on a deadly descent, he gently advises him.."Excuse me son, some of us are trying to think" Some of McGoohans lines are more wonderful, but may spoil if I repeat. It is definitely a guys film, I can see that there may be less appeal to women as it is a technical and macho subject matter - and yet does not have that obvious 60s sexist feel...Well maybe because there are no women in it... Anyway I had to say give it a go...You may love it!