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ACTOR
Rock HudsonErnest BorgninePatrick McGoohanJim Brown
DIRECTOR
John Sturges
SYNOPSICS
Ice Station Zebra (1968) is a English movie. John Sturges has directed this movie. Rock Hudson,Ernest Borgnine,Patrick McGoohan,Jim Brown are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1968. Ice Station Zebra (1968) is considered one of the best Adventure,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
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Ice Station Zebra (1968) Reviews
"My First Name Is Captain"
The very first film Rock Hudson did after finishing his contractual obligations at Universal Studios was no cheapie. Ice Station Zebra was spared no expense by MGM in bringing the Alistair McLean Cold War novel to the screen. Unfortunately this and some other ill conceived projects are what brought MGM to bankruptcy in the next decade. Though it got only so-so reviews and didn't have the box office that MGM wanted and needed, Ice Station Zebra has stood up well and is really best seen on the big screen. Even a letter boxed version doesn't do the vast polar landscapes justice nor the underwater shots neither. The film was nominated for special effects and color cinematography. Watching Rock Hudson in command of the U.S.S. Tigerfish was like watching James T. Kirk in charge of the Enterprise. I wouldn't be surprised if Hudson took a few cues from William Shatner in his performance. Hudson has an Enterprise like mission and later on leads an away team on a polar icecap where a Russian spy satellite has been busy photographing all of the U.S. missile launching sites. The film is wanted by both sides and both sides send teams to get it. It's a curious bunch that Hudson has to deal with on his team. A Russian defector scientist Ernest Borgnine, British agent Patrick McGoohan (wasn't that ever natural casting) and spit and polish Marine captain Jim Brown. They've all got varying agendas and one in his crew is a double agent. The highlight of the film is the standoff with Hudson and Russian colonel Alf Kjellin. They are an evenly matched pair, I would not like to be playing poker with. Ice Station Zebra is far better than the reviews it got at the time. Even with the Cold War over, it's still an exciting and suspense filled film.
Great Adventure Film
This film is very underrated on this site. It is in a genre that is not really made very often any more--action adventure that is plausible both in plot and technology. And the action adventure plays equal footing to the actual acting and dialog. It is closer to an World War II action film than to, say, one of Arnold Schwartzeneger's action films. As an artistic piece of work, the lack of women (and any romantic story) keeps this cold war picture completely focused on the primary story, and makes the actors work all that much harder to keep the viewer engaged. There is also a good bit of spectacular on-location filming that still takes your breath away with its beauty. The actual polar icecap scenes (with actors) where the focal point of the movie's action takes place is a set. And it is a glorious one. No CGI imagery here! I bought this DVD for this film in a bargain bin. If you get the chance snap one up, or rent it and watch it on a decent TV. Great transfer. Good score as well.
...and all of a sudden, you know a whole damn lot about my business!
I don't know how I missed this film for 40 years, but I corrected that mistake. Not a blockbuster, with the only outstanding features being the cinematography and special effects, it is nevertheless a taut cold war thriller. The interplay between Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine. Patrick McGoohan, and to a lesser extent, Jim Brown made this a film where you are constantly focused on who is the good guy, and who is the bad. Long at 148 minutes, it never lags. There is a very good reason why Alistair MacLean novels make good pictures,
A US submarine is entrusted with taking a British espionage agent to the top of the world, on a mission that is vital to the free world.
"Ice Station Zebra" was one of the films made during the 1960's that depicted the tensions that existed in the Cold War era. The Soviet Union has launched a satellite containing a camera that is taking pictures of United States defense bases, etc. That satellite, upon reentry, takes a mysterious trajectory that causes it to crash land at a British weather station located at the top of the world, Ice Station Zebra by name. The United States sends a submarine on the mission to find the satellite, a passenger from British secret service goes along to provide expert knowledge, and along the way, a non-communist Russian is added to the passenger list. This makes for some rather tense moments on the voyage, there is a possible sabotage effort aboard the sub, and all folks involved are wondering of the possibilities of a spy aboard the submarine. Finally, the American vessel makes it to the weather station, and even more of a disaster has occurred there; a fire has broken out, there are survivors, but they are in no shape to go satellite hunting. And, to make matters worse, the Russians have sent an air force strike to Zebra in order to lay claim to this camera and its film contents. The conditions at Ice Station Zebra could definitely heat up, as US Marines and Russian paratroops confront each other. The cast is top-notch; Rock Hudson plays Capt. Farraday, in charge of the submarine and its crew, and plays the role to the hilt. One may almost close eyes and see Hudson in charge of the boat as it embarks on its mission. Patrick McGoohan is in rare form as the British agent Jones, and Ernest Borgnine is able to play a rather convincing Russian who feels that freedom/democracy is better than communism. Jim Brown, the former NFL running back, has the role of the leader of the Marines that will be asked to confront the Russian troops at Zebra. Just this month, a DVD version of this film has been made available to the public, and the wait has been well worth it. 9/10, and a nice add to a person's collection.
Big buget, top cast, great music, super-wide screen - Wow!
Big-budget, all-star, action-packed adventure about an American submarine sent to the North Pole to retrieve a downed satellite which contains a roll of film. The Russians want it as badly as the Americans because the film contains high-orbit pictures of BOTH country's missile sites. Rock Hudson is the sub commander, Patrick McGoohan is the cynical secret agent with a dry wit (a roll he made famous in two famous British TV shows, `The Secret Agent' and `The Prisoner'), Jim Brown is a hard-nosed Marine captain, and Earnest Borgnine is a Russian defector working with McGoohan and the Americans to retrieve the valuable film. The special effects of the Russian jets could have been much better, even in 1968. But the fantastic exterior arctic sets create a stylized North Pole as appealing as the sets of Altair 4 in `Forbidden Planet'. Sure they don't look `real' -- but that's doesn't mean they don't look good. And brother, they sure look BIG. Furthermore, these sets don't just sit there, they actually DO neat stuff: hugh blocks of ice converge and threaten to crush the sub's conning tower, and the conning tower raises and lowers through cracks in the ice! Dynamite score by Michel LeGrand. Sterling screenplay by Douglas Heyes, riddled with sharp dialogue that the fine cast delivers perfectly (I love it when McGoohan tells Hudson that the film invented by America's German scientists was put into the camera invented by Britain's German scientists and sent up in the satellite invented by the Russian's German scientists. Funny. Based on Alistair MacLean's best-selling novel. A genuine techno-thriller that predated Tom Clancy's work. And it was originally released at Cinerama theaters! Gotta love it . . .