Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 3, 2023 10:39:54 GMT -8
Ice Station Zebra
I don't stow my urine in jars nor let my fingernails grow to Fu Manchu length. But I share with Howard Hughes a love for this movie and give it a viewing every few years.
It's got a great cast: Rock Hudson (taking a break, apparently, from a string of light-comedy flops), Patrick McGoohan (given a leave-of-absence from The Prisoner to make this movie), Jim Brown, Ernest, Borgnine, Lloyd Nolan (in the early part of the film), and even a young Ron Masak (the sheriff from Murder, She Wrote).
Apparently, this film lost money and did not to well at the box office. But that's the fun of going back and taking a look at these somewhat overlooked gems.
Borgnine's performance as the Russian is a little campy. But Hudson and McGoohan are rock solid. And the interplay between them is marvelous.
I have no idea if this is how a submarine is run. But I found it fascinating. One reviewer, claiming to be a Navy veteran, writes "Despite a few "impossibilities" in the maneuvering of submarines visually through ice floes, its quite realistic." Indeed, whatever the case may be, the producers of this film went to great pains to give you a sense of place. I read that the set designer spent two years researching the interior of submarines.
I've read a few reviews that complained about the special effects. But they are adequate for the story. And nothing explains the denuded quality of the American male like his insistence for eye-candy over story. I dispense with these fools, for they are the bane of current movies. They drive producers (although some need little prodding) to put out the superficial junk that is so common today.
A perfectly rendered submarine is useless without a good story to go with it. And I think Ice Station Zebra has an excellent story with excellent actors. It's, again, such a shame that idiot males with little more than Fisher-Price mindsets must have their "special effects" to be completely believable (or at least over-rendered) while the story and characters can be as shallow as what you might find on Romper Room.
Yes, this is a cold-war film. But this is much more an adventure film with some skulduggery thrown in. A number of reviewers didn't like the film because they say "not much happens." Again, we're seeing the Romper Room tastes of adolescent minds. I love a movie that tells a story. And good stories require a build-up. And this movie has that.
If you are of the denuded mindset that there must be a bazillion screaming pixels moving from the get-go, then I just want to say "Thank you for ruining quality movies for the rest of us. Please grow the hell up." These morons need to go watch Casablanca and ditch their idiotic Marvel movies. Try filet mignon instead of ground turd. You might develop a taste for quality.
That's not to say that Ice Station Zebra doesn't have some problems. I think the build-up is superb. But the ending fizzles just a bit for me. And the one area where bad special effects might matter is in the howling-wind scenes where the blizzard looks so obvious added-on in post production. Plus, would it have killed them to fly to Alaska and film a few scenes in real ice fields?
I don't stow my urine in jars nor let my fingernails grow to Fu Manchu length. But I share with Howard Hughes a love for this movie and give it a viewing every few years.
It's got a great cast: Rock Hudson (taking a break, apparently, from a string of light-comedy flops), Patrick McGoohan (given a leave-of-absence from The Prisoner to make this movie), Jim Brown, Ernest, Borgnine, Lloyd Nolan (in the early part of the film), and even a young Ron Masak (the sheriff from Murder, She Wrote).
Apparently, this film lost money and did not to well at the box office. But that's the fun of going back and taking a look at these somewhat overlooked gems.
Borgnine's performance as the Russian is a little campy. But Hudson and McGoohan are rock solid. And the interplay between them is marvelous.
I have no idea if this is how a submarine is run. But I found it fascinating. One reviewer, claiming to be a Navy veteran, writes "Despite a few "impossibilities" in the maneuvering of submarines visually through ice floes, its quite realistic." Indeed, whatever the case may be, the producers of this film went to great pains to give you a sense of place. I read that the set designer spent two years researching the interior of submarines.
I've read a few reviews that complained about the special effects. But they are adequate for the story. And nothing explains the denuded quality of the American male like his insistence for eye-candy over story. I dispense with these fools, for they are the bane of current movies. They drive producers (although some need little prodding) to put out the superficial junk that is so common today.
A perfectly rendered submarine is useless without a good story to go with it. And I think Ice Station Zebra has an excellent story with excellent actors. It's, again, such a shame that idiot males with little more than Fisher-Price mindsets must have their "special effects" to be completely believable (or at least over-rendered) while the story and characters can be as shallow as what you might find on Romper Room.
Yes, this is a cold-war film. But this is much more an adventure film with some skulduggery thrown in. A number of reviewers didn't like the film because they say "not much happens." Again, we're seeing the Romper Room tastes of adolescent minds. I love a movie that tells a story. And good stories require a build-up. And this movie has that.
If you are of the denuded mindset that there must be a bazillion screaming pixels moving from the get-go, then I just want to say "Thank you for ruining quality movies for the rest of us. Please grow the hell up." These morons need to go watch Casablanca and ditch their idiotic Marvel movies. Try filet mignon instead of ground turd. You might develop a taste for quality.
That's not to say that Ice Station Zebra doesn't have some problems. I think the build-up is superb. But the ending fizzles just a bit for me. And the one area where bad special effects might matter is in the howling-wind scenes where the blizzard looks so obvious added-on in post production. Plus, would it have killed them to fly to Alaska and film a few scenes in real ice fields?
However, this is a great nostalgia film. If you haven't seen it in a while, give it another look.