Well, surprise, the BQ damn well likes it too.......(although we maintain acceptable hygiene and only watch the movie maybe once every two years, on an especially hot July night....)
It's a lengthy, but sturdily well built adaptation of yet another Alistair MacLean military/suspense high adventure.......this one pitting a U.S. nuclear submarine crew against a horde of Russian paratroopers as they race to an arctic weather station to retrieve an invaluable roll of film out of a crashed Russian spy satellite. (The presumed good guys in this tale (the U.S.), feel justified in grabbing this espionage McGuffin since the camera and film inside the Russian spy-in-the-sky was stolen American technology...)
Hitching a ride on the sub's perilous cruise underneath the arctic ice pack: a hair-trigger, high strung British operative (the fabulous Patrick McGoohan, behaving like a PTSD Bond on uppers), a garrulous, pro-West Russian (Ernest Borgnine) and a mysteriously sullen Marine sergeant (Jim Brown). The submarine's quietly competent captain (Rock Hudson) finds himself an exasperated wrangler of this enigmatic group, struggling to keep his temper since none of them will reveal their true purpose and clue him in and what the hell's going on.......
Even if you only have a vague familiarity with Alistair MacLean's films and books, you know that one or more of these characters is a treacherous, murderous double agent. And sure enough, all is revealed and a sardonic, yet satisfying climax unfolds as everybody, Americans, Russians and assorted spies, face off at the blizzard-blown Ice Station Zebra....
The BQ normally mocks Hollywood studio films that attempt to replicate wild outdoor locations in soundstages, but we hold a fond spot in our heart for MGM's studio-bound arctic in this movie.......it's beautifully designed and constructed, the epitome of decades of Hollywood craftsmanship, and for an indoor studio frozen tundra, it comes off as real as it has to. (Besides that, by the time the cast romps around in this MGM Snow Globe, you're too busy figuring out who's doing what to whom to pay any attention to the glistening styrofoam ice...)
So we're with old Howie Hughes in thoroughly enjoying all the fun stuff here.......the adventurous, yet somehow romantic main theme composed by Michel LeGrand (an odd choice to score such a high testosterone adventure, but he more than delivers)....the tense and razor-witty McGoohan (especially in his scenes with Hudson, both of them benefiting from some of the script's startlingly clever exchanges).
For a chill out classic movie experience on a sultry summer night, there's nothing like a tour of Hollywood sculpted icebergs and watchable actors scrambling to take cover behind them....we'll freeze 4 stars for "Ice Station Zebra" (****)......and you won't even need a parka and gloves to stop in......
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