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Ice Station Zebra (1968) More at IMDbPro »

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70 comments in total

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24 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
"My First Name Is Captain", 9 May 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

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.

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33 out of 49 people found the following comment useful :-
A Ripping Good Cold War Yarn, 11 December 1999

Author: Dana A. Luke (danaluke@iname.com) from Westbrook, ME

This movie is a FAR better and more believable story than any of the cold-war James Bond pictures of the same period. All of the actors involved here are at the top of their game, especially Rock Hudson, who portrays a nuclear submarine captain as if he was born to it.

A very believable story, well acted, with lots of action sequences interspersed with tightly-delivered dialog. Ice Station Zebra moves along at a crisp pace, and builds to a gripping climax.

This movie is NOT to be missed if you like nuclear submarines, cold-war epics, or just well-acted and written movies in general.

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26 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
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., 5 February 2005

Author: Mickey-2 from Front Royal, VA

"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.

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21 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
Big buget, top cast, great music, super-wide screen - Wow!, 4 March 2002
Author: Bruce Cook (brucemcook@windstream.net) from Fayetteville, GA

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 . . .

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Adventure Film, 4 February 2007

Author: elgrego from Los Angeles

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.

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15 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
A splendid film with a splendid cast, 9 May 2005

Author: carolv_brady from United Kingdom

Oh sorry - did I say "splendid" twice?? Well, that sums up what I feel about this film. Particularly "splendid" in my humble opinion was the portrayal of David Jones by the wonderful Patrick McGoohan, who is my favourite actor, so OK I'm a little biased here - but he really stood out for me. I love the way he seemed genuinely shaken after the "sabotage" act on the sub - drinking whisky-laden coffee with trembling hands. And of course Number 6's dry sense of humour, and heroic deeds.

And everyone else was pretty good too :) I know some of the scenery was obviously fake, but the sense of space across the ice flow, and the scenes of the sub trying to emerge from the ice were pretty impressive.

Anyway, I bought this yesterday on DVD and it was £16 well spent.

9/10.

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18 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
McGoohan kicks Cold War butt, 17 November 2004

Author: Rick41 from West Chester, Pa

I've seen my share of movies, and Patrick McGoohan's performance in this one is my favorite of all time. Rock Hudson-led American sub ventures to remote arctic weather station on what is thought to be a rescue mission. Innocent trip develops into search and struggle for film that threatens the survival of the free world. Hudson's characteristic bluster fits sub captain role to a "T", and we finally get to see McGoohan in action as a British spy in a full-length film. McGoohan's chilling explanation to Hudson of the true purpose of the mission, which comes well into the film, is the crowning moment of the cold-war/spy movie genre ("and that is when the lights began to burn in the Kremlin...."). McGoohan is awesome throughout, although Hudson nearly upstages him in the finale if such a thing is possible. Good supporting cast includes the always-welcome Jim Brown. Deserves a DVD!! 10 out of 10

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
The Cold War Is Gone, But This Movie Is Still Good, 13 November 2003

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Commander James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), the captain of the nuclear submarine USS Tigerfish, receives the assignment to get three persons to North Pole: the civilian David Jones (Patrick McGoohan), the Russian deserter Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine) and the marine Capt. Leslie Anders (Jim Brown). Their secret mission is to recover an American film from an English camera in a Russian spy satellite, which felt close to the Ice Station Zebra. The persons who work in the station are not responding to the radio call and nobody knows what might have happened with them. Along the voyage of USS Tigerfish, there is some sabotage on board meaning that probably one of the new passengers is a Russian spy. A tense and cynical end finishes a long but attractive story. Although the cold war is gone in the present days, this movie is still a good film. Rock Hudson and Patrick McGoohan have a great performance. My vote is seven.

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15 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
What? No Women?, 14 November 2005

Author: Moor-Larkin from United Kingdom

If this film were not remarkable for anything else, it would be for the complete absence of the fair sex. Mr. McGoohan made this movie in the middle of his creative 'burn' that created 'The Prisoner'. It has been suggested he only made this "Hollywood" movie in order to obtain a fat fee that could fund his personal TV project.

Whatever the motivations, this was a superb performance by McGoohan. He bent his 'John Drake' persona into a more cynical 'Secret Agent', prefiguring the 'Smileys People' generation. David Jones still retained that sense of duty and honour that 'Danger Man' had possessed but suggested the slippery slope that McGoohan would later expose in the character of 'Nelson Brenner' in 'Columbo's' "Identity Crisis".

Escaping from the apostrophes, this reviewer was also impressed by the restraint of Rock Hudson. Perhaps he enjoyed the break from playing the romantic hero! Ernest Borgnine played the treacherous Russian, but at least his character was permitted to retain the dignity of being a liar-with-a-cause.

All in all, an excellent movie, dense with dialogue at times, but none the worse for that. Some of the special effects look like 'Thunderbirds' nowadays but it really doesn't matter as they are only window-dressing for the characterisations of the actors.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Prelude to The Prisoner, 26 March 2002

Author: captnemo from Skull Island

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

No real Spoilers, but seeing the film would help. While not nearly as good as "Guns of Navarone" or "Where Eagles Dare", this is still a very good flick. Why? Easy. Patrick McGoohan as "David Jones." He plays Jones just like he did John Drake of "Secret Agent" fame AND just like Number Six, the hero of "The Prisoner." My view of this film has always been that it's a story that sits chronologically between the two series. In fact, I like to look at it as Drake's last mission before he resigns and begins the Prisoner. With a little imagination and tongue in cheek, I'm sure you'll see my point. Jones talks like Drake and #6. In fact, at the end of "Zebra," Jones says "Do svidAniya," which can be taken as "Be Seeing You," the signature phrase of The Prisoner. He has the same amazing array of knowledge, like how to sink a sub, that the other two have. He is also very much a born survivor. A lesser actor would have died 4-5 times. McGoohan makes this film much more fun than it has any right to be. Without him, it would be very rough going for 2.5 hours until the rather flat ending. To those who are up to speed on "Secret Agent" and "The Prisoner", give this a look. You'll be very pleased to see an old friend at his best. McGoohan actually took time off from filming "The Prisoner" to make this and it shows. He was in Prisoner-mode the whole time, and for that I would recommend this film. RATING: 7 out of 10.

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