Friday, January 16, 2009

Top Ten Movies # 6 - Ice Station Zebra



How can a top ten list of mine NOT include a true cold war adventure that should have been written by Robert Ludlum but was instead written by the Tom Clancy of his day Alistair MacLean. For me the all time best one is ICE STATION ZEBRA (the COOLEST name for an arctic outpost ever). Starring Rock Hudson and Ernest Borgnine with the great Patrick MacGoohan (in his tweed fedora) making trouble as he always does. I have a love for the high arctic so this movie and book just speaks my language. My father was a MacLean fan and he gave me the book to read during my first away time at cadet camp. It was one of the first books (along with the Godfather, Lost Horizons and Mutiny on the Bounty) that I remember finishing. Combining the conflict of the space race with a battle at the top of the world seems the perfect setting for adventure. Crackling tension as the superpowers fight for control of the microfilm contained inside a spy cannister. OOOOOOOOOOOOO. My father was a soldier during a time when he never had to fight a war though they were always prepared for one to break out. Stinkin Ruskies. "SNOWBALL SNOWBALL"..was the call for the soldiers to rush to their duty stations and we heard that alot as kids during the Cold War. And we also knew how to hide beneath our desks and cover our head with wet newpapers when the bombs dropped. This movie just takes me back to those heady times. Now all our enemies wear turbans and don't like gum or blue jeans. Humas breath...ewwwwwww.

"Yes Sir, I am impressed, not enlightened...but impressed."


3 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

I looked this movie up recently on Rotten Tomatoes where it has a 50% Score from both Critics and Viewers. Imdb gives it a "6".

This may be the most neutral movie I have ever seen rated. Its an odd little anomaly, and now I want to actually see the movie just to know how something can be so evenly divided.

Kal said...

If you have ever read MacLean, the movie is very much like his written adventures. It's a full bodied cold war adventure that I think you would enjoy. I see you have been going back through my posts as I have. I am going to do a huge movie post.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Yeah, I found a page of Sinbad movie posters and wanted to post the link with one of your Sinbad reviews and found these entries marked "Top Ten Movies" while looking through the archives. So I guess you did list it at one time or another.

Sadly I could only find #10-#5 by Googling "Cave of Cool Movies" or "Cave of Cool Top Ten Movies".

Looking forward to this "Huge Movie Post".