The Worst Film Ever

Really Surprised!

Must See Movie...

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

I've seen more believable Star Trek episodes. With more realistic set design. With better acting. Involving William Shatner. I mean, you mix Borgnine ham and Hollywood styrofoam and you get a sandwich that gives you a gut ache. My favorite part was when the Rusians - who their commie captain just proudly announced SURROUND the Americans - toss some mustard-colored cover and then open fire at will. Miraculously, only one guy catches a bullet. I assume the $8 million budget went entirely to the actors' salaries because there's no evidence money was spent on anything else.

Copyright 2 July 1968 by Filmways, Inc. Distributed by Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. New York opening at the Cinerama Theatre: 20 December 1968. U.S. release: 23 October 1968. U.K. release: 9 November 1969. Australian release: 3 April 1969. Sydney opening at the Plaza (as in New York, London and other major roadshow engagements, the 70mm Super Panavision anamorphic print unsqueezed through a single projector on to the theater's Cinerama screen).Running times: 150 minutes (US and Aust), 145 minutes (UK). The DVD is available on Warner Home Video. Rating 10/10.SYNOPSIS: U.S. Navy Commander James Ferraday, stationed in Scotland, receives orders from Admiral Garvey to take his nuclear submarine to a British North Pole weather station called Ice Station Zebra. Ferraday's mission, which he does not yet know, is to recover a capsule from a grounded Russian space satellite containing reconnaissance photographs of all U.S. and Russian missile sites. Also aboard the sub are two British agents, David Jones and Boris Vaslov, the latter a communist defector, and two U.S. Marine officers, Lieutenant Russell Walker and Capt. Leslie Anders. En route, the vessel is sabotaged and almost exceeds its implosion depth before the crew can repair the damage and regain normal depth. Ferraday's suspicions that Vaslov is responsible are rejected by Jones, who vouches for his associate's loyalty and, instead, accuses Anders of sabotage. NOTES: Daniel L. Fapp was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for his Cinematography, losing to Pasquilino De Santiis for "Romeo and Juliet". Millar and Johnson were nominated for the same year's prestigious award for Special Visual Effects, losing to "2001: A Space Odyssey".Initial U.S.-Canadian film rentals gross: a disappointing $4,655,000 (just a mere $5,000 more than the initial domestic rentals for M-G- M's 1950 "Annie Get Your Gun"). As the distributor, M-G-M would have made money on this deal, but Ransohoff and Filmways would have been lucky to break even.COMMENT: We've been in submarines and journeyed to the North Pole before via movies, but not to the pole in Cinerama via nuclear submarine. Not that audiences noticed much difference between this one and Fox's 1954 CinemaScope thriller, "Hell and High Water". Nonetheless, it's he-man adventure, this race to the pole by Americans and Russians, with spies and double crosses and gunpoint confrontations once we finally get there. If you're not too bright, you may not tumble to the identity of the spy on board the sub but this, if anything, adds zest to the last phase. If you're not sure who the baddies or goodies or doubtful characters are, there's more suspense and surprise ahead amid the ice floes. John Sturges has ably directed it all with his usual competence.OTHER VIEWS: The most exciting movie ever made. - Howard Hughes.

Then this is your movie. The entire first half seems like nothing more than technical blabber about the workings of the sub. The real mystery is not to be revealed until after intermission. However by then the audience suffering in the dark will be totally indifferent. The final confrontation is confusing and absolutely anticlimactic. I like Patrick McGoohan, but even his presence cannot save this 150 minute clunker. To top things off, the Arctic scenes look more like the set for a high school play than the frigid outdoors. In summary, "Ice Station Zebra", despite a respectable cast, is a total waste of a considerable amount of time. - MERK

A satellite capsule parachutes onto the frozen Arctic. American submarine captain Commander James Ferraday (Rock Hudson) of the USS Tigerfish is ordered up north for a secret mission under the cover of rescuing a British civilian weather station, Ice Station Zebra. He is joined by British agent Mr. Jones, Soviet defector Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), and Captain Anders (Jim Brown) and his marines.The dialog, the acting, and the camera work are all very static and stiff. There may be a couple of interesting technical aspects. The submarine diving and surfacing looks good. The underwater stuff looks good for a model. It has the rolling submarine deck. On the other hand, the Arctic exterior looks too fake. The movie lacks tension or energy. The first exciting action is breaking through the ice at the end of the first half. There is simply not enough exciting stuff going on.