The Iceman Cometh (1973)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Thomas Quinn Curtiss (writer)
Eugene O'Neill (play)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

It's 1912 and the patron's of 'The Last Chance Saloon' have gathered for their evening of whiskey to contemplate their lost faith and dreams...

Plot Keywords:

Betrayal | Saloon | Police Detective | Flophouse | Teen

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman
Fredric March	...	Harry Hope
Robert Ryan	...	Larry Slade
Jeff Bridges	...	Don Parritt
Bradford Dillman	...	Willie Oban
Sorrell Booke	...	Hugo Kalmar
Hildy Brooks	...	Margie
Juno Dawson	...	Pearl (as Nancy Juno Dawson)
Evans Evans	...	Cora
Martyn Green	...	Cecil Lewis
Moses Gunn	...	Joe Mott
Clifton James	...	Pat McGloin
John McLiam	...	Jimmy Tomorrow
Stephen Pearlman	...	Chuck Morelo
Tom Pedi	...	Rocky Pioggi

Runtime:

239 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinévision Ltée

Trivia:

Robert Ryan, knowing he was going to die of cancer soon, agreed to play the part of Larry Slade, a character who knows he's going to die soon (Ryan died before the film was released).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Step by Step: The Ice Cream Man Cometh (#4.9)" (1994)

Guy walks into a bar...

One of the brownest movies ever made -- brown walls, brown furniture, red-brown faces of the drunken patrons of Harry's Bar -- and somehow that feels appropriate, as a lot of it is about autumnal regrets and faded dreams. One in the series of the AFI's American Film Theatre series, it's a very faithful rendering of O'Neill's great play, with one original Broadway cast member (Tom Pedi's bartender) and loads of good casting throughout. John Frankenheimer's camera is thrust right up at the actors' faces, and you keep looking for artifice or melodrama, but, with the exception of Sorrell Booke's sodden Hugo, there's very little. Fredric March's deluded Harry Hope, Robert Ryan's despairing ex- revolutionary Larry, Jeff Bridges' guilt-ridden student (a very difficult role for a young actor, especially in company as august as this) -- all have the ring of truth, and once you get used to the deliberate pacing, repetitive arguments and apologies, and startlingly frank language for a 1946 play, you're hooked. As to Lee Marvin's Theodore Hickey: I was convinced up to his famous Act Three monologue, but he stumbles here, launching into badly calibrated fits of temper and back again. Compare it against Jason Robards Jr.'s interpretation in the 1960 Sidney Lumet-directed TV version, and you'll see the difference between a good actor overreaching and a master in a role he was born to play. (I also saw Kevin Spacey's attempt on the stage a few years ago: He played Hickey like Professor Harold Hill, all bluster and forced charisma, and it didn't work.) A depressing four hours, but worthy, and a rich sample of the actor's art.