Ice Station Zebra 1968

     This film is based on a novel written by Alistari MacLean.  Commander James Ferraday USN, has new orders, get David Jones, a British civilian, Captain Anders, a tough Marine with a platoon of troops, Boris Vasilov, a friendly Russian and the crew of the nuclear sub USS Tigerfish to the North Pole to rescue the crew of Drift Ice Station Zebra.  This is a weather station at the top of the world.  The mission takes on new and dangerous twists as the crew find out that all is not as it seems at Zebra and that someone will stop at nothing to prevent the mission from being completed!!

     A top-secret Soviet spy satellite using stolen Western technology malfunctions.  The satellite goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra.  This station belongs to the British and the station starts sending out distress signals before falling silent.  The atomic submarine USS Tigerfish commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday is dispatched to save the Brits.  3* (This movie is OK)

148 min, Adventure directed by John Sturges and written by Douglas Heyes, Alistari MacLean, Harry Julian Fink, W.R. Burnett with Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown, Tony Bill, Lloyd Nolan, Alf Kjellin, Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Ted Hartley, Murray Rose, Ron Masak, Lee Stanley.

Note:  Imdb 6.6* out of 10* with 9,286 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 47% with 15 critic reviews 58% audience scores with 2500+ ratings, Roger Ebert 1*, dvd talk.com movie: good, video: excellent, sound: excellent, Letterboxed 3.1* out of 5*. 

Special Note:  In the era before VCRs, Howard Hughes would call the Las Vegas TV station he owned and demand they run this particular movie.  Hughes loved this film and it aired on his Las Vegas station over 100 times during his lifetime.  The submarine used in this movie was the USS Ronquil (SS-396).  Her hull number was repainted to 509.  The first nuclear powered United States Submarine was the USS Nautilus (SSN-571).  This film was originally shown in Cinerama venues.  In order to put it into these theaters, MGM pulled 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) while it was still having a successful run.

Mistakes:  When Patrick McGoohan and Rock Hudson are in the lab discussing the satellite, as Rock Hudson moves from right to left, the shadow of the boom mike moves across the wall above him.  Submarines are always referred to as boats.  Rock Hudson and other members of the cast frequently refer to their sub as a ship. A true submariner would never do this!!  When Jones was startled awake, the officer says he was in his bunk.  No one in the Navy uses the term bunk.  Rack would be the correct nautical term.  When Jim Brown first enters the Submarine he is wearing his cap.  U.S. Marines never wear their caps indoors.