MovieChat Forums > The Iceman Cometh (1973) Discussion > This Film Left Me Stunned

This Film Left Me Stunned

posted 15 years ago by gnolti
7 replies | jump to latest

Could there be any more stagebound a masterpiece than Iceman? Or more mortifyingly dull a subject than a room full of Bowery drunks? Why anyone would want to get all this on film -- and expect to pull it off -- is beyond me.

But that is exactly what John Frankenheimer did, with a stellar cast, more than one of whom was already staring death in the face at the time of production.

I don't see any point in enumerating every great scene, or awesome bit of dialogue, or laboring the matter. I just hope there is a fan base for this film besides myself. Any takers?

There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

[–] Edward_de_Vere 15 years ago

The Iceman Cometh is one of my favorite plays. The 1973 film is excellent, with two qualifications.

The first is that they abridged the play to the point of cutting out a character completely (Ed Mosher, Harry's brother in law and a former circus grifter). To be fair, the O'Neill play should be abridged, but removing a character is not the way to do it (particuarly because without 12 drunks, you no longer have the Jesus + Disciples reference).

The other complaint I have is that while Lee Marvin does a good job in the part, he doesn't give half the performance that Jason Robards does in the 1960 TV version (Jason Robards made his name in the theater performing Eugene O'Neill plays). If you can get your hands on this (it's part of the Broadway Theater Archive series), I would strongly recommend it, in spite of the grainy picture and awful sound editing.

I'm hoping one of these days someone takes another shot at remastering the 1960 Robards Iceman.

[–] gnolti 15 years ago

Points taken. I will try to find the Robards. But I should also add that I found the Frankenheimer film to be far more compelling visually than I expected it would be.

There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

[–] Xcalat3 15 years ago

Brilliant

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] shempXIV 11 years ago

I saw this on PBS as a lad in high school and on the big screen circa 2000...afterwards each time I felt like walking in front of a moving bus. (It's so depressing I recommend having some Marx Brothers films or Three Stooges shorts in easy reach after viewing.) But by gum, this film has some of the best acting you'll ever see in yr life.

[–] Hortences 10 years ago

Yep, it's films answer to Leonard Cohen. But it's a brilliant film that still resonates to this day. Glad they made films like this in the day.

[–] shepardjessica-1 10 years ago

My favorite play ever and I saw this back in '73. Ryan gave his best performance ever.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]