Ice Station Zebra (film) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ice Station Zebra is a 1968

1968 in film

The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...

action film

Action film

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

directed by John Sturges

John Sturges

John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...

, starring Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson

Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

, Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...

, Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

, and Jim Brown

Jim Brown

James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...

. The screenplay by Alistair MacLean

Alistair MacLean

Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...

, Douglas Heyes

Douglas Heyes

Douglas Heyes was an American film and television writer, director, producer, actor, and composer with a long list of accomplishments.He was the father of actor Douglas Heyes, Jr..He died in Beverly Hills, California....

, Harry Julian Fink

Harry Julian Fink

Harry Julian Fink, television and film writer, wrote for Have Gun – Will Travel and was one of the writers who created Dirty Harry.He wrote for various TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s, and also created several, including NBC's T.H.E. Cat, starring Robert Loggia, and Tate starring David McLean.His...

, and W.R. Burnett is loosely based upon MacLean's 1963 novel of the same name. Both have parallels to real-life events that took place in 1959 (see below). The film was photographed in Super Panavision 70

Super Panavision 70

Super Panavision 70 was the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983.-History:...

by Daniel L. Fapp, and presented in 70 mm Cinerama

Cinerama

Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...

in premiere engagements. The original music score is by Michel Legrand

Michel Legrand

Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...

Plot

A satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

reenters the atmosphere

Atmospheric reentry

Atmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...

and ejects a capsule which parachutes to the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

(85N 21W). During an ice storm, a figure soon approaches, guided by a homing beacon

Homing beacon

A homing beacon is a radio or acoustic device that allows the user to track a ship, aircraft, an animal, or another individual. Depending on the beacon, the range can be as short as a hundred metres, or, in science fiction, allow for tracking a ship through hyperspace....

, while a second individual secretly watches from nearby.

The scene shifts to Commander James Ferraday (Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson

), captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

of the U.S. nuclear

Nuclear navy

Nuclear navy, or nuclear powered navy consists of ships powered by relatively small onboard nuclear reactors known as naval reactors. The concept was revolutionary for naval warfare when first proposed, as it meant that these vessels did not need to stop for fuel like their conventional...

attack submarine USS Tigerfish (SSN-509), stationed at Holy Loch

Holy Loch

The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He is ordered by Admiral Garvey (Lloyd Nolan

Lloyd Nolan

Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...

) to rescue the personnel of Drift Ice Station Zebra, a civilian weather station

Weather station

A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...

moving with the ice pack

Polar ice packs

Polar ice packs are large areas of pack ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions, known as polar ice caps: the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean, fringing the Antarctic ice sheet. Polar packs significantly change their size during...

. However, the mission is actually a cover for a highly classified assignment.

Ferraday welcomes aboard British intelligence agent Mr. "Jones" (Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

) and a Marine

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

platoon. While underway, a SH-2 Sea Sprite helicopter delivers Captain Anders (Jim Brown

Jim Brown

), who takes command of the Marines, and Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

), an amiable Russian defector

Defection

In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...

and spy and friend of Jones.

The Tigerfish makes its way under the ice to Zebra’s last known position. Ferraday decides to use a torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

to blast an opening in the thick ice. However, the torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

is open at both ends and seawater floods in, plunging the sub toward its rated crush depth. Ferraday and his crew are barely able to save themselves. During the investigation of the torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

, Jones quickly determines that this malfunction should be impossible and, being an expert in sabotage operations, Jones even describes how someone could intentionally rig the tube to malfunction. Both Jones and Ferraday conclude that there is a saboteur

Saboteur

A saboteur is someone who commits sabotage.It may also refer to:*Morituri , a 1965 film also known as The Saboteur*Saboteur , a card game by Frederic Moyersoen, published in 2004...

aboard, and both suspect Anders, who is the one member of the rescue team who is the least known to Jones, Ferraday, and Vaslov, and universally disliked by the crew for his harsh methods. However, the mission is too important to abort.

Finally locating an area of thin ice, the sub surfaces. Ferraday, Vaslov, Jones, and a rescue party set out for the weather station. They reach Zebra to find buildings burned down and the scientists nearly dead from exposure

Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...

. Jones and Vaslov begin questioning the survivors. It becomes obvious that the two spies are looking for something.

Ferraday reveals to Jones that he knows more about the mission than he is supposed to, saying "We don't believe in going on a mission totally blindfolded". Having no choice, Jones reveals to Ferraday that an advanced experimental British camera was stolen by the Soviets, along with an enhanced film emulsion developed by the Americans. The Soviets sent it into orbit to find the locations of all the American missile silos. However, the camera malfunctioned and photographed their missile sites as well. A second malfunction forced a landing in the Arctic. The scientists were caught in the crossfire between arriving Soviet and British agents.

Ferraday sets his crew to searching for the capsule. Jones eventually finds a hidden tracking device. He is ambushed and knocked unconscious by Vaslov, who turns out to be a double agent

Double agent

A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...

. Before Vaslov can make off with his prize, he is confronted by Anders. As the two men fight, a dazed Jones wakes up and, not having seen his assailant, shoots and kills the wrong man due to Vaslov's manipulation of the scenario.
Ferraday remains suspicious of Vaslov, but allows him to use the tracker to locate the capsule. They are interrupted when Russian paratroopers land at the scene. Their commander, Colonel Ostrovsky (Alf Kjellin

Alf Kjellin

Alf Kjellin was a Swedish film actor and director, who also appeared on some television shows.He was well established as a film actor when he occasionally took on roles in television shows. For example in 1965 he prominently guest-starred as Stalag Luft Kommandant Col...

), demands the capsule. Believing that the Americans have already secured the canister, the Russian commander threatens to activate the self-destruct mechanism with his transmitter. Ferraday stalls while Vaslov defuses the booby-trapped capsule and takes out the film. Ferraday hands over the empty container, but the deception is revealed and a brief firefight breaks out. In the confusion, Jones finds Vaslov, wounds him fatally, and retrieves the film.

Ferraday orders Jones to hand the film over to the Soviets. However, Ferraday had earlier found a device identical to Ostrovsky's. The Russians send the canister aloft by balloon to be picked up by an approaching aircraft. Lieutenant Walker makes a desperate attempt to get Ostrovsky's detonator, but fails and is wounded. Commander Ferraday then activates his detonator, destroying the film.

Ostrovsky concedes that "the incident is closed" and leaves, allowing the Tigerfish to complete the rescue of the civilians. A dissolving segue shows a teletype machine churning out a news story hailing the success of the "humanitarian" mission as an example of superpower

Superpower

A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...

cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Differences from the novel

While based on Alistair MacLean

Alistair MacLean

's 1963 Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

thriller, the film version diverges from its source material.

The most obvious changes involved the names of the novel's characters:

The submarine Dolphin became the Tigerfish.
The British spy Dr. Carpenter was renamed David Jones.
Commander Swanson was changed to Commander Ferraday.

Beyond the name change, the film's submarine has a more traditionally conventional design

Guppy

The guppy , also known as the millionfish, is one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species in the world. It is a small member of the Poeciliidae family [females long, males long] and like all other members of the family, is live-bearing....

similar to the first nuclear-powered submarine, the , rather than the more streamlined, teardrop-shaped vessel, either the contemporaneous Skipjack

Skipjack class submarine

The Skipjack class was a class of United States Navy nuclear submarines. This class was named after its lead ship, the . This new class introduced the teardrop hull and the S5W reactor to U.S. nuclear submarines. The Skipjacks were the fastest U.S...

or Permit

Thresher/Permit class submarine

The Thresher/Permit-class was a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy from the 1960s until 1994. They replaced the class...

design, as described in the novel–no doubt simply because that was the available design of the USS Ronquil

USS Ronquil (SS-396)

USS Ronquil , a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the ronquil, a spiny-finned fish found along the northwest coast of North America...

used to represent the fictitious Tigerfish during filming. The Tigerfish hull number

Hull number

Hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. A lower number implies an older vessel. The precise usage varies by country and type....

509 has never been used for an actual US Navy submarine, although it would appear again in fiction in the 1971 television movie Assault on the Wayne.

Additional characters were added, such as Soviet defector Boris Vaslov, Marine Captain Leslie Anders, 1st Lt Russell Walker, and a U.S. Marine Corps platoon

Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

trained in Arctic warfare

Arctic warfare

Arctic warfare or winter warfare is a term used to describe armed conflict that takes place in an exceptionally cold weather, usually in snowy and icy terrain, sometimes on ice-covered bodies of water...

. Much of the characterization involving the submarine's crew found in the novel was jettisoned in favor of these new cinematic creations.
Unlike the film, the novel describes little overt Soviet interest in recovering the film capsule other than a spy ship disguised as a fishing trawler waiting outside Holy Loch

Holy Loch

The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

when the Tigerfish sets sail.

In the novel, there is no Russian submarine, no Russians on the ice, and no confrontation of any kind on the ice with the Russians.

The novel's fire on board the submarine does not occur in the film, whereas the nearly fatal flooding of the forward torpedo is common to the film and the novel.

The sabotage of the torpedo tubes is committed by a crew member in the film. In the novel, a port maintenance worker is suspected.

The film's new climax involves a superpower

Superpower

confrontation between Soviet paratrooper

Paratrooper

Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...

s and the American Marines, but concludes on a more ambiguous note than the novel, reflecting the perceived thaw in the Cold War following the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...

Production

The film rights to the 1963 novel were acquired the following year by producer Martin Ransohoff

Martin Ransohoff

Martin Ransohoff is a cinema and television producer, and member of the Ransohoff family.Ransohoff was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1927. He founded the film production company Filmways, Inc. in 1960 and remained with the company until 1972...

who hoped to capitalize on the success of the 1961 blockbuster The Guns of Navarone

The Guns of Navarone (film)

The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...

by adapting another Alistair MacLean novel for the silver screen as a follow-up.

Navarone stars Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck

Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...

and David Niven

David Niven

James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

were initially attached to this film, with Peck as the sub commander and Niven as the British spy, plus Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...

and George Segal

George Segal

George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...

in the other key roles. Filming was set to begin in April 1965, but scheduling conflicts and U.S. Department of Defense objections over Paddy Chayefsky's

Paddy Chayefsky

Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....

screenplay and its depiction of naval life onboard the submarine delayed the start.

A new script was commissioned, but due to scheduling conflicts, the original cast was no longer available when filming began in Spring 1967. Principal photography lasted nineteen weeks, ending in October 1967. Ice Station Zebra was photographed in Super Panavision 70

Super Panavision 70

Super Panavision 70 was the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983.-History:...

by Daniel L. Fapp. The nuclear-powered Tigerfish (SSN-509) was portrayed in the movie by the diesel-electric

Diesel-electric

Diesel-electric transmission or diesel-electric powertrain is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion.A diesel-electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors...

Guppy IIA submarine when seen on the surface. The underwater scenes used a model of a Skate class

Skate class submarine

The Skate-class submarines were the United States Navy's first production run of nuclear powered submarines. They were an evolution of the Tang class in everything but their propulsion plants, which were based on the experimental . The four Skate class boats re-introduced stern torpedo tubes...

nuclear submarine.

Second unit

Second unit

In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...

cameraman John M. Stephens developed an innovative underwater camera system that successfully filmed the first continuous dive of a submarine, which became the subject of the documentary featurette The Man Who Makes a Difference.

Because his TV series The Prisoner

The Prisoner

The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...

was in production during principal photography in Ice Station Zebra, Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

had the episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is the thirteenth episode of the television series The Prisoner, produced while Patrick McGoohan was in America filming Ice Station Zebra. As a workaround to McGoohan's absence the writers contrived to have Number Six's mind implanted in the body of another man , who...

" re-written to have the mind of his character Number Six

Number Six (The Prisoner)

Number Six is the central fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, played by Patrick McGoohan. In the AMC remake, the character is played by Jim Caviezel, renamed "Six"....

transferred into the body of another character.

Cast

Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

as Commander James Ferraday, USN
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

as Boris Vaslov
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...

as David Jones of MI6
Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...

as Captain Leslie Anders, USMC
Tony Bill
Tony Bill
Gerard Anthony "Tony" Bill is an American actor, producer, and director. He produced the 1973 movie The Sting, for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips...

as 1st Lieutenant Russell Walker, USMC
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...

as Admiral Garvey, USN
Alf Kjellin
Alf Kjellin
Alf Kjellin was a Swedish film actor and director, who also appeared on some television shows.He was well established as a film actor when he occasionally took on roles in television shows. For example in 1965 he prominently guest-starred as Stalag Luft Kommandant Col...

as Colonel Ostrovsky, the Soviet commander
Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Gerald Stuart O'Loughlin, Jr. is an American television, stage, and film actor and director who was primarily known for playing tough-talking and rough-looking characters.-Career:...

as Lieutenant Commander Bob Raeburn, USN
Ted Hartley
Ted Hartley
Ted Hartley has been a US Navy fighter pilot, an investment banker, an actor, producer, and is currently CEO of RKO Pictures. He is married to actress Dina Merrill. He has one son, Philippe Hartley .- Early life :...

as Lieutenant Jonathan Hansen, USN

Plot origin and cultural impact

The plot has parallels to events reported in news stories from April 1959, concerning a missing experimental CORONA

Corona

A corona is a type of plasma "atmosphere" of the Sun or other celestial body, extending millions of kilometers into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph...

satellite capsule (Discoverer II) that inadvertently landed near Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...

, situated in the Arctic Ocean on April 13, which was believed to have been recovered by Soviet agents. In 2006 the National Reconnaissance Office

National Reconnaissance Office

The National Reconnaissance Office , located in Chantilly, Virginia, is one of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. It designs, builds, and operates the spy satellites of the United States government.-Mission:...

declassified information stating that "an individual formerly possessing CORONA

Corona

access was the technical advisor to the movie" and admitted "the resemblance of the loss of the DISCOVERER II capsule, and its probable recovery by the Soviets" on Spitsbergen Island, to the book by Alistair MacLean.

The story has parallels with CIA Operation Coldfeet, which took place in May/June 1962. In this operation, two American officers parachuted from a CIA-operated B-17 Flying Fortress to an abandoned Soviet ice station. After searching the station, they were picked up three days later by the B-17 using the Fulton Skyhook system.

Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

, who had experience both as a movie producer and a defense contractor for the U.S., is said to have watched a private print of Ice Station Zebra 150 times on a continuous loop in his private hotel suite during the years prior to his death.

The sets and miniature footage from the film were re-used for the 1971 ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

made-for-television movie Assault on the Wayne, starring Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....

, Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...

, Keenan Wynn

Keenan Wynn

Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....

, William Windom

William Windom (actor)

William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...

, Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott

Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...

, and Dewey Martin

Dewey Martin (actor)

-Career:Martin was born December 8, 1923 in Katemcy, Texas. His film debut was an uncredited part in Knock on Any Door . He also appeared in The Thing from Another World , co-starred with Kirk Douglas in The Big Sky , played younger brother of Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours , and was...

, which also featured Zebra cast members Lloyd Haynes

Lloyd Haynes

Samuel Lloyd Haynes was an African-American actor and television writer. Haynes was a member of the Bahá'í Faith.Haynes served in the Marines from 1952–1964 and during the Korean War...

and Ron Masak

Ron Masak

Ron Masak is an American actor. He began on stage and much of his work is in theater. His first screen role was as the Harmonica Man in "The Purple Testament," an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1960...

.

The name Zebra comes from the representation of the letter Z

Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal...

in the Joint Army/Navy phonetic alphabet

Spelling alphabet

A spelling alphabet, radio alphabet, or telephone alphabet is a set of words which are used to stand for the letters of an alphabet. Each word in the spelling alphabet typically replaces the name of the letter with which it starts...

. In the modern NATO phonetic alphabet

NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO phonetic alphabet, more accurately known as the NATO spelling alphabet and also called the ICAO phonetic or spelling alphabet, the ITU phonetic alphabet, and the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet...

later adopted by aviation and navigation, Zulu is being used instead of Zebra. In actuality, there was an Ice Station Alpha (phonetic for the letter 'A') located on Ice Island T-3 in the Arctic

Arctic

, visited by the USS Skate

USS Skate (SSN-578)

USS Skate , the third submarine of the United States Navy named for the skate, a type of ray, was the lead ship of the Skate class of nuclear submarines...

on 14 August 1958, as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY)

International Geophysical Year

The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...

.

Footage from Ice Station Zebra (and the model of the Tigerfish) was also re-used in the 1978

1978 in film

The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....

disaster film

Disaster film

A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...

Gray Lady Down

Gray Lady Down is a 1978 disaster film by Universal Studios starring Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, and features the first film role for a young Christopher Reeve...

, the 1983

1983 in film

-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...

James Bond film Never Say Never Again

Never Say Never Again

Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...

, and the 1983

1983 in film

Cold War thriller Firefox

Firefox (film)

Firefox is a 1982 American action film produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It is based upon the 1977 novel of the same name written by Craig Thomas....

.

Sportscaster Chris Berman, known for his whimsical nicknames for athletes, referred to major league pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

Bob Sebra

Robert 'Bob' Sebra , is a former professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1985-1990. Sebra played for the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Milwaukee Brewers. He was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey.-External links:...

as "Ice Station Sebra".

An episode of Sealab 2021

Sealab 2021

Sealab 2021 is an American animated television series. It was shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 23, 2000 and the final episode aired on April 25, 2005...

has researchers in the Antarctic trapped on 'Ice Station Zebra'.

In the eleventh episode of the third season of Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...

Walter White hands Skyler a check from 'Ice Station Zebra Associates'. Ice Station Zebra is his attorney's fake company in the show.

'Ice Station Zebra' is the affectionate nickname given to Boundary Park

Boundary Park

Boundary Park is the main sports stadium of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with the towns of Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively, giving rise to the name Boundary Park....

, the home of Oldham Athletic, by former manager Joe Royle

Joe Royle

Joseph "Joe" Royle is an English football manager. In his club career, he played for Everton , Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the England national team...

. This is due to its' high altitude, common cold temperatures and sense of dread and foreboding it instils in visiting soccer teams.

Box office

Ice Station Zebra was released on October 23, 1968. The film became a major hit, which gave a much needed boost to Rock Hudson's flagging career.

Critical response

Critic Roger Ebert did not like the film, saying it was "so flat and conventional that its three moments of interest are an embarrassment", and finally describing it as a "a dull, stupid movie", expressing disappointment that the special effects did not, in his opinion, live up to advance claims.

Director John Carpenter

John Carpenter

John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...

asked, "Why do I love this movie so much?", saying it was a guilty pleasure.

Awards

Ice Station Zebra was nominated for two Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

, in the special effects category (2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

won instead) and Best Cinematography (won by Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)

Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 British-Italian cinematic adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name.The film was directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, and stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Plot

Differences from the novel

Production

Cast

Plot origin and cultural impact

Box office

Critical response

Awards

Further Reading

External links