Cheap Iceman Cometh (1973) (Video) (John Frankenheimer) Price

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Customer Reviews of Iceman Cometh (1973)

Greatness abounds, but....
I will simply agree with the other reviewers raving about March and Ryan, as well as the thought that the entire ensemble is incredibly good. This movie was a cult favorite of mine back in the day - I would drag people to see it as a way of communicating that I really cared about them. <
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>It was very upsetting to see how bad the print is. Wow. It would be a labor of love for someone to go through this to correct the color. Since it is the acting and the dialogue that is most important, this is still a treasure, but it would be wonderful to be able to see it with all the atmosphere it had when it was released in theaters.

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AN ABSOLUTE TREASURE REDISCOVERED AFTER 30 YEARS!
The American Film Theater Series was an interesting experiment promoted by American Express in the early 1970's. Buyers paid a subscription price for tickets for a series of plays on film that were shown at a few select area theatres. Iceman was my favorite of the series. Going in I wasn't expecting brilliance from tough guy Lee Marvin. Boy, was I wrong! Marvin was magnificent. So were March, Ryan and Bridges. <
>The series made its one run through the movie houses and then it disappeared for decades. Back in the 1990's I wrote American Express asking why none of the plays from the series were ever made available to viewers again after 1973. I was told that there were issues regarding residuals & royalties. For many years the only copy of Iceman that was available to the public was maintained at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. <
>If you were not one of the few who saw the production in 1973, you might never have known that this fine production ever existed - not because it wasn't great but because it wasn't available. <
>Despite its relative obscurity, Iceman is a true classic not to be missed. The same is true for Rhinoceros, another play now finally available from the series. All of the plays in the series might be of interest to theatre goers, but Iceman and Rhinoceros will appeal to theatre goers and non theatre goers alike. They are absolute treasures, lost for years and finally re-found.

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A 5 1/2 star performance
This is a special American Film Theatre performance of Eugene O'Neill's classic play. The time is the summer of 1912 in New York City. The scene is Harry Hope's skid row bar. The action takes place in four acts over two days. Act One is the early morning of Harry Hope's birthday. Act Two is the birthday party that evening. Act Three is the following morning. Act Four takes place in the very early hours of the next day. The total play runs for four hours on two discs, two acts to each disc. <
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>The story is well known. A bunch of life's failures inhabit the bar. They have rooms upstairs, and rarely go out. Some get remittances from families who want them to stay away from home. Others get funds from whatever means. One is a pimp who is supported by a woman. The men are joined by three tarts who use the bar as their home base. The men are awaiting the arrival of Teddy "Hickey" Hickman, a successful salesman who always shows up for Harry Hope's birthday, buys them drinks and kids around. They all have their pipe dreams about how they are going to redeem themselves, but they will do it tomorrow, just as they will pay Harry their room rent tomorrow. <
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>Robert Ryan gave an outstanding performance as Larry, the philosophical ex-anarchist who sometimes can say more with a look than with words. Lee Marvin plays Hickey, the type role where he excelled. The young Jeff Bridges played Parritt, a young friend of Larry who shows up with problems he wants to confess, and is having trouble coming to grips with himself. Fredric March plays Harry Hope, the bar owner just turning 60 who has not left the bar since his wife died 20 years earlier. Tom Pedi is Rocky, the bartender who takes money from two women on the side, but won't admit to being a pimp. The entire supporting cast gave great performances. <
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>Hickey shows up claiming to be reformed, and trys to make the other characters give up their pipe dreams. They all start out the door, but come back again. The time is just not quite right, but they say they will venture out later - maybe tomorrow. In the end, Hickey's own secrets are revealed, and the others convince themselves that Hickey is crazy and that they are OK. <
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>There is a side plot involving Larry, and his young friend Parritt who is grappling with his problems. In the end, Parritt seems to be the only one influenced by Hickey as he resolves his inner turmoil. <
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>The Iceman, by the way, is what is waiting outside the door (in some cases death). The name comes from one of Hickey's jokes about how the iceman comes around to see his wife when he is out of town (this is 1912 when people had ice boxes and took deliveries of ice). <
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>My only complaint is that the full cast is not listed on the DVD case. The amazon page provides a listing if you click on "see more." <
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>This is a PG-13 production because of content.