The Iceman Cometh **** (1973, Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan, Jeff Bridges, Bradford Dillman) – Classic Movie Review 7382

Director John Frankenheimer’s remarkable 1973 The Iceman Cometh, made for The American Film Theatre, is an extremely satisfactory filmed-theatre version of Eugene O’Neill’s classic drama set in a 1912 waterfront bar.

Lee Marvin, having a stab at art between action assignments, gives a more than acceptable star turn as travelling salesman Hickey, who walks into The Last Chance Saloon in 1912 and harangues its barfly patrons. But all eyes will be on Robert Ryan in his final cinema feature as doomy former anarchist Larry Slade, and Fredric March in his final role too as Harry Hope, the waterfront bar owner. These riveting performances make the movie a must.

Viewed as cinema, there is not too much director Frankenheimer is able to bring to the movie. But that is not the point. It is The American Film Theatre. The point is the play and the performances, especially valuable now that the three stars have gone. Also in the cast are Jeff Bridges as young anarchist Don Parritt and Bradford Dillman as lawyer Willie Oban, along with Sorrell Booke, Hildy Brooks, Juno Dawson, Evans Evans, Martyn Green, Moses Gunn, Clifton James, John McLiam, Stephen Pearlman and Tom Pedi.

Thomas Quinn Curtiss adapts the Eugene O’Neill play. Sit tight and stay in awe – it runs 239 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7382

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