The Iceman Cometh (1973)

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Thomas Quinn Curtiss (writer)
Eugene O'Neill (play)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A salesman with a sudden passion for reform has an idea to sell to his barfly buddies: throw away your pipe dreams. The drunkards, living in a flophouse above a saloon, resent the idea.

Plot Keywords:

Saloon | Anarchist | Flophouse | Salesman | Whiskey

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Hickey
Fredric March	...	Harry Hope
Robert Ryan	...	Larry Slade
Jeff Bridges	...	Don Parritt
Bradford Dillman	...	Willie Oban
Sorrell Booke	...	Hugo Kalmar
Hildy Brooks	...	Margie
Juno Dawson	...	Pearl (as Nancy Juno Dawson)
Evans Evans	...	Cora
Martyn Green	...	Cecil Lewis
Moses Gunn	...	Joe Mott
Clifton James	...	Pat McGloin
John McLiam	...	Jimmy Tomorrow
Stephen Pearlman	...	Chuck Morelo
Tom Pedi	...	Rocky Pioggi
George Voskovec	...	Piet Wetjoen
Don McGovern	...	Moran
Bart Burns	...	Lieb

Directed by
John Frankenheimer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Thomas Quinn Curtiss		writer
Eugene O'Neill		play "The Iceman Cometh"

Produced by
Ely A. Landau	....	producer
Les Landau	....	associate producer
Edward Lewis	....	executive producer
Robert A. Goldston	....	supervising producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Ralph Woolsey

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Production Design by
Jack Martin Smith

Set Decoration by
Raphael Bretton

Costume Design by
Dorothy Jeakins

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kurt Neumann	....	assistant director
Barry Steinberg	....	assistant director

Art Department
Charles Stevens	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Glenn E. Anderson	....	sound mixer

Other crew
Jonathan Burrows	....	production executive

Production Companies

• Cinévision Ltée
• The American Film Theatre

Distributors

• The American Film Theatre (1973) (USA) (theatrical)
• inD DVD (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• 3DD Entertainment (2004) (Non-USA) (all media)
• Kino Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

239 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinévision Ltée

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "The Iceman Cometh" by Eugene O'Neill opened at the Martin Beck Theater on October 9, 1946 and ran for 136 performances. The play had revivals in 1973/1974 and 1999.

Quotes:

Larry Slade:As the history of the world proves, the truth has no bearing on anything. It's irrelevant and immaterial, as the lawyers say.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: Me and Mr. Jones (#6.4)" (2003)

Remarks

Can I tell you that I have waited 30 years to see this movie? When I was in my late teens, I received a brochure in the mail advertising the American Film Theater series. One of the films in the series that made my eyes pop was the promise to show Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh". I was a big fan of O'Neill's work, but felt cheated by AFT's disastrous marketing concept of showing it's films to season subscribers only, and then only giving them two days to see the film. I was forced to take a pass, but mourned my loss ever since.

This play is rarely performed. At four hours, it would task most theater companies, and Hickey's 25 minute soliloquy in the last act requires only the best actors to pull off. I was fortunate to have seen this play, once in my life, performed on the stage. This was Chicago's Goodman Theater production starring Brian Dennehy as Hickey in 1990. I felt fortunate, but came away from that production dissatisfied. Dennehy was a "good" Hickey, but not a great one, and the rest of the cast left me a little shallow.

How glad I was then to discover that this film had been re-released. By pure chance, I saw a notice in the paper that this film would be showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. I couldn't let this opportunity pass by a second time. I attended the screening and was absolutely stunned. It exceeded my expectations.

First of all, the cast was stellar. Robert Ryan played his last film role here, and it was perfect. I don't say something like that very often. I cannot imagine a better Larry.

Fredric March played his last role here too, as Harry Hope. Also an excellent performance.

The question everyone would be asking about is Hickey, played by Lee Marvin. Was he up to the role? To my surprise, Marvin couldn't have been a better choice.

Hickey was a salesman, and a rare one at that. He was the type of salesman that could knock on your door and convince you that what he had to sell was what you needed. A salesman like that had to exude a sense of complete self confidence. They would have to be totally sure of themselves and show it. Lee Marvin did that perfectly.

The tragedy of Hickey was that he was his own best customer. He was a tortured soul until he came across a solution that made him feel that he could live with himself again, thus creating his own pipedream. His mistake was to think he found a solution that would save humanity.

Unfortunately, in Harry Hope's dive, pipe-dreams and illusions were the only thing the patrons had to live for. Tampering with that created disaster.

Lee Marvin convinced me that he was Hickey, and in a play like this, that is quite an accomplishment.

By the way, I discovered that this film is now available on VHF and DVD. I am getting a copy.