The Iceman Cometh (1973)

88% of critics liked it
(8 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(571 ratings)

John Frankenheimer's screen version of Eugene O'Neill's 1947 Broadway play The Iceman Cometh is set in 1912 at Harry Hope's dingy waterfront saloon. On the occasion of Hope's birthday, several derelicts enter the scene to pontificate on the lives they'd planned, the lives they still dream about, and… More John Frankenheimer's screen version of Eugene O'Neill's 1947 Broadway play The Iceman Cometh is set in 1912 at Harry Hope's dingy waterfront saloon. On the occasion of Hope's birthday, several derelicts enter the scene to pontificate on the lives they'd planned, the lives they still dream about, and the wasted lives they wound up with. The cast features Lee Marvin as Hickey, a loser who's convinced himself that he's a winner; Robert Ryan as Larry Slade; and Fredric March (his last film role) as Harry Hope. The Iceman Cometh was one of a series of prestige productions presented by the American Film Theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 3 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: John Frankenheimer, Clarence Fok Yiu-leung
Written By: Thomas Quinn Curtiss, Eugene O'Neill, Johnny Mak, Stephen Siu
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Nov 10, 1973 Limited
On DVD: Apr 1, 2003

Critic Reviews

Michael Feingold, Village Voice
We see a fairly dazzling array of performances, built by Frankenheimer cunningly and steadily.
Pauline Kael, New Yorker
Eugene O'Neill's great, heavy, simplistic, mechanical, beautiful play has been given a straightforward, faithful production in handsome, dark-toned color.
Nora Sayre, New York Times
The play is an inescapably great experience, and that fact isn't muffled by this film.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
For four hours we live in these two rooms and discover the secrets of these people, and at the end we have gone deeper, seen more, and will remember more, than with most of the other movies of our life.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
A stiff in spite of an interesting cast.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The scene-stealer is Robert Ryan, one of cinema's forgotten great actors. He delivers a superlative performance as the radical with dark reason and fearful purpose, bringing a new, almost heroic dimension to the character.
Jamie Russell, Film4
A series of powerful performances and some sympathetic direction from Frankenheimer raise this above most of the American Film Theater's productions.