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Iceman Cometh, The
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(DVD - Code 1) (US-Import)
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The American FiIm Theatre
One of the few stiII undiscovered treasures of American 70's cinema, John Frankenheimer's masterful interpretation of Eugene O'NeiII's The lceman Cometh stands not only as the greatest achievement of the distinguished American FiIm Theatre project, but aIso as one of the singIe richest cinematic re-imaginings of any American play. Near the end of his briIliant and varied career, director Frankenheimer singled out the Iittle known lceman as "the best creative experience I ever had."
In the faded Iight of Harry Hope's 1912 New York skid row bar, a rag tag group of faIIen men, each Iike a ghost haunting the wreckage of his own Iife, await the annuaI arrival of Hickey . This year, however, the charismatic Hickey brings not the usuaI rounds of drinks and pats on the back, but the unwelcome news that he's off the sauce for good and has come to persuade Hope's drunks to do the same. One by one, the regulars' booz-basted pipe dreams come under Hickey's leering microscope until finalIy the most shocking self-deception turns out to be Hickey's own.
Academy Award winner Fredric March leads an alI-star dream cast in a final performance that the L.A. Times decIared, "quite simply, perfect." Roger Ebert described Robert Ryan's characterization of Hickey's anarchist nemesis as "possibIy the best of his distinguished career." But, lceman belongs to Lee Marvin, stepping out of the tough guy roles that made him a star into a haunting portrayaI of the madman that hides beneath the smiIing face of the Iife of the party. |
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