Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (Broadway Theatre Archive)

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Jason Robards burst onto the Broadway scene in 1956 with his performance in Eugene O'Neill's devastating Iceman Cometh, playing the central role of Hickey, a salesman who comes to a rundown bar on a mission to bring peace to its boozing denizens by lifting their illusions--only to wreak disaster on them and himself. Four years later, director Sidney Lumet (later to direct such classics as Dog Day Afternoon and Network) made this skillful television version of the play, bringing back Robards, along with a sterling collection of character actors (particularly Myron McCormick as a former communist who comes to see his reasonableness as a form of cowardice) and a young Robert Redford (in a strikingly unheroic role). Robards became famous for his roles in many O'Neill plays; his galvanizing performance drives The Iceman Cometh and makes this production one of the landmarks of television drama. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Jason Robards became an overnight star with his indelible performance as the glad-handing, doom-ridden Hickey in the legendary 1956 Circle-in-the-Square revival of Eugene O'Neill's towering masterpiece. In his harrowing drama, O'Neill shines a harsh but compassionate spotlight on the failed lives, empty hopes, and perpetual pipe dreams of an assortment of down-and-out denizens of a seedy saloon, set in New York in 1912. Their sad, but complacent existences are rattled when Hickey arrives for his annual bender a changed man--forswearing alcohol and preaching a deliverance from "the lie of the pipe dream."

Customer Reviews:

THE STUFF DREAMS ARE NOT MADE OF .......2007-06-20

The dreams of the very wretched of the earth are different from you and I. Or are they? This is the true subject matter of Eugene O'Neill fine play. Very little action, lots of drinking, lots of dreaming, lots philosophizing and in a low down gin mill to boot doesn't sound like the makings of a great American play. But, it is. This thing turns into a microcosm of American society in the early part of the 20th century. Between shots of whiskey and beer the denizens of this small work exhibit all the emotions, contradictions, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of life that the rest of us `normals' have to face. Except, for dramatic effect, those flophouse devotees get their noses rubbed in it by one Harry Hickey- traveling salesman, former chief denizen who now has got `religion' and wants to spread his newfound `glad tidings'. Spare us from the Hickeys of the world-a little dreaminess and a couple of illusions never hurt anyone. Did they? Although in O'Neill's hands the dialogue is a little stilted and the characters are a little stereotyped and wooden the point he is trying to make gets across just fine. This is a must read on your American drama list. Needless to say Jason Robards as elsewhere in O'Neill's work defines the role of Harry Hickey

Robards was incredible!!!!.......2006-07-21

I can't get enough of Hickey. O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" captures what all of us pipe dreamers know:'My pipe dream helps me face my reality. Please don't take it away. I might go nuts.' Poor Hickey didn't realize that getting rid of his pipe dream made him totally "bughouse". Jason Robards' manic portrayal was wrenching. His final scene gives me chills.

His portrayal of Jamie in "Long Day's Journey..." was also incredible. It brings tears to my eyes.

Robards' interpretation of the dispossessed strikes a cord deep within that you might find hard to listen to.

I wasn't around when he gave his performances of these two O'Neill plays in 1956-58 but I am so glad someone had the good sense to capture the "staged" production of "Iceman" on celuloid. If only "Long Day's journey..." were similarly captured.

A Great Version of a Great Play.......2006-02-01

Many people, including me, believe The Iceman Cometh is Eugene O'Neil's best play, even better than Long Day's Journey into Night. Iceman is one of the deepest dives into the American psyche ever put on stage. The bad news about the Broadway Theater Archive DVD (originally released as a teleplay by CBS in 1960) is that its production values are primitive. The good news is that this Sidney Lumet television version is based on Jose Quintero's definitive 1956 Broadway production. The best news is that Jason Robards reprises his Broadway role as Hickey.

The setting is Harry Hope's saloon, and the year is 1912. Harry's regulars, a diverse lot of misfits and failures, spend their days drinking and dreaming of the things they're going to do when they get right again. Into their midst bursts the drummer Hickey, right on time for his annual bender. But this year Hickey's different. He's not drinking; he's not making his usual jokes about finding his wife in bed with the iceman; and he's on a mission to help Harry's regulars wise up and let go of their pipe dreams.

Hickey uses his salesman's pep and charm to convince his old drinking buddies to pick up the burdens they set down in favor of gin-induced oblivion. The toughest nut for Hickey to crack is Larry, a former labor radical who claims to be sick of life and through with caring about other people. Larry has his own distraction. Don, the son of Larry's old girlfriend, has shown up bearing a load of guilt he wants Larry to help him carry. Larry's mask of indifference keeps slipping, and he keeps trying to push it back into place.

Over four mesmerizing acts we see what happens to Harry's little community when they cast off their illusions. We learn why Hickey's changed, and why it's so important to him that the others wise up, just like he has.

With one glaring exception, the large cast is excellent. Farrell Pelly as Harry Hope and Myron McCormack as Larry anchor the rolling chaos of the saloon. Tom Pedi as the bartender Rocky provides a rude energy that keeps things moving. Jason Robards lit up the theater world when he played Hickey on Broadway. His is the definitive portrayal, one of the great turns on the American stage. Hickey's final speech, about how he overcame his own pipe dreams, is worth the price of the DVD by itself. The glaring exception is Don, played by a very young Robert Redford. Don is a difficult part, a weak man who's done an unsavory thing, for whom we're supposed to feel pity. Redford just isn't up to it, which drags down this part of the plot.

O'Neil is showing us the American Century in embryo. Its bottom social layer was awhirl in vague dreams and murderous rages, filled with people fighting a desperate rear guard action against despair. O'Neil isn't judging here, simply trying to understand. His language and his compassion for these characters pin the play down in time and space. His insight that human illusions are both necessary and lethal give the play universal implications.

Iceman has been revived several times since this version aired. I'm not sure modern American actors can get to the emotional core of this play any more. For all of its criminality, all the boozing and profanity and violence, there's innocence in these characters, and a sweetness in the way they care for one another that's probably passed out of American life. Mid-century America still had it to some degree, which is why this is the version of Iceman you want to see.

Robards is amazing.......2005-09-11

Totally absorbing play. Saw it on Play of the Week in the early 60s and never forgot it. Robard's portrayal of Hickey is probably the best acting I have ever witnessed. The weakest acting in the play is from a very young Robert Redford who had not yet sufficiently developed his skills.

Black and white, grainy, grand theater!.......2004-08-11

I don't need to add superlatives to Robard's signature performance in the role of Hickey. Instead I want to mention a scene in Act 2 (first cassette of the vcr version) between Larry Slade (Myron McCormick) and Don Parrit (Robert Redford).

The bums are starting to gather for Harry's birthday, and Parrit makes his way to Larry's table, where he tells him of Hickey's hounding him. The camera is close on the two men at the table; Larry, suspecting the worst, does not want to listen as Parrit repeats what Hickey has been saying to him about guilt and admitting the truth. In the background, Cora, one of the 'tarts' is practicing "The Sweetheart Of Paradise Alley" to sing for Harry, in a sweet, halting voice.

It is an absloutely stunning scene, and Redford somehow makes it believable that he has remembered all that Hickey has said to him: "what did he mean by that, Larry?" he keeps asking McCormick, who can't bear to look him in the eye.

The play itself is embedded with such scenic images, where characters, and dialog, and setting, and antiphonal voices communicate the essence of longing or hope or dispair or delusion or faith or enmity -- the complete range of human emotion and experience. All of this realized in this production.

Another dimension that comes across in this production is the role of women in the lives of men. The three tarts in the play comically and pathetically balance three offstage women who haunt the play: Parrit's mother, Harry Hope's Bessy, and Hickey's Evelyn.

Average customer rating:

The Iceman Cometh
A LITTLE DREAMING BETWEEN SHOTS
OUTSTANDING
History has proven the truth has no bearing upon anything....a great play and a great film
Greatness abounds, but....

The Iceman Cometh
Starring: Lee Marvin , Fredric March , Robert Ryan , Jeff Bridges , and Bradford Dillman
Director: John Frankenheimer
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008HCA9
Release Date: 2003-04-01

Customer Reviews:

The Iceman Cometh.......2007-07-05

Star Lee Marvin delivers the goods in the demanding central role of Hickey, the loutish sermonizer who attempts to convince his fellow losers that admitting to being a failure is the only possible redemption. In the last role of a long and distinguished screen career, March also shines as the aptly named Harry Hope, a widower who numbs his grief with work. Still it's tough guy Ryan who gives the film's most towering performance as the dying, laconic intellectual Slade (Ryan was also terminally ill when the film was shot). Frankenheimer, normally a director of high-wire political thrillers, directs Eugene O'Neill's raw, devastating play with confidence and sympathy for the plight of his characters. Look for a very young Jeff Bridges as Parritt, Slade's tragic young friend.

A LITTLE DREAMING BETWEEN SHOTS.......2007-06-07

OUTSTANDING.......2007-05-14

GREAT PERFORMANCE. WHY THESE DVDS WITH MARVELLOUS STRAIGHT PLAYS FROM THE THEATRE ARE NOT PUBLISHED WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES? I THINK I KNOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE A LITTLE, BUT SUBTITLES MAY HELP! INDEED.

History has proven the truth has no bearing upon anything....a great play and a great film.......2006-05-03

The "history" line is so sad yet true. It's uttered by Larry, brilliantly played by Robert Ryan (one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood history). It sums up this Dostoyevsky like play/film. It's very heavy going, rarely showing a ray of sunshine in the dismal existences of the sad souls that populate Harry's Hope, a 1912 dive bar where getting another round of whiskey is all that matters in these shattered lives. Some hang onto their pipe dreams, but they are only dreams. This is a full text, uncut version of the film, directed by the great John Frankenheimer (The original Manchurian Candidate and Seconds). The film had rarely been seen (in any form) since its premiere with the American Film Theater endeavor undertaken by Ely Landau. Kino has restored this film to its original 239 minute length. Kudos to them for bringing it to us. While there are problems with the source material (you can tell where material's been restored and the sound isn't always clear), it's still worth watching. It's not the worst transfer I've ever seen. The performances are superlative. Even Marvin, who some have criticised as being miscast, acquits himself quite well as Hickey. Ryan is the standout in a great cast. See John Ford's The Long Voyage Home and Sidney Lumet's Long Days Journey into Night (also produced by Landau) for great films based on O'Neill's work.

Greatness abounds, but...........2006-01-31

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.

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.

Average customer rating:

not the best story
Very Cool
It was awesome when I first saw it...
A smart rehash of " Time After Time " .
Iceman Cometh, Too Cool for Words!

The Iceman Cometh
Starring: Biao Yuen , Maggie Cheung , Wah Yuen , Sarah Lee (III) , and Alvina Kong
Director: Clarence Fok Yiu-leung
Manufacturer: Tai Seng
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305371636
Release Date: 1999-04-27

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A French movie magazine described this 1989 action fantasy as "Un remake idiot de 'Highlander.'" If only. It's actually one of those rock-bottom Hong Kong films in which the only good sequences are the fights--so good, in fact, that they betray the contribution of a ghost director, most likely Sammo Hung. This surmise is supported by the fact that Yuen Biao and his giggling nemesis from Hung's Eastern Condors, Yuen Hwa, get to restage their final-reel showdown from that film, which is duplicated right down to the camera angles. The two Yuens play antagonists in Ming Dynasty China who are accidentally frozen in a glacier and get thawed out to continue their conflict in modern Kowloon. There are a couple of clever bits, like an interlude in which the bad guy zones out over a Walkman and a bank of TVs showing American programs. But way too much of the action is frantic lame comedy, as Yuen is taken in hand by hooker Emily Chu and still has a tough time making the adjustment to urban life. At one point he happily slurps up a drink of water from a handy toilet bowl--an emblematic image. --David Chute

Customer Reviews:

not the best story.......2006-04-21

but expect to laugh your ass off and wonder about 20 times how yuen biao or wah did that insane stunt.
Now the movie starts right off showing yuen wah looking the coolest he ever has, him and yuen biao are fighting in the 1680 or so and fall off a cliff and are frozen. They are discovered of course and scientists hatch a stupid plot to thaw them out and have alive so they can talk to them or something. So of course they get thawed out like accidentally and wwe are off. Wah's character is your standard no plot, just kind of picks things up as he walks the city, doesn't explain nothing, but he can drive and do everything else really easily. So now they just kind of continue their war 300 years in the future from the ming dynasty. The fights were excellent in this movie, don't expect chop socky, but bad special effects mixed in with really good fights, just not one after another. The thing thta really saves this movie is the screen presence of yuen biao, this is my favorite character he has played, he is soooo funny. Him and maggie cheung are awesome together. This movie is a must see for any hong kong film fan.

Dvd features include nothing but 5.1 sound is pretty good. Also good picture quality, very good. But beware my ex[pectations are always low for kung fu. But it is a pretty good tai seng picture.

Very Cool.......2003-04-08

I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. I found it very funny and the action sequences was amazing. I also liked the love story between Yuen Biao and Maggie Cheung's characters.

It was awesome when I first saw it..........2001-01-04

When I was just a wee lad, I saw Iceman Cometh in a dodgy little theater and it became one of my favorite films. It had it all, sword fights, fisticuffs, time travel, magic etc. Twelve years later, I didn't find it quite as charming. There are things that still hold up very well. The fight scenes are well coreographed and showcase Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah's martial arts prowess. In addition much of the camera work with its beautiful tracking shots still look fresh and exciting.

But of course there are things that did not stand the test of time. Although you can't fault fashion too much, the ultra-hip, tight-rolled-up-jeans, neon-lit, late-80's look really dates the film. Also, the quirky story wich I once found so profound, made me cringe for the most part.

If you have never seen this film before, you might enjoy it. But if you're like me, seeing this film again after many years, you'll still enjoy it, but you're left a bit disappointed. Oh well, chalk up another one to rose tinted glasses.

A smart rehash of " Time After Time " ........2000-12-21

Though the plot is not original enough, still has some fresh elements, very Chinese style. My English is poor, can't tell the story well, 1st reviewer did a great job helps a lot. Fung San was Chinese version of " Jack the Ripper " travel through time to present Hong Kong. ( Well, not actually " Time Travel " but frozen over three hundred years and resurrect, still young and alive.) Our hero took on the mission to chase after the rapist. Ching encounters with the streetsmart hooker Maggie, She uses him as a servant / bodyguard and drag him into her deceiving world. Due to Ching's higher moral standard, he has a hardship to fit in ( fallen ) modern society, and split with Maggie when he find out her tricks. The whole process how he fells for this feisty, vigorous not-so-decent lady, has a struggle against his will, all the laughter came from. Fung San go with the flow easily, still a villain/ robber/ murderer and about to strike again, living on the verge of dark society, Maggie became San's prey accidentally. The rescue leads to the final showdown between Ching and San, Maggie was took as a hostage, Ching must prove his love for her, to save her life, and will he sacrifice for her? Basically the storyline is the martial arts version of " Time After Time ", more hilarious, action packed, and shows off both Yuen's solid stunts, I mean " real stunts " especially rare to find in recent years H. K. films. Unlike Jackie Chan, How to describe Yuen Biao's characteristics ? His small figure make him " as light as a swallow " looks as if he can leap so high and flying without a wire. Besides, he can act in this one.

Iceman Cometh, Too Cool for Words!.......2000-07-18

This is a good Movie! It features acrobatic martial arts Superstar Yuen Biao (Project A) as "Ching", a Ming Dynasty Imperial Guard. Beautiful Hong Kong leading lady Maggie Cheung (Police Story I&II) is streetwalker "Polla". The always awesome Yuen Wah (Supercop) is villian "Fung San". Veteran actors Taipo, Corey Yuen Kwai, Richard Ng, and Wu Ma also have small roles.

Yuen Wah and Yuen Biao are Imperial guards during the Ming Dynasty in ancient China. Yuen Wah becomes a rapist and serial killer, and murders the Princess. Yuen Biao vows to bring Fung San to the Emporer for justice. Fung San steals the magical "Black Jade Buddha" and attempts to use its mystical superpowers for himself. Ah Ching arrives just in time to stop him. A fierce swordfight ensues with both participants tumbling over the edge of a cliff into a glacier. Still locked together in combat, the two are frozen for three hundred years.

After discovery the two are accidentaly thawed and brought back to life in modern day Hong Kong. Fung San adapts easily to the excesses of modern day, he returns to a life of crime. Ah Ching "rescues" prostitute "Polla", and without job skills Ah Ching becomes Polla's bodyguard/personal slave to survive. Later, Ah Ching battles to rescue Polla after she falls intp Fung San's evil clutches.

The swordplay and fight scenes between Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah are awesome ! The immense neon sign used to backlight Yuen Biao and his sword on top of a skyscraper is a very striking image! One of the ultimate scenes in the movie comes when Wah and Biao are facing off with swords and a huge 747 jet passes right behind them, Wow! I love the juxtaposition of ancient weapons and modern technology. I have run through the final fight scenes over and over again in slow motion and reverse to watch the action, it is unbelievable. There are a few really excellent stunts in the movie too. Yuen Wah and Yuen Biao are the real thing, as they were both stuntmen extrordinaire before they became actors.

Yuen Wah always plays the most evil villians in Hong Kong Cinema with extreme skill. Biao's portrayal of Ah Ching is wonderfully done and convincingly complex and funny too. He truly shines in the emotional scene in the graveyard tunnel when he drinks the poison to prove his love for Polla.

Description

Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century, talks about satirizing contemporary culture and whether he's inadvertently defined a decade with his debut novel. Also, a conversation with Kevin Spacey about his performance in the Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh, the evolution of this production, and his perspectives on stage acting.

The Iceman Cometh [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

The Iceman Cometh [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
Director: John Frankenheimer
Manufacturer: Umbrella Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: Eugene O'Neill's 1947 Broadway play The Iceman Cometh has been described by one theatre historian as "a strikingly powerful, if discursive, study of man's desperate need for illusions." At 139 minutes, this film version of Iceman Cometh pares away nearly two hours of O'Neill's more ponderous passages, with entirely satisfactory results. The story 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. As the central character Hickey, a loser who's convinced himself that he's a winner, Lee Marvin can't match the power that O'Neill specialist Jason Robards brought to the role in a memorable 1960 TV adaptation. Still, Robert Ryan as Larry Slade and Fredric March as Harry Hope (his last film role) are first-rate. The Iceman Cometh was one of a series of prestige productions presented by the American Film Theatre. SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Posters, Photo Gallery, Interactive Menu, Featurette, Cast/Crew Interview(s),

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