Green Ice

by kingj 💓😍

Green Ice_720p(480P)

A poorly developed action adventure film shot largely in Mexico, this affair begins in promising fashion, but after its first of several changes in direction occurs within the plot line, little remains that will interest a viewer. A group of international students (in reality organized supporters of anti-government rebels) is massacred in Colombia by Federales as action opens, while during alternating scenes Joe Wiley (Ryan O'Neal), an American electronics engineer, visiting Mexico to recover from a divorce, meets an affluent socialite, Lillian Holbrook (Anne Archer). When the two become romantically involved, a complicated situation forms since Lillian is being wooed by Meno Argenti (Omar Sharif), a powerful plutocrat who controls the emerald trade for the rotten Mexican government, thus leading to shared distaste between the two men. When Lillian travels to Colombia in quest of her missing younger sister, Joe goes with her, an act not endorsed by Meno who wishes to wed her for personal reasons other than love, and a climactic conflict between the rivals can result only in violence. The screenplay is a hotchpotch with a thread of intended light-hearted romance woven among such disparate themes as murder, torture and sadism, along with grotesquely silly stunts that Joe and his cohorts perform in attempts to foil the evil Argenti. The piece is heavily cut for distribution, and editing is very choppy, increasing the episodic nature of a script that consistently meanders, scenes honouring logic being very rare indeed. The players are somewhat hindered by their cliché laden lines, O'Neal being even more encumbered by a large assortment of electronic and other specialized equipment that is magically available for use in situations requiring derring-do. Camera-work under supervision from cinematographer Gilbert Taylor is strikingly effective and creative but general mistreatment of basic rules of continuity sinks this effort despite its pretty scenic effects.

Old-fashioned story with a little bit of love story, a little bit of action and a lot of nothing much. Gerald Browne's novel of the same name is the basis of this adventure film, the first of two made by Ernest Day, he was the cinematographer of classics such as Clockwork Orange and Lawrence of Arabia. For his debut, it took years to be released in the United States due to the difficulty of finding a distributor to exhibite this film despite containing a great trio of famous actors at the time. It deals with an expert electronics engineer named Wiley (Ryan O'Neal) leaves New York for Mexico City, where he will meet the beautiful Holbrook (Anne Archer). Together, they will live a whole series of adventures while getting involved with a brutal South American government. In Mexico, both will meet the strange and mysterious Argenti (Omar Shariff) and discover that, right in the hotel where they are staying, there is a magnificent and spectacular collection of emeralds. From here, they will find themselves involved in the dangerous world of Latin smuggling of precious stones...He wanted adventure...She craved revenge...Emeralds held the answer. Driven by lust, greed and revenge . . .to the edge of disaster. The prize. . . A fortune in emeralds!. Hot excitement and gem of a thriller !. Attractive and decent adventure/intrigue movie with good guy Ryan O'Neal, bad guy Omar Shariff and Anne Archer as the woman in between. A mediocre attempt to make a jolly romantic comedy set against background of torture, murder and rebel guerrillas being fed to the hogs of prisons of Colombia. This agreeable thriller/comedy-adventure blends noisy action, rip roaring, a love story, cliff hunger, and being fun and entertaining enough. Ryan O'Neal gives a sympathetic acting as an American electronics expert get in trouble and plans a heist with his girlfriend and other cohorts. His colleague is the gorgeous Archer; both of whom play a couple of Americans meeting cute in Mexico, then heading for Colombia where she takes over from her missing sister who's working for the rebel cause and he - at first with itchy fingers for the loot- helps her replenish the rebel coffer through a daring heist of emeralds from a strong-hold right out of a James Bond movie with Omar Shariff as a villain to match. Trio de protagonists are well accompanied by nice secondaries, such as: the later very famous John Larroquette, Philip Stone, Michael Sheard and ordinary Mexican actors, such as: Enrique Lucero, Manuel Ojeda and Miguel Ángel Fuentes. The picture contains spectacular and lively scenarios, some nice stunts and funny lines. It is also worth highlighting the film's catching soundtrack, which marked the first foray into film music by the Rolling Stones' first bassist, Bill Wyman. Colorful and sunny cinematography by Gilbert Taylor, although an urgent and perfect remastering is extremely necessary. Being shot on various locations from Manzanillo, Colima, México, Nueva York, and Studio, some interior scenes: Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, and Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The motion picture was mediocre but professionally directed by Ernerst Day. He was a notorious cameraman in several films as The Secret Partner, A passage to India, Sphinx , Running scared, The Long Day's Dying and a director assistant as The spy who love me, Operation: Daybreak, Moonraker, The Adventurers. The film will have you on the edge of your seat but the adventure and action never let up. It's a winner for Ryan O´Neal, Anne Archer and Omar Shariff fans. Rating: 5.5/10. Average but passable and acceptable.

Ernest Day's Green Ice may be most notable for being the movie playing in a mall theatre in Chantal Akerman's Golden Eighties, making a small but cherishable contribution to Akerman's exploration of its era's not-so-golden ideology. Day's film, in (extreme) contrast, doesn't provide much to think over, being a blandly shapeless mishmash of elements. Omar Sharif plays Meno Argenti, an expatriate Italian who's a bigshot in the Colombian emerald racket, while primarily focused on getting back into his first love of the diamond market, from which he was exiled for past transgressions; to that end, he strategically romances the highly-connected Holbrook (Anne Archer), but she's more interested in aiding the cause of the rebels he exploits (the passages with the rebels, while hardly politically daring, are at least among the film's more relatively meaningful). An under-achieving electrical engineer, Joseph Wiley (Ryan O'Neal) gets drawn in, as people do, eventually leading to a daring heist on Argenti's supposedly impenetrable emerald-hoarding fortress, and various subsequent showdowns. As in a movie like The Tamarind Seed (another use of Sharif as all-purpose foreigner, in that instance Russian), Maurice Binder's title sequence is easily the most visually striking aspect of the experience, while bearing no stylistic or thematic relationship to anything in the movie proper. Day (better known as a cinematographer) shows himself to be a wondrously perfunctory director, with even the supposed visual highlights counting for little or nothing. Other oddities include a (not generally very helpful) score by Bill Wyman, and the casting of Philip Stone (the barman from The Shining) as one of Sharif's heavies, the Kubrickian resonances wondrously out of place here. O'Neal and Sharif (both at the end of their heydays, and rightly so on this evidence) deliver startlingly dull, disengaged performances. We can safely assume that the mall theatre I mentioned would have had few satisfied customers that week...

I remember seeing this on HBO and just watching in awe of how well crafted films can be. This film isn't high art in the traditional sense. It came out during the transitional 1970s to 1980s era of one society wanting to be high tech, and another entering the computer age perhaps against its will and without consent. That's important because there's a kind of technological angle that this film uses to further the plot, which was a foretelling of things to come in terms of tech portrayed in films. But the larger film is a bit long and can be a slog at times, but it's actually quite interesting as the film shows us glimpses of another world. A world where international intrigue shows its seamier side in terms of criminality on both sides of the law; law breakers and those who are supposed to enforce the law. The film also shows us some of the issues plaguing nations like Columbia, and shows us the extent to which dissident groups will go in order to enable their change for social order. The film shows the truth of such efforts, and the ultimate victors and losers. I know all of what I wrote sounds kind of high minded, but films in the 70s and 80s were a lot more sophisticated than today's offerings, and more tasteful too. Green Ice has all kinds of tawdry and violent elements that aren't pornographic like a lot of today's media which seem to need to show us, the audience, every sexual act and every bullet striking every body part with every blood splatter. Green Ice also doesn't rely on a lot of over the top action nor a lot of machine-gun editing nor shaky cam that plagues so much of today's media. See it once and see what you think.

I kid you not, the last time I saw this movie, I could not have been older than eight years old. It still sticks with me, probably because it was one of the first heist/thriller movies I ever saw. Omar Sharif was all over the place in the movies of that era, most notably (in mind) in "Oh Heavenly Dog!" with Chevy Chase and Jane Seymour. He was a bad guy in that one, too, and I often think of the two movies with a similar nostalgia. This was certainly my first exposure to the beautiful Anne Archer and the underrated Ryan O'Neal. "Green Ice" also gave us a glimpse of John Larroquette before his face and name became widely known. This is truly a movie which does not deserve to be forgotten. The music is memorably flaky, but not any cheesier than the "Tootsie" soundtrack or any others from that era. A precursor to "Romancing the Stone", "Green Ice" shows off lots of gems, has lots of suspense and thrills, and a truly despicable, yet dimensional villain. And then there's the action. It is not easy to land a hot air balloon on a high rise, let alone break into said high rise without setting off all kinds of alarms. Using a holographic imager to crack the vault was just the coolest of all techno-geek ideas. To conclude, I have never seen any film made before or after this one (although "Rough Cut" was close) that brings the romance, action, tension, and characters to the audience like "Green Ice" did.

When I was 8 years old my family went on vacation to Las Hadas in Manzanillo Mexico. I remember seeing Omar Sharif sitting in the lobby when we checked into the hotel. He was just sitting in a chair in the lobby reading the paper. He said "hello" to us and seemed like a really nice guy. We also ran into Ryan O'Neal and Farah several times on the beach. One time my 11 year old sister and I approached them for an autograph. Farah said "go away" but Ryan said "sure, no problem" and signed a napkin for us. WTF Farah? Why would anyone be that rude to kids? I don't understand. I guess because it was the early 80's and she was still a big deal. That was when she was every little boys dream instead of the sea monster that she looks like today. I don't hold a grudge though... My sister and sat by the pool for hours and hours waiting for them to shoot the pool scene at the hotel, so that we could be in the shot. Finally at around 1:00 in the morning (yes, my parents let us stay up that late) they filmed the scene. And after all of that waiting we can't be seen anywhere in the final cut of the movie. I said all of that to say this... Although this movie was panned by the critics when it came out and was not really (at all) a hit. I still like it because it was my one little bush with fame. I haven't seen the movie in a while but I plan on looking for it on eBay.

This is one of those movies with a cult following. The plot might sound like something you heard before. But its the charm of this movie that sets it apart from the rest. I have seen this movie over 30 times since 1981 and I never tire of it. Some movies are just a pleasure to watch and listen to. It's like listening to your favorite song over and over. It's laid back and just plain enjoyable without all the stress we often get from modern movies. Certainly a lot of the credit goes to Bill Wyman for making the score. Ultimately it is what puts the shine on Green Ice. 10/10

source: Green Ice