‘The Iceman’ finally cometh to my house
I just watched all four hours of director John Frankenheimer’s 1973 version of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh (2 ¼ stars on my 0-5 scale), starring Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Fredric March and and 23-year-old Jeff Bridges. It’s the first American movie with two intermissions.
I’m happy (and ashamed it’s taken me this long) to now be acquainted with O’Neill’s epic play, but I must agree with The New York Times‘ Vincent Camby, who wrote, “You get the feeling that you’re being taken on a guided tour of one of the greatest American plays ever written, instead of seeing a screen adaptation with a life of its own.”
This is now on my list.
The only story of Lee Marvin that I can think of comes from an excerpt from Roger Ebert’s book.
He said that he was interviewing Lee Marvin poolside. His wife was away on a trip. His only job was to watch their little toy poodle. Ebert noticed that the dog was carrying a pair of swimming briefs by his mouth.
During the interview he heard Marvin’s wife come home. “What are you chewing darling? Who’s panties are these? Lee!”
The dog scared scurried near Lee, and without breaking a smile or raising his voice he grumbled “bad dog” under his breath.
I assume this movie was a “bad dog.”
No, not a bad dog. Just a bit mangy. But Lee Marvin is very good. I need to track down the hard-to-find two-part TV movie version of this starring Jason Robards and directed by Sidney Lumet.