Green Ice

Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: August 5, 2014
Director: Ernest Day
Cast: Ryan O'Neal, Omar Sharif, Anne Archer, John Larroquette, Michael Sheard
Year: 1981
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The Movie:

A group of “archeologists” are stopped in Columbia by the police and found to be smuggling emeralds (the “green ice” of the film's title). They are summarily executed and the emeralds confiscated. Meanwhile, an electrical engineer named Joseph decides to escape his problems by heading to Mexico. There he meets a beautiful woman named Holbrook. After Holbrook saves him from potential killers (a case of mistaken identity), he falls for her. She has little time for romance, however, because she's obsessed with finding her missing sister. To that end, she has become engaged to Argenti, a diamond broker who may or may not have had her sister murdered. Intrigue follows. Or, at least, it's supposed to…

Green Ice was a box failure upon its theatrical release in 1981, and it's easy to see why for a variety of reasons. Not least among them was the marketing campaign, which sought to cast the film as a mix between James Bond action thriller and futuristic sci-fi hokum. That Bond-film veteran Maurice Binder was hired to design the opening credit sequence suggests the ad campaign wasn't entirely off, though Green Ice lacks the clumsy charm of even the worst Bond entry. It's slow moving and humorless (at least until John Larroquette makes his not-so-grand entrance), with an opening scene of violence out of character with the rest of the film. A running time of damned near two hours doesn't help the pacing, which is dragged down even more by way too much superfluous dialogue.

One of the film's financiers, Lew Grade, stated in his autobiography that Green Ice was “quite a nice little film, but in the end, too much like a TV movie.” He was wrong on both counts. The film isn't all that nice, nor does it play like a television movie; rather, it plays like an episode of a television series. Ryan O'Neal has about as much charisma and acting talent as Parker Stevenson, and the script plays like an extended episode of The Hardy Boys (1977-80) minus the intrigue (and anyone who's seen The Hardy Boys will know just how little intrigue the series had). Anne Archer fares a little better as Holbrook, while Omar Sharif, as Argenti, gives an outstanding performance unmerited by the material. Former camera operator Ernest Day (brought on board when the original director wisely dropped out) is not the director to get the film's various weaknesses under control, either. Having cut his proverbial directorial teeth in television, his first feature film is simply too much for him to handle. Not that he doesn't have an eye for beautiful scenery; Green Ice's strongest asset is its on-location photography, which is frequently brought to life by ardent vistas and stunning panoramas. But a travelogue this is not…

Video/Audio/Extras:

Scorpion presents Green Ice on dual-layered DVD in anamorphic widescreen. The 1.85:1 image is sterling. Given the sharpness and the amount of detail on display, the film has obviously been remastered in high definition. The colors are sumptuous, and the lush locales really stand out. The film's hues consist mostly of various shades of green, so when a red or blue item appears, it practically pops off the screen.

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. It's a clear and winning sound mix with no noticeable problems. Dialogue and sound effects come across as neither too high nor too low in relation to each other, and the score is never allowed to interfere with the dialog. The disc also includes a music- and effects-only track, which is also DD 2.0. This is especially important because The Rolling Stones' original bass player Bill Wyman wrote the score. (Wyman also composed music for two others films of interest to Rock! Shock! Pop! readers, both of them directed by Dario Argento: Phenomena and Opera.) Sure, it's outdated today and not particularly good, but it remains of interest to Stones' fans who want to hear some of Wyman's solo work. Because there are large swaths of film in which there is no score, this secondary track frequently lacks sound except for those places where sound effects are predominant.

Scorpion's otherwise excellent release offers few extras. The disc does feature a collection of trailers for other films held by the company, including Firepower, Blood Feud, Killer Fish, The Girl in a Swing, Quest for Love, Paper Mask, The Octagon, Paper Tiger, and Force: Five, but that's it.

The Final Word:

Green Ice is a pretty dull film. It's talky and slow, with intermittent action set-pieces that aren't particularly well shot. The direction is lacking, the performances mostly unappealing apart from Sharif's. Still, Scorpion's transfer is extremely sharp, and the DVD is worth its purchase price for Bill Wyman's isolated score alone. Fans of Wyman (and the Stones) will want to give the track a listen in context.