Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra is a 1968 action film directed by John Sturges, starring Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, and Jim Brown. The screenplay by Alistair MacLean, Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, and W.R. Burnett is loosely based upon MacLean's 1963 novel of the same name. Both have parallels to real-life events that took place in 1959.

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Plot: A satellite reenters the atmosphere and ejects a capsule which parachutes to the Arctic (85N 21W). During an ice storm, a figure soon approaches, guided by a homing beacon, while a second individual secretly watches from nearby. The scene shifts to Commander James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), captain of the U.S. nuclear attack submarine USS Tigerfish (SSN-509), stationed at Holy Loch, Scotland. He is ordered by Admiral Garvey (Lloyd Nolan) to rescue the personnel of Drift Ice Station Zebra, a civilian weather station moving with the ice pack. However, the mission is actually a cover for a highly classified assignment. Ferraday welcomes aboard British intelligence agent Mr. "Jones" (Patrick McGoohan) and a Marine platoon. While underway, a SH-2 Sea Sprite helicopter delivers Captain Anders (Jim Brown), who takes command of the Marines, and Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), an amiable Russian defector and spy and friend of Jones. The Tigerfish makes its way under the ice to Zebra’s last known position. Ferraday decides to use a torpedo to blast an opening in the thick ice. However, the torpedo tube is open at both ends and seawater floods in, plunging the sub toward its rated crush depth. Ferraday and his crew are barely able to save themselves. During the investigation of the torpedo tube, Jones quickly determines that this malfunction should be impossible and, being an expert in sabotage operations, Jones even describes how someone could intentionally rig the tube to malfunction.

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Both Jones and Ferraday conclude that there is a saboteur aboard, and both suspect Anders, who is the one member of the rescue team who is the least known to Jones, Ferraday, and Vaslov, and universally disliked by the crew for his harsh methods. However, the mission is too important to abort. Finally locating an area of thin ice, the sub surfaces. Ferraday, Vaslov, Jones, and a rescue party set out for the weather station. They reach Zebra to find buildings burned down and the scientists nearly dead from exposure. Jones and Vaslov begin questioning the survivors. It becomes obvious that the two spies are looking for something. Ferraday reveals to Jones that he knows more about the mission than he is supposed to, saying "We don't believe in going on a mission totally blindfolded". Having no choice, Jones reveals to Ferraday that an advanced experimental British camera was stolen by the Soviets, along with an enhanced film emulsion developed by the Americans. The Soviets sent it into orbit to find the locations of all the American missile silos. However, the camera malfunctioned and photographed their missile sites as well. A second malfunction forced a landing in the Arctic. The scientists were caught in the crossfire between arriving Soviet and British agents.

–from wikipedia

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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