Green Ice (1982)

Before there was Cocaine, there was "Green Ice"

Despite the rather lackluster reviews of some of the other folks, this 1977 heist flick is one of my favorite Intrigue films, and it calls to mind The Thomas Crowne Affair (1967) and the various James Bond films. The emphasis here is on the intrigue, and not death defying feats and explosions. Think an Everyman Thomas Crowne, who can MacGyver up for nice Q-section gadgets, and you get the picture.

Joseph Wiley (O'Neill) is on vacation in South America. While there, a case of mistaken identity lands him with a cache of smuggled emeralds. While running from the "bad guys" when they realize their mistake, he meets Holbrook (Archer), and adventurous lady who also happens to be the daughter of a reigning member of the international diamond cartel searching for her missing sister. Argenti (Sharif) is her fiancé, who has been exiled to Columbia and forbidden to leave, on pain of death, for betraying the diamond cartel some years before. Argenti is now in emeralds, and rules the country with a velvet cloaked iron fist. No longer able to trade in the superior quality diamond, he consoles himself with a fortune in emeralds, which he hides away in his high tech vault in the sky, atop the tallest building in Medillin. Miguel (Ambriz) is the leader of a resistance movement defying Argenti's economic rule, who also happened to be the lover of Holbrook's younger sister, who was murdered by Argenti's agents months before. Wiley finds himself embroiled in this cauldron of intrigue, and uses his electrical engineering training, in MacGyver-esque fashion, to stage a heist of the emeralds and bring Argenti to ruin.

All told, this is a film about a man in over his head, playing a game of chance with people born to it. John Laroquette shows his ugly mug as one of Riley's pals, who arranges to get them onto the top of Argenti's vault. There are some great scenes, as well: the whole "disposal by pigs" in the prison, the interaction between the coffee farmer and Riley (and the strange leaf he gives Riley to chew), and the coup-de-grace performed by the mysterious assassin whose been watching Argenti all the years of his exile. It's an elegant film.
June 28, 2006

Beware. Region 2 DVD Won't Play on US Players

Please be aware that this DVD is Region 2 encoded and will not play on most US DVD players which are Region 1. You can buy player which will ignore the region code on Amazon - just search for "multi region dvd player". June 26, 2006

Much Stale Business Seen Here.

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 plotline, 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 cliche 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. Camerawork 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. June 12, 2005

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