Blue Ice (1993)

Until the car behing him took out his rear light Harry Anders (Michael Caine) thought he'd given up on spying... Now he has to think again. The car that hit him holds nothing but trouble in the seductive shape of Stacy Mansdorf (Sean Young). Stacy is the ambassador's wifewith one aim in mind tracking down her ex-lover Kyle. What she needs is a tracker- and a new lover- and Harry Anders fits the bill. Making love to Stacy comes easy it dying that's hard as one by one everyone involved with the ambassador's wife turns up dead. A bloody trail leads Harry to his boss from the secret service. an old school tie with impeccable taste style and a twist of power gone mad. Now Harry's up to his shoulder-holsterin murder espionage and illegal arms and deals. He's discovering that even old school ties can kill if the knot is not tied tight enough and the knot is closing in on Harry Anders. Harry's going to have to shoot and kill to stay alive and nothing- and nobody- had better get in his way.Running Time: 96 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 026359083921 Manufacturer No: 90839 Product Description

Caine in the crapper

Michael Caine must be one of the biggest stars in the business - no-one else could have made so many bad films and kept on working. There had always been the sustaining suspicion among his admirers that he just wasn't offered the right roles or the best films, but with Blue Ice he dispelled that notion once and for all. As its star, co-producer and prime mover, this one's entirely down to him. Made with the best of intentions - to instigate a series of commercial British features - it plays like a leaden cross between a sixties quota quickie with none of the grace (or imagination) under pressure they sometimes offered and an especially bad Carlton TV movie.

Made shortly before Caine announced his return to the role of Harry Palmer for two disaatrous back-to-back cable-TV movies, the character as good as makes his comeback here in the form of `Harry Anders,' a working-class retired spy who does the cooking. Now running a jazz club where he gets to play Bogart (with Bobby Short playing Dooley Wilson and Sam Kelly standing in for 'Cuddles' Sakall), he gets lured back into the business when his affair with the young wife of an American Embassy official involves him in a predictable conspiracy involving blackmail, murder and arms shipments.

If the star believes all this, no-one else seems to, resulting in a half-hearted, sluggish and seemingly interminable 101-minutes with only the odd unintentionally funny moment to keep you awake. The film's interrogation sequence shows some imagination as a heavily drugged Caine (attired identically to the equivalent scene in The Ipcress File) finds himself as both torturer and victim, but is all but ruined by Russell Mulcahey's typically misjudged direction that speeds up the action and renders much of it laughable.

But the real comic highlight comes earlier when Caine describes Sean Young, in a part Sharon Stone foolishly vacated when offered the lead in Basic Instinct, as being like blue ice - something wonderful and unexpected that drops on you from out of a clear blue sky. Well, actually blue ice is a frozen lump of excrement deposited from an airplane toilet, as he has already informed Patricia Hayes at the funeral of a close friend and 'vicious b*****d' in the film's opening sequence. Boy, does he know how to pay a girl a compliment!
February 13, 2008

Caine stars as Harry Palmer clone in this entertaining thriller

In the late 1960s Michael Caine portrayed the British spy Harry Palmer in a series of adaptations of Len Deightons spy novels. Palmer was seen as the "anti-Bond" in an era in which the James Bond 007 phenomenon was taking the world by storm.
The HBO movie `Blue Ice,' though not based on a Deighton novel or featuring Palmer as it's central character, feels more like a Harry Palmer movie than the later Deighton-inspired Palmer movies such as `Bullet to Beijing.' For not only does it star Caine as a cynical, retired British spy, but the characters name is even Harry, Harry Anders that is.
Anders is a former spy turned jazz club owner who embarks on an affair with the wife of the American ambassador (played by the incredibly sexy Sean Young). She asks him for a favor in tracking down an American friend of hers using his contacts in the police force and former colleagues in the British secret service. All seems to be going well and Harry locates his quarry without too much difficulty.
However when the man is found slain in his apartment and Anders is arrested for his murder Harry has to unravel a complex web of intrigue while dodging both the CIA and his former mentor in the secret service. Further complicating matters is the fact that the American Embassy not only denies any knowledge of Anders, but also claims that the Ambassadors wife has been out of the country.
The plot all revolves around illegal weapons smuggling, but the trip along to the exciting climax on the London docks is pure Harry Palmer territory set against a jazzy background. Anders is certainly no wimp and his chasing down of a thief from his club bears that out, he even offers the man the option of breaking his leg or an arm.
There is some nudity by Sean Young, though nothing full-frontal. Not surprisingly given this, Sharon Stone was originally chosen for the role but backed out when `Basic Instinct' became a smash success.
With appearances by such well-known British actors as Ian Holm (as former British spymaster Sir Hector), Alun Armstrong as Harry's Scotland Yard contact Osgood and Bob Hoskins as former secret agent turned security consultant Sam, the movie is an entertaining and at times exciting spy caper. It was of course an HBO-TV movie in the United States, but was good enough to warrant a theatrical release in the United Kingdom.
The movie also features music by `Lethal Weapon' and `License to Kill' composer Michael Kamen and his style of music is clearly evident and handling the directing duties is Russell Mulcahy of "Highlander' fame.
As has been noted Amazon erroneously lists the running time as 105 minutes, however the movie runs 96 minutes. If there were nine minutes excised from the movie I did not notice anything missing. The DVD is also missing any special features, but at such low price one cannot complain. That low price also makes it easy to recommend. November 24, 2006

Jazzy Neo-Nor Has Its Moments

Here's another film that one might label a neo-noir. It's film noir in story, attitude and camera-work but it's color and it's a 1992 film, not one from the late 1940s or early '50s.

The story is set in England and is a good mixture of suspense, action and romance. It's nicely filmed with a lot of night shots featuring some cool neon signs of London streets and pubs. Looks-wise, this film reminded me a lot of "Stormy Monday."

There is some good jazz in here, too. The action picks up much more in the second half of the film, capped off by a unique huge transformer-like vehicle chasing Michael Caine. The ending was a bit weak and hokey but overall, the film was entertaining and good stuff if you're a noir buff.

At the cheap price, don't look for a sharp DVD transfer, or one with extras. You get what you pay for. April 24, 2006

Short Changed by Amazon

The film is great. Problem is that Amazon shows the running time as 105 minutes, the actual time the studio film was released. The DVD however runs only 96 minutes. Why the film was cut 11 minutes is not known. Other retailers show the time on thier web site as 96 ins, correctly. Oops Amazon. September 19, 2005

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