The Iceman Cometh

All the works in this series are wonderful; This one is right up there as one of the best... A young Robert Redford puts in a dazzling performance... Everyone is good! If you can find it, A classic to enjoy... I ordered the tapes right off the site - a little dear but so enjoyable that I forgot the cost right away! Sit back, relax, and enjoy theater as it was meant to be enjoyed... I saw the performance with Lee Marvin and it is difficult to chose one over the other.. See them both and YOU decide. This is a complex play, and you might wish to purchase "Cliff" notes to help you if you have never studied the O'Neill work. A Masterpiece!

Jason Robards' performance as Hickey in the original stage production of "The Iceman Cometh" sealed his reputation as one of the finest actors of the twentieth century and helped to secure O'Neill's as one of America's greatest playwrights. I was fortunate enough to see Robards in the mid-80's revival of the play on Broadway, and his advanced years seemed so relevant to his interpretation that I couldn't imagine what his Hickey might have been like a quarter of a century earlier. Thankfully, this recently released DVD of the 1960 version directed by Sidney Lumet for Public Television has preserved that performance for posterity, and it is truly an unforgettable one. John Frankenheimer's film version of the play is currently unavailable, but one looking for the best possible production need look no further than here.

Robards is matched by a cast that is equal to the challenge of sharing the stage with him. Broadway veterans Myron McCormick, Tom Pedi and James Broderick are magnificent as, respectively, Larry, Rocky and Willie. It is also a treat to see Julie Bovasso and Joan Copeland on hand as two of the bar's unforgettable tarts. Best of all, the young Robert Redford is a terrific Parritt. He looks, if anything, even more handsome than he would when he catapulted to stardom later in the decade, but the true surprise is how powerful his acting is. Parritt is arguably the most demanding role in the play - it left the two talented actors I saw attempt it on Broadway at sea - and Redford is just perfect, giving a riveting and multi-layered performance.

Credit must be given to director Sidney Lumet for filming this production so effectively. There is enough of a sense of live theatre about it to make it compare favorably to an actual live performance, and his selective camera work only enhances this feeling. This production should be seen by all who are fans of Twentieth Century Theatre, and is an absolute must for fans of Eugene O'Neill. One wonders if the powers that be at PBS had any idea of the gift they were passing down to subsequent generations. They earned whatever they ask for in their next pledge drive with this production of "The Iceman Cometh".

Looking for reasons why DVD is so great ? Don't look any further, here is one. And very poignant indeed. Of course the black & white rendering of a play televised in 1960 is lacking in technical refinement. How else could it be.

The acting (and directing) however makes this document unforgettable. There is not one weak link in the cast; a very young Robert Redford is an eye-catcher, but the performance of Jason Robards is nothing less than sheer perfection. This is a true gem.

This is a kinescope of a live TV production that originally aired on New York television in 1960. It contains one of the most important dramatic performances of the 20th century: Jason Robards' portrayal of Hickey, the traveling salesman who comes to visit his old friends (the down-and-outers who populate Harry Hope's saloon, ca. 1912 in NYC) and tries to sell them "peace" by way of stripping them of their illusions (or "pipe dreams").

Compared to the 1973 feature film version, this TV production lacks polish (remember this was local, live television: small budget and the occasional fluffed line). The supporting performances are, on the whole, not quite as strong as they are in the film (the roles, *other* than Hickey, are definitive in the 1973 movie). However, as Larry Slade and Don Parrit, both Myron McKormick (the original Luther Billis in Broadway's SOUTH PACIFIC) and Robert Redford gain momentum throughout the production, so that their final confrontation at the end of the play is both powerful and poignant.

The principal reason for purchasing this video -- or at least arranging to see it at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York or Los Angeles -- is to see Jason Robards' gut-wrenching performance as Hickey. It's easy to see why this role made Robards a star in 1956 when he first took it on for the Circle-in-the-Square's off-Broadway revival (the play was written in 1939, published in 1940 and first performed in 1946). He brings to Hickey a restless, glad-handing, self-hatred that can change rhythms on a dime. Compared to Lee Marvin's flat, two-dimensional performance in the 1973 film and Kevin Spacey's hysteria-prone interpretation in the recent stage revival, Robards' Hickey seems entirely fleshed out. It's that rare performance that is both entirely theatrical and yet manages to be completely natural at the same time. By the time Robards gets to his justly famous 20 minute monologue near the end of the play, you realize that this has been all about him and, his protestations to the contrary, he doesn't give a damn about his old friends -- or anything else. It's a devastating moment, and one that is unfortunately missing from the otherwise very fine 1973 movie.

There are other pleasures to be had from this production aside from Robards' Hickey. There's a chance to see Tom Pedi as Rocky, the "bartender" in the role he created (and would play still again in the 1973 movie) as well as Sorrell Booke's Hugo, the immigrant Anarchist, in the role that he too would go on to play again in the feature film version. Also of special note is Farrell Pelly's performance as Harry Hope, the proprietor of the saloon. His performance is quite different from Fredric March's in the 1973 movie, but in its blustery way, just as effective. The late, great Julie Bovasso (John Travolta's mother in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, among other superb character roles) gives the finest performance yet as one of O'Neill's "tarts." O'Neill wasn't at his best when he created these roles (the only women to appear in the play), but Bovasso manages to create an indelible impression as Pearl, despite the cartoonish nature of her lines.

The video transfer done by Broadway Archives is impeccable. Unfortunately the elements they had to work with were not. Still a kinescope with a couple of glitches shouldn't be enough to turn anyone away from one of the finest performances ever given in one of the finest dramas ever written by an American.

It has apparently been recorded both on kinescope and videotape. Strangely, when Jason Robards was honored at the Kennedy Center back in 1999, an excerpt of his performance was shown from the kinescope, but the marvelous DVD is taken from the pure, 2-inch, videotape. Thank God this has remastered for future generations. You can tell this was a major TV event, as it is surprisingly mature (an introduction and disclaimer, probably referring to some of the language, was in order for the 1960 viewers). But it is pure, silky-smooth theater, with special kudos going not only to Robards but to Myron McCormick, James Broderick, and a disgustingly young Robert Redford (who debuted a year earlier in a production of "Playhouse 90 "). This is something special, best watched on a snowy Sunday afternoon with lots of popcorn- and maybe a bit of champagne.