Avis des utilisateurs

Still powerful and well told with strong performances all around. I see a lot of reviews grousing and nitpicking over silly things like the language which was fine and authentic to me. Some people just have to spoil things and find reasons to complain. I was pleased it holds up as well as it does but then simple, well told stories with strong emotional cores are timeless and this is one of them. I enjoyed it as much now as I did when I was a kid and it first came out. A classic.

I know it is kind of sappy and hackneyed, but Ice Castles is one of my favorite films of all time. I try to watch it at least once a month, and it still makes me cry. Honestly, Ice Castles might have changed my life, as it inspired me to skate. I wanted to be a part of that beautiful, graceful world. Lynn Holly Johnson skated so wonderfully in this movie. I tried for years to duplicate her arms on that Camel Spin she does in the Fifth of Beethoven program. Oh! and that theme song "Through the Eyes of Love" is great too. It inspired me to play the piano also! I guess I still consider this one of my "guilty pleasures" as I do not widely admit that I am such a fan of this obscure 70s movie.

While I do agree with some of the other reviewers...a lot of unnecessary cussing...I believe that is Hollywood's version of showing rough and tough small town Midwesterners, so it was easy to overlook for me. Because I was raised in small town Minnesota...where this was filmed...I can attest that in fact, some of the edgier people in the town I grew up in did talk like that on occasion, so I guess it wasn't too far from the truth. That said, I think overall, the plot and emotions in this movie are a lot deeper than what is thrown on screen before us these days!! And for the reviewer who said that continuity was off when Lexie changed caps and coats...I think you missed out on a subtle hint the director was trying to show in time passing...as Lexie also became a stronger skater with every costume change in the sequence. Obviously, she didn't do it the moment she got up on her skates, so I think you missed out. Someone also mentioned that the 'Live Televised Broadcast' was a goof because there was no audience...but it was not a goof! It was televised on live camera on Christmas Eve, according to the plot line. Did not specify it was to be before an audience. News broadcasts are always live, and they don't have an audience, either. Nor do I think Robby Benson sounds remotely from Brooklyn, but that's another story altogether. Over all, I like this film a lot! Of course, Robby Benson was my big crush since Ode to Billie Joe, so I am a bit biased, but I think even without him, it would be a pretty good piece of film work. I give it a 7 out of 10!!

I loved this movie when it came out and I still love it all these years later-flaws and all.

First of all, the book was so great in it's depiction of competetive skating and the machinations that sometimes go on behind the scenes. That said, the movie was actually a pretty good adaptation.

But, probably the main reason I loved this movie was because I was there when they filmed many of the Broadmoor World Arena scenes. It was my home rink, and it's a blast to see old coaches, old skating friends. And to see the World Arena, which sadly was torn down a few years back. A sad day...

I remember that practice times were a mess because of the shooting schedule-some of us had our practice time in between scenes-lights and all! I remember watching the scene where the "French" skater falls in the middle of a show-and watching the skater playing that part throwing herself onto the ice, over and over again. Ouch! I remember Lynn-Holly seeming a bit nervous; Robby Benson as a bit shy, but very nice (and patient-when introduced, I couldn't remember my name!); David Huffman was very cute and Jennifer Warren was friendly, charming, modest and gorgeous! She didn't know how to skate very well and came out with some of us to learn! She became something of a rink rat while there!

Having been there for some of that, it changes one's perspective a bit, but still, I feel myself drawn into the story-and I cry at the end just like everyone else.

Johnson plays fictitious figure skater Alexis Winston, whose widower father (Skerritt) reluctantly allows master coach (Warren) to take her to the big city for a chance to demonstrate her unique talents and compete in the national titles. She leaves behind her boyfriend (Benson) and local skate rink owner (Dewhurst) and is soon consumed by the trappings of high profile sport and fair-weather friends, wooed by a much older newscaster (Huffman) and forced to endure the spotlight of TV in addition to her rigorous training schedule. But just as she's about to reach the heights of success, she's felled prematurely in a shocking accident that robs her of her sight, and it seems, her dream. With the aid of family and 'true' friends, she attempts an audacious comeback.

Set to the backdrop of Melissa Manchester's commanding theme song ("Looking Through the Eyes of Love"), "Ice Castles" is the "Flashdance" of the late seventies, with generally strong performances by the cast. Johnson's maturity belies her age, underrated Jennifer Warren delivers a strong performance as the perfectionist coach, while Dewhurst has a couple of intense scenes to display her range, notably where she confronts Johnson in the attic where she's apparently given up on life in favour of a shallow existence of self pity.

Typical feel-good movie is elevated by Dewhurst's performance and the Oscar-nominated theme song (the rest of the soundtrack isn't bad either, e.g. "Midnight Blue" and "A Fifth of Beethoven"), but probably attempts to milk too much sympathy as films of this ilk often do from the audience. One of those films you probably wouldn't seek to watch, but nevertheless find yourself engaged to the end in spite of yourself.

A quite sweet and well made romance sports movie from 1978. The performances in it are all pretty good, the Skating sequences are very well shot and have a beauty and energy all to themselves as well as helping to drive the narrative forward. The winter scenery is another positive to the movie, it's very well photographed. The key points from the film for me was the question of can you have it all, as well as about the overcoming of barriers and setbacks in your life. Despite coming out in 1978 the film feels fairly timeless, like it could have been pretty much made today, avoiding many features of the 70s fashion and hair which now so date a movie.

All in all very impressive.

Too often, Ice Castles gets passed off as a "chick flick" or a "popcorn movie", not worthy of serious cinema buffs. I'm glad to see that there are others out there who disagree with that, but it seems we're still in the minority.

I first saw this film at the age of seven, without any prior knowledge of what it was about, or its themes. And this, I'm convinced, is the way it should be-the hour of buildup prior to the infamous "accident" scene shouldn't seem like a buildup to a plot point, but as a natural progression of events. But because the marketing campaign of the film gave away this plot point in the trailers, people went in waiting for the accident to happen, not seeing or hearing or feeling what was going on on the screen.

It's a shame that Lynn-Holly Johnson didn't have much of a career after this film, other than the one James Bond movie and the also-underrated The Watcher in the Woods, because she makes a strong impression here with a difficult part. But even so, she is overshadowed by the truly incredible supporting performances, especially Colleen Dewhurst and Tom Skerritt. Dewhurst manages to disappear from the movie for a half-hour, and then when she resurfaces, she gets the most emotionally shattering scene in the picture, and runs with it. Skerritt plays a conflicted, troubled man who wants his daughter to be happy, but at the same time is haunted by the memory of her mother. (When you know his other movies, you know what a terrific range he has!)

A lot of attention has been drawn, especially from people looking for a "family" viewing experience, to the large amount of swearing the characters do. But it makes sense when you accept that these are blue collar, farm community folks, so it almost would seem unnatural for them *not* to swear. I, personally, found it much more problematic that Johnson's character-who is sixteen at the start of the film-seems to have an unspoken romantic relationship with an older man, the TV reporter. This aspect of the story is so underplayed that one might not notice it on a first viewing, but it troubles me to look at it now, and in a way it spoils an otherwise stellar film.

The ending that just about every review mentions is marvelous, not only in the performances, but in the unspoken talents involved too-the camerawork and editing. It has just the perfect amount of silence and pauses to milk the material for all it's worth. The editing, which in most cases is an invisible task when watching a final cut, is superlative throughout the film, but you only notice it when you start to pick it apart, as I have. In many places, if shots had gone on for two frames more or less than they do, the effect would be gone. The music is also wonderful, and the editing moves to it perfectly. (The remake, made by the same director, was an interesting exercise because it wasn't half as impactful because they were trying for a faster pace-just goes to show you how important editing is in the filmmaking process).

Most will either love Ice Castles or hate it. Perhaps hate is a little harsh but it gets the point across. For a film with numerous shortcomings it has achieved somewhat of a cult following. So much so that Columbia Tristar decided to release it in DVD format several years ago.

What's wrong with the movie? For a film partially intended to appeal to the teenage crowd, it is unnecessary to have any foul language. Yet Ice Castles is sprinkled with four letter words from the beginning to the end. It doesn't advance the plot one iota and it's inclusion in the film is a mystery. Perhaps the producer thought a "G" rating would doom it at the box office and added the harsh language to get a "PG". Whatever the reason it degrades the film.

Many of the lines the actors speak seem to be more or less mumbled and hard to understand. Not sure if this is a sound problem or simply bad acting.

There is a severe lack of continuity in some scenes. For instance Lexie is first wearing a green jacket in the segment where she is learning to skate on the pond after becoming blind. Suddenly she is wearing a blue jacket in the next scene and just as suddenly goes back to the green jacket! Not to mention her being bare-headed and then is seen wearing a beige hat and then back to being bare-headed again! The producer must have been blind too!!

The original film was 115 minutes according to a New York Times review in 1979. However, the VHS and DVD versions are about 108 minutes. Where are the missing 7 minutes and why were they not included?

Nevertheless, despite these and other faults, the film works due in large part to Marvin Hamlisch's stirring music and Lynn-Holly Johnson's beautiful skating. It is a three-hankie the first time you see it and has inspired many young hopefuls to take up the sport. A must-see if you like films that turn tragedy into victory.

Lynn-Holly Johnson and Robby Benson give smashing performances as an aspiring Olympic ice skater and her loving boyfriend. ICE CASTLES is an excellent film that's very romantic, touching and moving. It's a love story that ultimately tests the boundaries of true love. The music is good, too, especially "Through The Eyes Of Love," which is the song that plays over the opening credits. If you're wondering who's it's by, it's by Melissa Manchester. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that everyone involved in this film did an outstanding job. In conclusion, if you like love stories that are happy and sad at the same time, this is definitely a movie to see. You will really be touched by it.

I can't help myself, I love this movie. It is a little heavy-handed in the awe shucks dept. But so are a lot of films of that Era. There is one thing that bugs me though. This is supposed to be a family film right? So then why is a 16 yr old girl making out with a 30 something newscaster and that's ok!!? Then she hooks back up with her 19-20 yr old boyfriend ! I guess it just stands out more now.

Director Donald Wrye also penned this tearjerker concoction, a refugee from "The Other Side of the Mountain" school of script-writing. One of those "you can overcome any obstacle" dramas wherein a pretty (though not plucky) heroine finds success and love despite an incredible hardship. Real-life figure skater Lynn-Holly Johnson plays a recently blinded young woman who must be coaxed back onto the ice by boyfriend Robby Benson (who berates her like a cruel taskmaster when she initially balks). Baleful, heavy-handed treatment of the kind of material television was churning out on a regular basis in 1978 (and still today!). Johnson is attractive, and the theme song "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" is memorable, but otherwise "Ice Castles" is about as emotionally involving as a bad night at the Ice Capades. *1/2 from ****

I loved this movie when it came out and just watched it again on TV tonight.

Brings back a lot of memories of my time as a skater, not best, but OK.

I was reading about the goofs in the movie and well anyone who is paying attention will realize that:

The skating on the pond is not a goof, it is taking place over several days. There is no way any one will feel safe on skates again after such an ordeal. It takes time to rebuild your confidence. Any person who is a skater will realize that. So please take take that part out of the goofs.

I gave it a 10/10 cause when you think back to the 70's making movies was not as technically easy as it is now a days with all the computer enhancements.

I like the actors all did a very excellent job.

Director: Donald Wrye, Script: Donald Wrye, and Gary Baim, Cast: Robby Benson, Colleen Dewhurst, Tom Skerritt, Lynn Holly-Johnson

This is the movie every girl who was in Junior high in the late seventies will vividly remember! The story about a young skater from a small Iowa town trying to make the Olympics against all odds and the tragedy that befalls her. Although a little sappy and often clichéd, this move is still enjoyable to watch. I know it is one of my wife's favorites and she wasn't even born yet when this film came out!

Colleen Dewhurst owns a small bowling alley with a skating rink in it and she coached young Lexie. Tom Skerritt played Lexie's father. They wore both excellent in their respective parts. In my opinion, they are both very underrated actors. Robby Benson did fine as Lexie's boyfriend. He has been in many movies but I am not familiar with much of his work. As for Lynn Holly-Johnson, well she certainly has talent. She is a real skater and her looks and skating ability worked for this movie. She does get a little whiny though. In the film she did the following year, The Watcher in the Woods, one can see her limitations as an actress. I see her more as a skater than an actress. However, I have not seen her in any of her later movies.

I have been to the Waverly, Cedar Falls area in Iowa where this movie was filmed and it is a beautiful area. It made a great setting for this film. I especially liked the winter scenes. This movie also had a very good musical score by Marvin Hamlisch. Of course, we all remember the theme song written by Hamlish and Carol Bayer-Sager and sung by Melissa Manchester. Donald Wrye has done many made for T.V. movies. I remember a movie done by him called Born Innocent which starred Linda Blair. Her follow up film to The Exorcist. This was a very depressing and downbeat movie. One last comment I would like to make about Ice Castles is the film's content. It would have made a great family movie but their was too much swearing and the content of the relationships would not make this film appropriate for small children. I thought I might add this because this is a film young girls would like. Evidently, Lynn Holly-Johnson was asked to do a nude scene but she refused. To bad---She was kind of cute!

I am not going to lie, this film is utterly depressing. The dreary atmosphere and the sad love story come together and make our tears flow. Simple story concerning a young girl who vows to become a professional ice skater, the boy she loves, and the tragedy that follows. Good performances from Skerritt and Dewhurst as usual, average from Benson and the rest of the cast. The finale is a real tearjerker, featuring the wonderful Melissa Manchester song. Though the film is somewhat predictable and extremely corny, it is still a good little film made with good intentions. 7/10

You can definitely consider this film sappy or an early Hallmark movie wannabe. However, this sweet inspiring story is a good watch. A romance, some drama, and overcoming an incredible obstacle makes for a great rainy day movie.

Figure skater Alexis Winston (Lynn-Holly Johnson) and hockey player Nick Peterson (Robby Benson) are hometown sweethearts in rural Iowa. She has natural talents but her father (Tom Skerritt) refuses to let her go. With former skater friend Beulah Smith (Colleen Dewhurst)'s help, she attends the regional competition where her inspired skate catches the attention of coach Deborah Mackland (Jennifer Warren) despite Lexie's advanced age of 16. As she climbs the skating world, she drifts further away from her roots until a tragedy threatens to take away her gift.

Mackland's complaint about the triple is silly but working behind the scenes makes sense. The skating is relatively realistic since Johnson was a pretty good skater. That does bring into focus of the casting of Lexie. She has to be both a good skater and a good actress. Johnson falls a bit short on both ends. She's also twenty. 16 is too old to be trained. By being twenty, she looks way too old and the outrage for being too old at 16 is diluted. As for Nick breaking up with Lexie, it needs to be more than a kiss at the podium. He should catch them kissing behind the stadium before the competition. It needs to be a passionate kiss rather than a kiss which could be excused. He needs to have an overwhelming cause to be heartbroken. That would lead directly into her accident. Also, Brian should be a social climber who abandons her after the medical tests. That would leave the way wide open for Nick's return. One can feel the acting power rev up with the return of Skerritt and Dewhurst. The second half is the better half. Her handicap makes the movie almost magical and elevates it beyond a simple sports movie. There are a few missteps and Johnson's acting has its limits. However, it's a touching melodrama and there's that iconic theme.

Everyone seems to knock the acting of Robby Benson and Lynn Holly Johnson in this movie. I thought they had great chemistry together and were very believable as the guy with hockey dreams and the untapped ice skating talents of his girlfriend, than the jealousy he feels when she almost reached the dreams he feels he will miss out on for himself.

Not to mention the supporting talents of Tom Skerritt and Colleen Dewhurst. How can anyone dislike this movie? Sure it makes you cry---that's almost the best part of the movie. There are only three movies that I'm guaranteed to cry at...Ice Castles, The Way We Were and Terms of Endearment.

To be honest the only reason to watch Ice Castles is to enjoy Lynn-Holly Johnson's skating. Although her routines not maybe the most technically difficult. She certainly knows how to present them. She shines through as a real person, who knows what she is doing.

The other, established, actors are totally useless, Tom Skerritt, mumbles a lot, Colleen Dewhurst shouts a lot and Robby Benson's character is a complete hypocrite. Jennifer Warren & David Huffman play characters worthy of ridicule in a Jackie Collins book.

However the outdoor location scenes on the frozen lake are nice as is the score by Marvin Hamlisch, best known for his work on 'The Spy Who Loved Me.'

One particular point of interest for me was how they would treat Lynn's character's blindness. Having coached a blind swimmer and talked at length about their problem, I can vouch for the 'Looking through frosted glass' effect. N.B. this is not the only type of blindness.

As is mentioned in the trivia section Lynn was supposed to be the skating double of another actress? That didn't work so Lynn was made the lead and then pressured into doing the other girl's nude scene which she refused, repeatedly. However no one seems to know who this other girl was, but it perhaps explains the amount of cursing that other reviewers keep referring to. QED - the film was not meant to be a family weepy, but a harder exposé.

And, maybe, an excuse for the film industry to exploit a talented 19 year old athlete. Look who is the monkey now.

This is a movie that leaves you wondering what it would have been in the hands of competent talent.

The story is contrived, the acting horrid, and I'm still wondering how Robbie Benson ever had such a following. Lynn Holly Johnson is barely capable, somewhat nice looking, but does little with the material given her. The only reason she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb for her poor performance is that the cast was all thumbs as well, and sore thumbs at that.

That said, I still tune in on cable when I see this movie because the story is a can't-miss (even this group couldn't mess it up): a late-starting figure-skater who begins to catch up to her more experienced peers goes blind while practicing, thus ending her career aspirations for the only thing she's ever done well in her life. From there, the usual assortment of skeptics and cheerleaders assume their usual positions, complete with predictable plot twists and a classic "chick flick" climax.

I did not see this movie when it first came out, but having seen it, I now have an appreciation for what a female would have to go through if she found herself held captive through a showing of "Road House."

I saw this movie when it first came out. It was so basic, with no special effects and an almost black and white simplicity. I recently decided to rent it again as I had noticed there were several newer versions. While watching the original, I began to cry and cried through the rest of the movie. I watched it 3 more times after I rented the movie. I loved it!

Ice Castles is a Rocky-like story based on a 16-year-old ice skater Alexis Winston (Lynn Holly Johnson) from a small town in Iowa who dreams of skating in the Olympics. She has been somewhat trained by a local skater Beulah (Colleen Dewhurst), but not to the standards of kids who had professional training from the age of 6. If she's going to make it, it's due to her innate talent and drive.

Robby Benson plays Nick, her childhood boyfriend who dreams of many things, being a Dr (pre-med), being a hockey player, just somehow escaping the small town life of their Iowa town. This story presented a promising background of breaking free, around this ice skating theme, just like Rocky was a nobody boxer with a lot of talent and desire.

But the acting is uneven. Lynn-Holly Johnson is just OK. Robby Benson is just OK. There was a lot of lame dialogue and unpurposeful blank stares into space that were supposed to indicate something, but the acting or music was just unconvincing. At least Colleen Dewhurst and Tom Skerrit (as Alexis' father) delivered some gravitas. But Skerrit really didn't have much to work with, and even though he's an accomplished actor, he really didn't add much to the success of this story.

You end up rooting hard for the couple, for Alexis, for the father, but the ensemble just doesn't add up to much more than an interesting TV- like movie with some nice ice skating shots, some pretty outdoor vistas, and a somewhat Hollywood-like ending, Iowa style.

I saw this yesterday on TV, and it seems that even though it was a 1978 release, it really would work best as a modern-day made for TV movie. It seems there was a remake in 2010, so it'd be interesting to compare the two. Not much here, but it's an OK way to spend a few hours reliving the 1970s. Enjoy.

But not that great an actress. Robby Benson is terrible as always but Tom Skerrit is good as always. The main thing I don't understand is why the film makers cast a homeless man to play Beulah Smith.