The Ice Harvest (2005) or, It's a Difficult Life

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Cut-outs of the three stars are obviously photo-shopped together on this poster for Harold Ramis' The Ice Harvest

A disillusioned lawyer and his cynical buddy steal 2 mil. $ in Wichita Falls, Kansas on a wet Christmas Eve, but after this feat they run into a series of problems.

 

The Ice Harvest is written by Robert Benton (Bonnie and Clyde (1967)) and Richard Russo (Twilight (1998)), adapting Scott Phillips' (The Devil Raises His Own (2024)) same-titled 2000 novel, and directed by Illinoisan master filmmaker Harold Ramis (Caddyshack (1980)), whose 10th feature it was.

It is a sardonic, dark Christmas movie with a fine, well-acting cast in a knotty plot with many funny, superbly delivered lines. John Cusack (Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015)) is good as the protagonist, and Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa 2 (2016)) is ideal as the ornery prick he gets to play here. Oliver Platt (Modern Family (2015-17)) plays a character that's both funny and somewhat tragic. Connie Nielsen (FBI (2018, TV-series)) is beautiful and provides depth to boot; and Mike Starr (Clowning (2022)) is very funny in a part that goes mostly unseen.

The look of The Ice Harvest is sometimes film noir inspired, and quite successfully so. This is a dark, wet, cold, strip, liquor and curse-word filled dose of yo-ho-ho. The plot leaves some things for us to ponder about: SPOILER Worst among these instances must be that Cusack's character feels impelled to murder Nielsen's, - at least without me being fully clear about why this was necessary, - and then proceeding to be fairly unaffected by the action. But over-all The Ice Harvest is too funny for these holes to ruin the experience.

 

Related posts:

Harold Ramis: 1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Analyze This (1999) - Analyze what, Ramis? 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Groundhog Day (1993) - Rubin, Ramis and Murray's irresistible comedy masterpiece 

Ghostbusters II (1989) - Reitman's unjustifiably maligned sequel (co-writer/co-star)

Ghostbusters (1984) - Reitman and Co. conjure up the gleeful pomp and circumstance of the 1980s (co-writer/co-star)

Caddyshack (1980) - And you thought golf was boring?

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: 10.1 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.63 times its cost)

[The Ice Harvest premiered 3 September (Deauville Film Festival, France) and runs 89 minutes. Ramis approached his Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray to star in the film, but Murray did not return his call. Monica Bellucci had to bow out due to her pregnancy. Shooting took place from April - June 2004 in Illinois. The film opened #10 to a 3.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, its peak there, grossing 9 mil. $ (89 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 599k $ (5.9 %) and France with 254k $ (2.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ramis returned with Atlanta (2007, TV movie) and theatrically with Year One (2009). Cusack returned in The Contract (2006); Thornton in School for Scoundrels (2006); and Nielsen in The Situation (2006). The Ice Harvest is rotten at 47 % with a 5.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Ice Harvest?

In Cold Blood (1967) - Authentic chills and insigth in Brooks' marvelous true-crime drama

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The frightening, guilty eyes of the actual murderers are used effectively on this strong poster for Richard Brooks' In Cold Blood

A family of four in a Kansan countryside home gets slaughtered one night by intruding strangers for the meager sum of 40 $. The two culprits are later arrested and put to trial.

 

In Cold Blood is written, produced and directed by Pennsylvanian master filmmaker Richard Brooks (Crisis (1950)), adapting the same-titled true-crime novel by Truman Capote (The Grass Harp (1951)).

Brooks' film is a role-model piece of true-crime storytelling, preoccupied with the actual crime, the actual criminals, and a close adaptation of Capote's masterwork. The film also gives a dimension that the novel cannot with its human portrait of the murderers, and especially Robert Blake (Second-Hand Hearts (1980)) as Perry Smith is excellent. Scott Wilson (Bottlewood (2009)) is also great as the other bastard, Richard. The scenes of Smith's childhood are devastating, yet subtle. The sudden, inexplicable, violent crime together with the film's strangely hard-boiled imagery (cinematography by Conrad L. Hall (Jennifer 8 (1992))) is part of its fascination.

SPOILER Despite the sympathy for Perry that the film and Blake's performance creates, also through Brooks' advanced narrative, the punishment for the two, their execution, still stands as the only correct verdict, in my opinion.

In Cold Blood is eerie, disheartening, with great performances and outstanding cinematography and score (by Quincy Jones (Roots (1977, miniseries)).) A masterly film.

 

Related post:

 

Richard Brooks: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) - He's GAY, ya get it?!?...

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 3.5 mil. $

Box office: 13 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, projected huge hit but at least a big hit (projected return of 5.71 times its cost)

[In Cold Blood premiered 14 December (New York) and runs 135 minutes. Capote was paid 400k $ for the rights to his novel, which reportedly earned him a total of 2 mil. $. Shooting took place from March - June 1967 in California, including in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nevada, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and in Mexico, including in the area and actual home where the murders took place. The film earned 13.5 mil. $ in North America. A conservative projected total gross of 20 mil. $ would rank it as a huge hit. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Cinematography to Burnett Guffey for Bonnie & Clyde, Director to Mike Nichols for The Graduate, Score to Elmer Bernstein for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Adapted Screenplay to Stirling Silliphant for In the Heat of the Night. The film also won a David di Donatello award, was nominated for a Golden Globe and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal in rating with this one. Brooks returned with The Happy Ending (1969). Blake returned in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969); Wilson in Castle Keep (1969). In Cold Blood is certified fresh at 76 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In Cold Blood?

City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair

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A nostalgia/buddy poster that seems to actively want to invoke George Roy Hill's super-successful The Sting (1973), for Richard Benjamin's City Heat

QUICK REVIEW:

Some murders, corruption, torture, prostitutes and fistfights in Kansas City of the 1930's.

- So superficially and indifferently can the plot of City Heat accurately be summed up. Although its teaming up of Clint Eastwood (In the Line of Fire (1993)) and Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights (1997)) theoretically could have proven a big pleasure, - in a loony car-movie, for instance, - here they are far from it. In fact this may be Eastwood's poorest film as an actor.
City Heat is a forced noir-ish gangster burb, which is unpleasant and coarse to boot. The designs and costumes look like a costume party. The film is truly a dud.
It was originally written by Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)), who was fired as director of the film, and it was rewritten by Richard Benjamin (Made in America (1993)) under the pseudonym Sam O. Brown, who became the director, while Edwards renounced the finished film.
Eastwood got 4 mil. $ for doing City Heat, while Reynolds' jaw broke in an accident on the first day, causing him to be restricted to a liquid diet that made him lose 30 pounds during the production. He was conclusively suspected of having AIDS in the tabloids, and also developed an addiction to analgesics [painkillers]. - Bummer!

Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds even look sour and lost on this German poster for Richard Benjamin's City Heat

Watch the loud, inane trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 38.3 mil. $ (US only)
= Flop, though some uncertainty
[City Heat was poorly received upon release, although audiences in America seemed to flock to see it nonetheless. Since foreign box office results are unknown, the flop status is somewhat uncertain.]

What do you think of City Heat?
Is this Clint Eastwood's worst film?
And Burt Reynolds' worst film?

Capote (2005) - The writing of one of the 20th century's finest non-fiction crime novels comes to life

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+ Best Biopic of the Year

Gorgeously colored poster for Bennett Miller's Capote

QUICK REVIEW:

In Capote, we follow the New York socialite author Truman Capote's (Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958)) journey to the middle of nowhere, Kansas, and his 4 year long involvement with a quadruple murder case and especially one of the imprisoned murderers, Perry Smith.
Capote is a masterly told crime biopic drama about a very exciting period of a very unusual, American writer's life. Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Most Wanted Man (2014)), - winning his only Oscar for the part, - is perfect in the title lead and gets solid support, especially from Clifton Collins Jr. (Pacific Rim (2013)) as Perry, but also from Oscar-nominated Catherine Keener (Begin Again (2013)) and Chris Cooper (American Beauty (1999)).
Only the somewhat unrefined alternation between cold images and preemptive pathos in the film's beginning seemed less auspicious to me. But a very strong film nonetheless, directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball (2011)), whose coming film Foxcatcher (2014) is attracting quite a lot of buzz.

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 49.2 mil. $
= Huge hit
['Sleeper' hit with a long American run (October 2005-April 2006), fueled by outstanding reviews and Oscar-attention; good reception overseas as well, (US box office only accounts for 28.7 mil. $ of the total gross.)]

What do you think of Capote?
Other films of condemned men that you can recommend?