LADY ICE
US, 1973, 92 minutes, Colour.
Donald Sutherland, Jennifer O'Neill, Robert Duvall, Patrick Magee, Jon Cypher.
Directed by Tom Gries.
Lady Ice is a robbery caper for those who prefer entertainment in their films: Panavision, Miami and Nassau settings, a glamorous-looking world of international diamond thieves, car and speedboat chases. Donald Sutherland affects his off-hand look and smile as he investigates and manoeuvres, while Jennifer O'Neill just has to look beautiful and smart, neither doing much acting. The story is somewhat complicated, but films like this generally carry the audience along with them. There is usually something lightly amoral about these films too - nasty criminals get what's coming to them, nice ones live happily ever after, because they are so nice. But this may be carping at what is patently entertainment.
1. Was this an entertaining thriller? Why? Did the diamonds and the opulence of the production and the story attract the audience? Why does opulence always attract audience attention?
2. what were the ingredients of this thriller? Were they strong enough to make it a successful thriller? Why?
3. How did the opening indicate the style of the film - aerial shots of Miami, the mysterious fat man. his being robbed. and the style of his being robbed?
4. What kind of man was Andy Hammond? What impression did he make when he robbed the fat man? His work at the garage? His treatment of Paula? His being sacked by her father? Were you surprised to find that he was an insurance investigator? Why? Was he a good insurance investigator? Should he have worked better with the police? How well did he handle his job? (Do you think Donald Sutherland was really acting?)
5. What role did the police play in the film? Was this interestingly and convincingly presented?
6. How attractive was Paula? Even when you discovered she was a villain? How effective was she at her job? Did she like working in diamonds? Why? How did she get on with her father? Why was she reluctant to give up diamond robbery? How did she relate to Andy Hammond? Was she trying to outwit him? Why did she give in at the end?
7. The influence of Paula’s father? Was he important for the film?
8. Were the gangsters typical villains? Sadistic and cool? or were they clever in their work?
9. How interesting was the picture of international diamond stealing - the impact of the Chicago robbery, the organisation to get the jewels to Miami, the way that the criminals gave the police the slip. the transporting of the jewels to Nassau. the international dealers at Nassau, the legal implications or returning jewels to America. the impact of the insurance investigators and their deals? Was this all handled well?
10. Did Paula have adequate choices at the end? or was it just her good luck that she didn't have the jewels and wasn't arrested?
11. How satisfying was the ending - the speed-boat chase? The laughter at the end? Did you find this convincing?
12. Did the film have substantial values? Did it stand-up morally, even though frothy entertainment like this does not asked to be judged so seriously? Did the nasty villains get their deserts and the nice villains get away just because they were nice? Does this matter?
