SummaryUSN nuclear sub USS Tigerfish must rush to the North Pole to rescue the staff of Drift Ice Station Zebra weather station.
Directed By:John Sturges
Written By:Alistair MacLean, Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, W.R. Burnett
Ice Station Zebra
Metascore
Mixed or Average
49
User score
Generally Favorable
6.2
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
49
33% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
11% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
75
Throw in the striking underwater photography and Michel Legrand's big score, and I don't understand why more critics don't dig Ice Station Zebra. Even director John Carpenter calls it a guilty pleasure. [14 Jan 2005, p.H22]
70
Grand adventure yarn, based on an Alistair MacLean verbal comic strip about a Cold War race to grab some top secrets from an Arctic weather post. Like the nuclear submarine on which it's mostly set, the film cracks, leaks but finally stands the strain and has weathered well. [03 Feb 2008, p.2]
60
Intrigue comes in epic proportions in this US versus Russia arctic battle.
60
John Sturges directed this overlong but intermittently entertaining action-thriller. [24 Jul 2002, p.2]
60
A dated but still serviceable Cold War thriller about a US nuclear sub racing the Russians to the North Pole to retrieve some film from a downed Soviet satellite. [19 Jun 2010, p.26]
40
Overlong, it'll most likely try the patience of audiences now accustomed to a bit more bang for their buck, but it's a great deal of fun for those with a penchant for old-style action.
25
Ice Station Zebra is a movie so flat and conventional that its three moments of interest are an embarrassment.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.2
17% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
83% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Jan 24, 2026
9
Great story with strong acting by many stars of the day. It was this quality that caused Howard Hughes to watch it continually on a loop at the end of his life.
May 1, 2023
6
Sporadically compelling. There is a fantastic 90-minute movie stuck inside this 148-minute movie. It is not a script that demands the runtime. The film clearly wants to be a big epic with an overture and intermission but its way of achieving that goal is to take a smaller, simple story and inject a bunch of air into it. There is some great dialogue and acting to be had, and a strong ending, but also far too much downtime with basically nothing happening other than killing time for long stretches.
Production Company:
- Filmways Pictures
Release Date:Oct 23, 1968
Duration:2 h 28 m
Rating:G
Tagline:It's a race for the secret ... or TOTAL DESTRUCTION
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
