Directed by: John Sturges
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown
Revealing mistake: Despite being supposedly close to the North Pole, we never see the actors breath and their shadows should be long, but they are very short.
Revealing mistake: As Patrick McGoohan walks up the steps with a homing device, a crowbar swings out and strikes him in the head. Ernest Borgnine stops the swing just before striking McGoohan's head and McGoohan's acting takes over with him jerking his head back as seen in slow motion while falling down the stairs.
Factual error: "Ice Station Zebra" is one of dozens of films which make the mistake of showing people carrying rifles such as M-16s with the magazines inserted. In the scene where Marine Captain Jim Brown arrives at the submarine via helicopter, he comes aboard passing his M-16 through a hatch with the magazine inserted, barrel first - a double safety violation. I first saw the movie in a Marine Corps base theater, and all of us yelled at the screen when we saw that.
Cmdr. Ferraday: We operate on a first-name basis. My first name is Captain.
Trivia: The submarine used in the movie as a (supposed) nuclear submarine was the U.S.S. Ronquil (SS-396), a WWII Balao-class diesel-electric submarine that had received a GUPPY IIA conversion. The number painted on the sail (509) was selected because it was from a block of hull numbers canceled at the end of WWII and never used.
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