Ice Station Zebra Was One of Howard Hughes Obsessions

Ice Station Zebra is a 1968 action film directed by John Sturges, starring Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine and Jim Brown. The screenplay by Alistair MacLean, Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink and W.R. Burnett is loosely based upon MacLean's 1963 novel of the same name. Both have parallels to real-life events that took place in 1959 (see below). The film was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by Daniel L. Fapp, and presented in 70 mm Cinerama in premiere engagements. The original music score is by Michel Legrand.

GREAT CAST! GREAT BIG PICTURE! GREAT SOUND TRACK!

Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, who had experience both as a movie producer and a defense contractor for the U.S., is said to have watched Ice Station Zebra dozens of times on a continuous loop in his private hotel suite during the years prior to his death. VCRs and Laserdiscs weren't yet available: The film was shown in the form of a spooled print running through a film projector onto a traditional screen.