The Ice Harvest

Infobox Film
name = The Ice Harvest


caption =
director = Harold Ramis
writer = Scott Phillips (novel),
Richard Russo,
Robert Benton
starring = John Cusack
Billy Bob Thornton
Connie Nielsen
Oliver Platt
With Randy Quaid
And Mike Starr
producer = Albert Berger
Ron Yerxa
distributor = Focus Features
budget = ~ US$16,000,000
released = November 23, 2005 USA
runtime = 89 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0400525

"The Ice Harvest" is a 2005 neo-noir/comedy-drama film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Phillips. It is distributed by Focus Features. The DVD was released on February 28, 2006. It stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Platt, and Randy Quaid.

ummary

The film begins on Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas. Charlie Arglist, (John Cusack) a mob lawyer, has just stolen a duffel bag full of money from his employer (Randy Quaid) with the help of Vincent "Vic" Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton). All they have to do is act casually and unsuspiciously until they leave town. But an ice storm has blocked the roads, so Vic takes the money while Charlie spends the night visiting his client's strip clubs and evading suspicion. Early on, he meets up with Renata (Connie Nielsen), a strip club owner after whom he has secretly lusted. She hints at spending the night with him if he can produce a certain photo of a local politician's indiscretion for her to use as blackmail. Things begin to go sour when an enforcer for Charlie's boss comes looking for him and Vic. The body count mounts as the ice beneath Charlie's "perfect crime" begins to slowly crack.

Cast

*John Cusack as Charlie Arglist
*Billy Bob Thornton as Vic Cavanaugh
*Connie Nielsen as Renata Crest
*Randy Quaid as Bill Guerrard
*Oliver Platt as Pete Van Heuten
*Mike Starr as Roy Gelles
*Ned Bellamy as Sidney
*Meghan Maureen McDonough as Francie

Trivia

* The film repeatedly mentions Wichita Falls, a city in Texas, with the line "As Wichita falls... so falls Wichita Falls". This line appears to have little to do with Wichita, Kansas, and is a play on "As Rome falls, so falls the world". This line was not in the book, but was written by one of the screenwriters.
* "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls" is the title of a CD by jazz artists Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. The CD was recorded September 1980, at Talent Studio, Oslo, Norway, and released by ECM Records in 1981.
* The dark ending of the novel was entirely replaced (although it appears as an "alternative ending" on the DVD release).
* The film was shot in Waukegan, Illinois, the Currency Exchange is on Belvidere Road & you can see the Ponderosa Steakhouse
* The book took place in 1979 but the film takes place in present day.
* Director Harold Ramis stated on the DVD that they did no significant research on the story's location.
* The name "Arglist" is German for "deceitfulness" or "guilefulness".
* The movie never explains how Charlie and Vic got the money. In the book, they skimmed it over a period of time from the cash flow of the casinos and brothels that Charlie was supervising.

External Links

* [http://www.theiceharvest.com/ Official site]
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