High Ice (film)
# High Ice (film)

High Ice, also known as Challenge of the High Ice, is a 1980 American adventure television film directed by Eugene S. Jones and starring David Janssen, Tony Musante, Madge Sinclair, and Gretchen Corbett. Its plot follows a park ranger and army lieutenant attempting to save three rock climbers stranded on a mountain ledge. The film was released in the United States as an NBC Movie of the Week in early 1980, but was given a theatrical release internationally. The extended theatrical cut of the film shown in foreign countries includes nude sequences that were excised from the television version.

## Premise

A park ranger (David Janssen) clashes with an army lieutenant colonel (Tony Musante) regarding the rescue efforts of three rock climbers stranded on a mountain ledge in Washington.

## Cast

* David Janssen as Glencoe MacDonald
* Tony Musante as Lt. Col. Harris Thatcher
* Madge Sinclair as Dr. Pittman
* Gretchen Corbett as Liz
* James G. Richardson as Scott
* Allison Argo as Kathy
* Dorian Harewood as Lt. Zack Hawkins
* Warren Stevens as Sgt. Lomax
* Katherine Cannon as Sandy
* James Canning as Lt. Foster
* James Kaufman as Lt. Foley

## Production

Filming took place in Darrington, Washington in the summer of 1979. The production budget was approximately $2 million.

## Release

Upon its airing on NBC in January 1980, High Ice was met by approximately 25 million viewers in the United States. The film was subsequently given a theatrical release internationally, with nudity which had been cut from the television version reinstated. The film aired on television again in the late 1980s on MTV.

### Critical response

James Brown of the Los Angeles Times deemed the film a "visually breathtaking, but dramatically stuttering diversion... Director Eugene Jones further hampers his own cause with some choppy transitions, confusing flashbacks and muddled dramatic focus."

