Themes: Dishonor Among Thieves, Nothing Goes Right, Cons and Scams
Main Cast: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Platt, Randy Quaid
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Two men on the run from the mob end up negotiating more than their share of obstacles along the way in this comedy drama from director Harold Ramis. Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) and Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) are a pair of friends who work for Bill Gerard (Randy Quaid), a mobster with his finger in a number of illegal businesses. Vic runs a pornography distribution outfit for Bill, while Charlie is a lawyer who keeps Bill and his partners out of jail, and between them, Vic and Charlie have stolen over two million dollars in cash from Bill. On Christmas Eve, Vic and Charlie plan to make off with their money and escape Bill's clutches once and for all, but while Vic stays cool and collected, an increasingly nervous Charlie stops off at a topless bar to fortify his courage with a few drinks, and ends up causing a scene with Renata (Connie Nielsen), a dancer he's long had his eye on. It doesn't take long for word about Charlie to get back to Bill, who sends an enforcer out to track him down, but while Charlie tries to make tracks, he ends up having to look after his friend Pete (Oliver Platt), who is much more drunk than Charlie and even more inclined to make a nuisance of himself. The Ice Harvest was adapted from the novel by Scott Philips. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Laurel Ward - Associate Producer, Jim Fishman - Associate Producer, Jeanne McCarthy - Casting, Thomas J. Busch - Co-producer, Susan Kaufmann - Costume Designer, James Giovannetti, Jr. - First Assistant Director, Harold Ramis - Director, Lee Percy - Editor, Robert Benton - Executive Producer, Richard Russo - Executive Producer, Glenn Williamson - Executive Producer, David Kitay - Composer (Music Score), Tracy McKnight - Musical Direction/Supervision, Patrizia Von Brandenstein - Production Designer, Alar Kivilo - Cinematographer, Ron Yerxa - Producer, Albert Berger - Producer, Scott D. Smith - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Benton - Screenwriter, Richard Russo - Screenwriter, Richard S. Lederer - Second Assistant Director, Scott Phillips - Book Author
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, mob boss Bill Guerrard (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.
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 is possibly inspired by the name of a 1980 album As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls by jazz artists Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.
The dark ending of the novel was entirely replaced (although it appears as an "alternative ending" on the DVD release).
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, strip clubs and brothels that Charlie was supervising.
