An indifferent kind of crime thriller of the early 1970s, a bit like James Bond but with a more sombre and realistic style. Donald Sutherland stars but this is a far cry from the quality of his best films of the 1970s, which are among my favourites to this day. The plot is about the hunt for diamonds and focuses largely on romance and repartee between Sutherland and Jennifer O'Neill, which didn't really interest me all that much. Nice to see Robert Duvall and Patrick Magee in support.

Jennifer O'Neill is a top-end jewelry fence in Florida. When a pricey set of hot rocks goes through her hands, insurance investigator Donald Sutherland is on the case. Sparks fly between the two.

The production of this film was clearly inspired by THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. This movie, however, lacks all the heat and style of that earlier movie. There's little chemistry between the two performers, the music is 1970s chick-a-boom, the camerawork by Lucien Ballard is workmanlike but unimaginative, and director Tom Gries largely wastes a good cast that includes Robert Duvall Patrick Magee and Dana Elcar. All the performances are minimalistic, with insurance executives empty suits saying banal lines as if they are of great import. Sutherland has a few flares of humor, Miss O'Neill is exceedingly lovely, but it's an uninspiring movie.

Jennifer O'Neill became a star as the distant object of Gary Grimes' voyeuristic attention in the wonderfully nostalgic Summer of '42. That film showed that she could be captivating when viewed from afar, but her career went off the rails while she was still in her twenties owing to a shortage of technical chops. Simply put, she had the looks of a movie star but not the presence. Here we see Jennifer driving around Miami in a 1970 Maserati Ghibli, taking a late night swim, sunning herself in a bikini, flying off to the Bahamas... Mansions, speedboats, planes and jewels provide the rest of Lady Ice's eye candy. It's all very appealing to look at, but herein lies the problem. The movie is all surface gloss with nothing underneath to drive the wheels. Someone forgot to tell the producers that heist movies are crime thrillers, and crime thrillers are plot driven. They need tight pacing, high stakes, plot twists, none of which appear in this film. The only action is provided by a little routine fast driving. Otherwise, everything meanders along in predictable fashion. Some greedy people are interested in some jewels. No surprises here. The producers could have recut Lady Ice as a four minute music video or an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and lost nothing.