Made for MGM and released through Sony Pictures, Ice Castles was the first film directed by Donald Wrye (who co-wrote the screenplay with Gary L. Bain) and was shot on location in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Minnesota. Lynn-Holly Johnson was performing with the Ice Capades when she was introduced to the producers by Ice Capades head Michael Kirbay and her coach John Nicks. In-between shows, she flew to Minnesota to do a script reading and to Toronto for a screen test. Although this would be Johnson's first film, she would not let herself be intimidated when was asked to do a nude scene. Johnson refused and shut down production for an entire day. Ironically, although Johnson kept her modesty, the film was condemned by The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (formerly the Catholic Legion of Decency), making it one of the last to be condemned before the office disbanded in 1980.
When the film was released, journalist Bob Thomas called the film "unabashedly sentimental" but praised Johnson as "astonishing in her film debut [...] Her lack of polish makes her performance all the more moving, and she skates like the wind." Roger Ebert wasn't as kind. He deplored the then trend towards love stories that required at least one character to be injured or die tragically, as in Love Story (1970) and The Other Side of the Mountain (1975), writing, "isn't there something creepy about an audience that walks in knowing the girl's going to blind herself, and waits for it to happen? [...] Call me Scrooge; stories like this make me cringe. I don't deny the bravery of the characters being portrayed -- I just object to the emotional bankruptcy of the people making the movies."
The hit song from the film Through the Eyes of Love , sung by Melissa Manchester, was written by Mavin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, and nominated for an Academy Award. Lynn-Holly Johnson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture".
Ice Castles paralleled Johnson's life in two ways - she had been a figure skater whose competitive career ended with an injury and, thirty years later, a blood clot threatened her life. Lexie Winston was blinded by a clot, Lynn-Holly Johnson suffered a stroke in 2010 because of a clot that escaped from her heart. During her recuperation, she called her Ice Castles star, Robby Benson, who she had not seen since filming ended, but who had also undergone several heart surgeries. He told The Orange County Register that Johnson was "inspirational, just as lovely and compassionate as she was when we worked together. [...] Our conversation felt like it could've been a week after the movie wrapped."
by Lorraine LoBianco
SOURCES:
Ebert, Roger "Ice Castles" The Chicago Sun-Times 29 Jan 79
The Internet Movie Database
Sharon, Keith "The Bond Girl and Her Very Public Stroke" The Orange County Register 7 Feb 13
Thomas, Bob "Ice Castles" The Reading Eagle 27 Jan 79
