Surviving the Game

Infobox_Film
name =Surviving The Game


caption = "Surviving the Game" DVD cover
imdb_id = 0111323
writer = Eric Bernt
starring = Ice-T
Rutger Hauer
Charles S. Dutton
John C. McGinley
William McNamara
With Gary Busey
And F. Murray Abraham
director = Ernest R. Dickerson
producer = Fred C. Caruso
music = Stewart Copeland
cinematography = Bojan Bazelli
editing = Samuel D. Pollard
distributor = New Line Cinema
released = April 15, 1994
runtime = 96 min
country = USA
language = English
budget = $7,400,000 (estimated) | gross = $7,690,013 (USA) (sub-total)

"Surviving The Game" is a 1994 action film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring Ice-T, Rutger Hauer and Gary Busey. It is loosely based on the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.

Plot details

Jack Mason (Ice-T) is a homeless man from Seattle who loses his only friends - a fellow homeless man and his dog - on the same day. Dejected, he's about to take his own life when a soup kitchen worker, Walter Cole (Charles S. Dutton), saves him and refers him to businessman Thomas Burns (Rutger Hauer). Burns offers him a job as a hunting guide after Mason is able to prove his fitness by running on a treadmill for thirty minutes. He is promised a payment of $500 a week, starting early the next morning. Mason is uncomfortable over the whole prospect of hunting animals, but the offer of money proves too tempting to turn down.

Flying to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods, Mason meets the rest of the hunting party, all of whom paid $25,000 for the privilege of being there. The party includes Doc Hawkins (Gary Busey), the founder of the hunt, a psychotic psychiatrist who specializes in evaluating the sanities of CIA agents. Hawkins's mental instability is shown in a monologue in which he tells the story of his "birthmark," a long scar running across his right cheek. This story revolves around a childhood incident in which he was forced by his father into mortal combat with the family dog, which Doc had raised from a puppy. Although the murder of his dog scarred him emotionally, he rationalizes the event as a healthy rite of passage into manhood. The other hunters include Cole (who picks the "game" for the hunt), an embittered lawyer named John Griffin (John C. McGinley), a wealthy man from Wall Street named Derek Wolfe Sr. (F. Murray Abraham), and his son, Derek Wolfe Jr. (William McNamara), who is at first ignorant of the true purposes of the hunt. It is hinted at several times during the movie that Cole and Burns have a homosexual relationship. After a dinner of roast pig (which was brought to the cabin alive, and butchered in front of Mason) and $450 bottles of wine, Mason goes to sleep thinking that he'd better get some rest for the next day's hunt.

The following morning he is awakened by Cole, in full combat gear, aiming a pistol at his face. Cole tells him that the men are not hunting any animals, but rather Mason himself. If Mason makes it to civilization, he will be allowed to go free. The hunters then give Mason a head start as they eat a leisurely breakfast; Mason runs away as fast as possible, but realizes that years of heavy smoking have made so much exertion difficult. The hunters eventually pursue him on All-terrain vehicles and motorcycles. Unlike Mason, they are all armed.

Mason realizes that simply running away would be futile, so eventually he doubles back to the cabin to deceive the hunters (a move they find impressive), where uses a rock to smash into a previously locked room. Inside, he finds shelves of glass jars filled with human heads, the previous victims of the hunting party. He douses the cabin in gasoline and waits for the hunters to arrive. The hunters enter and Wolfe Sr. goes upstairs, thinking that Mason is hiding there; instead, Mason is outside, and surprises the group by setting the cabin on fire. Doc Hawkins runs through the flames and engages Mason in a fistfight, which ends with Mason throwing Hawkins back into the cabin, in which he burns to death. Wolfe Sr. nearly succumbs to smoke inhalation, but is saved by his son. Mason, still unarmed, flees into the woods to plan his next move.

The hunters pursue Mason into the woods, and Griffin splits off from the main party. The group thinks they're on Mason's trail when they smell cigarette smoke, but are surprised to find that he has planted lit cigarettes in the trees to deceive them. Mason manages to knock out the isolated Griffin by jumping on to him from a cliff. He drags Griffin into a cave and ties him up, then takes Griffin's radio and attempts to negotiate with Burns, stating that if Burns alone flies Mason back to civilization on one of the planes at the cabin, then he will not kill Griffin. Burns does not make the deal, and instead manages to locate the cave that Mason is hiding in. He plans to raid it the following morning. Overnight, Mason and Griffin bond, as Griffin reveals that the loss of his daughter (who was murdered by a homeless man) has resulted in his no longer caring about his life. The only thing he values is the hunt, which he hopes might one day bring him face-to-face his daughter's killer. Mason reveals that his wife and daughter died in a fire in the apartment building which he once managed. In the morning, the hunters storm the cave, but only Griffin is still there - Mason is nowhere to be found. As the group heads back to the vehicles, Griffin attempts to quit the hunt, finding that his sympathy for Mason makes it impossible to try to kill him. Cole shoots him fatally, and Burns states that no-one can return without finishing the job. Wolfe Jr. objects to the murder, and Burns punches him, causing a temporary standoff between Wolfe Sr., Burns, and Cole. Mason takes advantage of the situation by wiring the starter motor of one of the ATVs into its fuel tank, then makes his escape on one of the other ATVs. Burns immobilizes Mason's ATV, but when Cole tries to pursue him on the sabotaged four-wheeler, it explodes. He is left alive, but badly burned, and Burns decides to finish him off by collapsing his windpipe. Later, Mason sets another trap by shooting the base of a tree with Griffin's shotgun, causing the tree to fall over and bridge a small valley. The hunters arrive and assume that Mason crossed over the tree, and begin to cross over it. First, Burns crosses, then Wolfe Jr. starts. When he is halfway over, Mason appears and begins throwing rocks at them. Although Burns manages to shoot Mason, Wolfe Jr. falls to his death, sending his father into a rage.

Burns and Wolfe Sr. have a brief dispute as to how to handle the situation. Burns proposes that they simply wait in silence for Mason to come to them. That night, Wolfe, still emotional over the loss of his son, foolishly empties his pistol into the air while shouting for Mason to come and get him. Mason does this, and after a short fight, he manages to kill Wolfe by bashing his head against a rock. Burns decides to escape back to the planes, and Mason follows. Mason arrives at the runway and approaches the plane, only to realize too late that Burns has set a trap for him. Burns shoots the fuel tank of the jet and it explodes. Burns, thinking Mason dead, escapes in the only other plane. However, Mason survives.

Three days later, back in the city, Burns has dyed his hair and arranged a fake passport, planning to leave the country. Melinda Wolfe calls and leaves a message on the answering machine about how she hasn't heard from her husband or son and is beginning to worry. Burns leaves without contacting her. He encounters a homeless woman and insults her before getting to his car, only to discover that it doesn't start. Suspicious, he unpacks his assault rifle from his suitcase and stalks down a nearby alleyway. Mason ambushes them and the two get into a brawl which ends with Mason grabbing Burns' rifle and pointing it at him. Burns tells Mason to shoot him and finish the hunt. Mason simply leaves the gun and walks away. Burns picks it up and aims at Mason, pulling the trigger - however, instead of shooting, it explodes, killing him. Mason anticipated that Burns would shoot him and clogged the front of the barrel with cigarettes and paper cigarettes, which caused the gun to backfire. Mason reiterates his late friend's advice, "Always check the barrel," before walking down the alley as the credits roll.

Cast and roles include

* Ice-T .... Jack Mason
* Rutger Hauer .... Thomas Burns
* Charles S. Dutton .... Walter Cole
* Gary Busey .... Doc Hawkins
* F. Murray Abraham .... Derek Wolfe Sr.
* John C. McGinley .... John Griffin
* William McNamara .... Derek Wolfe Jr.
* Jeff Corey .... Hank

External links

*imdb title|id=0111323|title=Surviving The Game