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Surviving the Game (1994)
37 Plays6 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris are on the trail of Ice-T and talking about 1994's Surviving the Game, which came out 30 years ago this week.
Ice-T is Jack Mason, a homeless man living in Seattle who is approached to be a hunting guide for a group of wealthy hunters. Accepting the job, Mason soon learns that the hunters are after normal game, they hunt humans, and Mason is the latest quarry. Zach and Chris talk about the movie's all-star cast, Gary Busey's insane monologue, the lack of an Ice-T end credits rap, Mason's surprising lack of military background, and more. You can rent Surviving the Game on various platforms like Google Play, Vudu, and Prime Video.
Next week we're diving into The Beekeeper as it hits Blu-Ray and 4K.
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Transcript
Introduction to Everything Action Cast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com. Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast for the week of April 15th, 2024.
Discussion on "Surviving the Game"
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm your Zach. I'm your co-host Chris.
00:00:27
Speaker
And yeah, this week we are hunting iced teeth of the woods and talking about 1994's Surviving the Game, which actually celebrated its 30th anniversary this week, April 15th, 1994. One of the many movies that takes inspiration from The Most Dangerous Game, the classic 1924 short story by Richard Connell.
00:00:51
Speaker
that I believe, I believe it's in the public domain. I think like two years ago it came into public domain. So like literally anyone can make a most dangerous game now without paying anybody. Like, yeah, it doesn't have to play a pun on the name or something. But I mean, that's gotta be, I think, I think a Christmas carol is like most like, like literature of all time. But like, I think most dangerous game has to be like up there in like top five or top three as far as like number of annotations or it's like things that inspired
Why Did "Surviving the Game" Fail at the Box Office?
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, this is blatantly just the most dangerous game. Yeah. You know, inspired by would be if like it was a tickle fight movie or something dumb like that. Yeah, it seems like every every couple of years is always like there's like some new, you know, most dangerous game style thing. It's actually weird. I think I don't know if it affected the box up because like spread the game was a kind of box of his bomb when it came out like six plays. So it came out in 1984.
00:01:46
Speaker
It was too ahead of its time. Yeah. Well, I'm wondering if like it was affected by like the fact that Hard Target, the like drastically superior like kind of most dangerous game style movie came out like a year before this. Yeah, I think that it was like the fatigue. It's kind of like that's why we don't have like Sherlock movies back to back.
00:02:10
Speaker
And Cliffhanger came out, too, which I think surrounding the game is a lot similar to Cliffhanger, too. Kind of like the wilderness, kind of like diehard-style thing. Oh, I didn't know that this was the same time. I definitely was in the Cliffhanger camp, then. Yeah, Hard Target and Cliffhanger came out in 1993, and then this was 1984, so a year later. So kind of like two movies that, like, the starting game was kind of overshadowed by two things that came out.
Cult Classic Status and Cast
00:02:34
Speaker
year prior. The problem is that the most dangerous game definitely was taking inspiration from both. There are scenes of dangerous nature walking, but Cliffhanger took it to the extreme of that.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah, I don't I don't like I don't start a game is like a cult classic. It's definitely a deep cut like 90s action. I feel like, you know, people like people like us know about it. And like, if it's his pockets, right, know about it. But like, action fans know about it. Yeah, I know not everyone off the street where it's yet. Can you name an ice team movie of Garibouci and Rucker Hauer and F. Marie Abraham? That's what this doesn't say. Like kick off to like talking about like the Cassis movie is
00:03:18
Speaker
But just nuts, like. Like it feels like half these people might have been friends, and that's why they came together to make this movie, because it's a very intimate casting. There's barely like all the extras and stuff like that. Like they only come in like one scene. So they filmed all that probably in a day. And the rest of it is just is like eight guys in the woods. Yeah, yeah. Icede Rucker, Howard Charles Dutton, John C. McGinley,
00:03:48
Speaker
Gary Busey, Ephraim Abraham, and then William McNamara. Yeah. And that you follow them for 90% of the movie? Mm-hmm. And I really like the casting in this. This is something that
00:04:08
Speaker
I think that if you're watching the trailer, it makes it seem more cool and like almost like a music video kind of like style. But the movie really shows that that these guys are all like, you know, sinister and something's not right.
Film Setting and Plot Dynamics
00:04:31
Speaker
Like it ramps up maybe that first meeting.
00:04:35
Speaker
It goes kind of quietly because it's like, oh, hey, you know, whatever. But then when they're like the big reveal, which we all know.
00:04:43
Speaker
It takes a while to build up to when they actually hunt starts. There's a lot more ability to think what there would be. You think they would get right to Ice-T is being hunted by these rich guys. It doesn't get into hard target territory. It's on that spectrum of it where hard target is you pretty much understand what's going on. You're waiting for Van Damme to figure it out. Ice-T, you learn a lot about LA living.
00:05:11
Speaker
Well, I think it's like Seattle. Seattle? I don't know where exactly, but it... Yeah, I think it's Seattle, because when they go back to where the final confrontation plays, it's Seattle, and then it starts out Seattle. Okay, because I actually thought that was another city that somehow I used to just walk to.
00:05:28
Speaker
We'll get into that part of the ad. And then they fly to, like, Oregon or something, I think? Or like the Oregon border or something, where they have their- I'm bad with geography. They're murder- Knowing my mountain ranges. Where they have their murder cabin. Not only a murder cabin, but like an experiment hut. Well, it's basically like, I wonder if, like, Robert Kirkman saw this and was like, oh man, the governor. You should have a room full of heads.
00:06:00
Speaker
Cause it's so like they're like trophy room when they have like the heads of everyone they've hunted so far. It's just like straight up just like the walking dead like took that for like the governor. Yeah, but yeah, there's a ton of time like you spent a ton of time pre-hunt with like iced tea just like, you know, wandering around.
00:06:22
Speaker
Seattle and trying to survive as like a homeless man and having like literally the worst day, even like even even more terrible by like homeless standards where it's just like his dog dies, his best friend dies. Yeah, within like 24 hours. This movie could have just been how shitty it is to be homeless in the 90s.
Comparison with Similar Movies
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah. And then it becomes like the movie also could have just taken place in that city.
00:06:50
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's definitely a ton of like most dangerous game adaptations and like it's inspired by movies that like they place in the city. Like the actual, like the Quibi one, the most recent ones, the Quibi most dangerous game was like it's urban where like Liam has like getting hunted by guys in the city. Hard target has that part where they do a hunt in the city of New Orleans and... Yeah. No one cares. No one cares. You guys can shot this at Burbage Street. No one cares.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, they really get over that hunt really easily. But another thing, at least in the first movie, I mean, sorry, in Hard Target, if you want, we can say that surviving the game is also a spiritual sequel to Hard Target, where it's just like hunter community people. Well, it's definitely, Rucker, Howard, Charles definitely have like the same kind of like vibe as Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vassaloo, where it's like these two guys are partners and they're like, we've been doing, we were like, we're like getting these hunts together.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, there is an intimacy that is bizarre. But I get it. I didn't know how to erotically charge as a hard target. Yeah, they don't they don't play like like Rucker, how is it playing like like sensual piano too? In like a white room with like, they're like wearing white or whatever. He does. I think he does feed him like Altoids at what point he just like feeds him an Altoid.
00:08:15
Speaker
Wait, that happens in this movie? Yeah, like at one point it's like, like, like, like, like, like, just beginning it's kidnapped and they're like, they're like, just like hanging out. And this is like, well, we'll wait. We know where he is. And then like, like, I was like, pulls out some, like, feeds one that Charles has done. I might've looked down for that moment that that's weird. And then they were both in like the CIA together, I think, or like, I think they were all in the military.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, well, I think maybe he was in the military because at the end, he's like our ranger outfits. And then he knows how to kill someone with pushing your fingers. It's like their neck. But Gary Busey is a CIA psychologist.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if that's true because their background is weird. And the fact that Gary Busey is a psychiatrist in this movie is so bizarre. The one person who needs a psychologist more than anyone is a psychologist. Yeah. If anything, John C. McGinty would have been the better doctor. Well, he's an oil tycoon.
Character Depth and Survival Tactics
00:09:22
Speaker
from Texas and then after Abraham is like a wall street guy and then he dragged his son along to like make his son a man by hunting people because you know that that converts where it's like okay you're good at hunting you'll be good at business actually no not even hunting it's like you're good at man like hunting yeah it's bizarre
00:09:43
Speaker
And then Charles Dutton is the one who finds all the targets, and then he sees Ice-T standing up like this guard. That was such an insane scene where Ice-T breaks into a meat warehouse to get hit himself. A meat slaughterhouse. Yeah, some sort of slaughterhouse. He just grabs like a half a cow. It's like he and his homeless friend Hank are going to eat that.
00:10:13
Speaker
or share that with the Helmus community, but then this guard shows up and this guard is just insane. He's like, I'm going to kill someone tonight, motherfucker. So that guy, the security guard, probably like Bob Miner, is actually the stunt choreographer of this movie. So I think he also might have done a few of Ice-T's stunts, but- Maybe, yeah.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's, um, that dude is like, just comes out of nowhere. He's not even like a sadistic cop. He's just a security guard that has fought the whole most way too many times in that community. But then, yeah, I see pulse that gun, like he finds the gun that I see found finds in the garbage. Like he finds like a,
00:10:56
Speaker
Like, was it like a Tokarev, they say? He's like, I get 20 bucks for this. I think it's just a Beretta. Yeah. I can't use the name Beretta. And then you have to make sure you pay attention to where his friend Hank says, make sure you clear the barrel when you find a gun because it'll explode on you. Because that pays off, like, very, very end of the movie. That's like, you have to remember something that happened, like, in the first, like, 10 minutes, for, like, the last, like, 10 minutes of the movie.
00:11:26
Speaker
Great setup and payoff, but it's so long between the seven payoffs. I kind of was waiting. It's the check off gun, literally. Yeah. Oh, another thing I appreciated they set up and then like pay off like a lot. It is like Ice-T smokes a lot and then that kind of like affects his like ability like run away.
00:11:48
Speaker
I feel like this is an anti-smoking movie because it's not like, oh, it's being cool. It's like, hey, this ice he has in smoking and then his health isn't the greatest, but he can at least do some cardio. They do like a fitness test on it. Yep. He runs on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Like what would happen if he failed that? Like the, then it just like the movie's over. He just goes back, he just goes back on the street and then they find someone else to hunt.
00:12:16
Speaker
But yeah, it was like, like so many, so many great like iced tea lines, like I forgot, but I forgot the one, like, he's like, you pay, like, he's like, you pay me, pay me enough money, I'll run to like, I'll run a marathon or something, like. I think you said I'll run to hell and back. Yeah. It makes sense for him to, um,
00:12:42
Speaker
to be this desperate, and it takes a while for the movie to explain what put Ice-T in this state. I had this weird Mandela effect where I thought they revealed that Ice-T was some sort of soldier or something. I did too. I feel like that's another movie. Yeah, but it's not. He was the super of a building, but it was this horrific
00:13:08
Speaker
Should have been condemned like a part building and then burned down his family died in the fire I thought he was also a mechanic or am I wrong about that? What's weird cuz like he says he like he's given like his model of Jesse McGinley later on when he like he is like captured and then he says he let like he Agreed to be like the manager of this building because it let him stay there for free with his family But then he says he left for the day. It's like for another job. He had a different job and
00:13:37
Speaker
But yeah, he might have been working multiple jobs. I would assume, yeah. But they came back and the building was on fire. But there's so much stuff where it's just like, where did he learn? Do you learn this on the street? Like, he, you know, he rigs up these traps and he like, he was like, that motorcycle that blow up at one point. And then like, he's like, you know, he's like leaving traps, like the cigarette trap and stuff.
00:13:59
Speaker
So he's got these, like, he's got these, like, tactical maneuvers, but it's just like, where did he learn these, like, how did he learn these, like, like, like, guerrilla tactics? My money is that living in the streets of Seattle is more dangerous than you think. Yeah. Well, I guess his friend Hank was, like, a World War II soldier, or he fought in, like, World War II or something, or, like, Vietnam, so, like, maybe he just, like, learned that from him. Like, he was, like, just tell him, like, just, like, rambling about a bunch of, like, like, survival stuff, or, like, military stuff.
00:14:33
Speaker
But yeah,
Themes of Desperation and Resourcefulness
00:14:34
Speaker
I totally remember Ice TV, one of the reveals was like, oh man, he's like a Army Ranger or something. He was like Special Forces, but he's homeless now. That makes more sense in the terms of how the structure would be. That's our targets backstory, is that Van Dam was like a Special Forces guy, and then like- He was like a Legionnaire or something. Yeah, the merchant marine, or merchant sailor, but also he's homeless.
00:15:04
Speaker
But yeah, but he ends up passing like record hours like fitness tests and then he spends a night in like $20, which like that was also shocking. We're apparently like, yeah, $20 goes away way longer in 1994 Seattle than now because he buys like, um, like a bottle of booze, like some sort of like sandwich or something and then something else.
00:15:28
Speaker
And then I was also able to rent a room at this hotel. I mean, it's like- Well, he probably, he rents probably like a hooker hotel. Oh, it's a fleabag shitty hotel, but like, yeah. Essentially, that's what a hooker hotel is, Zach. Yeah. And then, I don't know, like, it doesn't have any amenities besides water, which is great for a homeless guy, but
00:15:57
Speaker
It's like he, he, he's better off like going to I guess like a, like a, I don't know if Seattle, I mean, Seattle has a large homeless population, but it's like, he's just not good with his money because it's like, Oh, I know he wants to say it at a hotel, but he could have stayed at a homeless shelter or something. Yeah. Like that's another comment about like, uh, you know,
00:16:20
Speaker
the that community where it's like they don't trust anything. I get it. I mean, this movie could have been totally different if iced tea wasn't like this honorable homeless man with like suicidal tendencies. But yeah, the it's supposed to show that I guess like iced tea is just like, oh, finally, like you might like follow this money. He's so desperate for this money now.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah. And then it might look like this might help him get like, but, you know, if he started pacing enough, he can get back on his feet and like, you know, return to society. But I feel like he's a he's a smart, educated man. Yeah. I mean, that's what made him a good candidate. He wasn't just like a raving lunatic. And then it's like, yeah, tell this guy. And I don't know. It definitely is a contrast because now as I keep thinking about hard target, hard target, like technically Van Dam was homeless.
00:17:13
Speaker
yes but he kept like a greasy mullet and then a duster and then just was also looking for work i think he might have been homeless at some point um i can't remember if he was like actually still homeless because the big thing was like he he couldn't pay for like to renew his like merchant license that's why he took the job for uh to find to find your daddy um but yeah but yeah at one point he's like oh
00:17:41
Speaker
when they find like the dead like you see butler's like dad's cart with like the like porn or like strip club flyers and he's like oh yeah we thought we all had to hand those out to some point it's fine it's a we just have to do what you had to do yeah that's another they don't really utilize the homeless part in this movie
00:18:00
Speaker
Just on all things. It wasn't like they could like a little bit. They could have had a little more set up like like him like doing like doing some stuff on the streets that like paid off like later on where he's like oh yeah like hotwares a car or like he figures out like like shows like doing stuff that like like that's all it like pays off like his tactics later on in the woods. Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking like it didn't show that like he is not just like a regular homeless man like it should be
00:18:27
Speaker
I think more improved that this man is somehow like trained or he uses his homeless tactics. Like, I mean, if anything, it just learns that he's good at burying himself in things. He does that a lot in this movie. I always think too, like for these like most dangerous game movies where it's like. You know, we've seen we've seen there's like dozens of people that like they hunted before and like none of them
00:18:56
Speaker
thought to do anything that Ice-T does, or like put up any sort of fight, they also just ran straight ahead and the woods got killed. That's like, it's always the thing that comes up, like I think about with like, with Danger Game movies is like, so no, like, I mean, we're, you know, obviously we're seeing like the one that like fights back and like takes out the hunters, always, but it's just like,
00:19:16
Speaker
No one had any like got even close to like taking these guys out or like escape but you're doing anything it's just like this rant like we see like like the one guy to be
Action Sequences and Strategic Movements
00:19:24
Speaker
in the movie that they just run straight he's just like running straight to the woods getting like shot with a bow and arrow. And then Ice T shows up like doing all this stuff was like oh man no one's ever done that before no one's ever run back to the cabin before. No one's ever thought to go back to where it started. Yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker
And it's not like there was a clue or something. He just does that, which is great. Like it's a smart tactic. Yeah, because he thinks he can get like weapons or something and then he finds like the headroom. And then he says to set it on fire. I don't know what he said on fire with like, I think it was like bleach or something like mystery tube. There was like random chemicals outside the cabin.
00:20:08
Speaker
I mean it seemed like it was gas but then it was like it wasn't in like normal like gasket casters and then um I think according to Wikipedia I think like the formaldehyde or whatever they're like using to like uh keep the heads going explodes because that's like you know very highly flammable chemicals so that's like kind of what helps set off the explosion that makes sense that shockingly kills Gary Busey first like you think Gary Busey be around for like a while but he's the first one to go
00:20:37
Speaker
Well, it injures him, doesn't kill him. No, he's dead. He doesn't go back. He's dead. No, they have a fight. Yeah. I'm saying the end of the fight is like he exploded. Yeah. I thought you meant the explosion kills him. I thought that too, but then he comes out T first in that shot. Well, it's on fire, and then they had the fight, and then he throws it back into the fire, and then explodes, and that kills him. OK.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's not fire for a while. There's a full-on explosion. Which actually, before we get too far into the hunt stuff, we definitely need to go back to, I think, probably the most memorable part of this movie. If anyone knows anything about this movie, it's like Gary Busey's monologue. OK. That comes out of nowhere. And it really just makes Gary Busey sound way more sinister and messed up than before. He is definitely, oddly, the best part about that.
00:21:38
Speaker
yeah like like if if there's any sort of like hit that something weird was going on it's it's when Gary BC starts talking about the time that his father forced him to kill his beloved bulldog in like a mortal combat I'm trying to think like uh
00:22:02
Speaker
The dad was telling the telling Gary Busey to always throw like firecrackers and stuff to annoy the dog. To train to be like to be like a guard like an attack guard dog like protector. I was. And then then it was like, hey, time to kill your dog. Yes, become a man. Yeah.
00:22:23
Speaker
That's the Gary Busey way. Which apparently Gary Busey just wrote that entire thing himself. Wow. I feel that's unlikely. I feel like him and a team of other writers and stuff came together and used the credit for it. I feel that's just something that happened to Gary Busey.
00:22:42
Speaker
I feel like that's actually like, it comes from such a real place. A real story that happened to Gary Busey when he was a kid. Like, I had to kill my bulldog. My dad made me kill my beloved bulldog.
00:22:55
Speaker
And that's why I'm all messed up. If you told me, if Garibouci told that story without any context, I just think that's, yeah, it's a Garibouci story. But if not, it's like little tidbits of fucked up fatherhood and then just someone who really didn't like a dog. But yeah, that definitely should be a big red flag to Icedee. I'm like, oh, this guy is unhinged.
00:23:23
Speaker
Really? I thought it might have been making the pig face iced tea a while. That's also your abuse. Your abuse is just like, yeah, look into his eyes. Yeah, look into his little, his little beady eyes when you eat him. It makes the food better.
00:23:37
Speaker
And then also John McGutney like when he's introduced he just off the bat is just dead staring at ice tea and Well,
Pacing and Hunt Dynamics
00:23:45
Speaker
it's cuz cuz you fight cuz you find out later on like like his daughter got killed by a homeless man But I'm saying like in the beginning when he's introduced I think he just can't stop staring at ice teen and yeah, I know I know it's like he's thinking but I See doesn't pick up on that
00:24:02
Speaker
I guess he's just enjoying like the wine and the pork, I guess. Like the best meal he's had in like a while. That's true. And then he gets woken up with, which, man, Charles just goes from like, like, you know, I'm helping the homeless at this like shelter to like, I have a gun in your face. I'm screaming at you to like get out of bed. Like when it's sounded for the switch, like he flips the switch, like,
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's not like, Oh, hey, it's gonna be subtle. It starts like a, like a terrible frat party or something. Yes. It's 100% like a hazing. Yeah. They're all like, they're all in the hallway, just like yelling at them and like spitting out. I'm like, yeah, go, go. And, you know, really fair for that. It just happens in a really weird, like timeframe too. But we're like, you have a head start for as long as it takes us to eat breakfast.
00:24:59
Speaker
which is, I don't know, an half hour, it seems. It's not like an hour or like you have like 10 minutes. It's like, yeah, we'll eat breakfast. And then however long it takes, then it's how long you have to escape from us. And then they all have their four-wheelers and motorcycles. I mean, they catch up on IST pretty quick. Yeah.
00:25:29
Speaker
Did iced tea just run in like the one pay path I I feel like in all the direction of the woods they could he couldn't want anyway, but they he found him really quick Well, I think it would be unfair that maybe they put a tracker on him or something I Think maybe it's like the smoking to like you like it run as far as maybe someone else could have oh Okay, I could see that maybe that's why they're like yeah, he's totally healthy for a smoker. Mm-hmm
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, but like we said, yeah, he goes back to the cabin, he lights the cabin afire, he has a fight with Gary Busey, blows up Gary Busey, and then gets away again, and then it's like... Yeah, just like... Wait, wait, wait. Before that, isn't there like a weird speech that they give at the dinner where it's like tonight or tomorrow's where like the true animals come out? It was some like weird post that like...
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think Rucker Howard or someone has like, yeah, some sort of speech. Everyone's monologuing in this movie. They all have these big monologues. Yeah, yeah. Charles S. Dutton has one about giving lectures to Ice-T about changing his life and becoming, getting a job. Rucker Howard has the speech, and then POC has the dog one. I think F. Murray Abraham has one too.
00:26:57
Speaker
sort of yeah like it like it like it when he's like parading his son and then uh yeah joss mcginley has one like by his daughter like the homeless like the homeless person followed her and then it could be it could have been you for all i know
00:27:18
Speaker
And he's just, like, Jesse McGilley is just, like, freaking the fuck out in the woods, like, he's just, like, shooting at nothing, like, he's just, like, just getting hysterical, like... Has he... He's done this before, right? Like, it's not his first time. I'm not sure, because, like, you don't really see who, like, in that first hunt, like, I think you only see, like, Rucker Howard, I think, and then it's, like, you don't really see who else is with him, so I don't know...
00:27:45
Speaker
And then Gary Busey, I think Gary Busey is like the guy who started the whole thing. So I think he's always there. So Busey was the head, huh? Yeah, that's what he's like. Like he's the one that like came up with the idea of like, we're going to hunt humans. And then he then he was like the psychiatrist for Rucker Howard. Charles has done, I guess. Yeah, I feel like that's some sort of like ethical psychiatrist oath that he totally foot botched. Yeah.
00:28:14
Speaker
So I know how to help you. We should hunt together. You should murder people. Radical treatment. But that even makes the the Rucker Howard part more confusing, especially like he gets dumber as the movie keeps going. Well, I think I think very clever. I think I think he's just I think he's like just like super overconfident. OK, OK.
00:28:45
Speaker
Because he thinks he knows all the other places you could hide and everything that Icy's going to do. And Icy is just outwitting them or doing something different. Again, none of it is the tactics he learned on the streets. No, yeah. I don't know where he learned to like
00:29:10
Speaker
make a wire like expose a wire in a motorcycle and like blow up a motorcycle which is like maybe probably definitely craziest kill in the entire movie where like Charles is done like starts his motorcycle explodes and like they cut to him like his legs are blown off yeah I totally forgot I mean the movie doesn't prepare you for how they're gonna die it's no ironic death yeah it just sort of like
00:29:40
Speaker
Everything is just sporadic thrown together. It's fine. Cause I feel like it'd be weird if I still had a time to set up like these predator traps. Yeah. Like, like, like punchy steaks or something. Yeah. Yeah. He didn't do that. So I mean, I get it. It's just whatever. Uh, but I'm also thinking like in this movie, everyone is oddly okay exploding vehicles.
00:30:06
Speaker
It's just like a common thing, like vehicles explode, planes explode, ATVs explode, wheels explode. There's way more than you think in this nature hunt movie. Well, yeah, I feel like the jazz is not because we're in the woods. So it's not like, you know, we can't have a lot, like we always have like, you know, 90s explosions. Like the house exploding because of the felt milder hide and the like science lab in the back.
00:30:33
Speaker
Okay, then it's like an ATV, a plane. Is that O? Yeah, the Charles is crazy too. It's like, this movie's not, it's not that brutal. I mean, people get killed, but there's not a lot of blood, but then that scene is just like, oh wow, okay.
00:30:54
Speaker
So it felt like someone realized like, oh, we got, we're not ready to move it. It's a sort of gnarly like kill.
Character Relationships and Performances
00:31:02
Speaker
And then that's in record, how does like the weird like mercy kill with like the, it's like it sticks his fingers into his neck. I guess he was choking him, but yeah, it's like time to go to sleep.
00:31:17
Speaker
Yeah, that was sad. I was like, you feel feel it like you feel their friendship is like, oh, but he knew like, I can't explain this. This is no good way. Yeah, I mean, you know, as usual, like, Rucker Howard is giving like a thousand percent, even though it's just like schlocky to actually movie like he's just like, what, like 100% committed. Yeah, that's another thing about this movie. This is the everyone looks like they're having a fun time filming it.
00:31:43
Speaker
It doesn't feel like phoned in. Everyone is either doing kind of crazy stunts or having scenery chewing dialogue. So it had a point where it's like, check out these actors putting on this like action movie where it's like some of them you never thought it would be an action star. Academy Award winner F. Marie Abraham is like in the woods screaming at ISD to fight him. Yeah, shooting in the dark.
00:32:14
Speaker
Wonder how it was really like an action star from other things. Yeah, like what like like what like when it like blind fury come out like 89 Yeah But ice tea I think was just this is not his first movie, but it's just like first I'm gonna say like lead Yeah, he was in um
00:32:43
Speaker
Well, after this, he would be in Tank Girl and Johnny Mnemonic. But that's more like side roles. I always thought Johnny Mnemonic came first. No, yeah, that was after that. That was like 95. And I mean, Tank Girl, you barely know that's him unless you look at the makeup. But probably like New Jack City was probably like his first big movie. OK. OK. Yeah, that was like 92. Yeah, 91. 91.
00:33:11
Speaker
And then Trespass, which is an awesome movie. If you haven't seen that movie, check that out. It's like him and Ice Cube are like these gang leaders. Then it's Bill Paxton and William Sandler are looking for this hidden cache of gold. But the building is where Ice-T and Ice Cube, it's in their territory. And they're trying to kill someone, and then they witness it. It's like, we got to kill these two guys that saw this. Huh.
00:33:41
Speaker
It's a Walter Hill movie, too. That makes sense, though. If you're looking for an awesome underrated ice tea movie, along with this, Trespass.
00:33:59
Speaker
I want to talk about John McKinley, since he's sort of the first victim to fall like to get captured by iced tea. Yeah. Stomps on him. He jumps off a tree trunk just yet to stop some of the head. I feel like that would like I feel like if you did that the wrong way, you would kill him like you would just snap a stick. A full grown man's body weight on top of a man's head. Yeah. Yeah. That's not a like
00:34:27
Speaker
thing you can easily walk away from. Like, wrestlers don't even try to do that. Yeah. So, yeah, he basically does like a WCW, like, moves from a top of the tree. Yeah. It was crashing down and, like, it's so powerful that it knocks out John McGinley. And then when that's not enough, like, I see Smashes his head into a tree, like, again, as they're walking.
00:34:49
Speaker
But I also enjoy like there's like a smack talk between ice tea and then record power. Like he gets on the comms and just starts like, yeah, like come get me. Gotcha. Got your man here. I'm going to kill him if you don't give me a plane like that plane. And then I was like, well, we'll find you tomorrow. It's fine.
00:35:11
Speaker
So I also like that it's a show that Ice-T is actually the good guy. Like, he doesn't want to kill. He'll kill if he has to, but it's not in his nature. Because he really tries not to kill any of these guys until it's like, all right, I have to. Yeah. Like, when you have a crazy, scary, abusive with a knife, like, jumping at you through a door. That's not, like, his fault. No.
00:35:37
Speaker
He was more like self-defense kick and then you happen to fall right back in the building that's on fire and then it explodes. Yeah. But yeah, it feels like the truth to me getting like, oh, okay, you're actually like your person and I understand what happened to you. I feel now. Yes, I understand now.
00:36:01
Speaker
And then, but then he goes back to like hours, like I've done like I'm leaving and then it's like no one leaves that he's the one that kills Johnson McGinley. With a perfectly placed bullet to the forehead. No, I thought it was. Oh, chose that does. Yeah, because like, yeah, it's like I want shooting the back and then Charles Dunn does a quick draw. Yeah. And almost like a bloodless headshot. Like it's like a dot shows up on Johnson making his head and that's it. Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
And then, yeah, but then they're back in the hunt and then there's the whole thing where they think I see goes like going through the river, but then he was like just hiding in a log the entire time. And then like, that's when he's able to like rig their motorcycle explode.
00:36:53
Speaker
I would have loved to seen that kind of, well, okay, you do get that in the beginning of the movie where he is, I see is good at conceal himself. It's something he does in the beginning of the credits. Yeah. Where like someone's throwing food out at a dumpster and then I see just sort of uncamouflaged himself from the urban setting.
00:37:15
Speaker
So at least that kind of makes sense where he's good at camouflage for just a super. It's not like he's a green beret. He's not like someone who's good at camouflage and knows how light bends. He's just, all right, I'm gonna get lucky and hide here.
00:37:30
Speaker
It never fails him. Yeah, well later on he like I guess he finds like there's like someone had like like camo paint in like their bag or something like me like Johnson and Gillyhead or something because he puts on like oh he and Raquel put on like you know like actual like you know camo like uh like military paint on but it's like where did where did they stealer to like put like perfectly put on like uh like uh you know army camo paints on his face
00:37:59
Speaker
And then he's he's he's like the whole. I think it was McGinley's because he's wearing camel paint. Yeah, because he he steals. He steals time to get these shotgun and I guess assuming like he's like his pack to or like someone supplies. And then I see he uses the shotgun to saw down a tree. Which I get it. I mean, you have to do it to do, but who know who knew that three bullets can bring down like a tree?
00:38:31
Speaker
And he uses all the ammo because like at one point he's just like, oh, I got three shots
Dramatic Scenes and Tragic Moments
00:38:34
Speaker
left. And he uses all the last three to shoot, like break the truck and then makes a bridge across this chasm. And then.
00:38:44
Speaker
And then all the rest of the guys that are left are getting across the two. And then we actually, it's weird because we're talking about Cliffhanger the year before this. We actually get a mini Cliffhanger scene in this movie. And you think the villain's not the hero. Yeah. Like, F. Murray Abraham's son is falling off the trunk and is like, hit the angle in there to try and get to him. But then he falls into the riverbed below. Well, we don't see him land. We just assume he fell. It was, I mean, yeah. It's pretty high.
00:39:13
Speaker
And it looked like it was like a, I think you get a little glimpse of it. It's like a kind of rocky kind of like river bed. So yeah. Also judges like F. Marie Evers like reaction. Like I think he's, he must've, I think he saw some like some brain splatter on the ground or something. So that's the movie starts getting shy about that violence now, which is, that's what I'm saying. The only, the only like really like crazy gore is like Charles has his legs getting blown off.
00:39:44
Speaker
But yeah, it's Rucker, Howard, and Ephraimre left. The two guys left. And then Rucker Howard goes in full-on sniper mode, where he puts himself in a mossy hideout, and then it's just waiting there. And then Ephraimre is just freaking out, and he's just yelling it into the night for icing to fight him.
00:40:13
Speaker
And then I see shows up and they have like their crazy fight in the like I see versus every Abraham the fight No one just made it one and then it's like my money's on iced tea, but after him puts on a good fight. Yeah And then the crazy news like Rucker Howard like just like like he's like while they're fighting is just like
00:40:44
Speaker
So Icede kills Ephraim, and then Ruckhauer runs back to his plane, and this whole gambit where he makes the plane, he sets the plane going with no pilot to trick Icede. Which I guess you could set a plane to move without, to the accelerator or something, to go down the runway or something.
00:41:10
Speaker
But yeah, it's a super elaborate trap to try to kill I.T. And it's also a big sacrifice to blow up a plane. Well, apparently, they had two. So I guess that's the thing. I have it on my other plane. I'll use the first plane to try to kill I.T. and I'll fly away on the other plane.
00:41:31
Speaker
Which, uh, yeah, so he shoots the plane blows it up. He thinks I see his dad. He escapes the airplane. And then we, like, we get to like the final scene, which is like, like absolutely insane. Where it's like three days later in Seattle.
00:41:48
Speaker
And Rucker how we're trying to flee, um, to like, I guess avoid like all the legal ramifications of like getting all these like super rich men killed and then like hunting humans. I mean, all the evidence is burned of his involvement. Yeah. Telling people's wives that, you know, he was taking them out, I guess. Yeah. There's like a, there's like a message from like F. Murray Abraham's wife of like, Hey, where, where's my husband and my son? Call me back.
00:42:14
Speaker
Yeah. But then Rucker, Howard is going to like, he, he's going to disguise himself as like a, like a Russian Orthodox priest or something. Like he's got like a priest outfit on and he's like dying. He's dying his beard black, like black and he's trying to like, that's how he's going to escape the country. I don't know if he was trying to escape the country or just get out of Seattle, but I need a elaborate disguise to look like you're getting out of Seattle.
00:42:40
Speaker
And then why did he have all this military outfits out if he wasn't going to use one of those? If he was trying to flee, he left a lot of evidence behind. Yeah. He's got at least three military outfits, and he decides I'm going to be a priest. I don't know. Maybe he went through a lot of clothing. He had his own montage of outfits, and it's like this is the one that sticks.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, then he he rests like a homeless woman and he's like, uh, who's like, bless you. It's OK. Bless you. My child. And he's like, you have any monies? He's like, fuck off. So is that homeless woman part of ICS plan? Did I see have a decoy?
00:43:30
Speaker
Like, you know, connected to this homeless community and then said, I got I need to murder this. Like, I need to get revenge against this like, dude. Mm hmm. Yeah, cool. Cool. If you see if you see it, if you see like a priest, like go right into him and ask him for money. I'll know. I'll know. It's like a hower. I'll know it's birds. Well, he'd OK. I see didn't know that was going to be a priest. No, he didn't sabotage the car. Mm hmm. At least that's imply that he sabotaged it. And then.
00:44:01
Speaker
Yeah, Rucker Howard is just he suspicious what's going on and pulls out like a pumped up machine gun. He's carrying a briefcase, but the only thing the briefcase is a gun like a machine gun. Like no clothes, no money. It's like I have a case with a gun in it. I'm getting out of Seattle. So that's why the elaborate clothes if literally you're carrying is just a gun. Yeah.
Film Conclusion and Character Arcs
00:44:30
Speaker
Uh, yeah, the last battle is fine. Like it, you finally get to see them square off since they never did. And it's pretty even. It's not like ice. He is, well, I see he's injured. He's been shot like twice. Oh man. Yeah. I used to take some, like he takes some, definitely some damage. Like, like he gets shot in like the like side, like lower kind of adamant on the leg, I think.
00:44:57
Speaker
I don't remember if he got shot in the letter, or he kind of hurt his leg, because he falls down the mountain at one point, and then gets blown up by the plane, and he gets shot. It's only three days after the hunt, so that stuff hasn't healed yet at all.
00:45:22
Speaker
But yeah, still managed to hold his own against Ruck Howard, then managed to kind of get the upper hand. And then he gets the gun, like the P90 or whatever that machine gun is, like the crazy skinny barrel machine gun that Ruck Howard uses. But then he doesn't shoot him. He's just like, the game's over. And then that leaves. He doesn't even say anything that's like, I've survived the game or game over.
00:45:51
Speaker
He doesn't say that. Well, no, he says, like, this is the end of the game, or the game's over, and then he's walking off. But it's not the same. It's not as punny yet. I feel like he just did it at the end. Yeah, it's not like the, when he kills Gary Busey, he's like, Gary Busey's like, I like my meat raw. And then he kicks him in the building, and he's like, how about well done? And then he pretend the building explodes. Yeah, dude, that's...
00:46:21
Speaker
Punyan. Yeah. But then, but then, yeah, but then, like, the final thing is we get like the, the callback to the thing, like what we've mentioned, like, all the way back in like the first, like, five minutes of the movie, where they find, they find the gun in the trash can. And then his friend, Hank, says like, make sure you clear the barrel, because if you don't clear the barrel, it's gonna explode on you.
00:46:42
Speaker
And then Rucker, how does it check the barrel and Iced he jammed like cigarettes in it or something, or it's jammed the barrel full of like junk stuff. Yeah. Like a rapper. Yes. So a bunch of junk. And then it explodes. It kills Rucker. How are, although we don't see him explode, we just, we just hear it. And then like, I see like walks off.
00:47:06
Speaker
For all I know, it just probably blew up in his hand. And Rucker Howard was like, ah, I want revenge. Surviving the game, too. He's got hook hands now. Like. Yeah, I want I want to see, yeah, like a good like, you know, Rucker Howard exploding into like a fence or something or like, like, like like Charles has done in style, like him on like landing ground, like no, like his hands are blown off now. I actually thought he was going to get electrocuted. They really zoom in on that like electrical box that. Yes, he gets he gets like thrown into it. Yeah.
00:47:37
Speaker
I thought it'd be related to that, but yeah, they don't use that. And then one shocking thing that we were we were talking about a Facebook before we or today before we started, Chris is like, there's no ice tea like surviving the game like rap credit song like. It's very non related to not you know, that I see was a singer or a rapper rapper. It straight up is I sees an action star.
00:48:07
Speaker
You would think this would be like a perfect fodder for like some sort of like, you know, like, you know, like, surviving the game, like... But no, we just, we just get the, uh, which, oh, yeah, which the other weird thing about this movie is like, Stuart Copeland of the police is the, like, the composer of this, uh, movie.
00:48:26
Speaker
that's who that guy is. Yeah. The drummer for the police is Sir Copeland. Yeah, he did he did the music for this movie, which especially in the beginning, it's like it's like very like, like it's not what you think. It's very jarring about or like very like discordant of like what's going on in the scene to create like what the music is, because it's like very like jazzy and like, but it's like, but it's like iced tea dog just got hit in my car. It's like,
00:48:51
Speaker
We were talking about the beginning part. That dog just runs into traffic.
Initial Scenes and Plot Setup
00:48:55
Speaker
There's no reason for the dog getting hit. It just sort of happens. Yeah. And then the crazy interaction with the taxi driver and the woman back in the car, I guess the taxi driver slammed on the brakes and that woman got a blade nose because of it. And then the taxi driver comes out and just wants to fight iced tea. He's like, yo, what about my taxi? Who's going to pay for my taxi? I'm a homeless dude. It's like, what happens?
00:49:26
Speaker
But yeah, the beginning part of the movie is so different from the middle. Yeah, it doesn't really tie in besides the gun. It's not like the homeless people team up to help Ice-T. It's not like Ice-T gets another dog. No. And then, yeah, he's hanging out with his friend, Hank, and then this friend, Hank just dies, like, just dies in his sleep.
00:49:49
Speaker
Which there wasn't any sort of indication that Hank was not coughing. It was the normal set up of like, uh oh, Hank's sick. Yeah, Hank, there was no build up. It was just like next night. That's why, I think you said, I see he's having the worst day. The worst 24 hours.
00:50:14
Speaker
And then Rucker Howard pays $20 and he thinks it's going to turn around $20 to run out of treadmill. That's what I'm saying. His luck changes in that much. How much was $20 really did a lot. And they were going to pay him $500 a week or a day. I can't remember what that was. I think it was a day. It was a one shot deal. Mm-hmm. Which I get it. That's a lot of money back then. It still is at times.
00:50:51
Speaker
Uh, yeah, again, when they pick ice tea as the candidate, they just want a dude who can run. I mean, that was it. And I guess, I guess, and I guess Charles was starting solid. He was, you know, he, he stands as a tech, he stands as a tech, like he's able to like, he takes on a taxi driver. Like he, like, he does like a, you know, sort of move or like, you like, it's like,
00:51:14
Speaker
Yo, back off, man. And then he sees him do some other stuff later on. It's just like, oh, this guy's got spunk. He can take care of himself. He's got attitude. But he wasn't even like advanced fighting techniques or anything. It was just, oh, he's loud. And that's what made him the perfect candidate, because if you punch him, he'll get mad.
00:51:38
Speaker
Because that's one of Charles S. Dutton's monologue-esque things. When he's talking about, oh, I can look at a pig and know it's going to be a delicious, tasty pig. So he just has a good sense for who's going to be a good target. A good dinner.
00:52:06
Speaker
Maybe there's only there's only heads in that back room. Maybe they do better cannibals, too. Who knows? I would I would have asked if you see. Yeah. I think Rucker, how was in that like TV show horror thing that he was a cannibal? Oh, yeah. The channel like was it season three of Channel Zero? Like the like like the meat was it
00:52:36
Speaker
Meat factory or like house and no stairs or something like that. Yeah.
Overall Film Analysis
00:52:43
Speaker
Butchers block that was butchers block.
00:52:53
Speaker
But yeah, so surviving the game, it's fun. It's definitely a super deep cut. And there's better, most dangerous game style. It's also worse than this isn't one of them. Yes, yes. There's definitely some recent ones that have come out. I think posts like Public Domain, they're just like, what is this?
00:53:26
Speaker
I mean, the original one, like the first adaptation, 1932 version, is actually really good, which actually it's on the set right now, you can watch that for every action theater. But yeah, this is definitely like a solid mid, if you're ranking all the most dangerous game adaptations or inspired by, this is like probably definitely a solid mid tier. It's definitely we're watching just for the cast, because the cast is insane.
00:53:53
Speaker
Yeah, it just a team up of actors who you think they would never be in a movie together. Yeah. This is like one of those movies. If you want to out movie trivia someone, you throw this out out there or six degrees at Kevin Bacon. I think it's I can't.
00:54:18
Speaker
Well, it seems like it should be like streaming in like 2B or something. But I think it's actually kind of like hard to like, you have to like read different like Amazon stuff. It's not really like widely available. Wide available. And it's not even like, I think it's only on DVD. Like there's like a Blu-ray area that goes with it, which 30 anniversary. Let's get like a 4K of this other or something. I think a good 4K restoration would be good because it's still kind of grainy even from when you rent it. It's like a VHS rip.
00:54:48
Speaker
I watched it on Amazon. I read it from Amazon. It looks like a DVD rip on Amazon. It's not even good quality rip of it or anything. I feel like it could really use some extra restoration just because there are some interesting camera shots. There are some fun camera work, especially one near the end where Icy is a fight, F. Murray Abraham, and somehow Icy becomes a ninja.
00:55:17
Speaker
We'll like that scene better. Well, it's Iris. So Ernest Dickerson is the director. He directed, or he's the cinematographer for basically all Spike Lee's movies. It makes sense. There's a lot of color changes. And then he directed Demon Knight after this in Bulletproof. The Am Sandler, David Wayne's Bulletproof, not the good music one or other things named Bulletproof. Oh, so there's no butthorn? No butthorns, no.
00:55:50
Speaker
And then like, then also like a lot of like, yeah, quite a few music videos too. So yeah, it's definitely got that like, you know, 90s music video style. I called it. That's why I'm like, it's shot very interestingly. It's not. It's not just like the like, like I forgot the term is, but it's like camera cut one guy on the left talk camera cut to guy on the right talk, then wide shot like doesn't follow that formula. I should really learn more cinema terms about that.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah, I know you're talking about it. I can't think of the term either right now. It's like a. It's like one, two or like a one, like a one, two shot or something, or it's like one, two, three. It's something that combination. This movie, again, some of it's very interesting camera work, especially in the woods. There's no soundstage work. They just did this movie in the woods. Like they really just. Yeah, it's all just went out and like Oregon just like it's like jumped around and threw each other out into the dirt and stuff.
00:56:52
Speaker
I wonder if there's a weird super fan in the years from now that's going to go and try to find the location of this. This is where the cabin was, where it blew up. This is where the tree that Ice-T did a superstar jump from. Yeah. Well, I guess one of the triggers I saw too was the homeless camp that they're staying in is now a Bank of America parking lot in Seattle.
00:57:20
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that was just like an empty lot when they filmed it in 1994. Probably, yeah. Seattle was still a rough place at times in the 90s. Before it got like, gentrified with like, kipsters. Yeah, before like the...
00:57:38
Speaker
the grunge scene, and then Starbucks really started expanding. Yeah, it was all coffee shops and thrift stores. I think at this time, maybe Kramer? Not Kramer. Frazier. Yeah. Frazier was, I think, just starting there. It started the year before, 1993.
00:58:06
Speaker
That's the gentrification. Yeah, a bit out of like a year. But yeah, it's a shame that this movie never got like a wider audience. I feel like it's a great like made for like TV or streaming movie. Like if you took the same kind of cast, the equivalent of them now and you threw in an actor that normally is associated with something else and
00:58:35
Speaker
make him into a star or even an action star specifically. I feel like this formula does work. It just this was too soon. And then we've seen versions where like they just don't understand the point. Yeah, I think I like this point. It's like he just I mean, I see does not get the money at the end. So who knows what happens at the end for him? Yeah.
00:59:00
Speaker
I definitely got hurt by like, you know, Heart Target came out and Heart Target is such a masterpiece. Just like awesomeness. And so I'm sure it was like so fresh people's minds like, oh, we just saw like this weird, like rich people hunt guys movie. And it was like way more stylish and better than this because it was John Woo. Hard to beat that.
00:59:29
Speaker
But yeah, definitely, definitely mature. And then I'm sure that, you know, there's always, there's always going to be like new most dangerous game adaptations coming. It's essentially like its own genre. If you go to the Wikipedia page, like, and you can just look up like adaptations of most dangerous game, like especially the TV section, there's been so many TV episodes that are like, like just like, oh, this episode is the most dangerous game, like, like parody or like, uh, like inspired by
00:59:56
Speaker
It's like every show has like some sort of like most dangerous game episode at some point. But yeah, I think that will do it for this week's episode. Come back next week for another, we'll dive into another action gem or genre gem. And head over to the site, we've got all sorts of stuff out there. We got, like I mentioned, you can watch
01:00:24
Speaker
The 1932 Most Dangerous Game is part of the National Theater. The whole movie is up on our site. You can check out all of our features, news, all that stuff. And as you come back next week on the site, we're going to have our monthly commentary. It's going to be Friday the 15th, part four, the foul chapter, the quote unquote foul chapter.
01:00:48
Speaker
Cause that also celebrated anniversary of this month. So we'll talk about diving into all things Jason in that commentary next week. And yeah, all your features out there, check all that stuff out. And for Chris, I'm Zach and we will see you next week. For more Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at EVaction on Facebook by searching for Everything Action.
01:01:17
Speaker
and follow us on Instagram at everything.action. You can also subscribe and get more episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.