Surviving the Game

Surviving the Game is a 1994 action thriller 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. Although not successful during its theatrical release, it has since developed a cult following.

Plot

Jack Mason is a homeless man from Seattle who loses his only friends—a fellow homeless man and his pet dog—on the same day. Dejected, Mason attempts to commit suicide when a soup kitchen worker, Walter Cole, saves him. Cole refers the man to businessman Thomas Burns, who kindly offers Mason a job as a hunting guide. Despite his misgivings, the lure of a well paying job causes Mason to accept.

Flying to a remote cabin surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods, Mason meets the rest of the hunting party, all of whom paid $50,000 for the privilege of being there. The party includes Doc Hawkins, the founder of the hunt, a psychotic psychiatrist who specializes in psychological assessments, Cole, Texas "oil man" John Griffin, wealthy executive Derek Wolfe, Sr., and his son, Derek Wolfe, Jr., who is at first unaware of the true purposes of the hunt. The first night all the men are eating a nice dinner and engaging in conversation. Mason receives a pack of cigarettes from Hawkins and learns a little history about the man. Hawkins relays a brutal story from his childhood when his father forced him to train and then fight his dog as a lesson in being a man.