# The Most Dangerous Thread (lethal bloodsport lit/movies!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975 "2007-01-06T21:36:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/1 "2007-01-06T21:36:07Z")
Congratulations! The reason I have asked you here is to give you the opportunity to discuss the most dangerous thread of all…movies and literature about hunting man (or forcing them to hunt each other)! Man-hunts! Gladiatorial battles to the death! Island prisons! Gameshows that make Fear Factor and Survivor! look like a bunch of pussies! To get you started, someone already started a thread about the Richard Bachman story: The Long Walk - 100 boys enter a contest where they just keep walking. If they receive too many warnings for walking too slow or other infractions, they are shot dead. speaking of Bachman: The Running Man (film) - Everyone’s favorite governor is a contestent in a gameshow where contestents are hunted (by another favorite governor). some of my personal favorites: Battle Royale - Japanese film about a dystopian future where students from a randomly selected school are put on an island, given random weapons and have three days to fight to the death. Talk about No Child Left Behind! Surviving the Game - Ice-T being hunted through the Pacific Northwest by some of the craziest white folk you can imagine - Rutger Hauer, Gary Busey, F. Murray Abraham, John C. McGinley and William McNamara No Escape - Ray Liotta is sent to an island split into two warring factions of prisoners Mad Max Beyonf Thunderdome - Two men enter! One man leaves!! …feel free to discuss. And the rules are…there are no rules! ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/2 "2007-01-06T21:55:51Z")
Hard Target – John Woo’s first and best American film about a group of wealthy, amoral hunters who pursue homeless Vietnam vets through the streets of New Orleans and the bayous of Louisiana, always killing their prey at the end of the chase. That is, until they meet Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a ragin’ Cajun sensation with a masterful mullet and some deadly moves even bad guys Lance Hendricksen and Arnold Vosloo can’t outfox. Wilford Brimley, the former Quaker Oats guy, plays Van Damme’s hard-drinkin’ backwoods uncle, who is handy with a bow and flaming arrows! Very cool action movie with all of Woo’s signature flourishes; probably the best thing Van Damme has ever been involved with. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/3 "2007-01-07T03:31:53Z")
Well, of course there have been a zillion versions and copies of **The Most Dangerous Game** , including the MST3K’ed edition of **Bloodsport**. The 1932 Schoedsack version (made at the same time as King Kong, and on the same sets!) is arguably the best: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023238/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023238/) Look on the “related movies” iMDB and you get this listing: > [@](#): > > Version of > A Game of Death (1945) > Run for the Sun (1956) > Bloodlust! (1961) > The Woman Hunt (1975) > Turkey Shoot (1982) > Surviving the Game (1994) > The Pest (1997) > Mindhunters (2004) > > Remade as > A Game of Death (1945) > > Edited into > A Game of Death (1945) > > Referenced in > Coplan sauve sa peau (1968) > Octopussy (1983) > Batoru rowaiaru (2000) > Wedding Crashers (2005) > The Zodiac (2005) > > Featured in > The Zodiac (2005) > I’m King Kong!: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005) > RKO Production 601: The Making of ‘Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World’ (2005) (V) > > Spoofed in > “Gilligan’s Island: The Hunter (#3.17)” (1967) > “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XVI (#17.4)” (2005) It’s incomplete – I know there are other rip-offs. In some of the Larry-Niven-inspired Man-Kzin Wars books they talk about the Kzin hunting people, and even give you some scenes. The Outer Limits episode “Fun and Games” used this theme [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667815/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667815/) , as did the Star Trek episode “Arena” [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708418/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708418/) This was nominally based on Fredric Brown’s short story, but I understand Gene L. Coon was actually writing his own script when the similarities were pointed out. That would explain why it’s not a very good adaptation of the Brown story, which I highly recommend – it’s a classic (It’s in **the Science Fiction Hall of Fame** , fer crytin’ out loud.) It also shows up at the very end of Dan Simmons’ excellent novel **Carrion Comfort**. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/4 "2007-01-07T03:53:53Z")
OP by **msmith537** > [@](#): > > speaking of Bachman: > > The Running Man (film) - Everyone’s favorite governor is a contestent in a gameshow where contestents are hunted (by another favorite governor). Speaking of, the novel **The Running Man** was much better than the film. Evan McCone and the Hunters will get you. Seriously, what is a handful of Hunters in a game show compared to:\*\* _The entire nation glued to their FreeVees waiting to see you die like a dog._\*\* They cheered when McLaughlin’s bullet ridden body was dragged out of the shed. Or, on a similar note, 1995’s _The Quick and the Dead_, while not true to the OP, was man (or woman hunting man). _“Listen for the click”_ _“Damn that was fast. Did I get him?”_ Sgt Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/5 "2007-01-07T11:13:56Z")
This reminds me of what I think was a TV movie, but may have been a regular movie that I saw on TV. I enjoyed it so much, you’d think I would remember it better. Two nations, the USA and an Asian nation (I don’t think it was specified which one, but the opponent was Asian), instead of going to war, select two champions to fight it out on a deserted island. Fight is to the death, whatever weapons each can carry. Strangely enough, I remember the name of the “hero” from the good ole USA: Gallery. Gallery carried a kick-ass welded-together dual Thompson machine gun. Twin barrels, twin magazines. I can’t remember the title, but I sure think it qualifies as per the OP. (Anyone remember what the title of this movie was?) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/6 "2007-01-07T21:45:40Z")
Robert Sheckley’s written a few stories like this. See his **The Status Civilization** (which I think the movie "Total Recall ripped a lot off from) and his story “The Prize of Peril” )which both the book and the movie “The Running Man” likely got inspiration from). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/7 "2007-01-07T22:18:26Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Hard Target – John Woo’s first and best American film about a group of wealthy, amoral hunters who pursue homeless Vietnam vets through the streets of New Orleans and the bayous of Louisiana, always killing their prey at the end of the chase. [/QUOTE] Jeez, how many American films has John Woo made about a group of wealthy, amoral hunters who pursue homeless Vietnam vets through the streets of New Orleans and the bayous of Louisiana, always killing their prey at the end of the chase? ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-thread-lethal-bloodsport-lit-movies/386975/8 "2007-01-07T22:29:49Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Jeez, how many American films has John Woo made about a group of wealthy, amoral hunters who pursue homeless Vietnam vets through the streets of New Orleans and the bayous of Louisiana, always killing their prey at the end of the chase? [/QUOTE] Because when the homeless vets strike back you get **First Blood**. Sgt Schwartz