Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Fat Albert und die Cosby Kids

2010-12-01T13:18:50Z

166.109.0.155: /* Characters */

:''This article is about the animated children's television show. For other uses, see [[Fat Albert (disambiguation)]].''
{{Infobox Television
| show_name = Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
| image = [[Image:fatalbert.jpg|230px]]
| caption = Left to right: Cluck (the gang's pet duck); Bill; Rudy; Dumb Donald {background}; Mushmouth {foreground}; Fat Albert; Bucky {Holding Fat Albert up}; Russell; Weird Harold
| show_name_2 = The New Fat Albert Show The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
| genre =
| creator = [[Bill Cosby]] [[Ken Mundie]]
| director = [[Hal Sutherland]]
| animation designers = [[Bob Bachman]] [[Dick Drew]] [[Lillian Evans]] [[Stan Green]] [[Bill Hajee]] [[Amby Paliwoda]] [[Len Rogers]] [[Leo Sullivan]]
| animation department = Bob Bachman Dick Drew Lillian Evans Stan Green Bill Hajee Amby Paliwoda Len Rogers Leo Sullivan
| creative_director = [[Don R. Christensen|Don Christensen]]
| developer =
| presenter =
| starring =
| voices = Bill Cosby Jan Crawford Gerald Edwards Eric Suter Demetra McHenry Erika Carroll Lane Vaux
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer = Bill Cosby
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer =
| country = [[United States]]
| language =
| num_seasons =
| num_episodes = 110 + 4 specials ([[List of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids episodes|list of episodes]])
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer = Bill Cosby
| producer = [[Norm Prescott]] [[Lou Scheimer]]
| company = [[Filmation]]
| distributor = [[Westinghouse Broadcasting|Group W Productions]] (''syndicated'')
| supervising_producer =
| asst_producer =
| co-producer =
| editor =
| story_editor =
| location =
| camera =
| runtime =
| network = [[CBS]] (1972-1984) [[Broadcast syndication|First-Run Syndication]] (1984-1985)
| picture_format =
| audio_format =
| first_run =
| first_aired = September 9, 1972 - October 27, 1973 September 06, 1975 - October 30, 1976 September 08, 1979 - September 16, 1981 September 01, 1984
| last_aired = August 10, 1985
| preceded_by = [[Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert]] (1969)
| followed_by =
| related =
| website =
}}
'''''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids''''' is an [[list of animated television series|animated series]] created, produced, and hosted (in [[live action]] [[Bookend scene|bookends]]) by comedian [[Bill Cosby]], who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including the titular one. [[Filmation]] was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972<ref name="cosby_dissertation">William Henry Cosby, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning" (January 1, 1976). Electronic Doctoral Dissertations for UMass Amherst. Paper AAI7706369.
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI7706369</ref> and ran until 1985. The show, based on Bill Cosby's remembrances of his childhood gang, focused on the lovable, oversized Albert, with his signature rumbling exclamation "Hey hey hey!", and his friends.<ref name="CD liner notes">CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records</ref>

''Fat Albert'' primarily spoke to African-American youth in low-income families, a segment of the population previously ignored by Saturday morning programming. However, the show had an impact on children across the United States, regardless of race.<ref name="cosby_dissertation" /> The show always had an educational lesson emphasized by Cosby's live-action cameos, and the gang always gathered in their [[North Philadelphia]] junkyard to play a rock song on their cobbled-together instruments. Cosby's Kids had an upbeat attitude and were eager to learn, in spite of their apparent poverty.<ref name="CD liner notes" />

==Origins==
The character Fat Albert first appeared in Cosby's [[stand-up comedy]] routine "Buck Buck," as recorded on his 1967 album ''[[Revenge (Bill Cosby album)|Revenge]]''<ref>Cosby's character in the TV series _I Spy_, Scottie, when asked his name responded "Fat Albert!" while being interrogated. ["The Trouble with Temple", Season 2, 1967]</ref>. The stories were based upon Cosby's tales about growing up in [[inner city]] [[North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|North Philadelphia]].<ref>Military.com. [http://www.military.com/Careers/Content1?file=trans_bill_cosby.htm&area=Content Transition Profiles — Bill Cosby]. Accessed 20 November 2008.</ref> In 1969, Cosby and veteran animator [[Ken Mundie]] brought Fat Albert to animation in a one-shot prime-time [[television special|special]] entitled ''Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert''.

The special, which aired on [[NBC]], was a hybrid of live-action and animation. The music for the special was written and performed by [[jazz]] pianist/keyboardist [[Herbie Hancock]] in 1969 and was released on the [[Warner Music|Warner Bros.]] album ''[[Fat Albert Rotunda]]''. For the animated portion of the special, it was necessary to develop the actual appearance of each of the Fat Albert Gang's characters. For this, Ken Mundie relied on animator [[Amby Paliwoda]], a former Disney artist. Paliwoda not only created all the Gang's characters, but painted a "group portrait" which was eventually shown on the front page of ''[[TV Guide]]'' magazine shortly before the showing of the special, and which contributed significantly to the special's large television audience.

The producers wanted NBC to bring Fat Albert to Saturday mornings, but they refused because the series was too educational.<ref>[http://www.tvparty.com/satfat.html tvparty.com]</ref> Bill Cosby and a new production company, [[Filmation Associates]], took the property to [[CBS]]. The Fat Albert gang's character images were primarily created by the artist Randy Hollar with the assistance of one-time [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] animator Michelle McKinney, under the direction of Ken Brown.

The series, now titled ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'', premiered on September 9, 1972 on [[CBS]], and lasted for 12 years (however, it was not in continuous production). It also spent another season in first-run [[television syndication|syndication]] in 1984-1985. Several prime-time holiday specials featuring the characters were also produced. Like most animated series of the era, ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' contained an adult [[laugh track]], which was eliminated during the final season. The series was rerun on [[NBC]] Saturday morning and the [[USA Network]] in 1989. In 2010, [[Retro Television Network]] began airing the show.

==Characters==
*'''Fat Albert Jackson''' — Voiced by [[Bill Cosby]], based on his childhood friend Albert Robertson. The main character in the series, Fat Albert is the heart and soul — and often the conscience — of the Junkyard Gang; though he is depicted as being obese, he remains active through his love of sports, often taking part in different games along with the rest of the gang. Fat Albert works hard to maintain integrity in the gang and with others, and plays bagpipes/accordion (made from a radiator and an airbag) in the Junkyard Band.
*'''Mushmouth''' — Voiced by Bill Cosby. A chinless, linguistically-challenged simpleton who always spoke in virtual [[Ubbi dubbi|Ubbi Dubbi]], tantamount to an overdose of [[novocaine]] in the mouth, which Cosby would later use in the "Dentist" monologue from his 1983 film, ''[[Bill Cosby: Himself|Himself]]''. Mushmouth plays a homemade bass guitar in the Junkyard Band.
*'''Dumb Donald''' — Voiced by [[Lou Scheimer]]. A lanky but dimwitted fellow; he always wears a green long-sleeved [[jersey]] three sizes too big, and a pink [[stocking cap]] covering his entire face except his eyes and mouth. In the Junkyard Band, Dumb Donald plays a [[trombone]] made out of plumbers' pipe and a morning glory horn from an old [[Victrola]].
*'''Bill Cosby''' — Voiced by himself. A character based on himself. Like the others, Bill is an all-around good athlete, but more often he spends his time trying, though not always successfully, to keep his little brother Russell out of trouble. Like Fat Albert, Bill is usually the voice of reason in the gang. In the Junkyard Band Bill plays homemade drums made from a discarded foot-pedal trash can using spoons for sticks.
*'''Russell Cosby''' — Voiced by Jan Crawford. Bill's little brother (named after Cosby's real-life brother, whom he often talked about in his monologues) and the smallest and youngest of the Junkyard Gang. He always wears a heavy jacket, boots and a [[Ushanka]] winter hat regardless of the weather. Russell has a penchant for telling things like they are, much to his older brother's consternation. Russell plays the xylophone in the Junkyard Band (made out of empty cans and a discarded coat rack).
*'''Weird Harold''' — Voiced by [[Jason "The Jackhammer" Ferrier]]. A tall, skinny, beady-eyed kid who always wears a yellowish-brown dress blazer, a brown sock on one foot and a red sock on the other. Fat Albert's best friend, Harold is usually clumsy. In the Junkyard Band, Weird Harold plays a harp made from bedsprings, and on occasion plays a "dressmaker dummy" in the percussion section. In the [[Fat Albert (film)|film adaptation]], he is called '''Old Weird Harold''' rather than Weird Harold.
*'''Rudy Davis''' — Voiced by [[Eric Suter]]. A sharply-dressed smooth-talker and huckster antagonist whose smart-alecky attitude is always getting him ''into'' trouble more often than ''out'' of it. But to his credit, Rudy has a good heart and often learns his lesson. His family is implied to be financially better-off than the others as he is the only Junkyard Band member with a real musical instrument, an [[electric guitar]].
*'''Bucky''' — Voiced by Jan Crawford. As his name indicates, Bucky has a large [[overbite]]. Bucky plays a stovepipe [[Organ (music)|organ]] in the Junkyard Band.

==Recurring characters==
* '''Mrs. Bryfogel'''  The kids' first teacher and mentor, a matronly black woman. In the "Brown Hornet" and "Legal Eagle" years, the kids went to a different school where their teacher and mentor was '''Miss Wucher''', a blond [[Caucasian race|Caucasian]]. (Interestingly enough, both characters were voiced by the same actress, Jay Scheimer, wife of executive producer Lou Scheimer)
* '''Mudfoot Brown''' — An old sage and unemployed vagrant who gives advice to the gang, often using [[reverse psychology]] to get his point across. (Also voiced by Bill Cosby.)
* '''[[The Brown Hornet]]''' — A [[Show-within-a-show]] about an [[African-American]] [[superhero]] (a parody of ''[[The Green Hornet]]''), whose cartoons were watched regularly by the gang. The title character was voiced by Bill Cosby.
** '''Stinger''' — The Brown Hornet's beefy sidekick whose gruff exterior masks a soft heart. (Voiced by Lou Scheimer.)
** '''Tweeterbell'''  — A female robot assistant to The Brown Hornet and Stinger. (Voiced by Erika Scheimer, daughter of Lou and Jay.)
* '''Legal Eagle''' — Another [[show-within-a-show]], involving a crime-fighting cartoon bird and two lazy squirrel underlings.
* '''Margene''' — A white classmate and good friend of Fat Albert's. In one episode she and Albert ran for co-president of the Student Council and beat out two other candidates, both of whom were running on platforms of racism (one was black, the other Caucasian). A straight-A student, Margene occasionally got in with the wrong people but always managed to rebound; in a different episode she got hooked on drugs, and in another she got innocently involved in a violent white supremacy cult.
* '''Dennis''' — The skinny kid that followed all the bigger kids around.
*'''The Three River Blockbusters''' — The Junkyard Gang's main rival when it comes to competing in sports such as baseball and football. The Blockbusters stole the title of being champions in a competition called "buck buck".
*'''Pee Wee''' — A small boy who looks up to Fat Albert and the gang. While being small in stature, his best athletic skill is kicking a football at a long distance. When the bigger kids could not get anything out of a tight crevice, Pee Wee is there to retrieve it.

==Educational lessons and songs==
''Fat Albert'' was honored and noted for its educational content, which included Cosby earning a [[Doctorate in Education]]. In every show's opening Cosby would playfully warn:
<blockquote>
"This is Bill Cosby comin' at you with music and fun, 
and if you're not careful you may learn something before it's done. 
So let's get ready, OK? Hey, hey, hey!"
</blockquote>
During each episode, Fat Albert and his friends, collectively known as The Junkyard Gang, dealt with an issue or problem commonly faced by young children, ranging from stage fright, first loves ("puppy love"), medical operations, and skipping school to harder, more serious themes (though toned down somewhat for young children) including [[tobacco smoking|smoking]], [[vandalism]], [[stealing]], [[racism]], [[immigration]], being scammed by con artists, child abuse, kidnapping, drug use, and even [[gun violence]].

At the end of most episodes (there seem to have been exceptions in the case of particularly serious themes), the gang would sing a song about the theme of the day. This sequence, similar to those seen in other Filmation shows including ''[[The Archie Show]]'', has often been parodied. The musical sequence was dropped during the ''Brown Hornet''/''Legal Eagle'' years.

Despite the reputation of educational children television series for being unpopular on commercial television, the series enjoyed one of the longest runs in the history of the [[Saturday morning cartoon]] timeslot.

==Revamps and renames==
In 1979, the show was re-titled '''''The New Fat Albert Show''''' and featured a new segment titled "The Brown Hornet" detailing the adventures of a larger-than-life [[African-American]] crime fighter in outer space whose design resembled a caricature of Bill Cosby, who also performed vocal talents on the character. The way he talked seemed cut off in the middle of his sentences.

In 1984, the show was [[television syndication|syndicated]] and renamed '''''The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'''''. In those episodes, the lack of network restrictions allowed the producer to delve into previous forbidden subject matter such as when the kids have an inadvertent brush with the law and are given a terrifying ''[[Scared Straight!]]''-style tour of an occupied [[Incarceration in the United States#Security levels|maximum security prison]]. Another new segment was added: "Legal Eagle", a crime-fighting eagle with a pair of bumbling police squirrels. The new episodes ended in 1985.

== Theme song ==
The show's theme song, titled "'''Fat Albert Theme'''", was written by [[Ricky Sheldon]] and [[Edward Fournier]].

A cover of the show's theme song, performed by [[Dig (rock band)|Dig]], is included on the 1995 [[tribute album]] ''[[Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits]]'', produced by [[Ralph Sall]] for [[MCA Records]].

==Reception==
''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' was named the 82nd best animated series by [[IGN]].<ref name="ign100">{{cite web |title=82, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids |url=http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/82.html |publisher=[[IGN]] |accessdate=2009-01-24 |date=2009-01-23}}</ref>

''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' received an [[Emmy]] nomination in 1974. Production of the series overlapped with the start of production of Cosby's live-action [[sitcom]], ''[[The Cosby Show]]'', which began airing in the fall of 1984.

In 2002, Fat Albert was placed at number 12 on ''[[TV Guide]]'''s list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.

==Seasons and specials==
* ''Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert'' — November 12, 1969
* ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' — 1972–73 '''(22 episodes)''', 1975–76 '''(14 episodes)'''
* ''The Fat Albert Halloween Special'' — October 24, 1977
* ''The Fat Albert Christmas Special'' — December 18, 1977
* ''The New Fat Albert Show'' — 1979–81 '''(24 episodes)'''
* ''The Fat Albert Easter Special'' — April 3, 1982
* ''The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' — 1984–85 '''(50 episodes)'''

(Total: 110 episodes + 4 specials)

In the [[Entertainment Rights]] listing, it states that "Series 1" (consisting of both ''Fat Albert'' and ''New Fat Albert'') consists of 60 episodes. "Series 2" refers to the 80's syndicated episodes.

==DVD releases==
In 2004, '''Urban Works''' acquired the rights to ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids''. They subsequently released several Fat Albert DVDs including all episodes of the original animated series in 3 volumes as well as all the Fat Albert specials around the time the movie version of the series was released. In addition Urban Works released a Greatest Hits 4-disc box set and a 5-best episodes set via ''Ventura Distribution''. In 2008 Urban Works lost the distribution rights and as a result all of Urban Works' DVD releases are now out of print.

It was announced in 2008 that [[Genius Products]] had acquired the DVD rights to the Fat Albert series from [[Entertainment Rights]] and plans to release the entire series on DVD including re-releases of the content that Urban Works released. On August 26, 2008, Genius Products re-released ''The Fat Albert Halloween Special'' on DVD and on February 10, 2009 they plan on re-releasing ''The Fat Albert Easter Special''.<ref>[http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Fat-Albert-Cosby-Kids-DVDs-Planned/8879 Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: New DVDs Planned for Classic Cartoon Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com]</ref>

'''Original Animated Series (1972–73)'''
{| class="wikitable"
!DVD Name
!Ep#
!Release Date
|-
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — Vol 1
| align="center"|12
| March 8, 2005
|-
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — Vol 2
| align="center"|12
| October 11, 2005
|-
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — Vol 3
| align="center"|12
| July 11, 2006
|}

'''Specials'''

Urban Works originally released the Fat Albert Specials on DVD between March 2005 & October 2006. These are now out of print and the new rights holder [[Genius Products]] has begun re-releasing the shows on DVD.

{| class="wikitable"
!DVD Name
!Ep#
!Release Date
!Additional Information
|-
| Fat Albert's Halloween Special
| align="center"|3
| August 26, 2008
| Two Bonus Episodes
|-
| Fat Albert's Easter Special [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Fat-Albert-Cosby-Kids-Easter-Special/11142]
| align="center"|3
| February 10, 2009
| Two Bonus Episodes
|-
| Fat Albert's Christmas Special
| align="center"|1
| TBA
|
|}

'''Other'''
* ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — Fat Albert's Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection 4 Disc Set:'' (released December 14, 2004)
* In 2009, [[The Minisode Network|Minisodes]] of several episodes of the show are available to view for free in the US on [[Sony Pictures Entertainment|Sony]] owned [[Crackle]].

==Other media==
* [[Gold Key Comics]] did a comic book adaptation of Fat Albert, which ran for 29 issues, from 1974–79.

==Film adaption==
In [[2004 in film|2004]], [[Twentieth Century Fox]] released a film adaption of the series titled ''[[Fat Albert (film)|Fat Albert]]''. The film stars [[Kenan Thompson]] in the titular role.

In the film, Fat Albert and the boys journey into the real world after jumping out of a television in order to help a lonely girl ([[Kyla Pratt]]) with her issues. Fat Albert enjoys being in the real world but [[Bill Cosby]] (portraying himself) warns him that if he and the others don't return back to the television, they will turn into [[celluloid]] dust.

==See also==
*[[Little Bill]]
* [[Buck_buck#Cultural_references|Buck buck]]

== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{imdb title|id=0068072|title=Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids}}
* {{bcdb2|path=cartoons/Filmation_Associates/A-G/Fat_Albert_and_the_Cosby_Kids/index.html|title= ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids''}}
* {{tv.com show|id=9193|title=Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids}}
* [http://www.tvparty.com/satfat.html TV Party's Overview of the Series]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/fatalbrt.htm Toonopedia entry]
* [http://www.80scartoons.net/toons/fatalbert.html 80's Cartoon Central]
* [http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/17-fat-albert/ Opening Intro retrojunk]
* [http://www.billcosby.com/ Official Bill Cosby Site]
{{Bill Cosby}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids}}
[[Category:1970s American animated television series]]
[[Category:1972 television series debuts]]
[[Category:1980s American animated television series]]
[[Category:1985 television series endings]]
[[Category:CBS network shows]]
[[Category:American children's television series]]
[[Category:Television series by Filmation]]
[[Category:Black sitcoms]]
[[Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States]]

[[Category:NBC network shows]]
[[Category:Television shows set in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Child characters in television]]
[[Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television]]
[[Category:USA Cartoon Express]]

[[es:El gordo Alberto y la pandilla Cosby]]
[[fr:T'as l'bonjour d'Albert]]
[[it:Albertone]]
[[pl:Albert (serial animowany)]]

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:15:19Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

{{Otheruses4|the short story by Richard Connell|the novel by Gavin Lyall|The Most Dangerous Game (Gavin Lyall novel)}}
{{Infobox short story | 
| name = The Most Dangerous Game
| title_orig =
| translator = english
| author = [[Richard Connell]]
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = none
| genre = [[Short Story]]
| published_in = ''Collier's Weekly''
| publisher =
| media_type = adventure
| pub_date = [[January 19]], [[1924]]
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''"The Most Dangerous Game"''' or '''"The Hounds of Zaroff"''' is a [[short story]] by [[Richard Connell]]. It was published in ''Collier's Weekly'' on [[January 19]], [[1924]].

Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a [[big-game hunter]] from [[New York]], who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated [[island]] in the [[Caribbean]], and is hunted by a [[Russia]]n aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting [[safari]]s in [[Africa]] and [[South America]] that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.


*'''Sanger Rainsford''', an accomplished and experienced hunter from New York.
*'''General Zaroff''', a man of pre-Revolutionary Russian aristocratic background. Above middle-age. Utterly fixated on hunting.
*'''Ivan''', Zaroff's large Cossack slave and bodyguard. He is deaf and has no tongue. Ivan is also dumb. This makes him ideal to Zaroff as it is impossible for Ivan to tell anyone of General Zaroff's murders if he somehow escapes the island.
*'''Whitney''', Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the introduction, wondering what it would be like if he was the hunted instead of hunter.

==Summary==

Rainsford, a world famous hunter in the time, and his hunting companion, Whitney, are traveling to the [[Amazon Rainforest]] to hunt the fabled big cat of that region, the [[Jaguar]]. After a discussion about how they were the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat while trying to retrieve it. He washes up on an island, Ship-Trap Island, that is the subject of local superstition.

He finds a castle with a [[Cossack]] hunter named General Zaroff and his cossack servant Ivan. General Zaroff had heard of Rainsford as he is a big game hunter who read his book. Over dinner, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford how he became so good at hunting that he became bored and unchallenged with it. He then decided to live on an island where he captured shipwrecked sailors and sent them, with only food, a knife, and moccassins, into the jungle. Three hours later, he followed them to [[human hunting|hunt them]]. If they eluded him for three days, he let them go, but he had so far managed to kill them all.

Zaroff tells Rainsford that he would be the next person he hunted. Rainsford runs into the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat with a mouse. Rainsford sets a Malay mancatcher trap with a dead tree, which hurts Zaroff's shoulder. Next he sets a tiger trap, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he set a trap with his knife that kills Ivan, but not Zaroff or his hounds. As the hounds approach, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Zaroff assumes he has killed himself and returns home. Rainsford is there, having swam around the island. Zaroff congratulates him and offers to send him home, but Rainsford decides to fight him, and says "I'm still a beast at bay," meaning that its not complete yet.

The last sentence of the book depicts the General accepting the fight, and saying that the loser should be fed to the dogs and the victor would sleep in the master bedroom's bed. Although it has not been stated in the story, it is believed that the General was fed to his hounds because of Rainsford's last words- he had never slept in a better bed.



==Adaptations==
The story has been adapted for [[film]] numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and apparently the only one to use the original characters) was [[RKO]]'s ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'', released in [[1932 in film|1932]], having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of ''[[King Kong]]''. The movie starred [[Joel McCrea]] as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and [[Leslie Banks]] as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: Eve Trowbridge ([[Fay Wray]]) and Martin Trowbridge ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]), who are brother and sister (Wray and Armstrong were also starring in ''King Kong'' on the same sets during the day).

The story was also twice produced as a [[radio play]] for the series ''[[Suspense]]'', on [[23 September]] [[1943]] with [[Orson Welles]] as Zaroff and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Rainsford, and on [[1 February]] [[1945]] with frequent Welles collaborator [[Joseph Cotten]] playing Rainsford. In these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in [[retrospect]] as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.

A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie, also produced by [[RKO]] was ''A Game of Death'', released in 1945. Directed by [[Robert Wise]] at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original, [[Noble Johnson]], was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time, ''A Game of Death'' changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a German Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of WWII. In 1956 a second official remake was made, ''[[Run for the Sun]]'', starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Jane Greer]].

Other versions include ''[[Bloodlust!]]'' (1961), ''[[The Woman Hunt]]'' (1973), ''[[Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) and ''[[Surviving the Game]]'' (1994).<ref>Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=84006&category=Articles "The Most Dangerous Game" (TCM article)]</ref>

The concept of ''The Most Dangerous Game'' has been reused in numerous works of fiction, including:

'''Films:'''
*''[[Surviving the Game]]''
*''[[Hard Target (movie)|Hard Target]]''
*''[[Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity]]''
*''[[Gymkata]]'',
*''[[The Beast Must Die (film)|The Beast Must Die]]''. A deadly game to reveal and destroy a Werewolf hidden amongst trapped mansion guests
*''[[The Pest]]''
*''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]''

'''Television:'''
*the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[The Squire of Gothos]]"
*the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' enemies [[Hirogen]], particularly the episode ''[[The Killing Game]]''
*the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Captive Pursuit]]"
*the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[Homecoming (Buffy episode)|Homecoming]]"
*the ''[[The Simpsons (TV series)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XVI]]"
*the ''[[American Dad!]]'' episode "[[The Vacation Goo]]".
*the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' episode "The Hunter"
*the ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' original pilot episode
*the ''[[Johnny Quest]]'' episode "Shadow of the Condor"
*the ''[[Get Smart]]'' episode "Island of the Darned"
*the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "Hunted!"
*the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[[List of Dexter's Laboratory episodes|Dial M for Monkey: Huntor]]"
*the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' episode "[[List Of Codename: Kids Next Door Episodes#Operation S.A.F.A.R.I|S.A.F.A.R.I]]"
*the ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|Incredible Hulk]]'' 3rd season episode "The Snare"
*the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Open Season"
*the ''[[Supernatural (TV Series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders"
*the ''[[Relic Hunter]]'' episode "Run Sydney Run"
*the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "Hunter's Moon"
*the ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]'' episode "Pollo Loco"
*''[[Bet Your Life (TV movie)]]''

'''Comics:'''
*The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain [[Kraven the Hunter]] (Sergi Kravenoff) was inspired by Zaroff.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
*The tagline of [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'' title was "He hunts the world's most dangerous game".

==Influences==
The character of General Zaroff may have been influenced by the character of [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. Both characters live on isolated islands, and cause shipwrecks in order to bring unsuspecting sailors there, where they manipulate them to their own ends.

==Zodiac Killer==
"The Most Dangerous Game" is also said to have possibly been an inspiration to the [[Zodiac Killer]]. [[Arthur Leigh Allen]], the one time primary suspect of the notorious murders since cleared by DNA evidence, told police that he had read the story, which many thought had been referenced in one of the killer's letters.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html Full text at Classic Shorts]
*[http://eserver.org/fiction/the_most_dangerous_game.html Full text at E-Server]
*[http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=238&format=movie&theme=guide Watch 1932 film Most Dangerous Game]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Dangerous Game, The}}
[[Category:1924 short stories]]

[[it:The Most Dangerous Game]]

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:15:19Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:14:26Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

{{Otheruses4|the short story by Richard Connell|the novel by Gavin Lyall|The Most Dangerous Game (Gavin Lyall novel)}}
{{Infobox short story | 
| name = The Most Dangerous Game
| title_orig =
| translator = english
| author = [[Richard Connell]]
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = none
| genre = [[Short Story]]
| published_in = ''Collier's Weekly''
| publisher =
| media_type = adventure
| pub_date = [[January 19]], [[1924]]
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''"The Most Dangerous Game"''' or '''"The Hounds of Zaroff"''' is a [[short story]] by [[Richard Connell]]. It was published in ''Collier's Weekly'' on [[January 19]], [[1924]].

Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a [[big-game hunter]] from [[New York]], who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated [[island]] in the [[Caribbean]], and is hunted by a [[Russia]]n aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting [[safari]]s in [[Africa]] and [[South America]] that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.


*'''Sanger Rainsford''', an accomplished and experienced hunter from New York.
*'''General Zaroff''', a man of pre-Revolutionary Russian aristocratic background. Above middle-age. Utterly fixated on hunting.
*'''Ivan''', Zaroff's large Cossack slave and bodyguard. He is deaf and has no tongue. Ivan is also dumb. This makes him ideal to Zaroff as it is impossible for Ivan to tell anyone of General Zaroff's murders if he somehow escapes the island.
*'''Whitney''', Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the introduction, wondering what it would be like if he was the hunted instead of hunter.

==Summary==

Rainsford, a world famous hunter in the time, and his hunting companion, Whitney, are traveling to the [[Amazon Rainforest]] to hunt the fabled big cat of that region, the [[Jaguar]]. After a discussion about how they were the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat while trying to retrieve it. He washes up on an island, Ship-Trap Island, that is the subject of local superstition.

He finds a castle with a [[Cossack]] hunter named General Zaroff and his cossack servant Ivan. General Zaroff had heard of Rainsford as he is a big game hunter who read his book. Over dinner, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford how he became so good at hunting that he became bored and unchallenged with it. He then decided to live on an island where he captured shipwrecked sailors and sent them, with only food, a knife, and moccassins, into the jungle. Three hours later, he followed them to [[human hunting|hunt them]]. If they eluded him for three days, he let them go, but he had so far managed to kill them all.

Zaroff tells Rainsford that he would be the next person he hunted. Rainsford runs into the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat with a mouse. Rainsford sets a Malay mancatcher trap with a dead tree, which hurts Zaroff's shoulder. Next he sets a tiger trap, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he set a trap with his knife that kills Ivan, but not, Dan Tim is a retard, Zaroff or his hounds. As the hounds approach, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Zaroff assumes he has killed himself and returns home. Rainsford is there, having swam around the island. Zaroff congratulates him and offers to send him home, but Rainsford decides to fight him, and says "I'm still a beast at bay," meaning that its not complete yet.

The last sentence of the book depicts the General accepting the fight, and saying that the loser should be fed to the dogs and the victor would sleep in the master bedroom's bed. Although it has not been stated in the story, it is believed that the General was fed to his hounds because of Rainsford's last words- he had never slept in a better bed.



==Adaptations==
The story has been adapted for [[film]] numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and apparently the only one to use the original characters) was [[RKO]]'s ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'', released in [[1932 in film|1932]], having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of ''[[King Kong]]''. The movie starred [[Joel McCrea]] as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and [[Leslie Banks]] as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: Eve Trowbridge ([[Fay Wray]]) and Martin Trowbridge ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]), who are brother and sister (Wray and Armstrong were also starring in ''King Kong'' on the same sets during the day).

The story was also twice produced as a [[radio play]] for the series ''[[Suspense]]'', on [[23 September]] [[1943]] with [[Orson Welles]] as Zaroff and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Rainsford, and on [[1 February]] [[1945]] with frequent Welles collaborator [[Joseph Cotten]] playing Rainsford. In these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in [[retrospect]] as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.

A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie, also produced by [[RKO]] was ''A Game of Death'', released in 1945. Directed by [[Robert Wise]] at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original, [[Noble Johnson]], was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time, ''A Game of Death'' changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a German Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of WWII. In 1956 a second official remake was made, ''[[Run for the Sun]]'', starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Jane Greer]].

Other versions include ''[[Bloodlust!]]'' (1961), ''[[The Woman Hunt]]'' (1973), ''[[Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) and ''[[Surviving the Game]]'' (1994).<ref>Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=84006&category=Articles "The Most Dangerous Game" (TCM article)]</ref>

The concept of ''The Most Dangerous Game'' has been reused in numerous works of fiction, including:

'''Films:'''
*''[[Surviving the Game]]''
*''[[Hard Target (movie)|Hard Target]]''
*''[[Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity]]''
*''[[Gymkata]]'',
*''[[The Beast Must Die (film)|The Beast Must Die]]''. A deadly game to reveal and destroy a Werewolf hidden amongst trapped mansion guests
*''[[The Pest]]''
*''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]''

'''Television:'''
*the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[The Squire of Gothos]]"
*the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' enemies [[Hirogen]], particularly the episode ''[[The Killing Game]]''
*the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Captive Pursuit]]"
*the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[Homecoming (Buffy episode)|Homecoming]]"
*the ''[[The Simpsons (TV series)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XVI]]"
*the ''[[American Dad!]]'' episode "[[The Vacation Goo]]".
*the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' episode "The Hunter"
*the ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' original pilot episode
*the ''[[Johnny Quest]]'' episode "Shadow of the Condor"
*the ''[[Get Smart]]'' episode "Island of the Darned"
*the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "Hunted!"
*the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[[List of Dexter's Laboratory episodes|Dial M for Monkey: Huntor]]"
*the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' episode "[[List Of Codename: Kids Next Door Episodes#Operation S.A.F.A.R.I|S.A.F.A.R.I]]"
*the ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|Incredible Hulk]]'' 3rd season episode "The Snare"
*the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Open Season"
*the ''[[Supernatural (TV Series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders"
*the ''[[Relic Hunter]]'' episode "Run Sydney Run"
*the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "Hunter's Moon"
*the ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]'' episode "Pollo Loco"
*''[[Bet Your Life (TV movie)]]''

'''Comics:'''
*The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain [[Kraven the Hunter]] (Sergi Kravenoff) was inspired by Zaroff.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
*The tagline of [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'' title was "He hunts the world's most dangerous game".

==Influences==
The character of General Zaroff may have been influenced by the character of [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. Both characters live on isolated islands, and cause shipwrecks in order to bring unsuspecting sailors there, where they manipulate them to their own ends.

==Zodiac Killer==
"The Most Dangerous Game" is also said to have possibly been an inspiration to the [[Zodiac Killer]]. [[Arthur Leigh Allen]], the one time primary suspect of the notorious murders since cleared by DNA evidence, told police that he had read the story, which many thought had been referenced in one of the killer's letters.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html Full text at Classic Shorts]
*[http://eserver.org/fiction/the_most_dangerous_game.html Full text at E-Server]
*[http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=238&format=movie&theme=guide Watch 1932 film Most Dangerous Game]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Dangerous Game, The}}
[[Category:1924 short stories]]

[[it:The Most Dangerous Game]]

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:14:26Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

{{Otheruses4|the short story by Richard Connell|the novel by Gavin Lyall|The Most Dangerous Game (Gavin Lyall novel)}}
{{Infobox short story | 
| name = The Most Dangerous Game
| title_orig =
| translator = english
| author = [[Richard Connell]]
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = none
| genre = [[Short Story]]
| published_in = ''Collier's Weekly''
| publisher =
| media_type = adventure
| pub_date = [[January 19]], [[1924]]
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''"The Most Dangerous Game"''' or '''"The Hounds of Zaroff"''' is a [[short story]] by [[Richard Connell]]. It was published in ''Collier's Weekly'' on [[January 19]], [[1924]].

Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a [[big-game hunter]] from [[New York]], who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated [[island]] in the [[Caribbean]], and is hunted by a [[Russia]]n aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting [[safari]]s in [[Africa]] and [[South America]] that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.


*'''Sanger Rainsford''', an accomplished and experienced hunter from New York.
*'''General Zaroff''', a man of pre-Revolutionary Russian aristocratic background. Above middle-age. Utterly fixated on hunting.
*'''Ivan''', Zaroff's large Cossack slave and bodyguard. He is deaf and has no tongue. Ivan is also dumb. This makes him ideal to Zaroff as it is impossible for Ivan to tell anyone of General Zaroff's murders if he somehow escapes the island.
*'''Whitney''', Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the introduction, wondering what it would be like if he was the hunted instead of hunter.

==Summary==

Rainsford, a world famous hunter in the time, and his hunting companion, Whitney, are traveling to the [[Amazon Rainforest]] to hunt the fabled big cat of that region, the [[Jaguar]]. After a discussion about how they were the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat while trying to retrieve it. He washes up on an island, Ship-Trap Island, that is the subject of local superstition.

He finds a castle with a [[Cossack]] hunter named General Zaroff and his cossack servant Ivan. General Zaroff had heard of Rainsford as he is a big game hunter who read his book. Over dinner, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford how he became so good at hunting that he became bored and unchallenged with it. He then decided to live on an island where he captured shipwrecked sailors and sent them, with only food, a knife, and moccassins, into the jungle. Three hours later, he followed them to [[human hunting|hunt them]]. If they eluded him for three days, he let them go, but he had so far managed to kill them all.

Zaroff tells Rainsford that he would be the next person he hunted. Rainsford runs into the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat with a mouse. Rainsford sets a Malay mancatcher trap with a dead tree, which hurts Zaroff's shoulder. Next he sets a tiger trap, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he set a trap with his knife that kills Ivan, but not, Dan Tim is a retard, Zaroff or his hounds. As the hounds approach, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Zaroff assumes he has killed himself and returns home. Rainsford is there, having swam around the island. Zaroff congratulates him and offers to send him home, but Rainsford decides to fight him, and says "I'm still a beast at bay," meaning that its not complete yet.

The last sentence of the book depicts the General accepting the fight, and saying that the loser should be fed to the dogs and the victor would sleep in the master bedroom's bed. Although it has not been stated in the story, it is believed that the General was fed to his hounds because of Rainsford's last words- he had never slept in a better bed.



==Adaptations==
The story has been adapted for [[film]] numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and apparently the only one to use the original characters) was [[RKO]]'s ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'', released in [[1932 in film|1932]], having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of ''[[King Kong]]''. The movie starred [[Joel McCrea]] as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and [[Leslie Banks]] as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: Eve Trowbridge ([[Fay Wray]]) and Martin Trowbridge ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]), who are brother and sister (Wray and Armstrong were also starring in ''King Kong'' on the same sets during the day).

The story was also twice produced as a [[radio play]] for the series ''[[Suspense]]'', on [[23 September]] [[1943]] with [[Orson Welles]] as Zaroff and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Rainsford, and on [[1 February]] [[1945]] with frequent Welles collaborator [[Joseph Cotten]] playing Rainsford. In these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in [[retrospect]] as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.

A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie, also produced by [[RKO]] was ''A Game of Death'', released in 1945. Directed by [[Robert Wise]] at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original, [[Noble Johnson]], was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time, ''A Game of Death'' changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a German Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of WWII. In 1956 a second official remake was made, ''[[Run for the Sun]]'', starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Jane Greer]].

Other versions include ''[[Bloodlust!]]'' (1961), ''[[The Woman Hunt]]'' (1973), ''[[Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) and ''[[Surviving the Game]]'' (1994).<ref>Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=84006&category=Articles "The Most Dangerous Game" (TCM article)]</ref>

The concept of ''The Most Dangerous Game'' has been reused in numerous works of fiction, including:

'''Films:'''
*''[[Surviving the Game]]''
*''[[Hard Target (movie)|Hard Target]]''
*''[[Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity]]''
*''[[Gymkata]]'',
*''[[The Beast Must Die (film)|The Beast Must Die]]''. A deadly game to reveal and destroy a Werewolf hidden amongst trapped mansion guests
*''[[The Pest]]''
*''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]''

'''Television:'''
*the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[The Squire of Gothos]]"
*the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' enemies [[Hirogen]], particularly the episode ''[[The Killing Game]]''
*the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Captive Pursuit]]"
*the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[Homecoming (Buffy episode)|Homecoming]]"
*the ''[[The Simpsons (TV series)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XVI]]"
*the ''[[American Dad!]]'' episode "[[The Vacation Goo]]".
*the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' episode "The Hunter"
*the ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' original pilot episode
*the ''[[Johnny Quest]]'' episode "Shadow of the Condor"
*the ''[[Get Smart]]'' episode "Island of the Darned"
*the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "Hunted!"
*the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[[List of Dexter's Laboratory episodes|Dial M for Monkey: Huntor]]"
*the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' episode "[[List Of Codename: Kids Next Door Episodes#Operation S.A.F.A.R.I|S.A.F.A.R.I]]"
*the ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|Incredible Hulk]]'' 3rd season episode "The Snare"
*the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Open Season"
*the ''[[Supernatural (TV Series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders"
*the ''[[Relic Hunter]]'' episode "Run Sydney Run"
*the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "Hunter's Moon"
*the ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]'' episode "Pollo Loco"
*''[[Bet Your Life (TV movie)]]''

'''Comics:'''
*The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain [[Kraven the Hunter]] (Sergi Kravenoff) was inspired by Zaroff.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
*The tagline of [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'' title was "He hunts the world's most dangerous game".

==Influences==
The character of General Zaroff may have been influenced by the character of [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. Both characters live on isolated islands, and cause shipwrecks in order to bring unsuspecting sailors there, where they manipulate them to their own ends.

==Zodiac Killer==
"The Most Dangerous Game" is also said to have possibly been an inspiration to the [[Zodiac Killer]]. [[Arthur Leigh Allen]], the one time primary suspect of the notorious murders since cleared by DNA evidence, told police that he had read the story, which many thought had been referenced in one of the killer's letters.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html Full text at Classic Shorts]
*[http://eserver.org/fiction/the_most_dangerous_game.html Full text at E-Server]
*[http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=238&format=movie&theme=guide Watch 1932 film Most Dangerous Game]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Dangerous Game, The}}
[[Category:1924 short stories]]

[[it:The Most Dangerous Game]]

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:12:52Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:12:52Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:10:24Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

{{Otheruses4|the short story by Richard Connell|the novel by Gavin Lyall|The Most Dangerous Game (Gavin Lyall novel)}}
{{Infobox short story | 
| name = The Most Dangerous Game
| title_orig =
| translator = english
| author = [[Richard Connell]]
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = none
| genre = [[Short Story]]
| published_in = ''Collier's Weekly''
| publisher =
| media_type = adventure
| pub_date = [[January 19]], [[1924]]
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''"The Most Dangerous Game"''' or '''"The Hounds of Zaroff"''' is a [[short story]] by [[Richard Connell]]. It was published in ''Collier's Weekly'' on [[January 19]], [[1924]].

Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a [[big-game hunter]] from [[New York]], who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated [[island]] in the [[Caribbean]], and is hunted by a [[Russia]]n aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting [[safari]]s in [[Africa]] and [[South America]] that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.


*'''Sanger Rainsford''', an accomplished and experienced hunter from New York.
*'''General Zaroff''', a man of pre-Revolutionary Russian aristocratic background. Above middle-age. Utterly fixated on hunting.
*'''Ivan''', Zaroff's large Cossack slave and bodyguard. He is deaf and has no tongue. Ivan is also dumb. This makes him ideal to Zaroff as it is impossible for Ivan to tell anyone of General Zaroff's murders if he somehow escapes the island.
*'''Whitney''', Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the introduction, wondering what it would be like if he was the hunted instead of hunter.

==Summary==

Rainsford, a world famous hunter in the time, and his hunting companion, Whitney, are traveling to the [[Amazon Rainforest]] to hunt the fabled big cock of that region, the [[Jaguar]]. After a discussion about how they were the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat while trying to retrieve it. He washes up on an island, Ship-Trap Island, that is the subject of local superstition.

He finds a castle with a [[Cossack]] hunter named General Zaroff and his cossack servant Ivan. General Zaroff had heard of Rainsford as he is a big game hunter who read his book. Over dinner, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford how he became so good at hunting that he became bored and unchallenged with it. He then decided to live on an island where he captured shipwrecked sailors and sent them, with only food, a knife, and moccassins, into the jungle. Three hours later, he followed them to [[human hunting|hunt them]]. If they eluded him for three days, he let them go, but he had so far managed to kill them all.

Zaroff tells Rainsford that he would be the next person he hunted. Rainsford runs into the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat with a mouse. Rainsford sets a Malay mancatcher trap with a dead tree, which hurts Zaroff's shoulder. Next he sets a tiger trap, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he set a trap with his knife that kills Ivan, but not Zaroff or his hounds. As the hounds approach, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Zaroff assumes he has killed himself and returns home. Rainsford is there, having swam around the island. Zaroff congratulates him and offers to send him home, but Rainsford decides to fight him, and says "I'm still a beast at bay," meaning that its not complete yet.

The last sentence of the book depicts the General accepting the fight, and saying that the loser should be fed to the dogs and the victor would sleep in the master bedroom's bed. Although it has not been stated in the story, it is believed that the General was fed to his hounds because of Rainsford's last words- he had never slept in a better bed.



==Adaptations==
The story has been adapted for [[film]] numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and apparently the only one to use the original characters) was [[RKO]]'s ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'', released in [[1932 in film|1932]], having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of ''[[King Kong]]''. The movie starred [[Joel McCrea]] as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and [[Leslie Banks]] as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: Eve Trowbridge ([[Fay Wray]]) and Martin Trowbridge ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]), who are brother and sister (Wray and Armstrong were also starring in ''King Kong'' on the same sets during the day).

The story was also twice produced as a [[radio play]] for the series ''[[Suspense]]'', on [[23 September]] [[1943]] with [[Orson Welles]] as Zaroff and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Rainsford, and on [[1 February]] [[1945]] with frequent Welles collaborator [[Joseph Cotten]] playing Rainsford. In these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in [[retrospect]] as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.

A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie, also produced by [[RKO]] was ''A Game of Death'', released in 1945. Directed by [[Robert Wise]] at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original, [[Noble Johnson]], was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time, ''A Game of Death'' changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a German Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of WWII. In 1956 a second official remake was made, ''[[Run for the Sun]]'', starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Jane Greer]].

Other versions include ''[[Bloodlust!]]'' (1961), ''[[The Woman Hunt]]'' (1973), ''[[Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) and ''[[Surviving the Game]]'' (1994).<ref>Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=84006&category=Articles "The Most Dangerous Game" (TCM article)]</ref>

The concept of ''The Most Dangerous Game'' has been reused in numerous works of fiction, including:

'''Films:'''
*''[[Surviving the Game]]''
*''[[Hard Target (movie)|Hard Target]]''
*''[[Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity]]''
*''[[Gymkata]]'',
*''[[The Beast Must Die (film)|The Beast Must Die]]''. A deadly game to reveal and destroy a Werewolf hidden amongst trapped mansion guests
*''[[The Pest]]''
*''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]''

'''Television:'''
*the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[The Squire of Gothos]]"
*the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' enemies [[Hirogen]], particularly the episode ''[[The Killing Game]]''
*the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Captive Pursuit]]"
*the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[Homecoming (Buffy episode)|Homecoming]]"
*the ''[[The Simpsons (TV series)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XVI]]"
*the ''[[American Dad!]]'' episode "[[The Vacation Goo]]".
*the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' episode "The Hunter"
*the ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' original pilot episode
*the ''[[Johnny Quest]]'' episode "Shadow of the Condor"
*the ''[[Get Smart]]'' episode "Island of the Darned"
*the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "Hunted!"
*the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[[List of Dexter's Laboratory episodes|Dial M for Monkey: Huntor]]"
*the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' episode "[[List Of Codename: Kids Next Door Episodes#Operation S.A.F.A.R.I|S.A.F.A.R.I]]"
*the ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|Incredible Hulk]]'' 3rd season episode "The Snare"
*the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Open Season"
*the ''[[Supernatural (TV Series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders"
*the ''[[Relic Hunter]]'' episode "Run Sydney Run"
*the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "Hunter's Moon"
*the ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]'' episode "Pollo Loco"
*''[[Bet Your Life (TV movie)]]''

'''Comics:'''
*The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain [[Kraven the Hunter]] (Sergi Kravenoff) was inspired by Zaroff.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
*The tagline of [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'' title was "He hunts the world's most dangerous game".

==Influences==
The character of General Zaroff may have been influenced by the character of [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. Both characters live on isolated islands, and cause shipwrecks in order to bring unsuspecting sailors there, where they manipulate them to their own ends.

==Zodiac Killer==
"The Most Dangerous Game" is also said to have possibly been an inspiration to the [[Zodiac Killer]]. [[Arthur Leigh Allen]], the one time primary suspect of the notorious murders since cleared by DNA evidence, told police that he had read the story, which many thought had been referenced in one of the killer's letters.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html Full text at Classic Shorts]
*[http://eserver.org/fiction/the_most_dangerous_game.html Full text at E-Server]
*[http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=238&format=movie&theme=guide Watch 1932 film Most Dangerous Game]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Dangerous Game, The}}
[[Category:1924 short stories]]

[[it:The Most Dangerous Game]]

Das grausamste Spiel

2008-09-29T17:10:24Z

166.109.0.155: /* Summary */

{{Otheruses4|the short story by Richard Connell|the novel by Gavin Lyall|The Most Dangerous Game (Gavin Lyall novel)}}
{{Infobox short story | 
| name = The Most Dangerous Game
| title_orig =
| translator = english
| author = [[Richard Connell]]
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = none
| genre = [[Short Story]]
| published_in = ''Collier's Weekly''
| publisher =
| media_type = adventure
| pub_date = [[January 19]], [[1924]]
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''"The Most Dangerous Game"''' or '''"The Hounds of Zaroff"''' is a [[short story]] by [[Richard Connell]]. It was published in ''Collier's Weekly'' on [[January 19]], [[1924]].

Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a [[big-game hunter]] from [[New York]], who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated [[island]] in the [[Caribbean]], and is hunted by a [[Russia]]n aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting [[safari]]s in [[Africa]] and [[South America]] that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.


*'''Sanger Rainsford''', an accomplished and experienced hunter from New York.
*'''General Zaroff''', a man of pre-Revolutionary Russian aristocratic background. Above middle-age. Utterly fixated on hunting.
*'''Ivan''', Zaroff's large Cossack slave and bodyguard. He is deaf and has no tongue. Ivan is also dumb. This makes him ideal to Zaroff as it is impossible for Ivan to tell anyone of General Zaroff's murders if he somehow escapes the island.
*'''Whitney''', Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the introduction, wondering what it would be like if he was the hunted instead of hunter.

==Summary==

Rainsford, a world famous hunter in the time, and his hunting companion, Whitney, are traveling to the [[Amazon Rainforest]] to hunt the fabled big cock of that region, the [[Jaguar]]. After a discussion about how they were the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat while trying to retrieve it. He washes up on an island, Ship-Trap Island, that is the subject of local superstition.

He finds a castle with a [[Cossack]] hunter named General Zaroff and his cossack servant Ivan. General Zaroff had heard of Rainsford as he is a big game hunter who read his book. Over dinner, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford how he became so good at hunting that he became bored and unchallenged with it. He then decided to live on an island where he captured shipwrecked sailors and sent them, with only food, a knife, and moccassins, into the jungle. Three hours later, he followed them to [[human hunting|hunt them]]. If they eluded him for three days, he let them go, but he had so far managed to kill them all.

Zaroff tells Rainsford that he would be the next person he hunted. Rainsford runs into the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat with a mouse. Rainsford sets a Malay mancatcher trap with a dead tree, which hurts Zaroff's shoulder. Next he sets a tiger trap, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he set a trap with his knife that kills Ivan, but not Zaroff or his hounds. As the hounds approach, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Zaroff assumes he has killed himself and returns home. Rainsford is there, having swam around the island. Zaroff congratulates him and offers to send him home, but Rainsford decides to fight him, and says "I'm still a beast at bay," meaning that its not complete yet.

The last sentence of the book depicts the General accepting the fight, and saying that the loser should be fed to the dogs and the victor would sleep in the master bedroom's bed. Although it has not been stated in the story, it is believed that the General was fed to his hounds because of Rainsford's last words- he had never slept in a better bed.



==Adaptations==
The story has been adapted for [[film]] numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and apparently the only one to use the original characters) was [[RKO]]'s ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'', released in [[1932 in film|1932]], having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of ''[[King Kong]]''. The movie starred [[Joel McCrea]] as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and [[Leslie Banks]] as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: Eve Trowbridge ([[Fay Wray]]) and Martin Trowbridge ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]), who are brother and sister (Wray and Armstrong were also starring in ''King Kong'' on the same sets during the day).

The story was also twice produced as a [[radio play]] for the series ''[[Suspense]]'', on [[23 September]] [[1943]] with [[Orson Welles]] as Zaroff and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Rainsford, and on [[1 February]] [[1945]] with frequent Welles collaborator [[Joseph Cotten]] playing Rainsford. In these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in [[retrospect]] as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.

A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie, also produced by [[RKO]] was ''A Game of Death'', released in 1945. Directed by [[Robert Wise]] at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original, [[Noble Johnson]], was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time, ''A Game of Death'' changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a German Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of WWII. In 1956 a second official remake was made, ''[[Run for the Sun]]'', starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Jane Greer]].

Other versions include ''[[Bloodlust!]]'' (1961), ''[[The Woman Hunt]]'' (1973), ''[[Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) and ''[[Surviving the Game]]'' (1994).<ref>Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=84006&category=Articles "The Most Dangerous Game" (TCM article)]</ref>

The concept of ''The Most Dangerous Game'' has been reused in numerous works of fiction, including:

'''Films:'''
*''[[Surviving the Game]]''
*''[[Hard Target (movie)|Hard Target]]''
*''[[Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity]]''
*''[[Gymkata]]'',
*''[[The Beast Must Die (film)|The Beast Must Die]]''. A deadly game to reveal and destroy a Werewolf hidden amongst trapped mansion guests
*''[[The Pest]]''
*''[[Zodiac (film)|Zodiac]]''

'''Television:'''
*the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "[[The Squire of Gothos]]"
*the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' enemies [[Hirogen]], particularly the episode ''[[The Killing Game]]''
*the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Captive Pursuit]]"
*the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[Homecoming (Buffy episode)|Homecoming]]"
*the ''[[The Simpsons (TV series)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XVI]]"
*the ''[[American Dad!]]'' episode "[[The Vacation Goo]]".
*the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' episode "The Hunter"
*the ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' original pilot episode
*the ''[[Johnny Quest]]'' episode "Shadow of the Condor"
*the ''[[Get Smart]]'' episode "Island of the Darned"
*the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "Hunted!"
*the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[[List of Dexter's Laboratory episodes|Dial M for Monkey: Huntor]]"
*the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' episode "[[List Of Codename: Kids Next Door Episodes#Operation S.A.F.A.R.I|S.A.F.A.R.I]]"
*the ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|Incredible Hulk]]'' 3rd season episode "The Snare"
*the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Open Season"
*the ''[[Supernatural (TV Series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders"
*the ''[[Relic Hunter]]'' episode "Run Sydney Run"
*the ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "Hunter's Moon"
*the ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]'' episode "Pollo Loco"
*''[[Bet Your Life (TV movie)]]''

'''Comics:'''
*The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain [[Kraven the Hunter]] (Sergi Kravenoff) was inspired by Zaroff.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
*The tagline of [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'' title was "He hunts the world's most dangerous game".

==Influences==
The character of General Zaroff may have been influenced by the character of [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. Both characters live on isolated islands, and cause shipwrecks in order to bring unsuspecting sailors there, where they manipulate them to their own ends.

==Zodiac Killer==
"The Most Dangerous Game" is also said to have possibly been an inspiration to the [[Zodiac Killer]]. [[Arthur Leigh Allen]], the one time primary suspect of the notorious murders since cleared by DNA evidence, told police that he had read the story, which many thought had been referenced in one of the killer's letters.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html Full text at Classic Shorts]
*[http://eserver.org/fiction/the_most_dangerous_game.html Full text at E-Server]
*[http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=238&format=movie&theme=guide Watch 1932 film Most Dangerous Game]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Dangerous Game, The}}
[[Category:1924 short stories]]

[[it:The Most Dangerous Game]]