GRANTS, N.M. - Is hunting a game? a sport? Can it be both? Currently, humans are being hunted in the USA. Game? Sport? Or something altogether different? Hitler and the Gestapo hunted and killed millions of Jewish people. Game, sport, or something else?
In 1924, Richard Gonnell’s short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” was published. It became a film in 1932. It’s about one human hunting another human. The short story earned the O. Henry Award for best fiction. It raises questions about the nature of violence + cruelty and the ethics of hunting for sport. This writer was taught gun etiquette and hunted small game and deer. Their flesh was food, consumed by the family. Respect for the animals was demonstrated by a quick, accurate kill – to avoid animal suffering. Did I hunt as a game? A sport? Something else? Have you ever been hunted? How did it feel? If hunting humans for kicks is murder, does this differ from hunting animals?
Join movie goers on Friday, April 10, at 1 pm in the NMSU Library to watch “The Most Dangerous Game.” There’s no admission fee.
Part II: Character and plot
Sanger Rainsford (actor Joel McCrea) is an American hunter and author of a book on hunting. While on his way to South America to hunt, he falls off a yacht into the Caribbean Sea. He swims to a beach and finds a solitary house on an island. He meets Ivan, a gigantic mute man who enjoys torturing and murdering helpless captives [Ivan works for the owner of the island’s mansion, General Zaroff]. Zaroff has a cultivated voice, fine clothes, handsome features AND an obsession for hunting humans. His stock of prey is poor sailors unlucky enough to end up on the island. Zaroff forces them to play his game or be tortured and killed.
The next day, Zaroff informs Rainsford that he is to be hunted. Of course, Zaroff tells him that if he survives three days in the jungle, he will be returned to the mainland. The game begins…
Part III Quotes of actor Joel McCrea
• Ihavenoregrets,except perhaps one: I should have tried harder to be a better actor.
• People say I’m a onenote actor, but the way I figure it, those other guys are just looking for that one right note.
• [in 1978] I liked doing comedies, but as I got older, I was better suited to do Westerns. Because I think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young, falling in love with attractive girls in those kinds of situations… Anyway, I always felt so much more comfortable in the Western. The minute I got a horse, a hat, and a pair of boots on, I felt better. I didn’t feel like I was an actor anymore. I felt like I was the guy out there doing it.
• Acting?Ineverattempted it. A placid sort of fellow, that’s me. So, when I faced the cameras, I just stayed placid.
• After87picturesin 47 years, I knew when to quit.
Part IV Trivia about actor Joel McCrea
• KatharineHepburn was a friend of McCrea and his wife, actress Frances Dee. Hepburn reportedly felt he was one of the best actors with whom she had worked and was disappointed that his career wasn’t more successful. She reportedly believed McCrea should have been ranked alongside Spencer Tracy or Humphrey Bogart.
• Well-respectedasa horseman, he was regarded as one of the two best riders in Western films, along with Ben Johnson, who had been a real cowboy.
• MettherealWyatt Earp in Hollywood in 1928 and ended up playing the iconic lawman in Wichita (1955).
• AveryyoungMc-Crea was advised by Will Rogers to put the money he made from acting into real estate, a venture that made the novice actor a millionaire.
• Thegrandsonofa western stagecoach driver who had fought against the Apaches, he raised his own horses, was a passionate outdoorsman and large-scale rancher, and invested wisely in livestock and real estate.
The movie “The Most Dangerous Game” begins at 1 pm on Friday, April 10th. The movie ending might not! be obvious. The movie’s location IS obvious - the NMSU Library.