Undisputed (2002)

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers (WGA):

David Giler (written by) &
Walter Hill (written by)

Release Date:

23 August 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

At Sweetwater Prison, The World Heavyweight Champion Is About To Meet His Match.

Plot:

When heavyweight champion James 'Iceman' Chambers lands in prison, the resident gangster arranges a boxing match with the reigning prison champ.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Heavyweight Champion | Boxing | Iceman | Rape

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Wesley Snipes	...	Monroe Hutchen
Ving Rhames	...	George 'Iceman' Chambers
Peter Falk	...	Mendy Ripstein
Michael Rooker	...	A.J. Mercker
Jon Seda	...	Jesus 'Chuy' Campos
Wes Studi	...	Mingo Pace
Fisher Stevens	...	James 'Ratbag' Kroycek
Dayton Callie	...	Yank Lewis
Amy Aquino	...	Darlene Early
Johnny Williams	...	Al
Joe D'Angerio	...	Vinnie
Nils Allen Stewart	...	Vern Van Zant
Denis Arndt	...	Warden Lipscom
Jim Lampley	...	Himself
Ed Lover	...	Marvin Bonds

Also Known As:

Undisputed - Sieg ohne Ruhm (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language.

Runtime:

Spain:96 min | USA:94 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

High Desert State Prison - 22010 Cold Creek Road, Indian Springs, Nevada, USA

Company:

Amen Ra Films

Trivia:

Ving Rhames had spent two years getting in shape for another movie role biopic about a boxing legend, but when that fell through this script caught his eye and he simply resumed his training for this film.

Quotes:

Monroe Hutchens: He's a fighter, I'm a fighter, if I'm better on that day, I win. That's just the way it goes. Someday, every fighter loses. Sooner or later, somebody comes along and they got your ticket. Too old, just wasn't your day, whatever the reason is. In the end, everybody gets beaten. The most you can hope for is that you stay on top a while. Be the best.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Today You Die (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Murder Trial

Directed By Walter Hill ?

As soon as this prison movie starts you realise it was directed by a young inexperienced director who has been influenced by rap videos on the MTV channel and multiple viewings of OZ . As soon as a character is introduced BOOM a rap track starts and we see a caption giving the characters name , their crime and date of sentence . One can't feeling that this young director wanted to include a flashback scene but possible litigation by HBO stopped him . The real bad news is that the director of UNDISPUTED isn't a young hip director who has potential - the director is Walter Hill and it's obvious his career is in free fall as he bombards the audience with all types of choppy MTV effects

This wouldn't be so bad if there was a great storyline but the script doesn't even reach being mediocre and it's really quite bad . Heavyweight champ James " Iceman " Chambers is sentenced to 6 to 8 years for rape ( Gosh I wonder who that could be based on ? ) and the prison Mr Fix-it Mendy Ripstien arranges for Iceman to go head to head with prison champ Monroe Hutchen . I take it Ripstien is Jewish ? And he's sentenced for tax evasion ! Hey don't worry about clichéd stereotypes or anything like that . Oh and despite being a maximum security prison Mr Ripstien has friends who are white , Latino and African American . Even Hutchen has a colleague who's white . Hey anyone who wants to see what a success American ethnic diversity and multiculturalism is really must get themselves sentenced to some serious time in an American maximum security prison where everyone respects one another and never judge anyone on the colour of their skin

I suppose the laughable unreality of a melting pot inside an American prison stops everyone noticing the rather poor casting choices in this film . I notice Ving Rhames is very often filmed from the chest upwards and rarely takes off his shirt . Is this because the audience won't be fooled into believing a 42 year old man with a fair amount of flab is unconvincing as a heavyweight boxing champ ? I think it might . Wesley Snipes is well buffed but it's painfully obvious he's far too short to be considered a heavyweight and in reality he'd only be a middleweight in boxing terms . That said I doubt if the audience will be able to connect with either fighter anyway since one's a rapist and the other is a murderer so why should we be cheering on either man ?