Undisputed (2002)

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

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers:

David Giler, Walter Hill

Stars:

Wesley Snipes, Ving Rhames, Peter Falk

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

George "Ice Man" Chambers (Rhames) is a top ranked heavyweight boxer. However Chambers has his world turned upside down when he is accused of rape and sent to prison. Upon his arrival he hears talk about Monroe Hutchen (Snipes) who is the top ranked prison boxing champ 10 years running. Immediately there is bad blood with Chambers not wanting to be second to no one which leads to a lunch room fight between the men. Figuring it will be a good way to make money fellow convict Emmanuel 'Mendy' Ripstein (Peter Falk) sets up a prison boxing match between the two men to decide who is the real UNDISPUTED champ. Michael Rooker plays a guard, Fisher Stevens, John Seda, and Master P co star.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | heavyweight champion | boxing | fight | iceman | 

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Taglines:

One Man Fighting for His Honor, One Man Fighting for His Future ...

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [us] Official Facebook

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Iceman

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,548,750 (USA) (23 August 2002)

Gross:

$12,398,628 (USA) (4 October 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amen Ra Films, Hollywood Partners, Millennium Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was actually filmed at two different Nevada prisons as well as having a major fight scene filmed at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.

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Quotes

Marvin Bonds: This is the fight for what's right. This is the brawl for it all. This fight ain't about money, this is their heavyweight champion, against our heavyweight champion. This fight is for respect. R-e-s-p-e-ck. Respect.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits listing the actors real names. Instead, their character's name, crimes, gang affiliation, and conviction year are listed as they are introduced.

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Connections

Edited into Today You Die (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Leave the Iceman"
Written by Stanley Clarke
Performed by Jeff Thornton, A.B. Barnes, William Ismael and Patrick Lampson
Produced by Stanley Clarke
Published by Clarkee Music

User Reviews

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 ?