LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES!

IS HOLLYWOOD ENTIRELY OFF-BASE WHEN IT COMES TO SURVIVAL MOVIES?

- JIM COBB

Many of us enjoy survival-oriented films. With some of them, it gives us a chance to wargame, in a manner of speaking, and allow us to see how some situations may play out. There are other movies that seemingly share vital pieces of survival knowledge and techniques.

Let's take a look at three films that fall into the survival genre or niche. The summaries will be brief and will gloss over quite a few details, due to space constraints as well as an attempt to avoid spoilers for those who've not seen the movies yet. But, the larger concern for us will be, is there anything in these films that we can turn around and use in the real world?

SURVIVAL QUEST (1988)

Summary: This is the oldest, and probably the least known, film on our list. Hank Chambers, played by Lance Henriksen, is a soft-spoken wilderness survival instructor. His school is sort of like Outward Bound, where he takes small groups up into the mountains and teaches them about shelter building, wild edibles, and such while also helping them become leaders. A few of his students in the film are fairly recognizable, including Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener.

Not too far away is another survival school, this one run by tyrannical Jake Cannon, played to the hilt by Mark Rolston. Where Hank teaches his students how to live with nature, Jake takes a much more hardcore approach, teaching his students to conquer nature as though it were an enemy combatant. He also leads sessions on knife fighting and related skills. One of his students, named Raider, is particularly enthralled with the class.