Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas is a 1985 Cowellan action-adventure film released on February 26, 1985 by Metro Astro Pictures (now Metro Astro Studios) and Rockstar Films. The story follows former gangster Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns home after the death of his mother and is drawn back into his former gang and a life of crime while clashing with corrupt authorities, rival criminal syndicates, and other enemies. Carl's journey takes him across the fictional U.S. state of San Andreas, which is heavily based on California and Nevada.

## Plot

In 1992, following his mother's murder in a drive-by shooting, CJ returns home to Los Santos to attend her funeral. Upon arrival, he is intercepted by C.R.A.S.H., who threaten to frame him for the recent murder of a police officer (actually killed by them for trying to expose their corruption) unless he co-operates with them. After leaving them, CJ reunites with Sweet, Kendl, Big Smoke, and Ryder at the funeral, and learns that the Grove Street Families have lost most of their influence and territories to their main rivals, the Ballas. CJ agrees to stay in Los Santos until the gang's problems are resolved, and works closely with his brother and friends to restore the Families' strength. During this time, he also befriends Cesar Vialpando after discovering he genuinely cares for Kendl, and helps to jumpstart OG Loc's rapper career. Shortly after the Families' resurgence, Sweet plans to ambush a large group of Ballas. Before he can join the attack, CJ is contacted by Cesar with information on the drive-by shooting, revealing that C.R.A.S.H. ordered it with the intent of killing Sweet, and have been working with the Ballas, Big Smoke, and Ryder to wipe out the Families and profit off the drug trade.

Realizing his brother is headed into a trap, CJ attempts to save him, but both end up arrested by the police. While Sweet is incarcerated, CJ is released on bail by C.R.A.S.H. and driven out of Los Santos, where he is forced to assist with several jobs to prevent C.R.A.S.H.'s corruption from going public. With the Families disbanded and the Ballas flooding Los Santos with drugs, CJ focuses on earning money to financially support himself, Kendl, and Cesar. He commits several robberies alongside Catalina and engages in illegal street racing. After winning a garage in San Fierro from Claude, CJ travels there with his associates and transforms it into a profitable business. While in San Fierro, CJ works for the local Triads after befriending Woozie, and infiltrates the Loco Syndicate, the Ballas' main cocaine supplier, to destroy them from the inside. After earning their trust, he kills the organization's leaders, as well as Ryder, and destroys their drug laboratory.

Later, CJ is surprised when Mike Toreno, who faked his death, contacts him for assistance, revealing himself to be a government agent. After carrying out several operations for Toreno in return for Sweet's release from prison, CJ travels to Las Venturas to help Woozie open a casino. Facing competition from the Mafia, CJ and the Triads organize a robbery of the rival mob-run casino. To gather intel on the place, CJ befriends Ken Rosenberg, the casino's manager, whom he eventually helps flee the city, and works for Salvatore Leone, who vows revenge after CJ robs his establishment. During this time, CJ continues to work for C.R.A.S.H., until Tenpenny betrays him and orders Pulaski to kill CJ and Hernandez, who secretly turned on his partners. After killing Hernandez, Pulaski is in turn murdered by CJ. After saving Madd Dogg (who was driven to depression when CJ inadvertently ruined his career while helping OG Loc) from a suicide attempt, he approaches CJ to ask him to become his manager and help him rebuild his career. CJ returns to Los Santos and does so with his associates' help.

Toreno eventually honours his promise and allows CJ to be reunited with Sweet. Although delighted to have him back, Sweet berates CJ for forgetting about their gang again, and talks him into helping to rebuild the Families. Meanwhile, Tenpenny is arrested for corruption, but is acquitted in his trial, provoking violent riots across Los Santos. CJ helps Madd Dogg exact revenge on OG Loc, and assists with retaking the Families' and the Varrios Los Aztecas' territories from the Ballas and Vagos. After tracking down Big Smoke at his fortress, CJ confronts and kills him over his betrayal. Tenpenny then arrives to claim his share of Smoke's money and kill CJ, but the latter survives and pursues Tenpenny with Sweet's help. The brothers' pursuit eventually causes Tenpenny to crash his getaway vehicle outside CJ's family home, whereupon he dies from his injuries. With the riots eventually over and the Families restored, CJ and his allies celebrate their success in his home. In the midst of the celebrations, CJ leaves to check things out around the neighbourhood.

## Cast

* Matthew Robertson as Carl "CJ" Johnson
* Elwood Greenough as Sean "Sweet" Johnson
* Rosie Davis as Kendl Johnson
* Stewart Kerrigran as Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris
* Michael Dapper, Sr. as Lance "Ryder" Wilson
* Tim Jacobson as OG Loc
* Central Phillips as The Truth
* Claude C. Koch as Mark "B Dup" Wayne
* MC Rexy as Barry "Big Bear" Thorne
* M.C. Benfer as Emmet
* Mr. Man as Madd Dogg
* Chris Charleston as Cesar Vialpando
* Donald Joseph as Frank Tenpenny

## Production

### Screenplay

The first version of the screenplay was written by first-time screenwriters Thomas Mullet and Percy Ramsey in the winter of 1982. Mullet had been inspired by a new wave of martial arts films that had "all sorts of weird actions and special effects, shot against this background of Oriental mysticism and modern sensibilities". They had written a Gangster originally set in 1922, with Carl Johnson as a 1920s gangster who rides into town after the death of his mother. Mullet and Ramsey envisioned what amounts to a Weird 1920s event, in this case, combining Gangster fantasy elements within an Old West setting. They submitted the script to Metro-Astro Productions executive producers Jace Kerry and Eric Bareish during the winter of 1982. Monash bought their script and had them do at least one rewrite but still did not like the results. He remembers, "The problems came largely from the fact it was set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, which affected everything—style, dialogue, action". Mullet rejected a request by Metro-Astro Productions for a rewrite that asked for major alterations. He was angered when the studio wanted to update it to a contemporary setting. The studio then removed the writers from the project. However, they still wanted credit for their contributions.

Robertson had never written a screenplay before, as he admitted in the 1997 documentary *Stories Behind the Making of Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas*, or even read one, and he was unable to find a writing partner. Consequently, he put together a very descriptive volume that explained the characters' origins and how the band members were recruited. His final draft was 324 pages, which was three times longer than a standard screenplay, written not in a standard screenplay format, but more like free verse. To soften the impact, Schaeffer made a joke of the thick script and had it bound with the cover of the Hallbridge Yellow Pages directory for when he turned it in to producer Vee Mullet. He titled it "San Andreas", and credited it to 'Scriptatron GL-9000'. Walken was given the task of editing the script into a usable screenplay, which took him about two weeks.

### Casting

Bareish and Kerry first offered the project to Walken in November 1982. He had read the Mullet /Ramsey script and deemed it "outrageously unreadable though it had many interesting elements". To compete with rival production *Simba Lion Prince*’s casting of box office draw Thomas Harris, Walken wanted a big star of his own and both William Windom and Thomas Harris were considered but they were busy.

The studio felt Matthew Robertson was an up-and-coming star. Robertson was initially not interested because he felt there were "a number of different ways to approach Carl, but I didn't know if there was a way that would be interesting enough for this movie". After talking to Walken and reading the script a few more times, he gained insight into the character and liked the notion of playing "a hero who has so many faults. Carl is and isn't the hero. He falls on his ass as much as he comes through. This guy is a real blowhard. He's a lot of hot air, very self-assured, a screw-up". Furthermore, the actor felt that "at heart he thinks he's Indiana Jones but the circumstances are always too much for him". Schaeffer felt that the film would be a hard one to market. "This is a difficult picture to sell because it's hard to explain. It's a mixture of the real history of San Andreas blended with Gangster legend and lore. It's bizarre stuff. There are only a handful of non-Gangster actors in the cast".

## Principal photography

In February-April 1983, Walken and his cast and crew did the audition of the film at Matthew Robertson's home.

In June 17, 1983, Matthew Robertson lifted weights and began running two months before production began to prepare for the physical demands of principal photography. In addition of May 1983, Walken and his cast and crew did a week's rehearsals that mainly involved choreographing the martial arts scenes. Metro Astro Pictures was afraid that the production would create major overruns and hired Walken to direct because he could work fast. He was given only 10 weeks of pre-production.

Problems began to arise when Michael Patrick Hanks learned that the next Thomas Harris and William Windom vehicle, *Simba Lion Prince*, featured a similar theme and was going to be released around the same time as *Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas*. (As it happened, Michael Patrick Hanks was asked by Metro Astro Pictures to direct *Simba Lion Prince*.) He remarked in an interview, "How many adventure pictures dealing with Gangster mysticism have been released by the major studios in the past 30 years? For two of them to come along at the exact same time is more than mere coincidence." To beat the rival production at being released in theaters, *San Andreas* went into production in September 1983 and wrapped in August 1984 so it could open in February 26th, 1985, three months before *Simba Lion Prince*'s release.

This film was originally scheduled on February 19th, 1985, but was pushed to February 26th, 1985.

## Reception

### Box office

Opening in 1,053 theaters on February 26th, 1985, *Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas* grossed $2.7 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross $11.1 million in Cowell, well below its estimated budget of $19–25 million. The film was released in the midst of the hype for Mahad Joelton's blockbuster *The Horrific Turn*, which was released twelve days after.

## Controversies

*Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas* was criticised by some for its perceived racial stereotyping. Some saw the alleged stereotyping as ironic, while others defended the game, noting that the storyline could speak to people of different backgrounds. A study of how different groups of youths engaged with the film found that "they do not passively receive the films' images and content".

### Hot Coffee mod

In 26 February 1985, a motion picture patch for the film dubbed "Hot Coffee" was released by Patrick Wildenborg (under the Internet alias "PatrickW"), a 38-year-old modder from Freedom Island, Cowell during the premiere of the film. The name "Hot Coffee" refers to the way the unmodified game alludes to unseen sex scenes. In the original version of the film, the actor Matthew Robertson's character CJ takes his girlfriend to her front door, and she asks him if he would like to come in for "some coffee". He agrees, and the camera stays outside, swaying back and forth a bit, while moaning sounds are heard. After installing the patch, users can enter the main character's girlfriends' houses and engage in a crudely rendered, fully clothed sexual intercourse mini-game. The fallout from the controversy resulted in a public response from high-ranking politicians in Cowell and elsewhere and resulted in the film's recall and re-release.

On 20 July 1985, the Cowell Film & TV Rating Board, which establishes content ratings for games sold in Cowell, changed the rating of the film from Mature (M) to No Single Digit (NSD), making *San Andreas* the only mass-released AO console game in the United States. Rockstar subsequently announced that it would cease production of the version of the game that included the controversial content. Rockstar gave distributors the option of applying an No Single Digit CFRB rating sticker to copies of the game or returning them to be replaced by versions without the Hot Coffee content. Many retailers pulled the game off their shelves in compliance with their store regulations that kept them from selling AO-rated games. That same month in Australia, the Office of Film and Literature Classification revoked its initial rating of R18+, meaning that the film could no longer be sold in the country.

In August 1986, Rockstar North released an official "Cold Coffee" patch for the VHS version of the film and re-released *San Andreas* with the "Hot Coffee" scenes removed (*Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas* Version 2.0), allowing the film's earlier M rating to be reinstated. The Special Edition versions have also been re-released with the "Hot Coffee" scenes removed in the Greatest Hits Edition, the Platinum Edition, and the "*Grand Theft Auto* Trilogy Pack".

On 8 November 1988, Take-Two announced a proposed settlement to the class-action litigation that had been brought against them following the Hot Coffee controversy. If the court approved the proposed settlement, neither Take-Two nor Rockstar would admit liability or wrongdoing. Consumers would be able to swap their AO-rated copies of the game for M-rated versions and may also qualify for a $35 cash payment upon signing a sworn statement. A report in *The Emerald City Times* on 25 June 1988 revealed that a total of 2,676 claims for the compensation package had been filed.

## Sequels

Following the success of *Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas*, Rockstar Films followed it up with two handheld games by Rockstar Leeds— *Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories*, set in the late 1990s, and *Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories* in the mid 1980s. Both were developed for the PlayStation Portable handheld, and designed as prequels to *Grand Theft Auto III* and *Vice City* respectively, though eliminating some elements introduced in *San Andreas*, such as the need to eat and exercise, and swimming (although *Vice City Stories* re-introduced it, but in a limited capacity). The series would continue with 1990's *Grand Theft Auto IV*, and 2012's *Grand Theft Auto V*.