Based on Sidney Sheldon’s bestselling 1982 novel of the same name, Master Of The Game is a four-part mini-series from the year of Big Brother, 1984. The story tells the tale of the rise of a powerful empire, which begins in 1890 South Africa as a young (and rather green) Scotsman by the name of Jamie MacGregor (Ian Charleson — who looks like he could have been a close relation to Hugh Jackman in this) arrives in Johannesburg to find his own personal fortune in diamonds.

Swindled out of everything and left for dead by a devious Dutchman Salomon Van der Merwe (played to the hammy hilt by the great Donald Pleasence), Jamie finds himself in the caring hands of native Banda (Johnny Sekka). With his health returned to him following a severe beating at the hands of Van der Merwe’s henchmen, MacGregor discovers that his whole face has since changed — and the once naïve lad plans his elaborate revenge, becoming one of the area’s biggest diamond miners in the process.

If you feel I just spoiled the everloving bejesus out of the story, don’t worry, kids — that’s just a brief synopsis of Part 1. The remaining three parts (each part lasts about 1hr 40min) tells how Jamie’s daughter, Kate Blackwell (Dyan Cannon), comes to be the very cunning and deceitful head of an entire empire and how she attempts to manipulate her various offspring (and her offspring’s offspring) into being just as sly and untrustworthy as she is so that the fabulous family business may continue to run with hands of steel and a heart as hard as diamonds. Co-starring in the epic series is David Birney as David Blackwell (Kate’s hubby and Jamie’s assistant) and Harry Hamlin as Tony (Kate‘s son), with supporting parts played by Cliff De Young, Liane Langland, Cherie Lunghi, and a few bits with Barry Morse and David Suchet.

Since I have never read the original novel, I cannot back this one up, but many fans of Master Of The Game are proud to say it is one of the few adaptations of any novel ever that actually sticks very close to its source material. That said, the mini-series Master Of The Game is a rather well-acted (if perhaps long for some) presentation that fares well despite the TV budget. As to whether you’ll enjoy the story or not probably depends on your personal opinion of Sheldon’s works (again, I haven’t read the book, but I enjoyed this).

Article Author: Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the disgruntled alter-ego of Adam Becvar, a thirtysomething lad from Northern California who has watched so many weird movies since the tender age of 3 that a conventional life is out of the question. …

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