James Earl Cash

"Run ass far away ass u can, trust no one, now go!"

- Cash 2 his cousin

James Earl Cash is the protagonist and main character in Sudden Violence, a former inmate of Dixmor Asylum who was freed from death row and set loose in Virginia City.

Info
Cash was freed from death row and in return must participate in a horror film, directed by James Stalker.

It would appear that Stalker chose his candidate well, as Cash displays no outward emotion or regret while butchering his pursuers and is no stranger to violence. Cash is shown to be very capable of making sure his enemies are dead, and his fatalities are nothing short of brutal. He is also quite comfortable with firearms and basic gun combat.

Life until 2006
Sometime before 1993, James Ray Cash was wanted by the New York Police Department, which is likely what caused him to abandon his family. Cash was on the run up until the year 2003 when he was caught in Virginia City and locked away in the Dixmor Asylum. Cash was then sentenced to death, the execution being three years later.

Events of film
The day of the execution Cash is given the lethal injection and everyone believes he is dead, but he wakes up inside a closed down Coffee & Donuts shop in City to find he was only knocked out due to the works of James Stalker who had bribed the prison officials.

Cash is then forced to participate in one of Stalker's films in exchange for his freedom. Cash has no trouble in killing a gang called The Masks as he ploughs through town killing them in brutal ways until he thinks its over, but is ambushed by the WV S.W.A.T, who work for Stalker and is taken to another location.

He is then dropped by the swats at Denton's Junkyard, where he must kill a gang of white supremacists called the Skinz. Cash kills 'em all as he makes his way through the location, ambushes a Skin on a toilet, uses a crane to clear the path ahead and makes his way to the exit. He is once again picked up by the Swats and driven to the next location.

Next Cash must face a gang of war veterans known as the Wardogs at the City Zoo, until he learns they have his family hostage. He manages to save at least one member and kill all the Wardawgs at the location.

Now Cash is taken to Miami, because Stalker has arranged a "screening" for him. He must find a tape and a video camera in the South Town mall while shooting with a gang called the Innocentz. Once all the gang members are dead, Cash watches the tape which turns out to be footage of his remaining family members getting killed by Mr. Happy with a machete. Now Cash is back out on the streets and is teamed up with a hobo. Stalker instructs him to escort a Trampy the Hobo to the cemetary, while killing more Innocentz on the way. Then he must clear out the remaining Innocentz at the Montana Gun Factory and on his way out, he makes a run for it but is caught again by the Swats and is taken back to West Virginia.

Cash is now taken back to Dixmor Hospital for the Criminally Insane to face his former fellow inmates who have taken over the asylum and called themselves the Smileys. Cash makes his way through the asylum killing all the Smileys, until coming across a White Rabbit, who Cash is ordered to follow. The rabbit leads Cash into many traps, where he is attacked by Smilies, until he enters one room filled with heavily armed Smilies which is the point where Stalker had planned for Cash to die, thus betraying him. However Cash manages to stay alive and kills the remaining Smileys, some of the S.W.A.T and the White Rabbit as he escapes. Now Cash is on the run from Stalker, who sends Jax out to catch him which he does but decides to toy with him first. Cash is placed in a fenced out yard outside the Wardogs Apartment for the Wardogs to hunt him down. Cash kills them and enters the apartment building killing all the Wardogs and Jacks in the process.

Then Cash is picked up by Daniel Lamb and Cash helps him reach his gf's apartment to get her evidence to bring down Stalker, while killing the VCPD along the way who are following orders by Bill Starkweather who is BFF with Stalker. Then they seperate and Cash heads for Stalker's Estate via the subway, making it all the way to the Stockyard Train Yard where he is recaptured by the Swats.

Cash is then locked up in the garage at Stalker's palace, but breaks free and kills the Swats, including the leader and makes his way up to Stalker's office. On the way he runs into Piggsy and must kill him. After Piggsy and the remaining Swats are dead, Cash finally kills Stalker.

The police soon show up and discover Stalker horror film ring, but Cash is still, after all this torturing, sent back to the newly-renformed Dixmor Asylum where he killed himself 6 days after.

Personality and traits
Cash remains rather emotionless and completely fearless throughout most of the storyline, however he does display some sympathy for his kidnapped family members during one scene, and is visibly angered when he sees them killed. He also appears slightly scared the first two times he runs into the WV S.W.A.T, and when he is attacked by Piggsy in the elevator he panics and climbs through the vent, forgetting about his gun.

James Earl Cash is an extraordinarily dangerous individual, capable of inflicting fatal injuries using the most simple objects, such as plastic bags.

He helps an man Danny by escorting him safely to an apartment before telling him to get out of the city while he can, showing that he's good enough to allow an innocent person escape unharmed. This could be simply because Cash has a strong sense of revenge on him, so he would do anything to ruin Stalker, as James said to Danny; "You're my lawyer if I don't make, now get goin' and have a nice life". It could also be because James was more a "good criminal" than a "bad" one, trying his best to kill people that want to kill him, like cops and gangsters instead of innocents.

If we compare Leo with Cash, we can see that Cash is not exactly insane or suffering from what would appear to be Dissociative Identity Disorder. Unlike Leo, Cash does have a "criminal mind", which is the reason why he can easily kill the enemies without any remorse and to preserve his own life. Also, unlike Leo, he does his killings in a brutal way, not in a sadistic one. Usually, it seems that Cash's victims die before he has finished beating them, meaning they do not feel the pain of his more brutal attacks, whereas Leo kill in a more wild and uncontrolled style, meaning their victims suffer many attacks before actually dienin'. Unlike Leo, however, Cash is somewhat remorseful and even vomits when he kills someone, although he's actually controlled by Stalker. Leo is a completely sadistic murderer, in which before killing someone, he tortures them. This can be easily seen in the Dentist Chair Fatality, Barbed Wire Fatality and all the pliers fatalities.

Trivia

 * At the police station in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's Serbian and San Francesco, there are wanted posters for Cash and a few Mask members.
 * He personaliy sang "Nothing for me Here" by Dope, before killing the White Rabbit in scene Kill the Rabbit.
 * He sang it so good, it become the film's theme song.
 * The song "Master of Puppets" by Metallica is also known to fit him very much, said by Stalker himself.
 * It is know he committed suicide cause' of all the suffering he had to put through.