{"id":2218,"date":"2024-08-10T14:35:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T14:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2218"},"modified":"2024-10-14T14:28:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T18:28:50","slug":"the-running-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/10\/the-running-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Running Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Running Man <\/strong>(1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 TriStar\/Sci-Fi-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong graphic violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Paul Michael Glaser\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Steven E. de Souza\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harold Faltermeyer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Thomas Del Ruth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 13, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Erland Van Lidth, Marvin J. McIntyre, Gus Rethwisch, Professor Toru Tanaka, Mick Fleetwood, Dweezil Zappa, Karen Leigh Hopkins, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Eddie Bunker, Kurt Fuller, Dey Young, Franco Columbu, Lin Shaye, Wayne Grace, The Solid Gold Dancers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $38.1M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Try to forget The Running Man<\/strong> is an adaptation of a novella by Stephen King using the pseudonym Richard Bachman and accept it as a vehicle for action behemoth Arnold Schwarzenegger instead. If you do, you\u2019ll love it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, an ex-cop\/escaped convict forced to participate in a deadly game show called The Running Man. In then-future 2017, the world economy has collapsed and America has become a totalitarian police state where most forms of entertainment are outlawed. Police helicopter pilot Richards disobeys a direct order to gun down a group of unarmed protesters who just want more food than the government provides them. He\u2019s neutralized by his fellow officers and made to look guilty of mass murder by way of altered footage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He\u2019s sent to a prison labor camp from which he manages to escape with help of two fellow inmates, Laughlin (Kotto, Alien) and Weiss (McIntyre, Short Circuit). The two men are part of an underground resistance group whose goal is to bring down the current government and put an end to The Running Man, currently the most popular game show in the world. In it, criminals run for their lives from vicious armed gladiators. If they manage to successfully outrun their pursuers, they receive a full pardon for their crimes. If they lose, there is no consolation prize.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Show host Damon Killian (Dawson, Family Feud) sees the footage of Richards\u2019 escape and wants him on the show. It could mean big ratings. He\u2019s captured while trying to flee with a hostage, ICS network employee Amber Mendez (Alonso, Predator 2). He\u2019s brought to ICS where Killian makes it clear he has no choice but to be a contestant.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Richards will be going up against some truly heinous killers, known in the game as \u201cstalkers\u201d. They are Subzero (Tanaka, An Eye for an Eye) who goes after players with his razor-sharp hockey stick and exploding hockey pucks, Dynamo (Lidth, Stir Crazy) who shoots bolts of electricity at his opponents, Buzzsaw (Rethwisch, The Scorpion King) whose weapon of choice is a chainsaw and Fireball (Brown, The Dirty Dozen) whose uses a flamethrower. As an added bonus (and unpleasant surprise), Killian has Laughlin and Weiss captured and forced to join Richards in the game zone. They\u2019re later joined by Amber after she\u2019s caught looking at restricted network files- i.e. the unaltered footage of Richards not firing into the crowd.<\/p>\n

I love The Running Man <\/strong>even if it isn\u2019t faithful to its original source. It isn\u2019t the first film adaptation to deviate nor will it be the last. It\u2019s the nature of the Hollywood beast. Originally, Christopher Reeve was supposed to star with Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) slated to direct. As we all know, change is one of the only constants in life and Hollywood. Davis was fired after two weeks and replaced by Paul Michael Glaser (Band of the Hand). Schwarzenegger was brought in when Reeve bowed out. That\u2019s when the whole premise of the film changed. It was a dark allegory about an ordinary man taking part in a violent game show for a 30-day period in order to feed his family. It became a humorous Ah-nuld action movie that went through fifteen script drafts before it went in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Thankfully, those involved with the film got it right. The Running Man<\/strong> is great! It not only depicts a dystopian future that could believably come to pass, it gives Arnold a chance to beat up and\/or kill a lot of bad guys while getting off signature lines like “I’ll be back.\u201d Dawson is great, I repeat, GREAT in a role originally intended for Love Connection host Chuck Woolery. His sociopathic game show host nearly steals the show from Arnold, no easy feat. He oozes malevolence from every pore with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Alonso ranks right up there with Rae Dawn Chong and Elpidia Castillo as one of Arnie\u2019s best female sidekicks. It\u2019s cool how she finds her inner tough girl fighter once she\u2019s put in a position where she needs to fight for her life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Running Man<\/strong> also benefits from an awesome supporting cast that also includes WWF fighter Jesse Ventura (Predator) as retired stalker-turned-commentator Captain Freedom. He\u2019s great! Rockers Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) and Dweezil Zappa (Frank\u2019s son) show up as resistance leaders while Arnold\u2019s good buddy Sven Ole-Thorsen (Conan the Barbarian) makes his customary appearance, this time as a network security guard. It\u2019s always great to see blaxploitation legend Jim Brown. And let\u2019s not forget the Solid Gold Dancers strutting their stuff as the Running Man Dancers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Glaser gives The Running Man<\/strong> a satirical edge with plenty of in-jokes about audience members receiving a home version of the game and Dawson\u2019s signature move on Family Feud- i.e. kissing all the female contestants. Ah, the halcyon days of pre-AIDS American TV. None of this takes away from the film\u2019s true raison d\u2019etre<\/em>, ACTION! There\u2019s plenty of it here. Glaser knows how to expertly stage action sequences. All of them are well executed. The screenplay by writer Steven E. de Souza (Commando) is intelligent, witty and exciting. Harold Faltermeyer\u2019s (Beverly Hills Cop) score is a perfect fit. I love John Paar\u2019s theme song \u201cRestless Heart (Running Away with You)\u201d. In short, The Running Man<\/strong> is brilliant. It has everything a Schwarzenegger flick needs. What more could you ask for?\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Running Man (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 TriStar\/Sci-Fi-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong graphic violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Paul Michael Glaser\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Steven E. de Souza\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harold Faltermeyer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Thomas Del Ruth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 13, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Erland Van Lidth, Marvin J. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/The-Running-Man-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3135,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions\/3135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}