The Running Man (film)

Directed by Paul Michael Glaser
Produced by George Linder
Tim Zinnemann
Written by Stephen King (novel)
Steven E. de Souza

The Running Man is a film loosely based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, released in 1987, and was directed by Paul Michael Glaser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards. It also featured future governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, Arnold's bodybuilding-buddy Sven-Ole Thorsen, and pro football legend Jim Brown. Richard Dawson, in a self-parody of his role as the host of Family Feud, plays the host of The Running Man television show, Damon Killian. The theme music was done by Harold Faltermeyer.

The film, set in a dystopic year 2019, is about a TV show called The Running Man, where "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers.

The film differed significantly from the novel; it recalls some scenes from a French movie with a similar theme, called Le Prix du Danger, about a TV show where participants must escape killers live on TV.

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Ben Richards

Maria Conchita Alonso - Amber Mendez
Yaphet Kotto - William Laughlin

Jim Brown - Fireball

Jesse Ventura - Captain Freedom
Erland van Lidth - Dynamo (as Erland Van Lidth)
Marvin J. McIntyre - Harold Weiss
Gus Rethwisch - Buzzsaw (as Bernard Gus Rethwisch)
Professor Toru Tanaka - Subzero
Mick Fleetwood - Mic

Dweezil Zappa - Stevie
Richard Dawson - Damon Killian

Karen Leigh Hopkins - Brenda
Sven-Ole Thorsen - Sven (as Sven Thorsen)
Edward Bunker - Lenny (as Eddie Bunker)
Bryan Kestner - Med Tech

Anthony Pena - Valdez (as Anthony Penya)
Kurt Fuller - Tony

Ken Lerner - Agent (as Kenneth Lerner)

Dey Young - Amy
Rodger Bumpass - Phil Hiton (as Roger Bumpass)
Donna Hardy - Mrs. McArdle
Lynne Marie Stewart - Edith Wiggins
Bill Margolin - Leon

Tony Brubaker - Soldier #1 (as Anthony Brubaker)
Billy D. Lucas - Soldier #3 (as Billy Lucas)
George P. Wilbur - Lieutenant Saunders

Thomas Rosales Jr-. Chico (as Tom Rosales Jr.)
Sondra Holt - Suzie Checkpoint
Daniel Celario - Barrio Foreman #1
Mario Celario - Barrio Foreman #2
Sidney Chankin - Custodian
Kim Pawlik - Newscaster
Roger Kern - Travel Pass Guard
Barbara Lux - Elderly Lady
Franco Columbu - 911 Security Officer #2

Lin Shaye - Propaganda Officer

Boyd Kestner - Yuppie Yeller (as Boyd R. Kestner)

Wayne Grace - 911 Security Officer #1
Charlie Phillips - Teenage Punk
Greg Lewis - Manager Locker Room
John William James - Barrio Bettor
Jon Cutler - Underground Tech
Kerry Brennan - Dancer
Paula Brown - Dancer

Megan Gallivan - Dancer
Suzie Hardy - Dancer
Debby Harris - Dancer

Melissa Hurley - Dancer
Marlene Lange - Dancer
Morgan Lawley - Dancer
Cindy Millican - Dancer
Andrea Moen - Dancer

Mary Ann Hermansen - Dancer
Karen Owens - Dancer
Sharon Owens - Dancer
Pamela Rossi - Dancer
Mia Togo - Dancer
Maureen Flaherty
Jeff Jensen )

Joel Kramer - Soldier #2
Jon McBride - Locker Room Viewer

Mel Scott-Thomas

Plot

In this world, the United States has sealed off its borders and become a police state, while censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these shows is The Running Man, hosted by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson).

Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) is a pilot of a police helicopter gunship. He is ordered to fire upon unarmed civilians in Bakersfield, California during a food riot, but refuses to do so. His fellow police officers overpower him and kill the civilians. Richards is turned into a scapegoat by state propaganda for the massacre and is imprisoned. Edited and altered footage of the event appears on television across the country. Richards is given the moniker "The Butcher of Bakersfield" and becomes public enemy number one.

18 months later, Richards is still imprisoned in a labor camp, where he plots his escape with two other prisoners he has befriended, William Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Harold Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre). Prisoners are detained through the use of collars implanted with a ring of C-4 explosive which will explode if the prisoner tries to escape. After finally learning the code which allows Weiss to deactivate the collars, Richards and Laughlin stage a fight to cover their escape.

The rebels escape to a secret hideout in a shanty town on the outskirts of Los Angeles. After having his collar removed, Richards decides to go to his brother's apartment. Disguised as a construction worker, he visits the apartment only to find out it is now occupied by new composer Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), who works for the same network that broadcasts The Running Man. She explains, ominously, that Richards' brother was taken away for 're-education'. Richards kidnaps Amber and plans to fly to Hawaii. While at the airport, she manages to alert airport security, which leads to a pursuit. After a dramatic chase through the airport to the runway, Richards is caught by a net gun and is arrested.

Richards is taken to the Running Man studios in downtown Los Angeles, where the host Killian requests that he competes on the show. Richards decides to compete when Killian threatens to have his two prison break accomplices, Weiss and Laughlin, put in his place. After suiting him up for the show, Killian's bodyguard Sven escorts Ben to the stage. Despite the agreement he made with Killian, Weiss and Laughlin are launched into the game grid with Richards. Before he is launched, Richards threatens Killian by telling him "I'll be back".

Amber, who is trying to find evidence of the truth behind Richards' case, is caught looking through the raw footage of the Bakersfield massacre and is sent into the game grid herself after being falsely identified as Richards' lover.

The show is portrayed as a gladiatorial-style competition that takes place in a section of Los Angeles ravaged by an earthquake in the year 1997, in which several "Runners" attempt to survive while being chased by "Stalkers" for cash and prizes. These stalkers resemble professional wrestlers, with ornate weaponry, costumes, nicknames, and, in the case of Subzero (Professor Toru Tanaka), their own "Game Zones", areas where they would have a tactical advantage; Subzero's game zone was an ice rink, as he shared the look of a hockey goaltender, complete with ice skates and razor-sharp stick.

Richards grows from an ex-con "villain" to a popular player of the game as he confronts and kills each Stalker he faces except Dynamo (Erland Van Lidth), but Weiss and Laughlin do not survive the run. With the Department of Justice becoming increasingly frustrated by a convict doing well on the show, Killian, during a commercial break, offers Richards a role as a Stalker, which he declines. Killian ultimately stages the death of Richards and Amber, through computer-generated imagery, at the hands of a virtual Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura), a highly decorated ex-Stalker and now a TV-show host and commentator.

As the film progresses, Richards and Amber encounter and join an underground group fighting the television network that airs The Running Man. They intend to expose the "truth" behind the show: that contestants who had been declared winners in the past had actually been killed by Stalkers. Thanks to the raw Bakersfield footage, which Amber had smuggled out of the studio and into the arena, they also publicize the truth behind the massacre, demonstrating how the government is feeding the public lies in order to control their way of thought.

Ben leads a gang of rebels along with Amber to the ICS studios and intrudes upon the show. The rebels defeat the guards in a shootout, leaving Killian alone to deal with Ben. Bodyguard Sven turns up right on cue but burns Killian, telling him that he's "got to score some steroids", gives Richards a companionable nod and leaves. Ben straps Killian into the rocket-powered sled and sends him hurtling through twisting tunnels, eventually launching into the air and crashing into a billboard featuring his own image and Cadre Cola, exploding on impact. "Well, that hit the spot," quips Ben, mocking the soft drink's catchphrase.

Differences from the Novel

In the film, Richards is a contestant on The Running Man after becoming a scapegoat for a government-initiated massacre. In the book, Richards willingly becomes a contestant to afford a doctor for his gravely ill infant daughter.
In the film, the game is played in a ruined, earthquake-torn section of Los Angeles. In the book, the contestants are allowed to travel anywhere in the world to escape the Hunters (after a twelve-hour head start).
In the film, the Hunters resemble professional wrestlers with nicknames, special gimmicks, etc. In the book, there is none of this and the Hunters are regular people.
The only characters common to both the book and the film are Ben Richards, and to a lesser extent Killian (his surname remains but his role and personality are different).
The book ends in on a more downbeat note than the film. After learning that his wife and daughter have been murdered, Richards hijacks a jet, mortally wounded in the process. He overrides the craft's autopilot and flies it into the headquarters of the Network in a kamikaze fashion, killing Killian.

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