The Running Man
The Running Man is an American futuristic sci-fi action film. It was released on 13 November 1987. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The movie generated a mere $38 million on a budget of $27 million. It is one of those lesser-known Arnie actions flicks, and received average critical responses.
The Running Man is loosely based on the Stephen King novel of the same name from 1982, but published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
The Movie
The plot is set in a futuristic dystopian America in the year 2017. A future where the USA has slipped into a totalitarian police state post worldwide economic collapse. The government pacifies the population by screening a television game show in which convicted criminals are hunted down by mercenaries called “stalkers”. The prize for finishing the game is your pardon.
Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) is a police helicopter pilot. After a riot in California is ruthlessly suppressed, Richards is framed for the many deaths. He is arrested and sent to a labor camp, from which he escapes eighteen months later with the help of resistance fighters.
After a stint in the refugee camp with the rebels, Richards decides to find his brother. When he arrives at his brother’s apartment, he learns that his brother was sent to a re-education camp. The new tenant of the apartment, Mendez, is then taken hostage by Richards and the two travel to the airport where Richards is apprehended. Mendez discovers the original footage of the riot massacre and realizes that Richards is innocent.
When she tries to go public, she is also apprehended and thrown into the game with Richards and the two rebels that helped free him from the labor camp. Not before Richards manages to kill one of the stalkers, a first for the show. The game is set in an abandoned part of Los Angeles and the group of four tries to find an uplink station to broadcast the real footage.
The group is constantly attacked by stalkers, which Richards kills them off one by one. Killian learns of Richards’ intentions and by now, the spectators are cheering Richards. Killian decides to play fake footage that the group being killed and ends the screening. He then sends in a retired stalker to take care of the group. Richards manages to kill the last stalker and upload the original footage to broadcast it to the public. A group of resistance fighters then storms the studio. Richards confronts Killian and forces him into one of the speed cars that crash into a billboard, killing Killian.
Conclusion
The movie was cited for making a few accurate predictions of how life really would turn out by 2019. Referring to the widening gap between rich and poor. Nevertheless, it is entertaining. The dystopian futuristic setting was popular amongst movie producers of that era. Schwarzenegger basically made the movie, but the occasional gags by Arnie took away that serious action film experience. On 19 February 2021 Paramount announced a remake with a new adaptation to the original literary work.
The Cast
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Benjamin A. “Ben” Richards
- María Conchita Alonso as Amber Méndez
- Yaphet Kotto as William Laughlin
- Richard Dawson as Damon Killian
- Jim Brown as “Fireball”
- Jesse Ventura as “Captain Freedom”
- Erland Van Lidth De Jeude as “Dynamo”
- Marvin J. McIntyre as Harold Weiss
- Gus Rethwisch as Eddie “Buzzsaw” Vatowski
- Professor Toru Tanaka as “Professor Subzero”
- Mick Fleetwood as Mic
- Dweezil Zappa as Stevie
- Kurt Fuller as Tony
- Rodger Bumpass as Phil Hillton
- Edward Bunker as Lenny
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Sven