HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Running Man'' is a 1987 American dystopian
action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
, María Conchita Alonso,
Richard Dawson Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was a British-born American actor, comedian, game-show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Heroe ...
, Yaphet Kotto, and
Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to ...
. The film's story about a
television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...
where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers is very loosely based on the 1982 novel of the same name written by Stephen King and published under the pseudonym
Richard Bachman Richard Bachman is a pen name (as well as fictional character) of American horror fiction author Stephen King. King portrays Bachman in the third season of the FX television series ''Sons of Anarchy''. Origin At the beginning of King's career, ...
. A lawsuit determined the movie was
plagiarized Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and though ...
from the French movie '' Le prix du danger'' (1983)(''The Price of Danger'') which was made after
Robert Sheckley Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. ...
's 1958 short story "
The Prize of Peril "The Prize of Peril" is a science fiction short story by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in May 1958 and first collected in '' Store of Infinity'' in 1960 by Bantam Books. The short story is ...
", just like the 1970 German TV movie ''
Das Millionenspiel ' ("The Game of Millions" or "Chance for a Million") is a 1970 German action/sci-fi television film, directed by Tom Toelle and starring Jörg Pleva, Suzanne Roquette and Dieter Thomas Heck. It was aired by ARD (broadcaster) on 18 October 1970. ...
'' (''The Million Game''). The 1987 US film is set in a dystopian United States between 2017 and 2019. ''The Running Man'' was a moderate box office success in the United States, grossing $38 million on its $27 million budget, but opened to mixed reviews from critics. A new movie adaptation of the novel, announced in early 2021, is in development at Paramount Pictures, with
Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...
directing and
Michael Bacall Michael Bacall (born Michael Stephen Buccellato;: "Le petit Michael Bucellato qui a choisi le pseudo de Michael Bacall..." April 19, 1973) is an American screenwriter and actor, known for having co-written the films '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worl ...
writing the script.


Plot

By 2017, the United States has become a totalitarian police state following a worldwide economic collapse and the recent election. The government pacifies the populace through violent TV shows; its most popular being ''The Running Man'', a broadcast game show, where criminals fight for their lives as "runners", fleeing from armed mercenaries called "stalkers", to earn a government pardon and tropical vacation. After refusing to open fire on them, Ben Richards, a police helicopter pilot, is framed for massacring sixty people in a food panic riot, in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's popula ...
. He is subdued by his colleagues and sent to a prison labor camp. Eighteen months later, he escapes with two resistance fighters, Harold Weiss and William Laughlin, finding refuge in their camp, led by their leader Mic. The resistance group look to hijack the ICS broadcast network's uplink facilities to expose the government's lies. Richards declines to help, then heads to his brother's apartment, only to find it is now occupied by Amber Mendez, a composer, and that his brother has been sent to a "re-education" camp. With her security travel pass, Richards takes Mendez hostage to flee to Hawaii, but is arrested at the airport, when Mendez alerts security. Meanwhile, Damon Killian, the charismatic, amoral host of the deadly ''The Running Man'' game show, becomes enamored by Richards physical prowess and notorious reputation as a murderous mad man. Killian coerces Richards to participate in the show, in exchange for Weiss and Laughlin's freedom. Meanwhile, Amber sees a news report that Richards shot people at the airport, which she knows is untrue. As the game begins, Killian sends Weiss and Laughlin into the game show arena with Richards, in an abandoned part of Los Angeles. They are first attacked by Professor Subzero, but Richards garrotes him with a section of razor wire fencing, the first time a stalker has ever died on the show. Mendez finds the original, unedited footage of the Bakersfield massacre. However, she is caught and sent into the game zone. Joining the other three "contestants", Killian now deploys two stalkers—Buzzsaw and Dynamo—to hunt the four runners. Weiss realizes the government/TV satellite uplink station, that the underground resistance has been searching for, is located in the game show arena. Dynamo electrocutes Weiss, just as he cracks the satellites security, but Mendez has memorized the access code. Buzzsaw mortally wounds Laughlin, but Richards bisects Buzzsaw with his own chainsaw. Dynamo is incapacitated by Richards, who spares the stalker live on air. Laughlin tells Richards that the resistance have a hidden base in the arena before dying from his wounds. Off the air, Killian offers Richards a position as a stalker, which the enraged Richards refuses. Hunted by Fireball, a stalker with a jetpack, wielding a flamethrower, Mendez finds the corpses of the show's alleged past "winners", revealing that the show's promises of pardon are all false. Richards saves Mendez and kills Fireball by sabotaging his gas tank and setting him alight with a road flare. Immediately afterwards, the pair stumble into Mic's command center. With the viewership now cheering for Richards, Killian asks former stalker and fan favorite Captain Freedom to join the hunt. When Freedom refuses to fight armed, because of the code of the gladiator, the network doctors old footage to depict Richards and Mendez being killed by Captain Freedom. Mendez and Richards see this on TV, convincing Richards to lead resistance forces to storm the ICS control room. Using the access codes, they broadcast the original footage of the Bakersfield massacre and the deceased runners to expose Killian and the government's lies. As the resistance fighters battle ICS security forces, Dynamo tries to rape Amber. However, her gun triggers the building's sprinkler system, which electrocutes Dynamo. Richards confronts Killian, who desperately pleads that the show appeases the public's lust for violence, but Richards forces Killian into a rocket-powered sled, jettisoning him into the game zone, fatally crashing through his own billboard image. As the audience celebrates, Richards reunites with Mendez, departing the studio as the broadcasting network goes down.


Cast


Production

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film ''Superman (1978 film), Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in P ...
was once attached to play Ben Richards. In a 2015 interview about the film, Paul Michael Glaser says that he was originally approached to direct the film but declined because he felt that the pre-production period was insufficient. Director Andrew Davis was hired instead but fired after just two weeks, because the production was one week behind schedule, so Glaser was now hired. Schwarzenegger has stated this was a "terrible decision", as Glaser "shot the movie like it was a television show, losing all the deeper themes." L.A. Weekly stated that the film's tone changed from a dark allegory to a humorous action film with the change of the film's star. With Reeve, ''The Running Man'' was about an unemployed man who goes on a violent game show for a thirty-day period to feed his family. With Glaser and Schwarzenegger, the protagonist became a condemned, but innocent, criminal forced into a three-hour gladiator-style game show by the justice system. Screenwriter
Steven E. de Souza Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
wrote fifteen drafts of the script over the course of the film's development. Pop star Paula Abdul choreographed the pre-show dance sequences. This was her second film credit, though she had already choreographed four
Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
videos as well as videos by
ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...
,
Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band went ...
, and
Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Gibson released her debut album '' Out of the Blue'' in 1987, which spawned several international hits, later being certified triple plati ...
. The music used for the pre-show entertainment was composed by
Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...
and was dubbed "Paula's Theme" in her honor. The film's release was postponed from summer 1987 until Thanksgiving due to the producers desire for the film to be the only action thriller released during the holiday season. The film opened on 1600 screens on November 13, 1987, to moderately positive reviews.


Music


Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Harold Faltermeyer and includes music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner,
Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...
, Glen Barbee and
John Parr John Stephen Parr (born 18 November 1952) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his 1985 single " St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", charting at number one in the US and number six in the UK, and for his 1984 US number ...
, who performed the main theme of the film called " Restless Heart (Running Away With You)", written by John Parr and Harold Faltermeyer and produced by Faltermeyer and played during the final scene and end-credits. A expanded Deluxe Edition, featuring the full score along with source music and previously unreleased alternate cues, was released in 2020.


Release


Home media

Artisan Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
released the film on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in 2002, and again in 2004. The 2004 release includes new special features, audio commentaries and surround sound mix. On February 9, 2010, Lionsgate released the film on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of stori ...
with a 7.1 surround sound mix. Olive Films (under licence from Paramount, who owns the film due to having the Taft Pictures library) re-released the film on DVD and Blu-ray, with the original 2-channel surround mix, on February 19, 2013. In 2022, for the film’s 35th anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment announced an Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray release of the film on November 8, 2022. The disc will include HDR-10, Dolby Vision, and the 7.1 surround mix. Paramount also owns the TV and streaming rights.


Reception


Box office

In ''The Running Man''s opening weekend, it was released in 1,692 theaters and grossed $8,117,465. The film's total domestic gross was $38,122,105.


Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicag ...
'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, complaining that "all the action scenes are versions of the same scenario", but praised Dawson's performance, stating that he "has at last found the role he was born to play."
Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of '' The New York Times'' wrote that the film "has the manners and gadgetry of a sci-fi adventure film, but is, at heart, an engagingly mean, cruel, nasty, funny send-up of television. It's not quite '' Network'', but then it also doesn't take itself too seriously." '' Variety'' wrote that the film "coarsens the star's hitherto winning formula" and "works only on a pure action level," calling the satire "paperthin and constantly contradicted by the film wallowing in the sort of mindless violence for the
roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...
-addicted masses it is supposedly criticizing."
Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...
of the '' Chicago Tribune'' gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "It's a format all right, but it may be too much of a format for a feature-length film. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former state security officer framed as the perpetrator of a notorious public massacre, sitting in as victim-of-the-week, ''The Running Man'' has little to do but run through the game's four stages." Michael Wilmington of the '' Los Angeles Times'' declared, "''The Running Man'' is, by far, Schwarzenegger's best vehicle since ''
The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whos ...
''—not such high praise if you recall what came in between—and it suggests that his Frank Frazetta frame shows best in these fantasy sci-fi settings ... For the right audience, it'll be fun. It's for action fans with a taste for something off the beaten track—but not too far." Rita Kempley of '' The Washington Post'' called the film "a fast-paced, futuristic purée of ''
Beat the Clock ''Beat the Clock'' is an American television game show that involves people trying to complete challenges to win prizes while faced with a time limit. The show was a creation of Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. The show began on radio as ...
'', Max Headroom, professional wrestling and ''
The Most Dangerous Game "The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...
''. Pumped and primed for self-parody, the burly star proves as funny as he is ferocious in this tough guy's commentary on America's preoccupation with violence and game shows." On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 67% based on reviews from 45 critics, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's critical consensus states, "''The Running Man'' is winking sci-fi satire with ridiculous clothes and workmanlike direction". On Metacritic the film holds a score of 45 out of 100 based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. On the film's 30th anniversary in 2017, ''The Running Man'' was cited by a BBC journalist as having made accurate predictions about life in 2017, including an economic collapse, and offering a critique of American television culture. The film's writer Steven de Souza himself reinforced these predictions in a podcast interview with ''
Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media ...
''s "Motherboard" section. Reed Tucker of the '' New York Post'' said in 2019 that the film "correctly predicted ... the widening gap between the rich and poor", depicting homeless shantytowns and skyscrapers for the wealthy resembling the real New York City and Los Angeles, and societal obsession with reality TV. De Souza said one of the producers of '' American Gladiators'' sold his show with clips from ''The Running Man'', telling the network "We're doing exactly this, except the murdering part".


Other media


Video game

In 1989, a video game based on the film was released for the
MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...
, ZX Spectrum,
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
,
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
, and
Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
. The game was developed by Emerald Software and published by
Grandslam Entertainment Grandslam Interactive Ltd. (formerly Grandslam Entertainments Ltd. and later Grandslam Video Ltd.) was a video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from a management buy-out of Argus Press Software by former Argus M ...
s. The 1990 video game '' Smash TV'' was inspired by ''The Running Man''.


Remake

On February 19, 2021, Paramount Pictures announced that it would make a new film adaptation of the novel, one that would be more faithful to the source material.
Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...
will direct and reimagine the story with Michael Bacall, the latter of whom will pen the screenplay.
Simon Kinberg Simon David Kinberg (born August 2, 1973) is a British-born American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film franchise, and has also written such films as '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' and ''Sherlock Holmes''. He ...
and Audrey Chon will produce through Kinberg's
Genre Films Genre Films, usually credited as Kinberg Genre, is a production company founded by screenwriter-producer-director Simon Kinberg. History Genre Films in April 2010 signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox, which gave Fox "direct access" ...
banner, alongside Nira Park from Wright's Complete Fiction banner.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Running Man, The 1987 films 1980s chase films 1980s science fiction action films 1980s dystopian films American chase films American science fiction action films American dystopian films Films about death games Films about television Films based on American novels Films based on science fiction novels Films based on works by Stephen King Films directed by Paul Michael Glaser Films scored by Harold Faltermeyer Films set in the future Films set in 2017 Films set in 2019 Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Social science fiction films TriStar Pictures films Taft Entertainment Pictures films Films produced by George Linder Films produced by Tim Zinnemann Films with screenplays by Steven E. de Souza 1980s English-language films 1980s American films