THE RUNNING MAN (1987)

DIRECTED by Paul Michael Glaser (yep - Starskey from Starskey and Hutch actually directed a film)

SCREENPLAY by Steven E. DeSouza based (very, VERY loosely) on the novel "The Running Man" by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman).

STARRING  - Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards,  Maria Conchita Alonso as Amber Mendez,  Richard Dawson as Damon Killian,  Yaphet Kotto as William Laughlin, Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom,  Jim Brown as Fireball,  Erlend Van Lidth as Dynamo,  Marvin J Mcintyre as Harold Weiss,  Gus Rethwisch as Buzzsaw, Professor Toru Tanaka as Professor Subzero,  Mick Fleetwood as Mick, Dweezil Zappa as Steve.

PLOT - In the far distant future year of 2019, society has broken down. Following a worldwide economic meltdown the United States is now run by a totalitarian government. The beleaguered citizens are kept in check by a ruthless police force and they are entertained and distracted by 24 hour hour television that is controlled by the corrupt government.

The most popular TV show is "The Running Man" where convicted criminals are forced to engage in gladiatorial combat to the death with armoured warriors known as "Stalkers". The prize is an instant pardon (and an all expenses paid tropical holiday) but the odds are stacked massively against the unwilling contestants' survival.

After refusing to fire upon innocent men, women and children engaged in a food riot, police officer Ben Richards is forced to enter the games after being framed for the resulting massacre.

Can Ben survive the terrors of the Running Man - the deadliest gameshow on TV - clear his name and - if possible - help to put a stop to the fascist regieme's brutal game of death ?

DIALOUGE  -

BEN - " Killian...I'll be back !"  KILLIAN - "Only in a re-run."

KILLIAN - "WITHOUT FURTHER ADO ! ITS TIME..TO START...RUNNING !!!!!"

PERFORMANCES  - Nobody in thier right mind could ever accuse Arnold Schwarzenegger of being a "good" actor in any conventional sense of the term "good".

However, what Arnie lacks in traditional thespian skills he more than makes up for in charisma and screen presence of which he has both in massive quantities. Theres no real surprise that Schwarzenegger became a massive star in the 80's, he's just such a perfect fit for the standard "action hero" role - he's a man of few words (bordering on monosyllabic) and fast action, he also happens to be built like a brick shithouse. The point is - there's something about old Arnie Schwarzenegger that you just can't help likeing. It's this likeable element that powers his various roles and lifts him above his more obvious limitations as an actor.

It also helps that most of Arnie's performances have a standard format to them (whether he's playing Conan the Barbarian, the Terminator or - as here - an innocent cop framed for killing harmless civilians).  The format is this - Arnie walks on screen.  He then shoots/beats/blows up the baddies and then comes out with a cheesy one liner after they've died horribly. 

It's corny. It's predictable. It's funny and it works. In short it's cinematic gold.

Arnie as Ben Richards doesn't divert from that winning formula here (and neither would we want him to). So sit back, relax, switch your brain off and let Arnie gleefully massacre a bunch of American wrestlers dressed like Superheroes, because nobody else does it better.

Arnie/Ben is aided in his escape bid by Maria Conchita Alonso as Amber, a woman he initially takes hostage while trying to escape the powers that be. Upon realising that Ben's been framed Amber tries to help him, only to wind up being forced to join him in the gameshow's deadly arena. Eventually she becomes Arnie/Ben's love interest. 

Alonso doesn't get much to do except be placed in jeopardy, wear a tight fitting lycia bodysuit and fall into Arnie's big, manly arms at the end - but she does get some nice, sassy dialogue all the same.

Yaphet Kotto (the poor man's James Earl Jones) and Marvin J Mcintyre are also on hand to help Arnie as two underground resistance fighters who are also coerced into the games. They don't last very long, but Kotto at least gets a poignant death scene.

The villian of the piece is Richard Dawson as Damon Killian - the Running Man's compare/producer. He's every bit the typical smarmy, patronising gameshow host. He's slick, well groomed and vain. Strutting around the screen in his shiny designer suits and even shinier designer shirts. He's always there with a fake smile and a glint in his eye as he cheerfully sends innocent people to brutal and violent deaths. He's a ratings obsessed monster and the type of villian its great to see get his richly deserved comeuppance at the end. Great stuff.

SFX - Impressive pyrotechnics. Mild gore and some nice BladeRunner-esque future cityscapes abound.

VIOLENCE  - There are lots of gun battles (and shootings) in the early and later parts of the film (practically a small war's worth). 

Ben's comrades in arms Laughlin and Weiss both get offed pretty quickly in the games. Weiss is electrocuted to death by the Stalker known as Dynamo, whilst Lauglin bleeds out from a wound sustained whilst fighting Buzzsaw.

The best deaths occur when the Stalkers themselves get thier comeuppance.

Sub Zero - a hulking Ice-Hockey player with a propensity for using his victims as human hockey pucks (and surely the inspiration for the name of the character in the Mortal Kombat games) gets garrotted with a loop of barbed wire.

"What a pain in the neck" quips Arnie/Ben.

Chainsaw wielding nut-job Buzzsaw is the next to go. Arnie/Ben manages to wrest control of the chainsaw and proceeds to give Buzzsaw's balls a neat centre parting with the trusty wood cutting tool.

When quizzed about Buzzsaw's whereabouts moments later, Arnie responds with "He had to split." 

Electricity fetishist/opera singer Dynamo is trapped in the wreckage when his buggy crashes. For some bizzare (and totally out of character) reason Arnie spares him. Maybe Arnie was running out of one liners...

Jetpack wearing pyromaniac Fireball is roasted alive when Arnie ruptures his fuel line and sets him on fire with a flare. He goes up like its Bonfire Night. 

"How about a light ?" Jokes Arnie/Ben in one of his more Oscar Wildean moments.

Deadly aerobics instructor Captain Freedom gets his moment to shine next. Aerobics instructor ??? The Stalkers where clearly running low on gimmicks by this point.

Captain Freedom kills two stuntpeople who are mocked up to look like Ben and Amber in an attempt to quash the viewing public's growing rebellious urges inspired by Ben's unstoppable rampage.

The Amber lookalike is killed when Captain Freedom hurls her against a wall.

Whilst the Arnie/Ben lookalike is impaled on a giant spike.

Dynamo finally gets it when he tries to rape Amber. He gets electrocuted by his own armour when a sprinkler system gets set off.

Finally Killian meets his maker at the hands of Arnie. Killian is forced into a rocket sled which is then fired at high speed into an advertising billboard with Killian's face all over it. The rocket sled explodes. "Now THAT hit the spot" laughs Arnie (thinking he's saved the best till last...he hasn't).

RATING - The Running Man is a lot of fun. Its everything you could possibly want in an 80's sci-fi action movie. It's loud. It's violent. It's cheesy as hell.

It was also quite prescient in its depiction of cruel "reality" television and while modern TV hasn't quite gotten to the level seen here, it has trod dangerously close at times.

Its not high art by any means, but let's face it if you're after French New Wave Cinema you're not going to be watching an Arnie Schwarzenegger movie anyway are you ?

A good solid blast of high octane fun. 4 and a half wisecracking Austrian bodybuilders out of 5.

ART -

Below - the original novel written by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pseudonym and a later edition put out under King's own name.

Is it just me or does "Ben Richards" look suspiciously like Bruce Campbell on this cover ?