Review of The Running Man (1987) by Greg W — 10 Jul 2016

The themes in "The Running Man" of media manipulation and the convergence of news and entertainment are even more relevant today than they were back in 1987. However, this is really just a silly action movie filled with dopey one-liners that happens to have a few interesting ideas behind it, mostly thanks to it's source material from the Stephen King novel (written as Richard Bachman) and dos to the blame goes to screenwriter Steven E.

de Souza, who brought us countless dopey action films including "Judge Dredd," "Hudson Hawk" and "Streetfighter" (though in fairness he was a writer on "Die Hard" and 48hrs, although those films had several co-writers).

Set in a future where convicts are given a chance a having their sentence commuted by appearing on a life-or-death game show, Arnold finds himself wrongly accused of slaughtering peaceful unarmed protesters (Arnold was actually arrested for refusing to gun down the protestors).

The TV game show host is played by real-life TV game show host Richard Dawson, and he's one of the best parts of this film. Dawson put Arnold and a couple other wrongly accused convicts (Maria Conchita Alonso and Yaphet Kotto) put against different "Stalkers" which then plays out as game show inspired action set pieces.

Some of the Stalkers are played by Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Professor, and Toru Tanaka. The main weakness of the film is that the action is not particularly memorable or exciting. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser (you know, the guy who played Starsky) the action is competently made, but nothing spectacular.

Glaser was apparently called in at the last minute to direct the film when the original direction and producer had a falling out. Another low point is the film being filled will loads of dopey one-liners for Arnold.

There are some clever moments in the script, like when Dawson make a phone call and says, "Get me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division." But most of the one-liners are straight of the a Simpsons episode featuring McBain.

But in the film's favor, there is an interesting subtext that makes the story a bit more interesting that most 80s action films (i.e. "Cobra," "Commando," etc.). However, this film really doesn't develop or explore those themes to any great extent and the film misses an opportunity.

"Battle Royale" basically ripped off this film's premiss and themes, and made a much smarter and also more suspenseful, exciting, and shocking of film. However, to give credit where credit is due, "Rollerball" was likely the real originator of this story and themes of media, violence, power and control back in 1975, though these films also owes a debt to the 1932 film "The Most Dangerous Game" where innocent people were hunted for entertainment and sport.

"The Running Man" does feature Mick Fleetwood in his acting debut and you also have a very 80s looking Dweezil Zappa, and underrated crime author Edward Bunker, and Arnold's good buddy Sven-Ole Thorsen playing a character named Sven.

There's also a solid Harold Faltermeyer, but overall, this film is a real missed opportunity that could have been done a whole lot better. This is a film that I'd think is ripe for a remake. It's not a classic sacred cow, like trying to remake "The Terminator," but it does have some good material that would be just as relevant, if not more so, today.

And if they did it, Arnold should play the Dawson game show host character. Overall, this is a solid story concept that manages to carry dopey script and rather average action sequences.