The Running Man (1987)

Paul Michael Glaser's masterpiece. The villains are unique, charismatic and iconic. Stephen King's descriptive writings are the cinematic gift that keep on giving. Terrific casting too.

I freaking love this movie!!! Yeah it’s nothing like the book, but it was a really fun movie. I actually got the movie the day I finished reading the book so imagine how confused I was when it was nothing like the book.

If they ever decide to remake this it should be a miniseries. I don’t think a movie will do the book justice.

Richard Dawson is a hoot as the MC. When Arnold reprises his "I'll be back" line just as he 's propelled into the death zone, Dawson counters with, "Only in re-runs!"

lotta fun....enjoyed it a lot.

Also..very very loosely based on a Stephen King novel.

What I always remember about this movie is the scene where in order to escape from prison Arnie and company create some diversion so that the guards have to enter the password to disable the security fence - and the password appears in huge letters that they can read from 20 meters away! 

Yeah, Killian sure was a sleazebag. That poor janitor, just happening to bump into him, and yeah, not exactly the most likeable guy, but still a very memorable one. Kind of hoped Arnie would really rip his spine in two, early on, but then I guess Damian finally got what he deserved at the end, and went out like a true "champ".

I am glad to see that there are more people who enjoy this very fun and action filled, futuristic sci-fi/action film. Which I guess, kind of "pales", at least compared to some of the other classic 80s releases Arnie did back then, like Conan The Barbarian (1982), The Terminator (1984) and Predator (1987).
However, I would gladly take his "lesser" stuff, anyday, any time, over most of the forgettable and dull action and sci-fi films I have seen coming out for the past 10-15 years, or more. 

I got through Arnold's biography earlier this year, and I think he mentioned that they were hoping or trying to get Andrew Davis in on the film, but as that did not happen, and since Davis backed out in the last minute, and instead they kind of went for a last minute deal with Paul-Michael Glaser, who had mostly a background within the telvision format, but not so much in making big budget movies, and Arnie felt it hurted the original vision of The Running Man, as Glaser decided to take most of the "serious" and "gritty" stuff out, right away, and instead went all the way, for a more campy and goofy style and direction.

Got a hold of the Stephen King novel last year, still have not read it, but I guess I will have to come back to it, sooner or later, as I have heard mostly good stuff about it.
Will probably be very different than the movie, which is not exactly gonna be surprise.

Still, I am glad it went the way it did. As we got both RoboCop and The Running Man, released in the same year. Of course, the latter is nowhere near the classic masterpiece that is RoboCop, but there is lots of hilarious black comedy (not that far off Verhoeven's style) happening, and it ended up working very well together with the fast paced action and witty story, which suited Arnie and specially the lovely Maria Conchita Alonso, as his sexy and vampy sidekick, Amber. 

An older (back in 2017) review/thread I did for the film, and I guess my feelings toward it, have not changed much since then.
I rated it with a 8/10, and remains a bit of a favorite, as it was one of the first Arnold films I first saw on DVD, back in 2001-02.

"I'm not into politics. I'm into survival."
As a result of the economic collapse of 2017 along with a desperate need for natural resources, the US government have taken the liberty of making America into their very own prison cell, divided into several military zones, and were any kind of cultural activities or signs of rebellion will lead up to a certain death penalty.
And in order to stop the people from turning against their leaders, the sadistic and highly popular TV-show, The Running Man has been created, and were those having been founded guilty of committing a crime, might just be the next "lucky" one to get the opportunity of a lifetime, by coming onboard to fight for their freedom against some of the toughest and most brutal gladiators on Television.

This has to be one of Arnold's most 80s looking/sounding films ever, (beaten only by The Terminator) and while it may not enjoy the same reputation as Conan, Terminator, Predator, or Commando, The Running Man is still an all time Arnold classic that comes with an incredible amount of hilarious and memorable quotes, a fantastic cast, Harold Faltermeyer doing the synth dominated soundtrack, Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom, along with a bit more light hearted approach towards Paul Verhoeven's social satire and of course the always beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso doing a solid job as Arnold's lovely sidekick.

The one thing I wished the film would include, was a bit more of Captain Freedom, as the man was hilarious but at the same time a real tough bastard and I always thought a final showdown between him and Ben Richards would be great, but I guess the same could be said of Sven, the bodyguard of Damon Killian.
The movie was based on one of Stephen King's novels, (under the name of Richard Bachman) and the final script of the film was written by action legend Steven E. de Souza (48 Hours, Commando and Die Hard).

That unlucky prisoner, who got his head blown off, I think was named (Chico?). Anyway, I believe it is the same poor fella who also gets his armed chopped off, by Arnie (in Commando), who then in the uncut version, ends up throwing the bloody arm at the guy, and I guess this is one of those stuntmen who just happen to appear in a whole lot of classic 80s and early 90s action films. But damn, he really got himself into a whole lot of trouble.