S.E. DVD
The Running Man (1987)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Artisan / 2004
Director: Paul Michael Glaser
Writer: Stephen King & Stephen E. de Sousa
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jesse Ventura, Richard Dawson
Review by Ted Phipps
In the not too distant future, America is a police state, ruled by a faceless authority that seized control during an international crisis. Television has become the primary means of keeping the population docile via a steady stream of misinformation, propaganda and entertainment. Any unrest is ruthlessly suppressed using the ubiquitous police paramilitary forces. Ben Richards is a former police captain scapegoated by the government for one such massacre, and now he’s been given the chance to win his freedom by appearing on “the World’s Most Popular Gameshow”, The Running Man. The powers that be will soon find out that they’ve never had a contestant like Richards before.
There are many obvious influences present in this film, all of them welcomed like dear old friends. Movies like Death Race 2000, Rollerball, and Escape from New York came to mind as I watched. It tries to be a bigger movie than its budget allowed, and in that aspect it wasn’t successful, but I still loved every cheesy action sequence and predictable plot twist. The final goal of this movie was to entertain, and entertain it does. Richard Dawson steals the show as the host of this prescient and twisted version of today’s reality TV, and it’s worth watching just to see two future state governors (Ventura and Schwarzenegger) ham it up in a big way.
Fair warning, although this is based on Stephen King’s story (written as Richard Bachman), the movie is a very loose adaptation. The book and film share more than the title, but not a whole lot more.
If you’re an Ahnold fan, you’ll probably want this one for your personal collection. For everyone else, I’d suggest renting first, because there are better action movies out there starring the Governator. This special edition release has been remastered and it sounds and looks great. It’s dark, silly fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
