The premise itself came from a book by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and while the concept was imaginative and in some way tragically prophetic the quality of the movie is sadly not how I remember it and hasn't aged at all well!
The movie which deals with an unjustly accused prisoner in 2017 who is given a slim chance at freedom if he enters a battle-to-the-death on a television game show, is extremely camp and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the prime of his career at the time, spinning out the stomach churning one liners at a rapid rate. It wasn't the overly eager hammed up performances (Richard Dawson been just as guilty as Arnie) that result in the movie suffering (and yours truly for watching it!) but the outdated production and b-style direction that whilst may have been passable in 1987 now look dated and stale. In the cold light of day (and the presiding 30 years) it seems that a good concept was wasted by poor execution on all parts (a point that has been proved since as this movie has given birth to future similar type films and books that were of a much higher quality such as Battle Royale and the Hunger Games trilogy).
What this film is almost more interesting for at this stage is some of the unusual casting, director and musical influences that were associated with its production. I have listed 5 fun facts about the film at the end of this review.
Finally, even though the years have not been kind to this movie, it still deserves a lot of praise for it's unadulterated fun, over zealous performances and most importantly a pretty great concept that was in 1987, years ahead of it's time!
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5 fun facts about The Running Man:
1. Running Man is directed by Paul Michael Glaser, who is, of course, Starsky from TV's Starksy & Hutch.
2. Game show host Richard Dawson had plenty of game show experience being most famous for his hosting duties on TV show Family Feud.
3. The musical talent involved included choreography by Paul Abdul, a song by John Parr whilst Mick Fleetwood, Maria Conchita Alonso and Dweezil Zappa all have roles in the film.
4. Two of the movies stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura both went on to be United States Governors.
5. The movie went on to make $70 million at the US Box Office.
