The Running Man (1987)

Actors: Lynne Marie Stewart (actress), Maria Conchita Alonso (actress), Arnold Schwarzenegger (actor), Lin Shaye (actress), Jon McBride (actor), Thomas Rosales Jr. (actor), Yaphet Kotto (actor), Ken Lerner (actor), Sven-Ole Thorsen (actor), Jesse Ventura (actor), Kurt Fuller (actor), Rodger Bumpass (actor), Jim Brown (actor), Rob Cohen (producer), Dey Young (actress),

Plot: Set in a totalitarian society. Ben Richards is a cop who was blamed for a massacre which wasn't his fault. He would be sent to prison and breaks out with some other inmates. He tries to escape but the woman whom he dragged into his plan turns him over to the authorities. Damon Killian, who is the host of THE RUNNING MAN a game show wherein convicted felons are given the chance to run to freedom but have to elude the stalkers; men who hunt them down and kill them in gruesome manners. When he learns that Richards has been caught, he wants him to be the show's next contestant. After being brought to Killian, Richards turns him down, Killian then reveals to Richards that his two friends who were in prison with him and who broke out with him have been caught, so unless Richards does the show they will. But on the night of the show, Richards is set to go but Killian also reveals that Richards' two friends are going with him. Richards tells Killian that he will be back. But first !

Keywords: 2010s, action-hero, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, against-the-odds, airport, athlete, automation, barbed-wire, based-on-novel, betting
Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller,
Taglines: The year is 2019. The finest men in America don't run for President. They run for their lives. Welcome to America in 2025, when the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives. A game nobody survives. But Schwarzenegger has yet to play. It is the year 2017. "The Running Man" is a deadly game no one has ever survived. But..... Schwarzenegger has yet to play. 2019. A game nobody survives. This year might be the exception.

Quotes:

Dynamo: Come to me, my love. [electrocutes Weiss]

Damon Killian: Brenda, if that ass hole is mopping the floor tomorrow, you'll be mopping it for the rest of the week.

Damon Killian: This is television, that's all it is. It has nothing to do with people, it's to do with ratings! For fifty years, we've told them what to eat, what to drink, what to wear... for Christ's sake, Ben, don't you understand? Americans love television. They wean their kids on it. Listen. They love game shows, they love wrestling, they love sports and violence. So what do we do? We give 'em *what they want*! We're number one, Ben, that's all that counts, believe me. I've been in the business for thirty years.::Ben Richards: Well, I may not have been in show business for as long as you have. But I'm a quick learner. And right now, I'm going to give the audience what *I* think they want.

[Referring to dead bodies]::Amber: They're running men. Last season's winners.::Fireball: No. Last season's losers.

Ben Richards: I'm not into politics. I'm into survival.

Amber: I'm warning you, I get sick. Air sick, car sick. I'm gonna throw up all over you.::Richards: Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt.

[Damon Killian is talking to the operator on the telephone]::Damon Killian: Hello, this is Killian. Give me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division. No, no, hold that, Operator? Get me the President's agent.

Ben Richards: Now I'm gonna untie you, and then you're gonna get dressed, and then you're gonna come with me.::Amber: Oh yeah? But why should I?::Ben Richards: Because I'm gonna say "please"...::[Arnold tears up the bench Amber is tied to from the floor it was bolted to]::Amber: Well, why didn't you say so?

Ben Richards: Killian! I'll be back!::Damon Killian: Only in a rerun.

Damon Killian: You bastard! Drop dead!::Ben Richards: I don't do requests.