You Got To Love It
The movies from the 80’s are just as distinctive as the music was in the era when parachute pants, feathered hair, and MTV were for cool people. On another one of my sleepless nights, I happen to catch this Arnold Schwarzenegger classic on TNT and could not resist watching it for the 6 millionth time. As I sat there contemplating what ever happened to the cheeze, I realized that there are certain cookie-cutter aspects of 80’s flicks. Arnie definitely has his signatures. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between Arnie’s futuristic Sci-Fi thrillers and Sylvester Stallone’s attempts at a convincing story set int the future. Futuristic action movies from the 80’s all seem to have a few matching characteristics:

One Liners ~ Arnie was the master at this. He probably has a team of 63 writers on salary sitting around thinking up witty quips like ”I’ll Be Back”, ”Let Some Steam Off” & ”He Had To Split”. He set off a wild fire of one-line snaps that spread throughout several 80’s cheeze flicks.

The Costumes ~ It’s amazing at the concepts they come up for these muscle bound action heroes to wear. In Running Man, Arnie wears a skin tight yellow & blue jump suit. I can’t imagine how they convince people to wear that stuff. It must be that huge check they get when their done.

Death ~ Have you ever noticed that the only movie Arnie has ever died in is End of Days. You could say that they finally destroyed him in Terminator, but not really. He came back for the sequel! Almost every Arnie flick has him kicking the Shiznat out of everyone, then sailing, flying, swimming, or limping away into the sunset. It’s classic, it’s Arnie, and although it’s repetitive. I love it! Besides, Arnie couldn’t die and be buried in that ridiculous yellow & blue jump suit.

So You Ask, Where Does All The Cheeze Come From?
I first fell upon the story of a man running for his life while reading the Bachman Books, a compilation of stories by the now famous Stephen King writing under the alias Richard Bachman. One thing to remember though. Like most books transformed into movie, there are major plot changes. This usually results in the movie not being as good as the book, which is also the case here. But they both serve their purpose. There are just too many small details about the book that would have been impossible to re-create on film. It would have been a 6-hour movie.

What Kind Of Cheeze Is It?
Film in 1987, The Running Man is the futuristic story set in Los Angeles in the year of 2019. We are a society living in a police state. Everything is linked and controlled by the government, except television. Enter Captain Ben Richards, a Police Helicopter Pilot that faces the dilemma of being ordered to kill hundreds of innocent demonstrators. When his morals get the best of him and he refuses, Richards is framed and sent to prison for hundreds of innocent deaths and dubbed The Butcher of Bakersfield.

The Running Man Game Show
Imagine W.W.F. Smackdown, but with real combat and real death. Now, throw in a couple dozen Solid Gold Dancers and Richard Dawson from Family Feud. You get the most popular game show in the un-free world. The show has a deal with the Department of Justice for an endless supply of harden criminals for the game. The thugs are hunted by celebrity Stalkers ala W.W.F. through a 400 square block radius of subterranean city that was lost during an earthquake. It actually sounds like it would be a great show. I would love to see Usama Bin Laden and an array of killers stalked and killed by The Rock

The Runners
Arnold Schwarzenegger is Ben Richards and gives his classic performance as a tough M.F. who wants his revenge. Remember, this is before he had open heart surgery, so Arnie is still the giant muscle bound action star that made him famous.

Maria Conchita Alonso is Amber Gonazales and it was hard to notice her acting while she was wearing the same cheezy type yellow & blue jump suit Arnie had on. Maria foes give a solid performance as a former ICS employee that inadvertently ends up in the game.

Yaphet Kotto is Loflin, one of two guys friends of Richards. Loflin and Weiss are what I called the extra guys on a Star Trek away mission. You know they’re going to die and die they do, well.

The Stalkers
They’re almost comical with their super-hero suits and super-egos’ to match. To bad Arnie slices & dices them up like warm butter with a hot knife.

Sub-Zero ~ A fat Asian guy with an ice hockey fixation. Sub quickly gets strung up in some concertina wire and Arnie opens his throat up like a present on X-mas morning.

Buzz-Saw ~ A huge blonde biker almost as big as Arnie. Buzz rides around chopping guys up with chain saws until Arnie splits Buzz’s manhood like a 10-8 split on Wednesday bowling night.

Dynamo ~ Another fat guy that looks like a walking X-mas tree and shoots lightning across the room. After Arnie’s spares the obese light bulbs once, Maria gives him a shock in his lightning rod that no man could ever survive.

Fireball ~ A tall, intimidating black guy with a flame thrower and fire-resistant suit. I guess his Mom never
taught him about playing with matches because he gets his “gas” kicked with little effort.

Governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura is Captain Freedom ~ The 10 time Stalker champion that wants tries to come out of retirement to take care of Arnie after all his stalker buddies are gone. What can I say, Jesse adds something to the film only he can. Jesse is Cpt Freedom!

Richard Dawson is Damon Killian ~ The ego-maniac that is the host of The Running Man. Dawson shows a side of him that totally contradicts his behavior on Family Feud. He is such a M.F. in this movie that the grand finale depends on his demise.

The Resistance
The sub-plot is that the TV network I.C.S. runs society through media propaganda. Hmm, may not be far from the truth! The overall goal is to get the security up-link code so the resistance can take over the TV satellites and broadcast the truth to the rest of the world. What does this have to do with a game show. Well, nobody said it was a
great plot, but it’s lots of cheezy fun to watch.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings