The Running Man (1987) • REBROADCAST - the Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Most
Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast. Want to skip those ads and
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come with it.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast.
It's the podcast where a filmmaker and a comedian run
their way through the eighties movies we think we love
or might have missed. This is The Running Man, a
movie selection from nineteen eighty seven, about which letterbox says,

(00:48):
twenty nineteen, a game nobody survives this year might be
the exception. By twenty seventeen, the global economy has collapsed
and American society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring
all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace with broadcasting
a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight

(01:09):
for their lives, including The Gladiator Style The Running Man,
hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where runners attempt to
evade stalkers and certain death for a chance to be
pardoned at Set Free. I'm Christy Lenz. I am an
improviser comedian one of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy

(01:30):
Theater in downtown Mesa, Arizona. And with me on this
podcast as always.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Is Nathan Blackwell. I'm an independent filmmaker also based in Phoenix, Arizona,
and glad to be here. Hi. How's it going? Hi?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Hi, it's good. I'm glad that we made it through
twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen and didn't end up in
this Running Man apocalypse.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah. Although you know, it's like when they said, like
the financial you know, market has collapsed and things are
in ruin, and it's twenty seventeen, it's like, well, they
didn't get it too far off.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, we just didn't become a police state with the
gladiator style TV shows right, well entirely they're all love based.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
You're right, right close close, but not close enough.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Not quite close enough. So is this a movie that
you've seen a lot?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
No, this is maybe the second or third time I've
seen it. I think the first time I saw it
was only about like seven eight years ago, and I
think I I think I watched it for another podcast.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Oh it was for comic con, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I think it was at the Phoenix Comic Con.
We were doing a panel and so so it was
at least for a panel. Maybe it was also an
Educated Geeks podcast.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh I think so. Yes.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
So I haven't gotten back and listened to like what
are my quips? Hopefully in the time that's passed, I've
come up with brand new insights or I'm not literally
unconsciously repeating some of the same lame jokes. But I
guess we'll see.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
So I guess we will. Someone will have to go.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Back in I should make my deep cut recommendation? Is
the other podcast I recorded for The Running Man almost
ten years ago?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I don't have one yet, so we'll see what
I come up with by the end.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Okay, great, m.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
I too have not seen this movie a million times.
This is maybe the third or fourth time I've seen it.
I think the first time I watched it was also
for that same podcast recording back who knows when for
Educating Geeks. So we start this movie with the scrolling text.
It's in like that video game font that's very pixelated,

(04:03):
which immediately lets you know what you're in for. And
I didn't copy it all down exactly, but basically it's
twenty seventeen. Everything sucks and the number one TV show
in the world is The Running Man.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah. Great, this movie, this movie, especially in the first
couple of scenes, felt very nineties to me. You know,
there were a lot of like really low budget, tacky
like sci fi nineties movies where it was out in
broad daylight and people had weird, great outfits with wires

(04:38):
connected to them and everything was about like hacking the computers,
you know, yeah, the satellite, hacking the satellite. Yes, but
this also fits in really well with movies like RoboCop,
which came out the same year with this whole sort
of like I think we're burnt out, a little burnt

(05:01):
out on the whole, like you know, like Reagan era economics,
and so there were a lot of these like the
Dark Side of the Capitalist System, yeah, coming out as well,
you know, like the reaction.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Of you can't always trust what the state is telling.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
You, Yeah, and that everyone just wants more views, they
want more money, they want sensationalism on TV. And so
there were a lot of movies you know kind of
like not just RoboCop, which did it great, but also
kind of like earlier movies like Rollerball as well.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
You know, I've never seen that. Yeah, all right, Okay,
so the whole of this movie is sort of predicated
on what comes next, which is a scene where Schwarzenegger
is flying a helicopter and there's he's a soldier and

(06:06):
there's some sort of food riot that's breaking out down
below them, and the orders are to kill anything that moves,
but he says, no, I won't do that. You can
go to hell. We're going back to base. We're not
going to kill these innocent men, women and children who
are just trying to get some food. And his men

(06:28):
turn on him and attack him, and he ends up
in jail.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, and so it's good that we see that there
are people who resist this kind of police state mentality
that work in the police state. But it's also kind
of like the last good thing this character does.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, and it's like everyone else in there, everyone else
in the helicopter is just rotten to the core, and
they're gonna, like really angrily, like take him out because
you won't kill these civilians, and then they go ahead
and kill all the civilians.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah. And then but it is an outrage, so it's
not something that is expected. The state still has to
spin it, they still have to pin it. On a villain,
and so there right now, where they are in this
world is that they're committing atrocities, but they always have

(07:28):
to find a scapegoat. They always have to manipulate the message,
you know. Whether it's deep fake technology or just creative editing,
they still have to control.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
The narrative, and they do by editing the footage of
the event to make it seem like Arnold Schwarzenegger was
the main bad guy. Like they were like, no, don't
kill them, and he was like, no, I'm going to
kill them.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
I never thought I would say this, But in some
ways Running Man is more timely now. It is with
the whole idea of fake news and being able to
manipulate not only what we see, but what we hear
and how it's presented, you know.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
And it's a good thing that the actors are still
on strike to make sure that their images can't get
stolen from them and used to make whatever they want
in AI deep fake technology. So stay strong, sag Aftra,
We support you, We support you, you know.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Like Fan, I'm definitely more in the Arnold camp than
the Sevester Stallone camp. But there's there's some movies for
the longest time where it's kind of bottom of the
barrel Schwarzenegger, you know, yeah, that's like the high Schwarzenegger
is obviously like the Terminator and Predator and Kindergarten Cup,

(09:00):
you know, but he's done also some of these lower ones,
but they're still definitely enjoyable, but they do fall into
kind of the cliche tropes of him smoking a cigar
and blowing someone up and having a really bad one liner.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Really bad fun.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, and I would lump like Commando into that category,
you know. But there is something special about this movie.
So that's the reason maybe why I avoided it, But
it has become kind of a delight by maybe some

(09:45):
of the maybe unintentional reasons. You know.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, it is pretty is pretty good and pretty bad
at the same time. You know, anytime a movie like
this predicts the future and gets any part of it right,
like Demolition you know, it's kind of like, oh wow, okay,
good for you.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, I would say this is kind of like like
this is kind of like Running Man and Demolition Man
are kind of I feel like the people enjoy it
for the exact same reasons, yeah, which you know, the campiness,
the silliness, the costumes, and and and just how it is.
It's just going for like a it's just going for

(10:28):
a big three point free throw.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
And boy it doesn't quite make it, but you just
kind of salute it for what it does and for
what it is.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah. Well, and lots of people, lots of innocent people
get killed. Well, I suppose we're supposed to assume that
the guards of this prison are not innocent, right, But
a lot of the guards of this prison where Arnold
Schwarzenegger end up get killed when he escapes.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, there's a lot of video game logic in this movie,
which is mowing down people. And if as long as
he is our hero, then he can do no wrong.
Even though he's pretty much an a hole to everyone he.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Meets, everybody, there's nothing likable or redeemable about him. And
I think he's supposed to be like a lovable scamp, Yes,
but it doesn't play that way, certainly not on.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
The page, right, But he is a little love I
wouldn't say lovable. But we can't help but want to
continue to watch because it is Arnie and we have
a separation. We know that it's not Arnold Schwarzenegger playing
a characters. It's Arnold Schwarzenegger, who apparently he is also

(11:51):
called something else, you know, Like, Yeah, it's like he
is not transforming himself into a character, He's transforming this
character into him, and we're just kind of watching him
with the warn one liners and the kills and and
him being an a hole to everyone else is just
kind of a side effect to it.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's a weird take, it is, because like he's he
seems like he's trying to almost be funny.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, he is actively mean to his.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Friends and even to the girl he ends up kidnapping.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah, they have a strange love language, and their kiss
at the end is totally unearned, but you do kind
of want them to be pals.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Right well, her whole story is is pretty banana. So
he escapes from a prison camp mm hmm, and he
gets his head exploding collar taken off. So that's something
we don't have yet, is head exploding callers right right, movies?

(12:59):
We should have them soon.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah. I think it's like when the explosion goes off,
it's a huge explosion, which I feel is not super necessary,
like escape to New York, Like the explosions in his
neck were just enough to open up his arteries and
that's really all you need.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, you know, I guess, yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Don't need it to be so such a big explosion
that it maybe takes out everyone around you. But maybe
they're kind of going for the shotgun aw thing.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah. So we also learned during this time that a
Chillian of The Running Man Show and I c S
Is a real jerk.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, but he's also another great character actor Richard Dawson,
and he just like he honestly, he's the MVP performance
of the movie. Yeah, Like he such great mustache twirling.
He's a great villain.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
I agree, But he is a very very bad guy.
So we're intercutting him being like a guy who's mopping
the floor accidentally mops onto his shoe and he's like, no,
you're doing great work. You're a beautiful person. We appreciate
all that you do. Here. If that guy's not out
of the building by the end of the day, you're
going to be mopping the floor, you know. Kind of
a thing. Arnold Schwarzenegger breaks into an apartment building expecting

(14:28):
to find his brother, right, and I feel.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Like electronic locks should probably get changed when they get
a new tenant, that would be an easy change.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Right. I also feel like he never ever worries about
his brother again, right.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
There is Yeah, yeah, the brother was taken away for
some reason, right.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
And re education it they say it never comes up again.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
I bet they would have loved to have included a brother.
But there's no one else that looks like Arnold Schwartzenegger.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah. So this woman is wearing lingerie and doing sit
ups like we all will do in the future, and
Arnold Swarzenegger essentially like kidnaps her and uses her id

(15:29):
to say he's going to travel to Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Right.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Meanwhile, at ICSS, they want Ben Richards. They want Arnold
Swartzenegger's character to appear on The Running Man.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, look at that gorgeous man.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I could get up in the ratings four points just
for his biceps. Which Meanwhile, they're the number one show
in the whole entire world, right, and.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
It's the opium of the masses. Is this this deadly
American ninja slash survivor show?

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Right, But he's upset that they're not gaining more ratings,
and it's like, how many more ratings are you going
to gain? You're already the number one, right, what he's
not like you have a competition.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Right, But he sends his stagnation and so they so
they need something more. One of my favorite lines is
give me the Justice Department Entertainment Division. Yeah and yeah,
so they they need a big wow, they need something.
You know. It's just these these these normal dudes getting

(16:45):
mowed down by these violent iron chefs. Yeah. And the
thing I'm surprised is like there's not enough. Like so
when Arnold to skip ahead eventually kills one of the
days dudes, there's some dialogue like everyone has appalled. It's understandable.

(17:05):
I mean that he was probably some of their favorites.
Who is the first guy killed?

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Sub zero?

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Sub zero? Right? But there was some dialogue saying that,
well a stoker had to be killed one of these days, right,
you know it's a contact sport. But so I have trial,
So how do people win without killing one of these stokers?
And how how does one how have one of these

(17:32):
stalkers never been killed before? You know? Do they just
defeat them? Did they tie them up with ropes? Is
there like we're not given enough like geography of like
how the game is normally like because they were quote
unquote winners before three winners, and we see footage allegedly

(17:54):
of them enjoying their time in Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
But in reality, they're burnt to a crisp inside a
locker room, right, And we're in this somewhere in this
zone where the game takes place. So you get the
idea that it's like almost like a Hunger Games arena, right.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
But different different stages, different areas. But so, how did
these supposedly like how did the you know, so if
they didn't actually escape, but you know, the audience saw
footage of them escape, Like how do they are they
sneaking past these guys? Are they outwitting them? Are they?
You know?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Is there an end? There's like a goal line you
have to cross if you survive for the three hours,
then you win.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Right, We're not given We're not given just an We
need just a morsel of like what is like the end?

Speaker 2 (18:51):
You know?

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Is it like an arena like where we eventually see
Jesse Ventura in, you know? But it's like, yeah, so
I wish there was a little more information on how
you actually win the game. Maybe there is, and we
just were looking at something else.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
But it's in the book. It's in the Stephen King book,
it's in the novella, we just haven't read it. Yeah,
because there are details that don't quite add up, because
they do say at some point that the arena is
like an earthquake zone. But they also have like a
whole hockey setup that they have for sub Zero where

(19:32):
it's like they chase him in there into the hockey
arena first. So that must mean it's closest to the door.
So then why isn't sub Zero always the first gladiator
because he gets chosen by a cute little old lady. Right,
So if they had chosen buzz Off first, they would

(19:54):
have just ended up in this hockey arena with a
chainsaw guy and it wouldn't have made sense.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'm guessing there's not a ton that is that similar
to the original source material.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Right, Well, because I was wondering too, like, so what
do they do, Like if sub Zero had killed Ben Richards,
like right at the very beginning, and there's still two
and a half hours of showtime left, what do they
do with all that time? Yeah, it's got to be
pretty boring if the guy always gets killed in the

(20:29):
first half hour. Maybe that's what Killian's upset about.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Mm hmmmm.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
So they definitely like before they put him into the
arena jack and full of trackers, yes, because the woman
gets inbusted by punching him in the junk and being like,
I don't know you, that's my.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Purse, which is understandable.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yeah, it's totally understandable. But then she immediately like recognizes
that they're making up eyes about him because they're like,
he killed all these people while he was escaping from
and she's like, that didn't happen, and she's immediately persuaded
to go do evil by going to do good. Yeah,

(21:13):
breaks into the.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah. So when when she sees the footage of ben
of Arnold having been captured, they've added in that he
also massacred people, and she was like, that didn't happen,
and so it becomes the splinter in her mind, and

(21:38):
so she goes to show. She goes to investigate what
really happened with the whole like Butcher of Bakersfield event,
and finds the original footage and so she's behind the scenes,
you know. Amber starts to get curious about the police

(21:59):
state and what is being told to her.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
She steals the original footage of the Bakersfield massacre. And
even though they send her into the Running Man game,
they let her keep it.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Mm hmmmmm, yeah, how did she? So she ends up
giving it to the Resistance, but that's inside the Running
Man games.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Right, And so she didn't take it away from her
when they changed her into her jumpsuit and everything.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
So she did she hide it in her hair?

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Apparently?

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Did she swallow it?

Speaker 2 (22:37):
She put it in her prison wallet. Okay, so, but
before we even get into the game, we meet the
Gladiators as they're showing up for the game. But do
we get the sense that this this happened, this show
happens every night.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
That's a good question. That's a lot of shows.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
A lot of dancers dancing, and a lot of like
fans showing up to greet bus.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Can we give it up for the Running Man dancers?

Speaker 2 (23:11):
They just they do so much dancing.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
There is a lot of uh not latex but what
spandex outfits in this movie, and it is not super
flattering to most of the people in this but I
still appreciate it. But yeah, so the dancers, which I
love for many reasons, but specifically for when they're doing

(23:38):
like a a funeral segment for one of the the
stalkers that's been killed, and you've got the.

Speaker 5 (23:45):
Dancers in funeral attire spinning around the the the the
the people in I guess their their funeral dance.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, that's their porning the morning, the dance.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
Of Morning, which which I salute.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I solute too. But the movie also shows us like
the entirety of these dances, Like we get to see
a lot of footage of the dances. It's not just
like dance dance dance, next thing, it's like dance dance dance.
Seven minutes of a dance, seven minutes of a whole dance.
We did all this choreography, and you have to watch it.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, they got to pat out these episodes. I mean,
they can't just show the people running everywhere. You know,
that's a lot of running.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
So after he kills sub zero sub zero now plane zero?
What sub zero is less than zero?

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, so when he kills sub zero, so I feel
like there's a tear list of one liners. And when
did I guess Arnie's one liners came pretty early? Like
Commando Yeah, uh, I.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Just say I'll be back in this.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
Movie, yes, which I apparently. Apparently he's done like eleven
times in different movies, so dumb. Yeah, but yeah, I
think sub zero more like plane zero. That's an upgrade.

(25:30):
He's just upgraded him because in math, less than zero
is less than zero.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
So so so let's do a rewrite. What so, what's
what's a better sub zero pun?

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Sub zero more like snub zero?

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Mm hmm, let's see sub zero, dang it.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
More like subhero because he's not the hero. He's less
than a hero because he didn't win.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Maybe they did pick the best one.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
I won't. Maybe they did. They were chopped at ye.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Yeah, because I'm struggling. Now it's immortalized in a podcast. Yeah,
so yeah, I would say of all his different movies,
these puns, they're both extremely enjoyable by how wincy they are.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, when he and the he's escaping from the prison,
he throws someone over the balcony and goes need a lift.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
So bad? So did these puns start with James Bond?

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I don't know. I just thought there's something I always
associate with the action movies.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Because the first time I really remember these are from
the first couple of James Bond movies.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
From the sixties and I have never seen those movies.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
That's a different podcast, I guess. Okay, yeah, sorry, but yeah,
like the Sean Connery obviously, Sean Connery started it.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
As James Bond obviously.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
But then it really kind of gets into high gear
once we're into Roger More territory, and then it becomes
like grown Yeah, yeah, it becomes Grown City. But then
so I imagine at this point it becomes a staple.
But yeah, anyways, that's my take.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
So after sub Zero dies, they have to send two
stalkers in at the same time, so this on Buzzsaw
and Dynamo. Buzsaw just has chainsaws, which is not a buzzsaw,
and Dynamo sings and electrocutes people.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yes, so he full on gets to electrocute people with
this advanced technology. And there's even like stun settings as well.
But yeah, Dynamo is both cool and gross at the
same time, especially when we see him at the end.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
So they they Meanwhile, the two accomplices that have been
sent in with Ben Richards and the girl find the
Uplink satellites right because they're inside the game, Yes, the.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
The why wouldn't they be? And she she she has
the the video because why wouldn't she have, And they're
able to use that once the and the resistance is
already there.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Right, they're inside the Running Man game. Yeah, that's where
their headquarters are.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
There's cameras everywhere. That's going to be rough on them. Yeah,
they've got to get in and out. There must be
like some sewer entrance or something like that.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Well, they could be saving people and they're not. But
buzz gets knocked out. Uh, and then eventually he gets
sliced through the crotch and Arnold Swarzenegger says, but Buzzsaw
had to split.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
That's a good one.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
So Killian appears in the game and offers him a
three year contract to become a stalker, to stop stop
running Yeah, and become a stalker for a three year contract.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Because this is an all times, this is like a huge,
huge event, like not only has apparently no Stocker been killed,
or maybe they have and they've just spun it, you know,
but it is right on there on the air, and
at this point he's basically defeated Dynamo but then killed
two other Stockers.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah, it is becoming a travesty at this point.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, because he doesn't kill Dynamo. He's like, I'm not
going to kill an unarmed man. Yeah, I let you go.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
I stand for something.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Also behind Killian in that scene is a sign for
one of their other popular shows, The Hate Boat.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
That's pretty good. Climbing for Dollars is another one.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Climbing for Dollars yep, where you just climb a rope
while dogs try and bite you from below. Mm hmmm, yep.
These are all really great pitches.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yeah, great parodies.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Mmm. So they send in fire Bolt, who has a
jet pack.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, played by the great Jim Brown.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Who's a football man, yes, and an actor.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
He catches up to them. Everybody catches up to everybody
really easily, and she finds the winners who have been
all burned up.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
Mm hmmm. Yeah. Of all the stalkers, the only ones
I felt like had any like gravitas was Jim Jim Brown.
And then yeah, as Fireball as just like a he
just is lethal, like he is all business. So he

(31:35):
was the scariest. And then Jesse Ventura is great because
he's kind of become, you know, a announcer. Yeah, he's
become a TV personality, and and they kind of make
him a little I wouldn't say feminine, but he's he's

(31:57):
put in kind of like blue and pink colors, and
he's given kind of like, you know this this his
hair is very kind of announce her friendly yoga instructor.
You know, all right, let's go get more push ups.
You know, Like he is, he's an interesting character. The

(32:18):
other people kind of denigrate him because of this.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
And he's got a fitness show that the woman was
watching in her apartment, right, get fit with Captain Freedom. Yeah,
I like to ask that character. So they're like retirement.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
He's actually playing a character, yeah, you know, and he's
interesting and he's he's kind of played like he's got
a chip on his shoulder and he needs something to prove,
and he has I feel like he has the Maybe
Amber has the biggest arc, but I think Captain Freedom

(32:57):
has the second biggest arc in this movie.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Do you think so he's got the most.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
There's not a lot of competition, not really.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, sub zero becomes playing zero.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Oh that's true. Yeah, mathematically that is a pretty huge transformation.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
It is so he doesn't want it, but he so
he and he doesn't want to, So Captain Freedom doesn't
want to use all these gimmicks when he goes into
the arena. He doesn't want to be covered in metal.
He just wants to go fight hand to hand gladiator style.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Right, one man versus another man.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
And so what they do is they put together a
fake arena.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, they need a weigh out at this At some point,
the game can't continue and they need a way out
of this. You know, they need to take over the
messaging and the threat's not over, but they need to
wrap up the show and for the audience to be
given a story.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
So they deep fake the murder of two stunt doubles.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
One snunt double, just the one two.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
There's a woman too.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Oh that's right. Oh yeah, that was rough.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
And Captain Freedom doesn't seem to have a problem killing
these two innocent people, so they kill them and make
it look like it's Ben Richards and Amber m hm. Meanwhile,
they get found by the rebels who are just chilling
inside the game.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yes, so they've got their headquarters and they they are
very suspicious of Arnold and Amber, but they've proved their worth.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yep, because she's got the original footage of the Bakersfield
massacre and they're just gonna er it, so they break
into the airwaves.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
But they did a pretty good job of editing together
what they end up transmitting. So they've on on the
rebels side, they've got to have someone like an editor
who's great at fast turnarounds.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, he's their most valuable rebel.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, they're freelance editor.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah. The av guys are the most valuable to the resistance.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
So there you go. There's a future for you in
the post apocalypse, Nathan, all right, Yeah, you're gonna survive.
I'll be writing better puns and you'll be editing video.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Well. You always wonder when you watch these things of
like post apocalyptic or pre post apocalyptic scenarios, like what
what would be my valuable skill set? And I and
I had never come up with a good because you know,
I'm a filmmaker. I don't really I'm not really good

(35:56):
at anything else. But now that I realize as editing
as a path for me, that might be what I
kind of put forward.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
But yeah, it's got to be one of these dystopian worlds.
It can't be the apocalypse because at that point, who cares.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
There's no technology that has to be a police state
where there.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah, so it's got to be kind of a quasi
John Carpenter police state sci fi you know state. Okay,
good to know.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Well, at least you know what to hope for. Yeah,
and keep keep your editing skills kills skills sharp. Yes,
you end up in the Resistance, Okay.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Great. So it does seem like we're being very critical
of this movie and really kind of being negative on it.
But there's a lot of enjoyment also. I feel like
all these negatives are actually like enjoyment points.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
No, I agree, it's a fun watch. It's a silly movie.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, it doesn't hold up under any kind of scrutiny logically,
like this would be the worst script in the world
to read.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
I agree. It's probably pretty short, yeah, because it wraps
up super quickly. After this, they break into the studio,
They send Killian down the chute. They sort of get
him to admit that he's a bad guy. He send
him down the chute and he crashes into the wall
and explodes, and by now the crowd is on their side.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah. The crowd is really fickle. That's one of the
negatives of some of these movies. To where the crowd
has the power, is that the crowd can just turn
on a dime, And I don't feel like that's accurate.
You know. It's like I can totally understand, like at
this point, they love the show and they of their

(38:02):
Iron Chefs and they're devastated when they die, just like
in the actual show Iron Chef. But I feel like
it doesn't matter like what someone else like. I feel
like their loyalties are not easily given up on, you know,

(38:24):
like they're sold the narrative of this show and so
even I mean, I can understand them maybe losing faith
in you know, like when they see the footage of
Arnold having not been the massacre and then starting to doubt,
But I just can't imagine that they would flip on

(38:47):
their show so quickly or easily.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Well, there's that one scene with the old woman where
they're like, who do you think is going to make
the next kill? And she has to predict it and
she predicts Ben Richards and they're like, no, you have
to pick a stock and she's like, no, I don't.
I can pick anyone I want, And I pick Ben
Richards because he's a mean motherfucker.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and I buy that. But it's like anytime you
have one of these movies to where like the whole
audience is completely reversed by one speech, you know, and
then they turned to applause like that, that's just burns
my eyes.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah. Well, like in The Hunger Games, you at least
get the sense that nobody likes the Hunger Games, right,
that most people already didn't like The Hunger Games and
thought it was a bunch of bologney. Yeah, thank god
for the blooney So on a scale of one zero

(39:45):
to ten zeros going above, No, that's dumb. On a
scale of one Uplink satellite to ten blink satellites, or.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Maybe these are how many dancers of shame?

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yes, on a scale of one dancer to ten dancers? Right,
how many Running Man dancers do you give? Nineteen eighty
seven's the Running Man.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
It's tough because I I definitely like more dancers is better.
Too many dancers, it's just too.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Much, I agree.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
So, yeah, this is a tough one. It is a
tough one because objectively it's it's not a great movie,
but in reality it does give a lot of joy.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
It does. It's a fun watch it's an easy watch.
It goes down smooth right.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
If you're Yeah, if you're into Spandex, this is your.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Movie, you know it, just like American Gladiators is your show.
This is your movie.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
I am going to probably give it a seven, which
is more than I more than should be advised. I think.
I think the first time you watch it, you're not
going to give it a seven. This is one of
those movies that it's only on your second or third

(41:26):
viewing that you can really enjoy the camp. Yeah, so
I would say the first time you see it, ah,
five point five, the second time like a six point five,
and then the you know, it's kind of like how
you like, really enjoy like a weird flavored potato chip.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Weird flavored potato chip.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
You know, it's like you know, Pecante lime or you know,
or like fusion blast shrimp or something like that. It's
like I kind of crave.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
It, you know, So you'd have to get addicted first.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
So I don't feel like you're gonna you're gonna reach
a seven until maybe the second or third time.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
But that's I give it a six point five. Because
it didn't pass the rocket test. I tried to get
Rocket to watch it with me, and he bailed by halfway.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Through, right because it was his first time.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, so he was not yet addicted to the pecante
lime potato chip. No, he was like, Mom, this movie
is stupid. I'm gonna go play games in my room.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Mm hmmmm hmm.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
So this is and this is the first movie in
a in a little while on our run that didn't
pass the rocket test.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
That happened, and I think the Running Man is not
a huge surprise. I feel like, yeah, I feel like Also,
it's one of those kind of movies that you can
appreciate more as you're older.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah. I thought he would like all the campy, you know,
hilarious cartoon violence, but yeah, after the goofiness and the
you know, swords. He loves swords and like the guy
with the saw and the guy with the electrician electricution hat.

(43:26):
But nope, Pew is not sucked in by any of that.
So what is your deep cut recommendation and is it
iron Chef?

Speaker 3 (43:35):
No, So I'm going to this is not a huge
deep cut, But this is if for those who have
not seen Running Man, and you enjoy Running Man, then
I'm assuming that you probably haven't seen Death Race two thousand.
I haven't so Death Race two thousand, so is nineteen

(43:57):
seventy five is kind of in the same wheelhouse, but
it's driving instead, So it's it's it's the show that
everyone watches. It's so this is David Carradine. So this
is a Roger Corman movie, even like Sylvester Stallone is

(44:19):
in Death Rays two thousand, Baby Sylvester Stallone plays like
a really broad Italian stereotype. Fair warning, there is nudity
in this Death Race two thousand, So it's maybe not
a rocket movie yet. Okay, Okay, I wouldn't say it's

(44:43):
like I mean, it's so like, you know, like Roger Corman,
he does like these really broad exploitation movies, you know,
And so some nudity and bloodshed is required.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Right, you know, you got to get some bucks in there.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
Yeah, so this is in that category. So there's gonna
be some boobs, there's gonna be some buns, and and
that's about it, and and some probably a lot of
double entendres. But yeah, Death Rays two thousand and this
make a good double feature because they're they're both pretty loony.

(45:27):
They both deal with the rebels defying the police state,
which is kind of giving them a show for again,
that's being like the opium of the masses. They're very
much related. So okay, yeah, and and then the and
then it's also great to watch like these insane cars

(45:47):
that they had to create with a very low budget,
and so that's fun.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I love it. That's a great So that goes hand
in hand with my deput recommending, which I recently there's
not that many good movies coming out right now. I
don't know if that's because of the strike or if
it's too Yeah, well.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
They have pushed some stuff off, but I don't I
feel like we haven't quite felt the effect of that yet.
Like there was some stuff for the winter season November
December that I think is getting pushed off. But yeah,
it does get kind of we're in this weird period

(46:34):
where the summer movies, the summer's summer has finished, and
and there's gonna be some Halloween movies, but then in
November they're doing a lot of the Oscar movies.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Okay, so I think this movie would probably fall into
the category of like a late summer movie. But The
Expendables or was about to come out expend four Bulls,
and I was like, I want to go see the
expend four Bulls because there's nothing really else out, so

(47:10):
I want to go see it, but I need to
see the other ones first so that I don't miss
out on any important one through three plot points, no doubt.
So I watched the Expendables one, two, and three, and
I went to see the expend four Bolls.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
So that's my deep cut recommendation.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Is to do is to watch four.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Movies is to watch four movies. They're not good, but
they're pretty funny, m hm. And they just double down
on all the tropes and uh and silliness of all
the original of like you know, the action movie world right,
It's just like playing to the genre. And I thought

(47:59):
it was pretty enjoyable.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
You know what I think for our bonus content, we
should you should? You should we should talk more about
the Expendables, about the four movies. Because I started, I
tapped out at some point, probably at at two. So
I want you to explain to me the the enjoyable
merits of the remaining Expendable movies.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Okay, can do well. Thank you for listening, Thank you
for sticking around here to the end for us. If
you want to learn more about where Nathan and Chrissy
can be found in the real world, go to true
story dot fm and go to our most excellent Eighties
Movies podcast page. You'll find links there to all of

(48:44):
our various projects and things to do. You can find
us on our social media and all of that. Nathan,
where is where are people going to find the best
place to support you and your filmmaking endeavors.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
Yeah, so I would say Squishy Studios dot com, which
has our short films but also has links to our
feature film The Last Movie Ever Made. Right now, the
Last Movie Ever Made or Last Movie Ever Made dot
com just forwards to Squishy Studios. Eventually we'll have a
page that's just dedicated to it once the movie has

(49:19):
been released wide for like you know, renting and downloading
and things like that. But yeah, Squishy Studios is the
best source.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Excellent, and you can find me at the Neighborhood Comedy
Theater in downtown mes Arizona. At Nctphoenix dot com. You
can also find my other podcasts on true Story Fm.
You can find Gank that Drink, a supernatural drinking game podcast,
as well as The Cool Time Dice Hour, a real time,
actual play RPG comedy podcast. So thank you so much

(49:55):
for listening, and while you're out there in the world,
please keep the most excellent eighties movies motto in mind.
Be excellent to each other and dudes,

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The Running Man (1987) • REBROADCAST

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Running Man (1987) • REBROADCAST