A Look Back at the 1987 Cult Classic “The Running Man”
- Matt Palmer
- Nov 17, 2025
- 6 min read
“The Running Man” is the latest Stephen King story that is getting a film adaptation being released this year. In fact, if anyone who loves movies remember, a loose adaptation of this story was on the big screen in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger. This also marks the second Schwarzenegger movie released in 1987 that I recently checked out - the other, of course, being “Predator.”
So, since I will be checking out the new adaptation of “The Running Man” coming up, I wanted to check out the 1987 movie, which can currently be found on Paramount Plus.
In the 1987 adaptation, in the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite TV program is “The Running Man” - a game in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death.
Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards has the opportunity to make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host, Damon Killian, has no intention of letting him escape.
The 1987 movie “The Running Man” wasn’t one of Schwarzenegger's biggest hits. During its initial theatrical run, it was a solid performer that grossed about $38 million domestically against a $27 million budget. Over the years, however, this 1987 movie became a cult classic that’s now appreciated by fans for its action and satirical themes.
“The Running Man” (1987) delivers a lot of entertaining and over the top action and a sharp satirical edge that kind of eerily predicted the rise of reality shows. There’s also a moment in the movie where it also eerily has an early look at deep fake technology in a way. A lot of the action-packed moments that this cult classic delivers are really entertaining and are pretty much pure adrenaline-pumping dumb fun.
Most of the action style is on the campy side, but in a movie like this, it works. Throughout the movie, we see Ben Richards fight a bunch of professional “Stalkers” in the game show arena and it almost reminds me of gladiator-style action. There’s also a really chaotic gunfight in the TV studio that really stands out and is probably the best segment of this movie.
Not only does 1987's “The Running Man” feature a lot of fun, campy action, there’s also a decent amount of humor, primarily for its dark satire and Schwarzenegger’s campy
one-liners. In the movie, every time Arnold (Ben Richards) dispatches his foes, a deadpan joke usually follows right after.
“The Running Man” is simply just cheesy, fun, 80s entertainment that has gained a cult following over the years for its over-the- top action and its surprisingly relevant themes of media manipulation and reality TV.
Trivia: When executive producer Rob Cohen (director of 2001's The Fast and the Furious) purchased the rights to the Richard Bachman novel “The Running Man,” he wondered why these rights were so expensive, given that Bachman wasn’t a very well known or prolific writer, until he was told that Bachman was actually a pseudonym for Stephen King. King had used the name for his books that were outside of his usual horror genre, and also because publishers usually limited releases to one book per writer per year.
Dolph Lundgren and Christopher Reeves expressed interest in starring in the movie, and Patrick Swayze had also been considered for the Ben Richards role.
MPA: Rated R (runtime 101 minutes) (currently can be streamed on Paramount Plus)
When Rob Cohen purchased the rights to the Richard Bachman novel "The Running Man," he wondered why these rights were so expensive, given that Bachman was not a very well known or prolific writer, until he was told that Bachman was actually a pseudonym for Stephen King. King had used the name for his books that were outside of his usual horror genre, and also because publishers usually limited releases to one book per writer per year.
Originally scheduled for a July 1987 release, it was moved back four months by Tri-Star to avoid competition with Arnold Schwarzenegger's other summer film, Predator (1987), which was released in June.
The footage of the attacking helicopters is from King Kong (1976).
When Killian is sending Fireball into the game, he says, "There he goes, the leading rusher." Fireball was played by Jim Brown, the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards until the mid-'80s.
Although Arnold Schwarzenegger hates Richard Dawson onscreen, in real life they were lifelong friends.
The movie is only loosely based on the book. The book does feature a protagonist named Ben Richards, a totalitarian dystopia, "The Running Man" being the most popular show, and people hunting Ben.
The book takes place in 2025. Ben is described as "scrawny" and "pre-tubercular." His daughter Cathy is gravely ill, his wife Sheila has had to resort to prostitution, and Ben is blacklisted from his trade. He voluntarily goes on a game show to earn money. There are numerous dangerous and deadly game shows, like one where people with heart conditions run on a treadmill for money. He is chosen for The Running Man due to his high test scores. The executive producer is Dan Killian, and the host is named Bobby Thompson.
In The Running Man, the contestant is declared an enemy of the state and released with a brief head start before Hunters begin chasing. The contestant earns $100 per hour that they stay alive and avoid capture, an additional $100 for each law enforcement officer or Hunter they kill, and a grand prize of $1 billion if they survive for 30 days. Viewers can receive cash rewards by informing the network of the contestant's whereabouts. They can go anywhere in the world, but are given a camera and required to videotape two messages a day to mail back to the studio. If they fail to mail a video, they will breach the contract, forfeit the money, and be hunted indefinitely. No one has ever claimed the grand prize, and Ben is simply hoping to live long enough to help his family. Ben tries to use his videos to inform the public about the conditions of the underclass, but the network dubs this over with obscenities and threats.
Ben makes his way to Derry, Maine (location of many Stephen King novels, most notably IT (1990)) and kidnaps a woman named Amelia Williams. He bluffs his way onto an airplane meeting lead hunter Evan McCone. He learns that he has not only broken The Running Man's record by eight days but that his exploits have inspired the lower class to rise up to fight against their oppressors. Killian calls and offers Ben the position of lead Hunter, but tells him that an intruder killed his wife and child before he even started the show. Ben accepts the offer then kills McCone and the flight crew, but is mortally wounded. He lets Amelia parachute to safety then flies the plane into the Games Network's tower killing himself and Killian.
Stephen King insisted that he not be credited for the novel under his real name, but as 'Richard Bachman', the same pen name the book was published under. By the time that a new adaptation of his book was made (The Running Man (2025)), King was credited under his real name, as the knowledge behind his pseudonym was well known by then.
This film correctly predicted several future developments, such as virtual home assistants, digital video cards, and, most importantly, digital face replacement and deepfake technology (in the scene with Ben's fight in the cage). The first real-life face replacement in film occurred for about three seconds in Jurassic Park (1993), where a teen girl escapes from a dinosaur through the roof; the body double's face was replaced with the actress' face. Deepfake technology, which indeed became prominent in real life around 2017, goes one step beyond: it can digitally replace an actor's face with another throughout a scene, while maintaining all the facial original movements.
Dolph Lundgren and Christopher Reeve expressed interest in starring in the movie, and Patrick Swayze had also been considered.
Burt Reynolds was offered the role of Damon Killian, but Reynolds turned down the offer when he learned he was gonna be billed last, when he wanted to be billed second next to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Comments