The 1987 version of ‘The Running Man’ really is…different
I grew up with a brother who loves Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. So much so that he owns most (if not all) on physical media as proven by his copy of The Running Man.
When news broke that Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall were going to take on The Running Man, I instantly picked up the book. Originally written under Stephen King’s pen name Richard Bachman, the book was released in 1982 and was set in the fictional future of 2025. The 1987 movie took the idea of King’s book and did whatever it wanted with it.
Now to be clear, I had seen the Schwarzenegger movie as a young child. My brother would always watch his movies so I had a vague idea of what Schwarzenegger did with Ben Richards. Having watched the Paul Michael Glaser version more recently, I have a lot to say on the adaptation front. Glaser, known for his role as Starsky in the television series Starsky and Hutch, directed the film, written by Steven E. de Souza.
But as I was watching the 1987 film, I came to realize that no one who worked on this movie read King’s novel. At least that’s what it felt like. Child me, who was unaware of the themes present in King’s novel, thought this was a good movie. And, for what it is, it is a fun flick. But it is nothing like the book and I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. It is what it is but it has me beyond excited for Wright’s adaptation which did, decidedly, feel more like King’s work from the trailer I saw at CinemaCon.
So let’s talk about the plot of the 1987 take on The Running Man and why I’m glad we’re remaking it.
Ben Richards deserved better than the 1987 movie
Schwarzenegger’s Ben is in prison and he ends up being brought in to the games. He’s forced to run around a stadium, hiding from a series of hunters who all have bits they do while trying to kill these “criminals.” If you survive, you get your freedom. It is an overly simplified take on King’s The Running Man and is decidedly very different.
In the book, Ben Richards (who will be played by Glen Powell in Wright’s version) is a man who is desperate to save his daughter, Cathy. Ben and his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson) are struggling to make ends meet and when Cathy ends up sick and in need of medicine, Ben decides to turn to the Network, a series of game shows that fans can watch on the FreeVee that include participants dying for money. One of those games is The Running Man.
The game is simple: You have to stay alive for a certain amount of time and if you do, you win a lot of money. There are other games on the Network but The Running Man is the most dangerous and the biggest payday and that’s what Richards takes. In the Schwarzenegger version, none of that is explained and if anything, his character is just a means of Schwarzenegger saying some catch phrases. But there are some major misses that the 1987 film has that would have been it better. Things I hope the Wright version includes.
We have a chance to have a good adaptation of The Running Man
I want to state some things before we move on: I don’t dislike the 1987 version of The Running Man. I used to love it. But having read the book now, I want to see a version of it that hits on some of the themes present in King’s novel and brings a more layered Ben Richards to life. He’s more than just brute strength and the will to survive.
Part of what makes Ben, who is a jerk for most of the book, such an intriguing character is his love for his family. There is one chapter that really flips Ben’s character on its head for me. He describes his love for Sheila and how he felt when he first saw Cathy and it makes his anger and his determination to survive as long as he can make that much more sense.
None of that is in the Schwarzenegger version. Ben doesn’t have a family, he’s fighting to get free, and that’s it. It makes a lot of the film hollow to me and even with Richard Dawson playing the host of the game, it isn’t enough to balance what could have been with what the movie is.
I truly did not expect to be that mad at how different the ’87 film was from the book but knowing what could have been, it did make me mad that this is what people thought The Running Man was for years. I have trust in what Wright and Bacall are going to bring us and as long as my messy guy, Ben Richards, is as angry and complicated as he is in the book, I’m sold.
(featured image: TriStar Pictures)
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