Running man
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Running man |
| Original title | The Running Man |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1987 |
| length | 96 (shortened 90) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Michael Glaser |
| script | Steven E. de Souza |
| production |
Tim Zinnemann Georg Linder |
| music | Harold Faltermeyer |
| camera | Thomas Del Ruth |
| cut |
Mark Warner Edward A. Warschilka John Wright |
| occupation | |
| |
Running Man is an American movie from 1987. He used the Roman manhunt by Stephen King as a basis, but the film plot differs greatly from that of the Romans from. The film opened in German cinemas on June 30, 1988.
action
In 2017 the global economy collapsed, goods such as oil and food are in short supply. America's former freedoms no longer exist as the country's borders have been sealed off and the country has become a police state that censors films, art, literature and communication. The government tries to suppress people's need for freedom through a series of television programs. The most popular of these programs, in which convicted criminals play for their lives, is The Running Man . The title refers to the principle of the broadcast, since the players are hunted by professional manhunters. The game is played in an area of Los Angeles that became uninhabitable after a strong earthquake in 1997. The area, also known as the "play zone", is divided into sections in which individual hunters have their specialty, making them vastly superior to normal players, enemies of the state and criminals. The action is permanently broadcast on television from cameras set up all over the play area. The "show" is moderated by the cynical presenter Damon Killian, who is also the inventor and executive producer of the show. Freedom and a life of luxury are promised as the price for the survival of all sections. The survivors are still killed in secret.
One night, state police officer and helicopter pilot Ben Richards refuses to shoot unarmed civilians who are participating in a protest in search of food. During the flight he is arrested by his comrades after a short fight, who then execute the order to shoot. Using manipulatively cut scenes of the operation, the government portrays Richards in the media as the culprit for the later massacre of these people and locks him in prison for refusing to obey , where he spends a year and a half. Richards teams up with his fellow prisoners to flee; they manage to crack the code on their safety collars, which explode when escaping from prison, and escape into the city's slums.
His prison friends try in vain to convince Richards to join the resistance like them. Rather, he tries to get in touch with his brother again in freedom. In his former apartment, however, he meets the television composer Amber Mendez instead, who tells him about his brother's arrest. When he kidnaps her and tries to flee with her to Honolulu , she alerts the security forces at the airport, which leads to Richards' capture. Richards is forced to take part in The Running Man along with two other participants - William Laughlin and Harold Weiss, with whom he escaped from prison . Kilian sends the involuntary participants into the hunting area with a rocket sled. Likewise, Amber is thrown in after discovering the machinations of television and gathering evidence of Richards' innocence. Laughlin and Weiss are killed on the hunt, but Richards kills each of his hunters, which gradually earns him the sympathy of the audience.
Killian, impressed with Richards' abilities, offers to be rehabilitated from his crimes if he works as a hunter for his show. Richards refuses, whereupon Killian has a fake "LIVE" broadcast in which Richards is killed by Captain Freedom , a veteran hunter, in order to stifle the further increased sympathy for Richards.
Richards and Amber eventually encounter an underground movement led by the charismatic Mic, which is fighting the corrupted state apparatus, and join them. Amber succeeded in smuggling the evidence of Richards' innocence into the hunting area and received the cracked satellite connection code for the broadcaster from Weiss immediately before his death. With this, the resistance group succeeds in making the truth or the lies behind Running Man public. During this broadcast, Richards and Amber storm the television center with a commando to prevent countermeasures. The attempt by security forces to kill you and the on-site spectators as part of a final countermeasure fails, although many people in the audience die and this is also broadcast nationwide. The event convinced television viewers of the truth of the allegations, and Killian Richards eventually fell into the hands of Killian Richards.
Killian justifies his actions before Richards with the argument that the satisfaction of the audience in the media world has been more important than individual people for 50 years. Richard then transports him - still everything filmed by the cameras - into the rocket sled and starts it, whereupon it rushes off uncontrollably and finally explodes. Together with Amber, Richards is celebrating the dawn of a new, freer era with viewers across the country.
background
The film is based on the book Manhunt by Stephen King , which he wrote under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. However, the only thing that the book and film have in common is the main character's name and the concept of the TV show. While Ben Richards has no family in the film and is forced to attend the show as a punishment for disobeying orders, in the book he does it voluntarily in order to be able to pay his sick daughter a doctor and medicine. In addition, in the book he is not a police officer, but an unemployed worker.
The show itself is also different:
In the film the whole thing takes place in an arena consisting of several levels, in the book, however, the whole country serves as a play zone and is otherwise not limited in terms of area. The show only lasts a few hours in the film, whereas the hunted in the book has to survive a whole month.
Furthermore, Richards dies at the end of the book when he, seriously injured, steers a hijacked airplane into the skyscraper of the television company. He also didn't manage not to be caught by the hunters for the entire season. The film, on the other hand, has a happy ending.
There are two different German dubbing versions for the film . Once the original cinema dubbing and a later re-dubbing with partly identical speakers. In Germany the film was released in both dubbed versions, cut and uncut, on VHS, DVD and other media. On February 28, 1989, the film was indexed by the Federal Testing Office for writings harmful to minors . Indexing was lifted in January 2014.
Awards
In 1988 the film won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor (Richard Dawson); There were nominations in the categories of Best Costume and Best Science Fiction Film .
Reviews
The film received mixed reviews. The film review portal Rotten Tomatoes gives 63% positive reviews for the film and it has a Metascore of 45 out of 100 on Metacritic .
"Fast-paced, but the media criticism has come to nothing."
"The colorful ripper criticizes lust for violence, but satisfies it himself. [...] Hypocritical violent satire in the eighties style."
"A cynical action film that gives away the few attempts at a critical examination of the misuse of the media through its garish staging."
“'Running Man' is nice action entertainment - no question about it. [...] Without a doubt, the scenario would have produced more. Enriching this science fiction action with more social criticism would have done the film good. However, this occurs only marginally and practically does not occur in the entire middle section. However, it is enough for an upper middle class film thanks to the action in the charm of the 80s. The outcome of the hunt is predictable as it were, as well as excellently staged. "
“The well-made, action-packed science fiction thriller offers excellent entertainment, especially since it contains many critical approaches to media abuse. […] Steven E. de Souza […] was responsible for the script, who worked on a novel by Richard Bachman alias Stephen King. Much, however, is reminiscent of the much older novel 'Das Millionenspiel' by Robert Sheckley . "
"Running Man is a film with 80s action film charm that is well worth watching."
Trivia
- Arnold Schwarzenegger and wrestler Jesse Ventura are also private friends and could also be seen together in Predator . Both would later also hold the office of US governor.
- Mick Fleetwood (Mic) is the head of the rock band Fleetwood Mac .
- Sven Ole Thorsen (Sven) is a friend of Schwarzenegger's bodybuilder days and has appeared in several of his films in minor supporting roles and as a stuntman. He also founded the bodybuilding association in Santa Monica , California with Schwarzenegger .
- Charles Kalani, Jr. (Subzero) is featured in the credits with his stage name Professor Toru Tanaka , under whom he celebrated great success in US wrestling in the 1960s and 70s.
- Erland van Lidth (Dynamo), also a wrestler, sings parts of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni and Wagner's Walkürenritt during his hunt for Ben and Amber and was actually a trained opera singer.
- The fake compilation of the Bakersfield massacre differs slightly in terms of dialogue and camera perspective in every showing in the film.
- During a telephone conversation with representatives of the totalitarian government, the television presenter Damon Kilian said that "you cannot achieve higher audience figures with repeats of Gilligan's Island ".
Film error (excerpt)
- Both during the prison break when the “death zone” was opened and later in the film: on the keypad of a security door, the computer reacts after entering the first or second number of the actually multi-digit security code and opens the door or deactivates the death zone.
- In the scene in which Richards and his colleagues arrive in town after the outbreak and a spot for The Running Man is shown on a large screen , scenes are shown that come later. The reason for this is said to have been that director Paul Michael Glaser did not want to shoot new material again, and simply used what was already available.
- As Subzero wraps the barbed wire around his neck, it can be clearly seen that the blood from a device spurts out of his gloves instead of his neck.
- Buzzsaw's chainsaw supposedly cuts through all materials, which he demonstrated on a metal post when he was introduced. Later in the fight against Richards, however, he can fend off a blow with the saw with a much thinner metal rod without it being destroyed.
- Immediately before Richard puts Killian in the rocket seat, the handcuffs and ankle cuffs are still closed. However, when Killian lands in the seat, they suddenly open and then close around his joints.
See also
- “ Das Millionenspiel ” - German-language film adaptation on the same topic based on Wolfgang Menge (screenplay) and Robert Sheckley .
- The Hunger Games
- The death row inmates
literature
- Stephen King: Manhunt , Ullstein Tb, ISBN 3-548-26330-5
Web links
- Running Man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Running Man at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Running Man at Metacritic (English)
- Running Man in the online movie database
- Running Man in the German dubbing file
- Comparison of the cut versions FSK 16 VOX - Uncut , FSK 16 Pro 7 - Uncut , 4th Laser Paradise Edition - Pro 7 , FSK 16 VHS - Uncut by The Running Man at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Running Man . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 60012 / V).
- ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on January 31, 2014
- ↑ Running Man at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- ↑ Running Man at Metacritic (English)
- ↑ Running Man on tvspielfilm.de
- ↑ Running Man on cinema.de
- ↑ Running Man. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Running Man on filmstarts.de
- ↑ Running Man on prisma.de
- ↑ Running Man on kinofilmer.de
- ↑ Pauser vice GmbH: Running Man, The (1987) - Film errors. In: DieSeher.de. Retrieved June 1, 2016 .