The Running Man (1987) First Time Watching! Movie Reaction!! 

The Butcher of Bakersfield vs The Butcher of Blaviken!? Who you got!? Thanks for all the support everyone!!

"We should have gone on the trip to Hawaii!" "I had the shirt but you fucked it up!" Yo whoever wrote this script should get an Oscar.

The guy that played the main revolutionary was Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) and his chief subordinate was Dweezel Zappa (Frank's son)

Based on a short story by Stephen King, and the host is Richard Dawson, who hosted the family feud for a long time. Great movie, probably one of my top 5 Arnold movies.

R.I.P. Jim Brown, the guy who played Fireball in this movie. He passed away in May this year at age 87. His NFL career as a running back for the Cleveland Browns lasted 9 years... pretty impressive, since the average NFL career is about 3 years.

Richard Dawson was the original host of Family Feud and was playing a “version” of himself. This movie/book helped bring about reality TV

If you loved the one liners in this, just wait until you see Commando.

11:50 RIP Yaphet Kotto.

Steroid guard was the guy in Conan that gets the spike trap to the chest during the last fight. The big bad guy with the hammer. He was a bodybuilder friend of Arnold's named Sven-Ole Thorsen who has been in a ton of movies as small roles. Including the Hunt for Red October as a crewman on the Russian sub.

This was the role of a lifetime for Richard Dawson. He loved it.

This movie inspired the show "American Gladiators" which is essentially a non-lethal version of the Running Man show

I'm a little older, and grew up watching a lot of the movies you watch on this channel. It's awesome to be able to re-live them for the first time, in a way, by watching you guys see these movies with fresh eyes. Love the channel guys, keep it up.

The actor that played Dynamo, Erland van Lidth, was also an opera singer. That is his singing. Unfortunately he died a few months after he finished filming. Another great, funny film he was in is "Stir Crazy", with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.

I cant wait until we get to see you react to the glorious cheesefest that is Commando. That will be a treat Im sure. 😆

"Hey Killian, here's SubZero, now plain Zero!" "Over here, Christmas tree!" "You guys don't shut up, I'll uplink your ass, then you'll be underground." "Hey Cutie pie, one of us is in big trouble." "Well, that hit the spot." "Hey, Killian. I'll be back." "What a hothead." "Where's Buzzsaw?" "He had to split."

6:15 😁 María Alonso tied up like that was a childhood fantasy of mine. 😏

Fireball is played by NFL legend Jim Brown.

This movie was popular. Strangely enough, it depicted many of the reality TV tropes that are common today.

Another fun fact. The guy who takes off the collars in the beginning (Mic), was played by Mick Fleetwood from the band Fleetwood Mac and his young sidekick (Stevie), was played by Dweezil Zappa, son of singer Frank Zappa.

Killians body guard is played by Sven-Ole Thorsen. There is only one guy that has done more Arnold movies than him, and that is Arnold. Whenever you watch an Arnold movie, try to do a find Waldo (Thorsen). This was one of the easier to spot.

Featuring the late, great Yaphet Kotto. Fun Fact: At one point, Kotto was on the short list for the role of Captain Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

That great host is Richard Dawson. He was the original host of the Family Feud. He hosted for about 10 years. Before that he was a panelist on the Match Game. Before that he was a regular on a sketch comedy series called Laugh-In. Before that he starred in a drama series called Hogan's Heroes. He was actually very talented and very well loved. Famous (or infamous) for basically kissing hello most of the female contestants on his show. He would ask women to tell him backstage in advance if they didn't want to be kissed. Anyway, he's just basically being the evil version of his game-show host self in this.

I loved this movie when I was a kid but I wish that instead of Paul Michael Glaser they had gotten Paul Verhoeven (Robo Cop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers) to direct it and add in the more of the dark social comedy that they had in those movies

Fun fact: this was actually made not only after The Terminator and Commando, but the same exact year as Predator! That's right, Arnold was such a hot commodity by 1987, he was making more than one film a year! Vince McMahon was trying like hell to get him at Wrestlemania back then because he was basically the biggest action star in Hollywood at the time. They finally got him to appear at a Smackdown taping in '99, where he was crowned "World Heavyweight Box Office Champion." He was actually awarded a custom belt and beat up Triple H outside the right during the main event...and of course the crowd went wild!!! Nice vid. Thanks. :)

The Running Man is based on a novel by Stephen King under the pseudonym "Richard Bachman."

9:23 "Just some clever editing, and now he's a villain" - welcome to today's "journalism".

Arnold (who has and always was great delivering one liners and quips, great comedic timing) is so funny in this movie and while everyone remembers "I'll be back" from Terminator, this version is my favourite especially with it being followed up with "only in a rerun"

The 1990 arcade game Smash TV was inspired by this movie. The original rom talked about a ‘pleasure dome’ as a reward for winning the game, but it was unreachable, like in Running man. So many people complained, they added a bonus level.

The movie was changed dramatically from the book, but the original story was written by Stephen King under the name Richard Bachman.

I love reactions like this (mirthful grin on one face, pure horror on the other 😂)

This movie was quite popular in Spain by the end of the 80's and the first half of the 90's. I think you can easily guess the reason why this movie is not aired anymore by any tv station in America nor Europe.

Amber "I'm warning you, I get sick. Air sick, car sick. I'm gonna throw up all over you." Richards "Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt."

"Demolition Man" with Stallone and Snipes or "The Last Action Hero" with Arnold is next?

There was a TV show called American Gladiators that came out after this movie. The concept was super fit "gladiators" battling average looking people. They had tennis ball cannons, net walls, a game where you had to get a ball in a container past the gladiators, pugil sticks. There was a cash prize for the player who did the best.

"Running Man" did just fine back in the day. First R-rated movie I saw in a cinema, if I remember correctly. Seems to me Arnold's stock went up a fair bit with this movie. It made money and the satirical elements made him more than a stack of muscles that hit people. Not that Arnold produced it or anything, but that he chose to be involved in such a movie and embraced it with such obvious relish reflected well on him. It's worth looking up the guys who played the stalkers. Jim Brown (Fireball) was a superstar football player who did some acting and was something of an icon in his day, Jesse Ventura and the fellow who played Subzero were wrestlers, the guy who played Dynamo died of heart failure not long after he finished making this movie. Buzzsaw is the one I know the least about - seems to have been an uncommonly large weightlifter. Very well-cast bunch of dudes. :)

Killian is played by Richard Dawson, he used to host Family Feud. That's why he's a good host.

I saw this movie as a little kid, then red the book as a teenager and was baffled at how the filmmakers got from point A to point B on this one.

THANK YOU FOR REACTING TO A CHILDHOOD FAVORITE OF MINE! Here's some trivia bits related to this one: 1) Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky, lol) directed it, 2) Christopher Reeve was initially chosen for the lead Ben Richards role before it finally went to Arnold, 3) Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac drummer), Dweezil Zappa (Frank's son), and NFL legend Jim Brown (Fireball) also guest star in it, and 4) film was based off a short story by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name and the game was actually played across the entire US instead of Los Angeles (O_O)! Man oh man, I put this one in the same category as Demolition Man in that some of the themes within ended up becoming prophetic today... >;-D

So, on behalf of all your viewers/patrons/fans, I’m gonna suggest that you two dress like Arnold & Maria Conchita Alonso from the airport arrest sequence for Halloween (complete with huge hair & shoulder pads plus a red ‘capture’ net ) only super cool people would appreciate it.

At the time, there were two Arnold movies coming out per year, with the previous one being Predator, so it's not surprising it kinda got lost in the shuffle. The movie did okay at the time, and has survived fairly well, though its uncanny prescience has only become apparent more recently.

In the far distant future of 2019... I watched this again last year and with a pandemic, a wrecked economy, a reality TV host as president, and deep fakes it started to feel a little too real. Love the movie. Love the reaction! Bring on Commando!

The huge main guard at the end also was in Gladiator. He played the retired gladiator that fought Maximus. But was defeated but Maximus didn't kill him. He just damaged his foot badly. He was also one of the brothers barbarians in Conan the Barbarian. He was Arnold stunt man in some of his movies too. He's passed away too.

between this, robocop and escape from newyork, ...idk which dystopia we're headed for first...we're already living in 1984

Fun fact: the guy that says “don’t touch that dial” in the studio was Dweezil Zappa, a reference to Frank Zappa’s “I am the Slime”

There is nothing like 80s action films. The Running Man is just one film in a bunch of fun Arnold films throughout the decade.

I think the reason this doesn't get talked about as much is because this was right in the middle of when Arnie had been putting out two movies a years. Commando came out the year before, Predator came out the same year, and this was followed by Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop and T2... I think it just got lost in all the other outstanding Arnie movies. And not always because people loved them, sometimes it got overshadowed cos the movies were so different, like Twins and KC. But I always loved this movie! And one of the better B-Grade Stephen Kings movies too.

King(of course writing as Bachman for this, which didn't get revealed they were the same person for some time) is often pretty on point with his commentary. If you get time, recommend reading the book too. The differences are quite striking.

The Running Man: 1:20 Hey -- it's not just a TV show -- there's a home board game version you can get too!

The Running Man is basically a Stephen King adaptation, although King sued to get his name removed from the credits as the movie pretty much has nothing to do with the novel it's based on. It's credited to Richard Bachman, a pseudonym for Stephen King. I remember reading somewhere that King and his friend went to see the movie, and at one point the friend leaned to King to ask what happens next. King replied with "I don't have a clue, this is nothing to do with what I wrote."

Great 80s flick! Fun trivia as well: The Running Man is based on the book with the same name written by Stephen King (under a pseudonym).

Another one you two will love, is the great but underrated action sci-fi "comedy" Demolition Man (1993), and it's with the other big 80's action hero! 🤞🏻✌🏼

Great movie. I am so glad you enjoyed it. One of my favorite Arnold movies it is so underrated. It was overshadowed by the the success of Predator that came out at the same year. Other great Arnold movies is End Of Days and Collateral Damage. Fun fact the leader of the resistance Mic is an actual Singer of the Fleetwood Mack a famous rock band. The bad guy was an actual show host. The bodyguard was in Conan was Kurgen with the big Hammer.

At this time, Richard Dawson, who played the Running Man host, was the very popular host of the game show, The Family Feud. He was well known for kissing all the women contestants, which was considered very sweet back then, but would likely be considered hella creepy today.

RIP to Yaphet Katto . He will always be missed. Much ❤ as always

Thanks for another great reaction! I suggest leaving Last Action Hero as the last Arnold movie to watch. You might also want to check out Demolition Man with Stallone and Snipes.

Last Action Hero is an underrated gem in Arnie's filmo, it's a lot of fun, and has its lot of cool one liners too! And the soundtrack is gold.

All the puns in this movie are hilarious

TBR Schmit: Is this before, or after Terminator? Samantha: I think it's after. Me: Yes it is. Three years after The Terminator.

Your You Tube audience is screaming "Commando, Commando, Commando!"

I'm not sure how this did in theaters, but it was a staple of early cable channels in the '80s/early '90s. Along with "Big trouble in Little China," "The Beastmaster," "Conan," "The Ice Prirates," "Red Sonja," "Caddyshack," "Airplane!," and just a litany of others.

Fireball is Jim Brown NFL legend!!! nothing on earth is gonna stop him!!!

The guy with the beard at 4.05 is Mick Fleetwood, drummer of Fleetwood Mac.

The running man would be a great idea for corrupt politicians, judges, cops and corporate lobbyists.

Erland van Lidth (Dynamo) was actually a trained professional opera singer who sang is own lines. Other FYI is the the music playing when Dynamo attacks is "Flight of the Valkyries" the most well known opera in the world in such movies/shows as "Apocalypse Now" and "What's Opera, Doc?" Bugs Bunny's opera (think "I killed the Wabbit" sung by Elmer Fudd).

'Who loves you?" "And who do you loooove?" "That's right, The Running Man !" : D

Fun Fact: This movie goes along with the genre called Cyberpunk. The first movie that really showed the visual aesthetics that has become to be known as Cyberpunk. For the literal aspect of that genre was William Gibson's Neuromancer. The late 80's and into the 90's had a whole collection of Cyberpunk type movies. You can also and Anime into that genre. But it's funny that a lot of these movies take place from about 2015-2021.

The only time you'll see a Stephen King story starring Arnold Swarzenegger. The original book "The Running Man" was written under King's pen name, Richard Bachman.

Steven King wrote the short story for this under a different name. The story was different as Ben volunteered for the money to pay for his daughters operation and it took place across the world and over a period of weeks/months. Eventually he hijacks a plane and his daughter died before he could win, so he flew the plane into the ICS building at Cillian. Apparently the last think he saw before the impact was Ben smiling and flipping him the bird as he did it.

The actor who played the game show host was the original host of The Family Feud. This is what really made his part in this movie so great.

The guard with the flat-top and beard is Arnold's friend, Sven-Ole Thorsen. He was in Conan the Barbarian, Predator, and many other Arnold films, he is even in Gladiator too. They both started out body building and when Arnold got into acting, he made sure Thorsen got roles in his films. It's pretty cool to see Arnold and Thorsen stay friends for so long, and have helped one another.

Fun fact: Arnold was in Predator and his Running Man co-star Maria Conchita Alonso was in Predator 2.

I love, love, love this movie since I was a kid. My cousin had this great carnival black and white cards with the characters that I would stare at every day and trying to draw them with my color pencils. Thus said I recommend you reading the book as well. It's more like a novel, really short, but so much more visceral.

I just remembered that I wound up seeing this at the theater after agreeing to go see Fatal Attraction with friends and walking out of that because it sucked. One of the best decisions I ever made as a teenager. 😂

The dance sequence that opens the show, was choreographed by Paula Abdul. Yes, THAT Paula Abdul. Also worth a mention is the end title song, "Restless Heart," by John Parr. He had more success with the theme to "St. Elmo's Fire," though. Main score, however, was mostly Harold Faltermeyer. Axel F, remember that tune? Same guy. Richard Dawson had been a regular on "Hogan's Heroes," and was pretty much a fixture on the Gene Rayburn version of "Match Game" in the 70's. This was his final film role.

The steroid Bodyguard is Sven Ole Thorsen. He was in also in Predator and Conan ( he was Throgrim, the guy with the hammer who got impaled).

Such an underrated Arnold movie, this and total recall were two of my favorites growing up.

This whole gameshow is like a future facebook.

Paul Michael Glaser directed this, who played the original Starsky in Starsky & Hutch...also, the original novel was written by Stephen King.

One of the weirdest (and most fun) Stephen King adaptations. Enjoyed your reaction!

This movie was replayed over and over again on HBO in the late 80s. Along with Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. By the way, the reason Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie, is because it was played over and over on HBO during December of '88. People of Gen X know that movie from that time and associate it with Christmas. THAT'S the reason it's considered a Christmas movie. NOT because it takes place during Christmas.

I'm so happy your reacted to this movie. When it was first released in theaters, my brother and I saw it with the stipulation that every time Arnold used a really bad pun or comment, we'd look at each other to see if we both caught it. I can't count how many times we exchanged looks and laughed during that movie. Doing THAT was more entertaining than the movie itself. If you ever read the novella this movie was based on, you'll find a very different kind of movie with a very different type of ending. Well worth the read, though.

Everything with Arnold in is pure gold!

Probably mentioned elsewhere, but there are too many comments to check - this is based on a short story written by Stephen King, using his alias Richard Bachman. It's not terribly faithful to the source material, but sufficiently so that the plot is way more satisfying and complex than it should be, considering the Cheese factor of the movie adaptation. That has a lot to do with why this works, in my opinion. By the way, the Bachman Books (a collection of 4 of the short stories written by Mr King under this alias) is WELL worth reading, for those who still know how to do so. This one and The Long Walk are particularly haunting, in my opinion.

One of the things that is not mentioned enough is that they cast a Latina actress as the female secondary character / love interest. That was not a common thing at the time for roles that were not specifically written that way.

RIP Yaphet Kotto

Fireball was played by Jim Brown, who is considered by many (myself included) to be the greatest running back in the history of the NFL.

The actor who played Dynamo was an Opera Singer as well as an actor and he sadly passed away shortly after filming "The Running Man".

Ok some nifty stuff. The choreography for the dancers was done by Paula Abdul. The old bearded fellow was none other than Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The young revolutionary with the red beret was played by Dweezil Zappa. Kilian was performed by Richard Dawson, who was host of the game show "THE FAMILY FEUD for a number of years. And, the ending song "Running Away With You(Restless Heart)" was performed by John Parr whom also performed the song "St. Elmo's Fire".

Sven, the steroid-addicted bodyguard, is one of Arnold's best friends, a fellow bodybuilder. He was the giant priest in Conan - Arnold killed his pet snake. Arnold killed him later, with the help of Valeria as a Valkyrie.

The "Don't touch that dial" guy is Dweezel Zappa, son of famed Frank Zappa, and the old guy on the controls is Mick Fleetwood.

If you like the one-liners in this, I can't wait for you two to get to Commando! Don't save it for last.

It been so long since I have seen this movie, I had forgotten that Sub Zero was played by Harold Sakata. He was mos famous for playing Oddjob henchman to the eponymous villain in 007 Goldfinger.

Please do the funny movies from arnold like *kindergarten cop* or *twins* they're hilarious. Love your reactions and the analysis of you both, you guys complete each other. Greetz from Germany

And just a few years later, we got a show called American Gladiators, or as I called it, Running Man Light.

SuperB. Commando and Red Heat. you guys gonna luvvv it .ciao 👊🏼

Fun Fact: The Running Man was directed by Paul Michael Glaser, who played David Starsky on the 1970s TV show, Starsky & Hutch.

03:12 - Chico( head exploder )was played by famous stuntman Thomas Rosales Jr. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rosales_Jr 08:00 - security guard is played by famous Danish strongman/actor Sven-Ole Thorsen. You both saw him in Conan with the huge war hammer. 😊 17:50 - Fireball is played by famous football star/actor Jim Brown!!( No relation. Sorry. ) 23:22 - "Don't touch that dial!" - actor Dweezil Zappa son of famous musician Frank Zappa. I didn't see your acknowledgment of actor Yaphet Kotto? You both saw him in Alien - 1979. He recently passed away this year on March 15th. 😢 Anyways, great reactions and glad you liked it! I'm surprised you never heard of the movie?!?! I feel so old, LOL! If you two like similar "human-prey" chase films; you might like these surprisingly fun films: The Naked Prey - 1965( starring Cornel Wilde and Ken Gampu ) Logan's Run - 1976( starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, and a small part - Farrah Fawcett ) Surviving The Game - 1994( starring rapper Ice-T and actor Gary Busey ) Thanks for the video. 😊

This was based on a short story by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman - he was super pissed when the movie came out as it's almost nothing like the book.

This was a lot of fun with friends on a Friday on a big screen.

When I lie about being an accountant, I say I work at Whitman, Price and Haddad.