Name - The Running Man
Released - 1987
Director - Paul Michael Glaser
I could not pass up my entry for this week's CineTV contest with the man himself Arnie. I have been a huge fan of Arnies since the Terminator came out and he was the scary unstoppable android from the future. Even though he was an android and trying to exterminate John Conner, he was still pretty cool with his 3 words in the film I'll be back.
In my choice of film today, he also mutters these words, but gets the answer that it would only be in a re-run. Arnie has been in some blockbuster movies and choosing the best one might seem difficult at first. Of course there are the Terminator films, although only 1 & 2 are any good.
He also starred in some other great under-rated films such as Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja. If I was to narrow down his top 4 films, they would be Commando where he goes all John Rambo in the film with some great action. Red Heat was another great action film where we get plenty of action too.
But his top 2 films for me would probably be, Total Recall and The Running Man. Total Recall could swing it to be honest with those memorable scenes with the head exploding plus the big red tracker from up his nose and the message get your ass to Mars repeating.
The Predator doesn't make my top 4, although it was a good film, I think it didn't have the right formula for me to be a truly great film.
However, I think The Running Man is the clincher because the film has the action man Arnie in it plus a great fun story line that is a sort of satire/parody on real life that people may think of the excesses of the 80s, but in reality it was showing a direction of future morality that we can see around us today.
It features scenes like the climbing for dollars advert that reminds me to recent times with the countless number of reality shows offering prizes for all sorts of things.
The Running Man could also be a pre-cursor to the recent Squid Game show on Netflix which shows you how way ahead of its time it was. The theme song is one of my favorite parts of the film. It is called Paula's Theme and is choreographed by Paula Abdul. It is a masterpiece.
The storyline is also a truth in front of your eyes moment too, but with a happy ending. If something is on TV, people will believe it as truth and accept it, even if the reality around them is not true. Apparently telling people its lies on TV will fix the problem, although in truth self discernment is all that is needed.
The best parts of the film though are the battles with the various hereos who are in effect actually bad guys who go up against our protagonist Arnie and the other contestants. The awesome Buzz Saw, Subzero, Fireball, Captain Freedom and Dynamo are some of the great characters that take on Arnie and the other contestants round after round.
In this way, the film also reminds me of elements of The Maze Runner film where they are figuring out parts of the puzzle to escape to the next level but in a more slapstick sort of way.
The action flows throughout the film and it has an awesome 80s flare to it and as I said with the music, one liners and characters and costumes, makes it for me, probably the best Arnie move of all time.
A famous line from the film was even made into one of the early rave tunes from the 90s.
Who loves you? and who do you love?
I loved this tune when it came out and it epitomises the early rave scene in the 90s. Although I was too young to go raving when this was released.
What is your favorite Arnie film?
Thanks for reading.
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The title image was created by myself in canva and using the CineTV logo and image source and image source.
I do not own any video copyrights. The videos are owned by their respective copyright holders.
Used under fair-use section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.
