The Running Man (1987) - Action Movie Rankings

🎙️🌌 In this episode, John tears into the 1987 sci-fi action satire The Running Man. Set in a near-future dystopia where televised violence is national entertainment, the film follows framed ex-cop Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) — sentenced after refusing to fire on unarmed civilians — who’s forced to fight for his life on a brutal game show run by the gleefully menacing host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). Along the way Richards teams up with Amber Mendez (María Conchita Alonso), survives encounters with lethal “stalkers” (think Fireball, Dynamo, and Buzzsaw), and becomes a lightning rod for resistance against the state’s propaganda machine.

John breaks down how the movie balances pulpy, high-adrenaline action with a thinner layer of media satire, why Schwarzenegger’s tough guy charisma reshaped the story from Stephen King’s darker Richard Bachman novel, and which set-piece fights and stalker designs still land decades later. He also asks the big question for Action Movie Rankings: does The Running Man work better as an ‘80s action spectacle or as a biting dystopian critique — and where should it sit on the leaderboard? Tune in to hear scene reactions, standout moments, and John’s final placement on the Action Movie Rankings.

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