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The Running Man is a 1987 Dystopian sci-fi action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser. It is a very loose adaptation of the novel of the same name by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King). It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown, Dweezil Zappa, Jesse Ventura, Mick Fleetwood and Rodger Bumpass in a cameo role as Phil Hilton.

In dystopian 2010s America, police officer Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) is framed for firing at innocent civilians and sent to a labor camp. He escapes, but is captured again, and ends up as a contestant in the nation's number one television show: The Running Man, a Deadly Game hosted by the gleefully sadistic Damon Killian. In the show, Ben and his fellow "contestants" must fight their way through the Stalkers, killers set to stop their advance, to win their freedom.

Not to be confused with the 1963 British crime drama directed by Carol Reed, the similarly-titled but vastly different (apart from the dystopian setting) 1976 film Logan's Run, or the South Korean variety show—although another popular Korean series has now come out with a similar Deadly Game premise.

A second adaptation directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell as Richards and Josh Brolin as Killian was released in 2025.

The Running Man provides examples of:

• '80s Hair: The Running Man's "It's Showtime!" dancers' big hair.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Buzzsaw's chainsaw is described by the announcer as being able to cut through flesh, bone, and solid steel. Buzzsaw proceeds to demonstrate this by chopping a girder in half.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Just before he's launched into the Zone, Richards promises that "I'll be back." To say nothing of Richard Dawson's role as a game show host.
  • Sub Zero is introduced as "Professor Sub Zero", a nod to the ring name of his actor, former pro wrestler "Professor" Toru Tanaka.
  • Killian refers to Fireball as the "number one rusher"; Jim Brown, who played Fireball, was the running back for the Cleveland Browns, and once held the record for the most career rushing yards. Fireball also yells "Win one for the Zero", a play on the famous Knute Rockne line, "Win one for the Gipper."
  • Captain Freedom is a former Stalker turned backstage interviewer who longs to get back in the game, though his return is ultimately staged. Jesse Ventura was forced into early retirement from wrestling due to health problems. He shifted to providing commentary before pivoting to movies.
  • In the final confrontation, Richards wields a HK94 carbine with a distinctive foregrip and barrel shroud, just like the one Arnold previously used in Raw Deal (1986).
  • When Richards first meets Mic, he points out that Ben was a cop and that cops like Ben Richards were ones, "…who locked up all my friends, burned my songs." Mic is played by musician Mick Fleetwood (and may even be him in universe, where it would imply the other band members of Fleetwood Mac might be rotting in prison).
  • Maria Conchita Alonso, who plays Amber Mendez, had a singing career as Ámbar. Additionally, Amber Mendez is also a musician for the network.
• Adam Westing: Damon Killian's persona while in front of the camera in-universe as host of The Running Man is an obvious Expy of his actor, Richard Dawson, as the host of Family Feud.
• Adaptation Distillation: Rather than being hunted throughout all of America as in the book, the runners only need to survive four sections of earthquake-ravaged Los Angeles, which takes place over a single episode rather than the book's 30-day time limit. Additionally, they no longer face the triple threat of the Hunters, the police, and citizens informing on them, instead being tracked by single team of Stalkers (though the Stalkers are hardly easier, considering they have an undefeated record at the start).
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Damon Killian is Dan Killian in the book.
  • ICS is the Games Network in the book.
  • The Hunters of the novel are now called Stalkers.
  • The civilian Ben takes hostage was named Amelia Williams in the book. In the film her name is changed to Amber Mendez, and the circumstances in which Ben takes her hostage is notably different—specifically because his family here is Adapted Out and Amber in turn is Promoted to Love Interest.
• Adaptation Personality Change: While Killian's crimes are more or less consistent between the book and the film, being the one in charge of the Network and the Running Man show, the original Killian was just a Corrupt Corporate Executive who doesn't seek out the limelight, and generally gives the impression of a restrained, calculated villain who at least makes a sincere attempt at being Affably Evil. This version of Killian is a Smarmy Host who is far more interested in gratifying his ego than lining his pockets, is more Faux Affably Evil, and at the end of the day is really just a Smug Snake.
• Adaptational Curves: Ben Richards in the book is "scrawny" and "pre-tubercular", since he and his family were almost starving. Schwarzenegger… isn't. Stephen King even jokes about this, saying Ben is "about as far as you can get" from Schwarzenegger. Although, in the film he's also a disgraced police commander formerly employed by the regime, not just some random plebeian, so presumably he would have access to better resources to justify such a physique.
• Adaptational Heroism: Ben Richards; in the film, he refuses to kill the defenseless Dynamo, while in the book, he murders three unarmed pilots who were essentially just doing their jobs and flies an airplane into the Games Network building, killing the Big Bad and a lot of people who definitely deserved it, as well as many people who probably didn't.
• Adaptational Job Change: In the original book, Ben Richards was unemployed before entering the Running Man. This version of Richards is a cop.
• Affably Evil: Captain Freedom, the noblest of the Stalkers. Also, Sven, despite his burly appearance, doesn't seem like a particularly malicious guy.
• Aggressive Negotiations: Ben persuades Amber to help him in his own… unique way.
  Ben Richards: Now I'm gonna untie you, and then you're gonna get dressed, and then you're gonna come with me.
  Amber Mendez: Oh yeah? Why should I?
  Ben Richards: Because I'm gonna say "please"…
  [Richards lifts the bench Amber is tied to, ripping its bolts clean out of the floor]
  Amber Mendez: Well, why didn't you say so?
• All or Nothing: First prize is a full pardon. Second prize is a gruesome death. It eventually turns out to be just nothing, as even if you win the game you're just secretly killed anyway.
• Ambiguously Jewish: The bespectacled computer nerd, Harold Weiss, is played by the non-Jewish actor Marvin J. McIntyre. Weiss could also double as Jewish and Nerdy, though he never says or does anything remotely Jewish in the film.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Celebration and chants of "Richards, Richards" ensue after he kills Killian, kisses Amber and leaves the ICS studio with her.
• Anti-Climax: It sure looked like Sven and Richards were going to deliver one hell of a Final Battle. Sven walks away from him after deciding he's taken enough of Killian's crap.
• Anti-Hero: Ben Richards is a pretty rough guy, to say the least. He starts off as a police officer in a Police State. He stabs his agent with a pen, and is willing to kidnap a woman to evade the authorities. But he's undeniably a noble soul who only became an outlaw because he refused to massacre hungry rioters.
• Artistic License – Law: The court-appointed theatrical agent that Killian gets just says a lot of complete nonsense. That said, it seems just about right in a universe where the right to a trial is something you win in a game show, and it is ultimately explained In-Universe that the government has become so corrupt, the law may as well be considered irrelevant.
• Ascended Extra: Weiss and Laughlin are little more than spear carriers in the book, while they become major supporting characters in the movie.
• As Himself: Resistance leader (the guy who defuses the heroes Explosive Leashes) Mic is all but stated to be counterculture icon Mick Fleetwood.
  Mic: You're one of the cops who locked up all my friends. Burned my songs. People like you took this country and turned it into a jail.
• Ass Shove: Amber Mendez and the tape of the Bakersfield Massacre. Or possibly another nearby location.
  • She may have been allowed to keep her undergarments, for decency's sake, providing another hiding place.
• Asshole Victim: On paper this is what all the contestants on The Running Man are supposed to be: convicted criminals set up to fight for their lives all for the entertainment of the masses, and if they do die gruesomely, well, they were the "bad guys" anyways, right? Killian even notes he has a contract with the government, and before Killian sets his sights on Richards he and his executives are running through possible contestants from a list of known criminals in custody for the next show. Of course, the government is implied to not be above sending dissidents to the show, and when Amber is caught looking through Richards' evidence Killian just has the announcer rattle off a bunch of petty crimes to drum up excitement for throwing her into the zone.
• Attempted Rape: Dynamo attempts to force himself on Amber when he runs into her in the studio. It's also implied he intended something similar in the field given how he was pinning her down before Richards intervened and one of his electrical shocks can temporarily incapacitate.
  Dynamo: I'll show you 'dickless'.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: The battle against Buzzsaw has heavy metal playing over most of it.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Most of the stalkers carry weapons that purely rely on Rule of Cool. Guess what happens to them.
  • Captain Freedom lampshades this to a certain extent, although he’s more disgusted by not just using the code of the gladiators.
• Badass Biker: Buzzsaw rides a custom made dirtbike that has a mount for his chainsaw. In his first appearance, he hoists his dirtbike above his head in front of his fans.
• Badass Bookworm: Weiss who despite having no physical abilities whatsoever, is determined to help the resistance even at the cost of his life.
• Badass Teacher: Laughlin is probably the most physically-capable good guy after Richards, and it's mentioned several times he was a teacher before he fell in with La Résistance given how he mentions his worries about how the schools have been shut down and kids struggle for it, Richard tells him to "stop teaching the Constitution to street punks" and Killian mentions one of the two (Laughlin and Weiss) to be a schoolteacher.
• Bad Boss: Killian isn't a particularly nice man to his employees, his bodyguard Sven in particular. This comes back to bite him.
• Betrayal by Inaction: Earlier in the movie, Killian insults his bodyguard Sven by asking him "Steroids make you deaf?" At the end when Richards confronts Killian, Killian expects Sven to protect him. Sven says, "I got to score some steroids." and walks away, leaving Killian to his justly deserved fate.
• Big Bad: Killian.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Killian is a TV show host but not a fighter.
• Big "NO!": Killian screams this when he is about to crash into a billboard within the game zone. His fear and rage in this instance is rather telling.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Killian. He acts in a friendly and charismatic way towards his audience, but he is actually a greedy, sadistic liar and a Bad Boss to his employees.
• Blood Knight: Captain Freedom and Buzzsaw. Freedom believes in the "code of the gladiator", killing only in fair hand-to-hand combat, to the point that when Killian orders him to stalk Richards with a dumb Powered Armor gimmick, he walks out in disgust. Buzzsaw, meanwhile, seems to take an almost erotic glee in slaughtering victims with his chainsaw.
• Blood Sport: The Running Man TV show is this. Runners are sent out and hunted down on live TV by what are essentially pro wrestlers cranked up to eleven, many of whom were actually professional athletes before becoming Stalkers.
• Bond One-Liner: Some of the best in film history.
  • [Stabs a man in the back after signing a contract he was resting on the man's back] "Don't forget to send me a copy."
  • [Strangles Sub-Zero with barbed wire] "Here is Sub-Zero, now plain zero!" and "He was a pain in the neck."
  • [After cutting Buzzsaw in half] "Uh, he had to split."
  • [Hurls road-flare at Fireball, blowing him up] "What a hothead."
  • [Sends Killian flying on a sled into a soda billboard] "Well, that hit the spot."
• Boring, but Practical: Compared to the gimmicks and impractical weapons the other Stalkers use, Captain Freedom prefers to solely use his bare hands or dangerous environmental objects to kill Runners. Killian forcing him to use a flashy gimmick makes Freedom quit the show on the spot.
• Bread and Circuses: The audience is oblivious to its Crapsack World life thanks to shows like Killian's. Killian lampshades it when government officials try to tell him what to do, and the opening text crawl outright states it. Of course, when the gameshows aren't enough, they're perfectly willing to resort to open violence (before covering it up).
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs, Squick: The coworker who's with Amber when she sees Ben being perp-walked down to the show tells her, "You're lucky, he could have raped you… or killed you… or raped you and killed you… or killed you and raped you." Her tone and facial expression suggests she's getting a perverse thrill out of these speculations.
• Breakout Character: In-Universe, Ben Richards. So much so that Killian has to bend his own show rules to allow the audience to predict Richards' victory. Bookies on the street also start taking unexpected bets on Richards to win.
• Brick Joke: Killian's bodyguard Sven and steroids.
• The Butcher: Ben Richards, "the Butcher of Bakersfield". Played with, in that Richards himself is innocent of the crime, framed by his corrupt superiors when he objected to massacring hordes of innocent people.
• Bystander Syndrome: Even when the true extent of Killian's misdeeds was revealed on live TV, the shocked spectators of The Running Man can only stare blankly and quietly at their TV screens. Only just realizing that the game show they enjoyed for many years used deception and the murder of innocents for entertainment, the spectators are at a loss until they witness Killian's fiery death on screen, whereupon they suddenly burst out cheering.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Despite Killian's on-air claims, no one has ever survived long enough to win the show's top "prizes" (such as a jury trial or a full pardon). Amber realizes this when she finds the corpses of three past contestants who allegedly went the distance:
  Amber: They're Running Men. Last season's winners.
  Fireball: No. Last season's losers.
• Carnival of Killers: The Running Man is a televised version of one, populated by a crew of maniacal Stalkers.
  • "Professor" Subzero is a mountainous hockey goalie armed with a razor-sharp stick and exploding pucks.
  • Chopper-riding Buzzsaw wields a monstrous chainsaw.
  • Dynamo is an opera-singing Shock and Awe specialist with an armored ATV.
  • Fireball is a jetpack-flying, flamethrower-wielding executioner.
  • Captain Freedom is a retired Stalker who excelled at killing contestants with his bare hands.
• Casting Gag: Stevie, Mic's right hand man, is played by Dweezil Zappa, the son of musician Frank Zappa, who famously testified before Congress against censorship in music with Dee Snider and John Denver in 1985.
• The Cast Show Off: Dynamo sings opera during his Intimidation Demonstration and while he's chasing Richards. Dynamo's actor, Erland Van Lidth, was an opera singer in real life.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Mic casually narrates La Résistance's dilemma while disarming Laughlin's Explosive Leash (or at least delaying its detonation long enough to get it off his neck):
  Mic: Er, Stevie, would you mind? (Stevie opens the lid on a grenade sump, Mic drops it in) Goodbye, my lovely!
  (Stevie shuts the lid - BOOM!)
• Chainsaw Good: Buzzsaw's trademark weapons is a chainsaw.
• Character Development: Richards starts the movie unwilling to fire on a crowd of innocent and starving people, only to be beaten, arrested, and framed for the ensuing massacre his compatriots commit. This naturally makes him bitter, leading him to only look out for himself and his own survival for most of the film. His experiences on The Running Man and his increasing bond with Amber and the other resistance members he's stuck with gradually reawakens his idealism and sense of justice, until by the very end he's leading the resistance in storming the ICS studio.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: A given with Arnie: Richards is able to perform such feats of strength as ripping Amber's weights bench out of the floor it's bolted to and carrying a girder unaided. He's also able to physically outmuscle Buzzsaw, particularly impressive since Buzzsaw had a scene where he lifted a whole dirt bike over his head unaided earlier on.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Killian. When it becomes likely that Richards and Amber may actually survive, he airs fake footage to make the viewers believe they've been killed so they won't be viewed as heroes. Naturally, he does not prosper.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Whitman, Price, and Haddad, described by Killian as "last year's winners". Amber later discovers their charred bodies while running from Fireball. Gets upgraded to a Chekhov's Boomerang variant when footage of the three charred corpses are used to discredit Killian himself.
• Chewing the Scenery: Buzzsaw (one of the stalkers), Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura), and Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) all wolf down the scenery and goes back for seconds (and thirds).
• Cigar Chomper: Ben Richards loves his cigars, and always seems to have one ready at the most opportune moment.
• Composite Character: The film combines the book roles of Killian (who was the Big Bad and the show's producer) and Bobby Thompson (who was the show's host).
• Condemned Contestant: Richards, Laughlin, and Weiss.
• Contrast Montage: The showgirls dancing to "Paula's Theme" at the beginning of the game show essentially serves as one. It is intercut with scene of street people and upper class citizens, all watching the show.
• Cool Old Lady: Mrs. McArdle. Combined rather brilliantly with Lady Swears-a-Lot.
  Mrs. McArdle: I choose… Ben Richards. That boy is one mean motherfucker!
• Corrupted Character Copy: Killian is effectively Richard Dawson's Family Feud persona, but hosting a Deadly Game and having a sadistic personality with the worst characteristics of a celebrity thrown in.
• Covers Always Lie; Despite the official poster, Richards never dons a costume with spiked shoulder pads. Also the chopper-riding, chainsaw-wielding Buzzsaw is replaced by a random masked Mook.
• Crapsack World: We are shown an impoverished, quasi-fascist society that resorts to extremely violent entertainment on television to escape reality and is encouraged to do so to prevent the people from knowing any better.
• Credits Gag: When Killian is addressing his subordinates in the control booth, credits scroll by on a monitor. Some of the highlights:
  • Thanks to: You, Me, Us, and Them
  • "What next? I don't know."
  • Titles: "Type M Wrong"
  • Makeup: Paint Your Face
  • "Locations by To Long Here"
  • Art Director: Red G Bleu and Primary Colors
  • Music: Do Ray Me
  • As the end credits music concludes, the show's In-Universe announcer thanks the (fictional) companies sponsoring The Running Man, mentions other companies involved ("Damon Killian's Wardrobe by Chez Antoine — 19th Century Craftsmanship for the 21st Century Man!") and finishes with this request:
    "If you'd like to be a contestant on The Running Man, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to ICS Talent Hunt c/o your local affiliate, and then go out and do something really despicable! I'm Phil Hilton — good night, and take care!"
• Cruel and Unusual Death: How the stalkers attack their victims, only for Richards to give them A Taste of Their Own Medicine at every turn.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Killian gives a secret broadcast to Richards, offering him a Stalker contract because of his growing popularity. Richards, who just watched Laughlin die, is… not receptive.
  Ben Richards: (rips security camera out of wall) You cold-blooded bastard, I'll tell you what I think of it: I'll live to see you EAT that contract. But I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and BREAK YOUR GODDAMN SPINE! (smashes camera)
• Deadly Game: The titular game show. Also "Climbing for Dollars", possibly a combination of "Swimming with Crocodiles" and "Treadmill for Dollars" from the book; it involves a contestant running down a hall being chased by attack dogs and climbing a rope, grabbing as many notes as he can, while the dogs try to pull him down and maul him. And there are possibly dozens of other such games on TV…
• Deadpan Snarker: This movie probably has the most one-liners per minute of any Schwarzenegger flick. At least half his dialogue is some sort of pun or wisecrack.
• Death by Irony: Damon Killian is killed en route to the game zone.
• Decomposite Character: In the novel, a Scarily Competent Tracker named Evan McCone was the primary Hunter/Stalker pursuing Richards, and the main physical threat given Killian's Non-Action Big Bad status. The film effectively splits McCone's Dragon role into three different characters: Fireball (the last Stalker Richards faces), Captain Freedom (a former champion bored with his retirement), and Sven (Killian's bodyguard). Since Sven and Freedom don't fight Richards and consequently survive the film, it can also qualify as Spared by the Adaptation.
• Didn't Think This Through: Killian picks Richards because he's the biggest, strongest, best-trained criminal available and thinks he'll put on a good show, seemingly forgetting that his Stalkers are a bunch of ill-disciplined psychopaths with impractical weaponry used to chasing down terrified unarmed people and putting on a show for the crowd — glorified executioners and performers rather than real fighters. He doesn't consider the possibility that the toughest guy he can find might be tougher than his cast.
• Digital Head Swap: In-universe.
• Diving Save: When Ben Richards and Laughlin are attacked by Buzzsaw, Laughlin pushes Richards out of the way of Buzzsaw's attack and is mortally wounded by Buzzsaw's chainsaw attack.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Fireball wading through flames.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: "KILLIAN IS LYING TO YOU!"
• The Dragon: Seriously Played With.
  • Captain Freedom is built up as Killian's ace in the hole but quits because of Killian's lack of respect for the code of the gladiator.
  • Sven walks in on Killian and Richards' final confrontation only for Sven to leave due to Killian's verbal abuse.
  • Fireball is the closest thing Killian has to one since he's the last Stalker sent into the field and is the one in charge of killing people who win the game.
• Dwindling Party: Happens on both sides of this particular conflict:
  • Richards starts out teamed with Laughlin and Weiss, Amber later joins them. Their numbers are later reduced by half as Laughlin and Weiss are killed.
  • The Stalkers are taken out one-by-one as the game progresses, eventually being reduced to only the semi-retired Captain Freedom as the team’s sole survivor, who promptly quits in frustration at Killian’s underhand tactics.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Ben Richards was framed for massacring a group of protesters when he refused to be the one to pull the trigger. Imprisoned and with his name sullied, he went on the run but was eventually caught. He became a contestant for The Running Man gameshow, where he fought for his own life before getting rescued by the rebels. Joining up with them, he stormed the gameshow to hunt down Killian, the Big Bad. With Amber's help, the public finally knew Richards was framed by the state media, and gave their final, biggest cheer of approval when Richards executed Killian and walked off victoriously with Amber by his side.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Damon Killian walks into his office building, when an elderly janitor accidentally bumps into him and frantically apologizes. Damon kindly asks his name, tells him not to worry, and mentions what a good job he's doing. Then the second he's in the elevator, he coldly tells his assistant if the man is still employed by tomorrow, she'll be mopping floors for a week, perfectly reflecting the kind persona Killian portrays to the public and the petty sociopath he truly is underneath it.
  • Ben Richards is introduced by refusing an order to kill defenseless human beings.
  • Captain Freedom as a Stalker genuinely believes in the Gladiator Code and chooses to walk off the show when Killian has him suit up in power armor to take on Ben Richards.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: The rocket sled used to propel Runners into the zone explodes when Richards uses it to send Killian crashing into a billboard after disabling the safety net.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Captain Freedom didn't know the show was rigged and genuinely believes in the gladiator code, so rather than have a final fight with Richards, he walks away and lets the man do his Arnold all over the bastards in charge.
  • Mrs. McArdle is an unrepentant fan of The Running Man, but she snaps when she sees how much of a backstabbing liar Killian really is.
• Exact Words: As one of the more legal-minded executives at the studio points out when one of his colleagues tells Damon he can't have Richards on the show because their contract doesn't permit them to host military prisoners, "Who's a prisoner? He's still at large." Later, Damon mentions that he "pulled a few strings" to get Richards brought to him instead of back to prison; evidently he exploited this loophole to the fullest.
• Explosive Leash: Richards and his fellow prisoners wear collars in the prison camp, set to blow their heads apart if they go beyond the "sonic deadline" perimeter while it's active.
• Fallen States of America: America has gone from a first-world representative republic to an impoverished third-world oligarchy that uses violent entertainment to distract the population.
• Fanservice: Amber Mendez (María Conchita Alonso) exercising in lingerie. Also the many Male Gaze close-ups of the dancers' T&A and shapely legs.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: The totalitarian society's enforcers are distracted by their own Bread and Circuses. We hear the guards making small talk about how they never miss an episode of the Running Man, Amber Mendez excuses her purchases of black market clothing (when Richards discovers it) by saying "C'mon, everyone does it!" and the unedited footage may well have been retained through sheer laziness, i.e. the TV station's bureaucrats never throw anything away.
• Fashion Dissonance: The Running Man's "It's Showtime!" dancers, who are a riot of spandex and big hair, firmly placing them in the '80s fashion era.
• Fat Bastard: Dynamo makes a none-too-subtle rape threat towards Amber, in addition to being overweight.
• Faux Affably Evil: Killian is all smiles to the public. Even when he's rubbing in Ben Richard's face how screwed he is, he rarely loses his shit-eating grin. However, beneath it, he's cold as a shark and twice as mean. Fireball has his football-player actor's Lovable Jock charm, but is a Scary Black Man through and through.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Fireball's flamethrower/jet pack combo.
• Flamethrower Backfire: One of the Stalkers, appropriately named Fireball, wields a twin-nozzled flamethrower. It ends up being used to kill him when Richards rips out his gas line, covering Fireball in fuel, and then tossing a lit flare at him, igniting the fuel in a huge explosion.
• Flat Character: The majority of the antagonists. Killian acquits himself a little bit better when he explains that the reason why he has framed innocent people and gotten them killed in grisly ways on television is that all that matters in his occupation is keeping people entertained to keep his ratings up. "Let's face it: America loves television!"
• Foreign-Language Tirade: Amber speaks in Spanish whenever she gets angry or frightened.
• Four Is Death:
  • There are four Stalkers that are deployed into the game zone to dispose of Richards and the others. All four end up dead, though Dynamo dies in the studio since he decided to try his luck again with Amber after Richards spared in his life in the zone.
  • Also, four is the last word from Weiss before Dynamo electrocutes him.
• Funny Background Event: A poster in Killian's office shows a cruise ship on fire and the title The Hate Boat.
  • Listening to the studio announcer telling people in the audience what they can win during the sequence in which Amber goes rifling through the network's files for the raw footage of Ben's last mission raises some… intriguing questions about what kind of society this is. (See the Headscratchers section for details on that.)
  • While Killian is talking to the control room staff after faking Ben and Amber's deaths, the credits for the Running Man can be seen nearby, resulting in a truly spectacular Credits Gag.
• Future Imperfect: A TV equivalent; it's implied that a lot of TV shows have been forgotten thanks to the totalitarian government's control of the entertainment networks, and on two occasions an older character makes a reference to an old TV show (Gilligan's Island and Star Trek) that falls flat.
• Futuristic Jet Injector: While being prepped to appear in the title game show, Ben Richards has an unknown drug infused into him by a gun-like jet injector.
• Gaia's Lament: Earth's resources are severely drained in this world.
• Game Show Host: Killian, played by Richard Dawson, who has been characterized at times as a bit of an egotist behind the scenes.
• Gas Mask Mooks: All the guards in the detention zone at the start wear gas masks and protective goggles. They do have a good reason however, considering all the unhealthy stuff in the air from the old industrial complex. The prisoners are less fortunate.
• The Gimmick: The Stalkers are athletes armed with various deadly weapons to suit their on-screen personas. Three of them (Subzero, Dynamo, Captain Freedom) were played by amateur/professional wrestlers, one (Buzzsaw) by a weightlifter, and one (Fireball) by a retired pro football player.
• Glory Days: Captain Freedom tries to reminisce about his prime years on camera, but Killian cuts him off.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: To drive his badassery home, Richards lights up a cigar while preparing to storm the network.
• Gratuitous Latin: The gratuitous use of Latin in Richards' contract. All of it is real legal Latin, but wildly out of place.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The fascist American government, for whom Killian produces The Running Man.
• Great Escape: Ben Richards and his fellow prisoners engineer a mass prison break by using a Prison Riot to distract the guards while stealing one of their computer terminals to shut down the "sonic deadline" that activates the Explosive Leash any prisoner who tries to cross it.
• Groin Attack
  • Richards grabs a guard in the smelting prison by the groin to incapacitate him. The man's body shoots up, he groans and you can see Richards' hand still gripping his crotch area as he hoists the poor bastard over his head and throws him over the railing.
  • Amber punches Richards in the groin before escaping from him in the airport.
  • Richards kicks Buzzsaw in the crotch during their fight, but to little effect.
  • The most notorious and iconic example would be how Richards disposes of Buzzsaw with his own chainsaw. Buzzsaw even goes soprano with his death scream.
    "He had to split."
  • When Richards throws the flare at Fireball before he explodes, the flare is pointed directly at the spread-legged Fireball's crotch.
  • Amber punches Dynamo in the dick during his Attempted Rape of her in the network building.
    "Why aren't you laughing?"
    "Because there's nothing funny about a dickless moron with a battery up his ass!"
• Guns Do Not Work That Way: A minor example and difficult to spot for most people, but when Richards cocks a Steyr AUG before the final battle, he assists the cocking handle forward. Doing so is a good way to cause a misfeed unless you use the silent cocking button, which Richards doesn't.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: The fight between Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura) in the last quarter of the film. ( It's a "computer generated" scene, broadcast by Killian to pacify the audience and end the episode after Richards escapes, and Freedom refuses to fight in a hokey, aluminum power armor suit.)
  • Also, any fight between Arnold and the other stalkers.
• Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Richards adopts this look as a disguise.
  Amber: I'm warning you, I get sick. Air sick, car sick. I'm gonna throw up all over you.
  Ben: Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: ICS live by this trope, with the biggest prizes on their shows unlikely to get paid out since the contestants don't survive to collect. The Running Man especially offers a no-strings-attached parole, except what they don't tell the contestants, innocent or otherwise, is that ICS make them just strong enough, in theory, to last long enough to make good television, and have never paid out the prize.
• Heel–Face Turn: Captain Freedom genuinely believes in the Warrior's Code, hates how gimmicky and unmanly the Running Man show has become, and when he sees the psychopathic Killian ignore all the rules once again, he inevitably flounces off. Sven, Killian's bodyguard, also abandons him, although in Sven's case it's unlikely he cares anything about Richards or the revolution — he's just tired of putting up with Killian's crap.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Weiss dying to get the uplink code.
  • Laughlin shoves Richards out of the way of and is mortally wounded by Buzzsaw's attack.
  • Also, Richards agrees to be a contestant because Killian threatens to use his friends as contestants instead… which, of course, Killian does anyway.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Having been accused and imprisoned for massacring people in cold blood, Richards in seen by the public as an evil psychopath.
• Hideaway in the Danger Zone: The resistance hideout is hidden in the Game Zone where the televised Deadly Game show is set - which is both the last place anyone would look for them, but also right next to the transmission equipment they plan to hijack.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Movie. Let us count the ways…
  • The Jerkass tendencies of Killian and ICS unnecessarily send Laughlin, Weiss, and Amber into the Zone with him; all prove instrumental in ensuring the downfall of Killian and ICS.
  • Each Stalker is killed with his own weapon;
    • Sub Zero severs the barbed wire fence with his bladed hockey stick, and then ice-skates directly into the barbed wire garotte laid out by Richards.
    • Buzzsaw is cleft in twain by his own chainsaw.
    • Dynamo first crashes his own buggy chasing down Ben and Amber…
    • …and later gets electrocuted by his own suit when Amber turns on a set of fire sprinklers.
    • Richards pulls out the fuel line on Fireball's flamethrower supply to douse him with gasoline, then throws a lit flare to ignite it and kill him.
  • The ICS network scupper themselves by:
    • Convincing Amber that they're lying when they mention the non-existent bloodbath at the airport, because Amber was a surviving witness.
    • Not deleting or properly securing the footage of Ben Richards trying to save the victims of the Bakersfield Massacre, because of the fact it proves his entire criminal record is in doubt.
    • Faking Richards' and Amber's deaths on live TV, so that when they emerge onstage very much alive minutes later, the entire audience is convinced that ICS are lying to them.
  • Killian himself is doomed by being deserted by his mistreated bodyguard and then being launched into the Zone, as he had done to so many before.
  • In a more minor example, Richards stabs his Jerkass "court-appointed theatrical agent" with his own pen.
• Hollywood Law: When Richards is being led down the hall by his "court appointed agent", the agent is reading the terms of Ben's contract. It's mostly just a bunch of loosely-interconnected legal jargon that doesn't form a coherent thought at any point. This might be justified because America has become a dictatorship with no rule of law, and the agent and his contract only exist to create a pretense of legality.
• Home Game: The board game version of the show given to members of the Running Man studio audience.
• How They Treat the Help: Killian is utterly horrible to anyone he sees as beneath him… which is everyone. It proves to be his undoing.
• The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: The Stalkers find themselves on the receiving end of their own medicine once Ben Richards joins the game. The first death with Sub-Zero was a clear shock to not just the audience, but the government itself given that they called up Killian to explain things.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The Running Man is basically this elevated to a game show. Although it wasn't really that dangerous for the Stalkers until Ben Richards turned up, and…
• Idiot Ball:
  • Even though Richards was already thoroughly discredited as "The Butcher of Bakersfield", the government still insists on making up murders at the airport where he was captured. This is what convinces Amber (who was his hostage at the airport and knows he didn't kill anyone there) that he was framed and ultimately causes her to discover the truth.
  • Keeping the unedited footage around was pretty dumb, too, allowing Ben Richards to be effectively acquitted on live television, and whatever legalese is in his contract likely meant everyone he killed prior to leaving the studio can't be prosecuted.
  • Had Killian been even slightly less of a jerkass Bad Boss, Sven might have blocked Richards instead of leaving Killian to his mercy.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Discussed when Richards briefly crosses paths with Amber and a female work colleague while being escorted to the Running Man studio. The colleague notes to Amber that she's lucky that Richards didn't kill her, rape her, or rape and kill her (in either order)… in a tone of voice that heavily suggests she finds the idea of submitting sexually to Richards quite the turn-on.
• I Know Madden Kombat: The hockey-themed hunter "Sub-Zero".
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Richards' faked death at the hands of the equally fake Captain Freedom.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy:
  • A helicopter gunship employing both miniguns and unguided rockets firing into a packed group of over a thousand rioters somehow manages to kill only 60 of them. Even stormtroopers could do better; unless we assume the government undersold the figures.
  • The guards at the TV studio are even worse, as they fail to hit a single one of the rebels (although if you're paying attention, you can see one of them gun down Edith Wiggins, who was the gal who picked Sub-Zero to be the first stalker of the evening). Of particular note is the first guard to open fire, as he starts shooting when all the rebels are clustered together in a narrow area in front of the entrance, yet somehow manages to miss every shot. Anyone remotely competent with an automatic rifle could have mowed them all down.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: During the studio shootout, Richards manages to hit everything he aims at, even when he's literally shooting from the hip.
• Improbable Weapon User: Most of the Stalkers use exotic but otherwise standard weapons; Buzzsaw has a chainsaw, Fireball a flamethrower, Dynamo an electric suit, and Freedom his own fists. But then there's Sub-Zero, who uses a sharpened metal hockey stick, and exploding hockey pucks.
• I'm Your Biggest Fan: Mrs. Agnes McArdle, who is Killian's biggest fan.
• In Name Only: The only elements the novel and movie have in common are some of the characters' names (Ben Richards is the same, the game show host is named Dan Killian in the novel), and a very basic version of the premise (that they're on the run from stalkers as part of a show). All the other details, including the main character's personality and motivations, and the nature of the show itself, are completely different. It's reported that Stephen King enjoyed the film, but it's NOTHING like the novel.
• Instant Soprano: Ben Richards shoves the blade of Buzzsaw's titular weapon into his groin area, causing him to emit a scream that quickly goes from manly to high-pitched.
• Intimidation Demonstration: Each of the Stalkers shows off the use of his weapon when he's introduced to the studio audience.
• Ironic Echo: Multiple examples involving Killian.
  • Particularly this one:
    Killian: [To Richards after he's been recaptured] Hello, cutie pie. One of us is in deep trouble.
    Richards: [To Killian back on the game show set in the climax] Hello, cutie pie. One of us is in deep trouble.
  • The advertisement of Cadre Cola starring Killian that we see earlier in the film has Killian saying "that hit the spot!" as a Catchphrase. Guess what Richards says as a Bond One-Liner after killing Killian by tossing him through a Cadre Cola billboard with an out-of-control rocket sled?
• Jet Pack: Used by the stalker Fireball.
• Just Following Orders: Killian, shorn of his protection, pleads with Richards that he, the Network, and the whole fascist government, are just giving the people what they want.
  Richards: Well, Killian, I haven't been in television as long as you, but I'm a fast learner, and right now, I'm going to give the people what I think they want.
• Karma Houdini
  • The government responsible for killing thousands of innocents and framing Richards for it (and the helicopter crew who carried out the massacre, after framing and incapacitating Richards). However, in light of the footage the resistance posted, there is hint of an uprising.
  • Captain Freedom apparently suffers nothing worse than job loss, despite having killed numerous Running Men throughout his career (although it is possible that unlike Richards, at least some of them were genuine mass murderers).
• Karmic Death: All the Stalkers except Captain Freedom.
  • Killian, too. Only he never quite makes it to the game zone: The rocket sled he rides in crashes into a billboard outside the studios and explodes on impact; trapped inside, Killian (presumably) burns to death if the impact and/or explosion doesn't splatter him first.
• Kick the Dog: Killian forcing Laughlin and Weiss to fight in the game zone even though he said he would let them go if Ben would agree to fight. When Sub-Zero dies, his shock is more at the fact it actually happened than any sorrow about the death itself and he justifies it to the government calling him about it that it makes for better entertainment for the masses that keeps them on the television and not out protesting. As if that weren't bad enough, he forces the completely innocent Amber into the game as well when he catches her looking through the raw footage of the Bakersfield Massacre.
• Kill the Poor: What makes starts Richards' troubles is his being given direct orders to open fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians in a "food riot" (which makes sense, considering a single can of soda costs six dollars; doubtless, a lot of food is just too expensive for anyone to get) and he absolutely refuses to (even trying to fight the other officers in the helicopter when they are given orders to arrest Richards for insubordination and open fire). To make things worse, it's even stated that killing everybody (including the women and children) in a food riot is "standard procedure."
• Knight of Cerebus: While Killian and the Stalkers featured prior are dangerous, they're all Laughably Evil and played with quite a bit of camp. While Fireball certainly has moments of camp (he does have a jetpack), he's treated as much more serious and menacing, and the point he enters the Deadly Game is where things look bleakest for Richards and Mendez, the only remaining contestants. His arrival also coincides with the revelation that he's the one who disposes of anyone who "wins" The Running Man, something revealed with the shockingly morbid shots of said winners' burned corpses.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Richards spends most of the movie as this, not eager to fight for a good cause after his last attempt didn't exactly go well but nevertheless forced into going along with it by circumstance. He gradually loses the "sour" part over the course of the film until eventually he's practically leading the resistance.
• Lack of Empathy: Killian only cares about the feelings of others in regard to how much effort he has to put into pretending to be empathetic to them to get his way. When an elderly janitor accidentally bumps into him and profusely apologizes, Killian makes a show of forgiving him for the slip-up and commending his work before coldly telling his assistant to see that man fired as soon as possible if she doesn't want to be mopping the floors next. He'll play up being saddened to the audience over Sub-Zero's death, only to then brush it off to his government contract in private as the whole show being "a contact sport" where it was bound to happen sooner or later, and he's all smiles when later his assistant tells him the rating points are shooting up over the shock and buzz the Stalker's death is causing over the media.
• Large Ham: The Stalkers in general are, by the very nature of their work, over-the-top performers akin to professional wrestlers.
  • Dynamo is worth a special mention. A fat man with blinking lights all over him, driving after you in a go-kart, whilst singing opera.
  • Killian and the show's announcer Phil Hilton as well.
• Large-Ham Announcer: The Running Man has an announcer who hams up his entire script to further dramatize the vignettes and introductions for the purposes of entertainment. He even has an announcement over the film's ends credits.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Arguably, Killian should've kept his promise to Richards about not getting Weiss and Laughlin involved instead of doing it to spite him and make the game more interesting for the audience, had he done that, Richards (and later Amber) would've likely faced a lonesome death by the Stalkers, but instead Weiss manages to crack the channel's satellite uplink code while Laughlin helps both Richards and Amber survive, who end up helping the rebellion bring Killian's TV empire down. He also might've had a chance to save his own skin in the ending if he wasn't such a Mean Boss to Sven the bodyguard.
• Leave No Witnesses: After Richards reveals himself to the studio audience, alive and well, the studio's security guards immediately try to kill Richards, the resistance members accompanying him AND the entire audience in one last desperate attempt to regain control of the situation and maintain the cover-up. They didn't know that the entire incident was still being broadcast live on television and witnessed by everyone watching the show, thanks to resistance members who have taken over the studio's control room. Ultimately, the guards only exacerbated the situation, fueling further doubts about the cover-up in the minds of the American public.
• Lightning Gun: Dynamo's "Electrical Launcher".
• Made of Explodium: Maybe the rocket-propelled sled had some fuel, sure, but the Cadre Cola billboard inside the "Running Man" playing field goes off like it had been full of dynamite when the sled goes through it.
• Magical Security Cam: When the resistance plays the real footage of the so-called Bakersfield Massacre, it's clearly just a replaying of the scene from the movie — including the bit of Richards being knocked out, which was from Richards' POV.
• Manipulative Editing: The camera footage of Richards refusing to shoot unarmed civilians is altered to make it look like he fired on them against orders.
  • Pretty much everything Killian doesn't want the public to see is edited when it's not live.
  • Fabricated footage through digital recreation (a few years before Real Life CGI allowed this) is commonplace, like Richards killing people at the airport, last season's winners enjoying life in Hawaii or Richards' and Amber's "death" against Captain Freedom.
• Meaningful Name/Names to Run Away from Really Fast: No one — no one — with a name like 'Damon Killian' is ever going to grow up to be anything but a villain.
• Men of Sherwood:
  • Most of the convicts who aid Richards in shooting his way out of the government labor camp at the beginning escape and are never shown being killed or recaptured. The unnamed, uncredited ones actually have a higher survival rate than the Mauve Shirt characters.
  • In the final scenes, Mic and his armed rebels flawlessly take over the broadcast booth and expose the government's lies with almost no trouble.
• Miscarriage of Justice: The plot kicks off when Richards gets wrongly accused of having committed a massacre among innocent civilians and as punishment for the crime is selected as a combatant for the titular Blood Sport TV show. However, Richards tried to prevent the massacre and part of the plot is finding the evidence of this to give the real story to the public as well as bringing the corrupt officials behind it to justice.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: Laughlin saves Richards from Buzzsaw's attack and is out of it for the rest of said fight and when Richards goes off to save Amber from Dynamo, but when they get back to him and try to carry him he tells them that "Buzzsaw took care of my traveling arrangements" while revealing his injury and pleads with them to go on and get the uplink code to Mic and the resistance who are hiding out.
• Mr. Fanservice: Richards In-Universe, which gets pointed out quite a few times.
  Killian: I can get ten points for his biceps alone.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Amber has this look when Richards is led past her in chains on his way to the game zone; rather than angry, he just looks resigned and stoic. Already suspicious because she knows he was framed for at least two murders, Amber immediately goes to the network archives to find the real footage from the Bakersfield massacre.
• Mythology Gag: Captain Freedom insists that he does not need any fancy gimmicks to do his job. In the novel, the Hunters (renamed Stalkers for the film) were more shadowy and professional, providing a more nuanced menace than the over-the-top Stalkers.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Dweezil Zappa's character, Stevie, is named after Stevie Nicks.
• Neck Lift: Captain Freedom does this to Amber during the fake fight scene. It isn't the real Amber. It's falsified footage Killian created.
• Neck Snap
  • During the escape from prison at the beginning of the movie, Richard's friend Laughlin ambushes and breaks the neck of a guard who was about to shoot Richards.
  • During the faked scene where Captain Freedom fights Amber, he performs a Neck Lift on her before breaking her neck.
• Noble Demon:
  • It's made clear Captain Freedom actually has some sense of honor and believes in the Gladiator's Code. He shows increasing signs of frustration with Killian's more underhanded tactics. He still wants to take on and kill Richards, but face-to-face like warriors should. The final straw proves to be be the gimmicky outfit Killian wants him to use in his fight and it ends with him walking away in disgust.
  • Killian is a nasty human being, but if you survive The Running Man, he'll let you live out your life in luxury. Subverted when it turns out even the winners of The Running Man were killed off anyway.
• Non-Action Guy: Weiss is not at all built for or meant to engage in physical combat. During the prison break it's his job to get the code for the security and shut it off while Richards and Laughlin fight, and in the game itself he's knocked into a trap by Sub-Zero and unceremoniously killed by Dynamo's electricity.
• Non-Lethal Warfare: A net-firing gun is used to capture Richards at the airport, though when he tries to struggle out of it the police flat-out state if he moves he's dead while pointing a rifle at him.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Richards makes it clear near the beginning he's not into politics or revolution, just survival. He's willing to help Laughlin and Weiss because they're his friends and he owes them, but he's not really interested in the cause itself and would rather "look for the door." And while he does join up with the resistance in the end, it's more to get revenge on Killian and justice for Laughlin and Weiss's deaths over making a statement, something he admits to the revolutionaries when they ask why he's willing to help them when he could just escape.
• Not Worth Killing: "No, I won't kill a helpless human being… not even sadistic scum like you."
• Nothing Personal: When he is finally at the mercy of Richards, Killian tries to excuse his crimes by claiming that he did it all for the sake of TV show ratings and for the entertainment of American viewers everywhere. It doesn't work and Richards gives Killian the death he deserves.
• Oh, Crap!
  • Killian when he realizes that Richards has survived and has now cornered him in the studio. Again, when the studio guard, who had stood loyally at his side for all this time, abandons him to his fate. And a final time when Richards grabs him and throws him in the rocket sled, sending him into the game zone (and ultimately, to his death).
  • Earlier, Killian also looks rather unsettled when, having offered Richards a contract as a network Stalker, Richards informs him in no uncertain detail precisely what he intends to make Killian do with said contract. And what he then intends to do to Killian's stomach and spine.
  • The entire audience has a collective one when Richards kills Sub-Zero. It's apparently been a very long time since any contestant managed to actually kill one of the stalkers. If ever, as it's never stated how the previous winners won, and Killian afterwards has to assure his government contact that it was bound to happen sooner or later.
• Opening Scroll: White text scrolling up against a red screen quickly exposits the backstory of the movie's setting.
• Oppressive States of America: The USA is in the grip of a severe economic and environmental decline, but is propped up by a lethally efficient fascist dictatorship keeping the public under sway with mindless violence on television.
• Our Graphics Will Suck in the Future: Apparently, wireframe computer graphics are state of the art in 2019. Except when it comes to producing fake footage of "dead" or "alive" contestants.
• Out of the Inferno: After Ben ignites a barrel of flammable material, Fireball just strolls through the flame.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: The previous season winners. Fireball secretly murdered them with his flamethrower while Killian falsified footage of their prize holiday.
• The Pen Is Mightier: When Richards has to sign his contract, the Amoral Attorney callously says "Use my back, victim." Richards, offended, signs the contract and then stabs the pen into the man's back.
• Please Select New City Name: At the airport, in the background you can hear an announcement about a flight to "Mandelaburg" — presumably the future name of Johannesburg. It was even more ironic given the time the film was released, since it was still The Apartheid Era and Nelson Mandela was still in prison. The likelihood of the end of Apartheid was seen as nil.
• Plot Hole: After Richards defeats Subzero, Laughlin is shown carrying Subzero's hockey stick, which seems like it would be damn useful against the other Stalkers. However, the stick vanishes between shots with no explanation.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: References to Gilligan's Island and Star Trek: The Original Series fall flat due to them either having been banned outright, or just no longer aired and screened much of anywhere anymore.
• Post-Mortem One-Liner: After watching Killian blow up after crashing into a wall:
  Richards: Well, that hit the spot.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Killian has to pull a lot of strings, including taking it up to the White House, for him to get Ben Richards as a contestant as the government prohibits the network from having military-trained convicts be runners in the show. And for good reason when Richards ends up killing or defeating all the show's big-name Stalkers.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  • Ben to a guard he picks up during the Prison Riot:
    "Give you a lift?"
  • Before he sets Fireball on fire.
    "How 'bout a light?"
  • Buzzsaw delivers an unsuccessful one to Richards, to which Richards gives out a much more successful one.
    Buzzsaw: I love this saw… it's a part of me… and I'm about to make it a part of you!
    Richards: That's all right, keep it!
  • When he's about to launch Killian to his doom.
    Killian: You bastard! Drop dead!
    Richards: I don't do requests.
• Private Profit Prison: Played with a bit; more like a "Private Profit Parole Board" (if you win the game). Also, ICS has prison cells of its own for holding contestants-to-be on The Running Man.
• Product Placement: Adidas made the Runner bodysuit and footwear that each contestant wears, and one can see several real sodas (Coca-Cola and Sprite and Tab, among others) advertised on the vending machine Amber and her coworker were trying to use alongside the button for Cadre Cola.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Amelia Williams, the unsuspecting woman Richards takes hostage in the book, becomes Amber Mendez here and with Richards's wife and daughter both Adapted Out, she takes on the role of the main person he cares for and protects—and he ends up with her at the end of the movie too.
• Propaganda Hero: The Stalkers who chase down the criminals have their own wrestler-style personas. It's inverted with Ben Richards, who is falsely accused of murder and slandered.
• Public Execution: Criminals are executed by being hunted to their deaths on TV, with a completely false promise of freedom if they survive.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Captain Freedom is the most decent of the Stalkers for his sense of honor. Also, Sven the security chief.
• Punny Name: Dynamo is an opera-singing hunter who shoots electricity. A "dynamo" is an electrical generator, and the term is also used to describe energetic or impressive performers, such as opera singers.
• Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The Stalkers certainly qualify. They aren't developed beyond their special attacks and gimmicks and have very hammy moments, but presumably have been competent enough to never have died until Ben Richards shows up.
• Race Lift:
  • Laughlin is white in the book, but black here.
  • On the flip side, Killian is black in the book, but white here.
• Rage Quit: "Forget it, Killian! I won't do it!"
• Red Filter of Doom: Invoking the connotation that Red Is Violent, the sets in The Running Man use a lot of atmospheric lighting that often bathes everything in solid red, especially during the fights against Sub-Zero and Buzzsaw (where the red lighting arguably helps downplay all the blood spraying from their respectively gruesome Slashed Throat and Groin Attack deaths).
• Red Shirt: Fittingly, Richards' two companions wear leotards that have a red pattern rather than yellow. This broadly foreshadows that they won't make it through the game.
  • During the prison escape, there are lots of prisoners fighting alongside Richard, Weiss and Laughlin, but only Chico (who dies in the escape) gets any prominence and none of the others are named, or mentioned again (making it unclear if they managed to avoid being recaptured).
• Released to Elsewhere: Whitman, Price, and Haddad. Last season's winners. "No, last season's losers."
• La Résistance: There's a resistance movement against the government, which gets wrapped up in the game.
• Retired Monster: Captain Freedom initially traded his profession as a Stalker for more benign job as a television exercise trainer. When called back into action, he outright refuses to defeat Richards through disgraceful methods.
• Riddle for the Ages: Where did Amber hide the Bakersfield Massacre footage?
• Ridiculous Future Inflation: A can of soda costs $6, and the vending machines aren't taking bills.
• Run for the Border: Ben tries to do this with Amber, but she blows his cover.
  • Played with when Richards tries to flee to Hawaii, instead of trying to escape the country entirely. It's implied he intends to go farther afield once he's reached his destination. However since Richards is captured we never actually learn why he wanted to go there specifically, largely because he was smart enough not to to tell Amber his next move.
  • It may be also Shout-Out to Robert A. Heinlein's If This Goes On—, wherein someone pretends to be trying to escape to Hawaii, which is a separate country, as part of a plan to make his pursuers think he's dead. Hawaii being a separate country within the setting means the movie could well be playing this trope straight.
• Run or Die: The basic premise of The Running Man… until Richards subverts it. The contestants are supposed to be helpless against the Stalkers, so when Richards manages to start killing them, it's unprecedented and the government even calls Killian to answer for it.
• Sadistic Game Show: And how! Seems the only kind of entertainment the government can think of involves bloody murder, if "The Running Man", the snippet of "Climbing for Dollars" and the poster for "The Hate Boat" we see behind Killian in the scene when he talks on the phone to a government representative ("you're not gonna get what you want with reruns of Gilligan's Island… yes, the one with the boat!") are to take at face value.
• The Scapegoat: Richards is blamed for the government-ordered massacre he tried to prevent.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Buzzsaw when Richards bisects him from the crotch up. He actually sounds like a soprano singer.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Killian's response to being reminded of his government contract telling him his show can't host military prisoners (though technically Richards is "at large" rather than a "prisoner") is to grab a phone and mutter how they'll get Richards for him if they want the ratings, and initially starts to call the Justice Department's "Entertainment Division" before he changes his mind and asks the operator to get him The President's agent instead.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Richards, when he refuses to fire on the unarmed crowd.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sven, the studio's head of security and Killian's bodyguard, realizes that he's been lied to and insulted one too many times and — when he is ordered to take out Richards, leaves the studio.
• See You in Hell: One of the officers in the helicopter told Richards "And I'll see you in hell" before knocking him out with his shotgun.
• Shackle Seat Trap: The reclining sled used to launch Runners into the kill zone has automatic ankle and wrist restraints.
• Shock and Awe: Dynamo is equipped with a pair of electric launchers that fire deadly electrical currents at its target.
• Shout-Out:
  Mic: Mr. Spock, you have the conn.
  Underground Technician: Who's 'Mr. Spock'!?
• Show Within a Show: The TV show.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Killian is the only villain to give a snappy comeback to Arnold's Catchphrase "I'll be back".
  Killian: Only in a rerun.
• Silent Snarker: Sven doesn't talk at all until near the end when he leaves Killian to Richard by saying he needs to score some steroids (mocking Killian's earlier insult about steroids making him deaf). But several of his scenes before that hint at him having a dry wit, such as raising an eyebrow with an amused expression when Richards stabs the attorney in the back with his pen (while uttering yet another quip), and then upon being ordered to show Captain Freedom out after the latter refuses to fight Richards, he gives the man a look before raising his hand in an "after you" gesture.
• Simple, yet Awesome: Captain Freedom prefers to fight with his bare hands, following the code of the gladiator, and the moment Killian tries to make him work again as a Stalker with an (admittedly ridiculous-looking) armored gimmick, Captain Freedom quits, but he is a legendary and much beloved Stalker for a reason. If the simulated fight Killian and his production team set up to have Richards and Amber "killed" on-camera is exactly how Captain Freedom did his kills, then the "awesome" part is quite justified in retrospective.
• Sinister Scythe: Subzero's razor sharp hockey stick is effectively a scythe.
• Sissy Villain: Killian. He's the movie's Non-Action Big Bad, and upon seeing the footage of Richards escaping from prison, he really admires his appearance in a manner that borders on Eating the Eye Candy, commenting "Hello, gorgeous!" and asking "Look at that mother move, huh? Is he beautiful?", on top of addressing to him as "Cutie Pie" when they meet in person.
• Slut-Shaming: The network doesn't have any real dirt on Amber, though a quick search of her apartment would reveal black market clothing and banned music tapes (though that might not be considered very "exciting" for the masses), so among her foibles, they claim that she'd been sleeping with as many as two or three different men a year before she met her "lover" "Mad Dog" Ben Richards.
• Smarmy Host: Damon Killian.
• Smash to Black: The scene goes black after a co-pilot knocks Richards out in the opening scene.
• Snuff Film: The whole gameshow is basically this, as numerous "contestants" have been Killed Off for Real. Even worse, most of the populace seems fine with this.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Ben Richards, in the biggest of the film's many, many changes from the novel. Captain Freedom could also qualify, as his novel counterpart, Evan McCone, does die after fighting Richards, but manages to wound Richards fatally during that confrontation.
• Spotting the Thread: Amber does it twice. When she and her co-worker see Richards being marched off to the Running Man studio in all his muscley glory, her co-worker wonders what would stop a man like that from doing whatever he wanted to Amber, something that makes her stop and think: if Richards really is the psychopath they're making him out to be, why didn't he hurt her? Second, and more crucially, is when she sees the broadcast claiming that Richards went on a bloody rampage at the airport, which she knows isn't true. This causes her to start tugging at the loose ends, and she ultimately helps unravel the whole thing.
• Standard Snippet: Dynamo chases Richards with his buggy with a synthesizer version of Ride of the Valkyries playing, plus Dynamo's actor (Erland Van Lidth De Jeude) himself singing a bit.
• The Stinger: The show's announcer does a voice-over at the end of the credits, listing the game's sponsors and inviting people to participate by sending in their name and address, "then go out and do something really despicable!"
• Stock Footage: The doctored footage of the Bakersfield Massacre uses gunship footage from King Kong (1976).
• Stupid Evil: If Killian hadn't been such an asshole to Sven, he might have at least tried to protect Killian from Richards, instead of just leaving him to his fate.
• Swiss-Cheese Security: Richards and his friends manage to escape from the labor camp mainly thanks to Weiss spying the codes of the Explosive Leashes' perimeter from the laptop of a guard doing his job in the open where prisoners work. Also applies to Amber easily sneaking into the secret ICS room where she gets the unedited footage of the Bakersfield Massacre before being caught.
• Take That!: The Stalkers may be that to professional wrestlers, even as far back as The '80s. They all have a stage name and a gimmick but are highly performative and focus on spectacle rather than combat prowess, mirroring common criticisms of televised professional wrestling, several of them are even played by amateur professional wrestlers. This is actually called out by Captain Freedom who bemoans the use of flashy high-tech gadgets and prefers to fight “old school”.
• Technobabble: If you pay attention to it going in the background during unrelated scene, the contract the attorney is reading to Richards is full of utterly nonsensical jargon, barely law-related.
• Throw a Barrel at It: Ben Richards does it to Fireball. It doesn't do much aside from slow him down.
• Token Good Teammate: Captain Freedom is the only Stalker who cares about the "code of the gladiator". While the other Stalkers are psychopaths only focused on killing the Runners, Captain Freedom wants to take on Runners in a fair fight. The fact that Killian makes Captain Freedom fight Ben Richards in power armour rather than with his bare hands is what causes Captain Freedom to walk off the show.
• Too Dumb to Live: Downplayed for humor with the "Court-Appointed Theatrical Agent." While escorting Richards — who, for all he knows, is a mass-murdering psychopath with nothing to lose at this point — the Agent requires Richards to sign a contract (and rights waiver). As Richards fumbles to sign the contract in mid-air, the agent tells Richards to use his back as a desk and calls him "victim". Richards signs, and promptly pins the contract to the guy's back with the pen. Handing a murderous lunatic a sharp object, turning your back on him, and outright telling him to point it at the back of your ribcage while insulting him is definitely a faulty survival instinct, and it's only Richards' decidedly non-psychopathic nature that saves the agent from playing this trope straight.
• Trashcan Bonfire: During the outdoor scenes in the area where the poor citizens live, oil cans with flames inside appear in the scenes when the protagonists first arrive and when the crowds are betting on the game.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Made in 1987, but starts in 2017.^note The societal collapse happened in 2017, while Richards' escape presumably takes place in 2019 after 18 months from the Bakersfield massacre. Of course, since 2017 has come and gone, that makes it Alternate History now.
• Unskilled, but Strong: The Stalkers are all physically imposing and armed with high-tech thematic weapons but, with the exception of Captain Freedom, none of them seem to be particularly skilled at fighting. Essentially the Stalkers are glorified executioners who rely heavily on their various gimmicks and are used to hunting terrified, unarmed fugitives. As soon as they are confronted by the police-trained Combat Pragmatist, Richards, he usually dispatches them in short order.
• Unwinnable by Design: While searching an abandoned area, Amber finds a trio of corpses bearing the name tags of the men who had been shown on video celebrating winning the previous year's game. It hits her that no one has ever truly "won" The Running Man; the victories have been faked to give the masses false hope in the rule of law.
  Amber: These… these are last season's winners.
  Fireball: No. Last season's losers.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Another possible hiding place for that footage. (See Ass Shove.) In Amber's words, when asked about it:
  Amber: [Smirks] That's none of your business.
• Villain Ball: Killian backstabs Richards and puts his fellow escapees on the show even after promising Richards that he would not. This is ultimately his undoing. Without Weiss and Laughlin, Richards never would have found the hideout and escaped the arena. Without Richards, the stalkers would have massacred the rebels immediately.
• Villain Respect: Captain Freedom has one for Ben Richards, believing he's a Worthy Opponent who should be taken on with his bare hands rather than underhanded tricks.
• Villainous Friendship: Fireball seems to be on good terms with the other Stalkers. As Fireball watches the screen, he urges Buzzsaw to kill Richards "for Subzero" and seems subdued when Richards turns the tables on Buzzsaw.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Killian and the Stalkers, initially. In reality, the Stalkers are (almost all) despicable psychopaths, while Killian is an abusive and corrupt Bad Boss. Both carefully keep their dark sides off camera, and the viewers love them.
• We Can Rule Together: Not quite, but same idea. When Killian realizes that Richards is tougher than his Stalkers, he offers him a job as a Stalker. Richards, having just watched one of his friends die and learning the other has also died, refuses. (Well, more like tells him where he can stick it, but it's still a refusal.)^note "I live to see you eat that contract! But I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to jam it into your stomach, and break your goddamn spine!"
• We Will Meet Again: "Only in a rerun."
• We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future: The government uses edited footage to frame Richards. Later, the producers edit footage of Richards being killed in an attempt to salvage his victory over the Stalkers. This winds up backfiring in the latter because they make Richards and Amber look weak compared to their actual selves in the game. When the rebellion manage to play the true tape of the massacre and Killian denies it being true, the crowd, particularly Agnes McArdle, an old lady who rooted for Richards, turn against him because they've seen Richards in action and know what he's like by now.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Dynamo's suit short-circuits when sprayed with water.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Each of the Stalkers has a unique weapon based on their particular gimmick.
  • Sub Zero uses a sharpened hockey stick and explosive pucks, while skating around a hockey rink.
  • Buzzsaw prefers chainsaws. He's seen carrying three around at a time, but only tends to use one.
  • Dynamo uses a Lightning Gun to deliver Shock and Awe to his opponents. As seen with Amber, he also has a non lethal option.
  • Fireball uses a combination of Jetpack and flamethrower.
  • While we don't get to see Captain Freedom in action, except during faked footage, he was well known for preferring to fight unarmed. He's insulted when Killian tries to get him to go after Richards wearing Powered Armor and storms off.
• What a Drag: During the fight against Buzzsaw, the Stalker lassoes Richards and drags him behind his dirtbike. This backfires when Richards manages to get loose enough to snag the lasso on a piece of rubble, which snaps it taut when Buzzsaw drives too far away and sends him hurtling off his bike when it suddenly stops and inertia kicks in.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Captain Freedom. He walks out partway through the film because he becomes bitter about what the game has become. Granted, it's very anticlimactic, but serves as possible Foreshadowing for Sven doing the same thing later at a key moment.
  • Dozens of prisoners escape from the labor camp during the second scene, but only Ben, Weiss, and Laughlin are ever seen or mentioned again.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: The color combination of Subzero's hockey gear and when his blood forms a red stain on the white frozen floor after Ben slashes his throat.
• Who's Laughing Now?: Awesomely thrown back in Dynamo's face by Amber, of all people.
  Dynamo: Thought it was pretty funny out in the zone, didn't you? What's the matter, bitch? Why aren't you laughing?
  Amber: Because there's nothing funny about a dickless moron with a battery up his ass.
• Wicked Cultured: Dynamo the bruiser, the killer, the rapist, the opera singer…
• Win One for the Gipper: Fireball's line after Buzzsaw and Dynamo were sent to the game zone was, "Let's win one for the Zero!"
• Win Your Freedom: Other possible prizes include a trial by jury or a suspended sentence!
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Ben Richards. This actually gets him in a heap of trouble when he refuses to follow orders to mow down hungry protesters.
• Your Head A-Splode: Happens to any prisoner who tries to cross the "sonic deadline" perimeter while it's still active, courtesy of his collar. If Chico had just waited twenty more seconds at the beginning of the movie…
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Richards is convinced to participate in The Running Man to prevent his friends Laughlin and Weiss being sent in in his stead, where they wouldn't last five minutes. Of course, Killian doesn't keep his word.
• Zeerust: All over the place, particularly in the hairstyles and fashions (mullets and shoulder pads, for example, will apparently never go out of style). Lesser examples exist, such as the horribly dated graphics seen on all the in-universe computer screens and the pseudo-computeresque font used in the "KILLIAN IS LYING TO YOU" clip.