Episode 163 - The Running Man

[SomeDreamsShouldBeThrownBack 7]

 

The box sure looks like a board game from its dimensions...

...but is it? If it is, why does Killian call it the "home version"?

 

That was a pretty standard line on game shows back then -- winners would get "the home version" of Jeopardy, Family Feud, etc. The joke being, what the hell would the home version of this game even be? The movie is definitely in on that joke.

 

So many omissions!

 

This is one of those movies with that amazing mix of "future-tech" where the filmmakers tried to be forward-thinking about what might exist in 2019, but not very consistently. So in the 32-year distant future, we have exploding head collars, keypad doors, and home automation where Maria Conchito Alonzo can just say "coffee," but the coffee is still brewed in a shitty old Mr. Coffee, and she still has an answering machine. And in the legal contract Arnie signs before jamming the pen in the lawyer's back (I can't believe no one mentioned that poor guy!) he is signing away his rights to "video tapes, bubble chips, and all other forms of recordings known or unknown." They went straight from video tapes to bubble chips? And how the fuck is a bubble chip even a recording medium? But it is funny.

 

Maria Conchito Alonzo's name is way too long. And if you say her initials, you get M.C. A. How did Jason miss that one?

 

To continue: M.C. A took over the apartment from Arnold's brother, but she never changed the door code? Especially with that shitty password 4 4 5 5 6 6, which I only know because there is this deliberate insert shot of Arnold slowly keying it in. I guess it was important for us to see that?

 

I'd also like to know more about the WWF connections to this movie. Everybody is a wrestler. And if you go to Dynamo's IMDB page, it turns out that dude really was both an opera singer AND a wrestler! And sadly, he died in 1987, the same year this movie came out. It's too bad he never got to reap the benefits of his screen work as a flamboyant murdered and would-be rapist.

 

Which brings me to this simple fact: Electricity does not work that way.

 

I'm no scientist, but unless you're Palpatine, you can't just run around shooting lightning bolts at people. The electricity would just go straight into the earth, or whatever the closest grounded surface is. I remember seeing this movie as a kid and this part really bothered a friend of mine. I didn't care back then, but on rewatch it looks totally ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the idea that the same people who are into the bloodsport of The Running Man would be into opera.

 

Finally -- I had to rewind the beginning a few times to confirm that Arnold really says the following line to the resistance when they're taking off his explosive collar:

 

"I've seen too much? All I've seen is a bunch of low foreheads who think they can change the world with dreams and talk."

 

At first I thought I had the cleaned-up TV version, though I couldn't figure out what curse word even sounds like "low foreheads." But then after all the cursing later, I realized no, that's actually the line. Is "low foreheads" a really bad insult in Austria? Maybe the only thing worse than being called a "low forehead" is being called a "plain zero."

[SomeDreamsShouldBeThrownBack 7]

A big question I have is "How did the rebels cut footage of the dead winners (The Skeletons found in the locker room) edited into their video piece? Neither Arnie nor Maria Conchita Alonzo had a video camera on them and there definitely wouldn't have been security cameras in the room where they store the dead bodies.

The show clearly has cameras in there, because right after he's killed we cut to the audience watching his burning body. But I'm sure they knew not to broadcast the part where he tells everyone who the dead bodies were. It's all perfectly crafted.

 

It wouldn't matter anyway, because all the rebels show in their pirate broadcast are close ups of some mummies that they tell the home audience are whoever, Price and Haddad.

[Cam Bert 8145]

There was some confusion in this episode about the stalker named Buzzsaw. Throughout the episode I think at some point each of the hosts refer to him as "Chainsaw" this is a natural mistake because he wields a chainsaw for a weapon. This does beg the question why not call him "Chainsaw"? He has a chainsaw, not a buzzsaw. Buzzsaws have that distinct round circular shape and in no way can be confused for a chainsaw namely because it has no chain. I mean one could argue that the name Chainsaw is as frightening as Buzzsaw. Then again maybe it's strategy. People are expecting a buzzsaw and when they see the chainsaw they're confused and that's when he pounces!

[Smigg 1488]

 

I'd also like to know more about the WWF connections to this movie. Everybody is a wrestler. And if you go to Dynamo's IMDB page, it turns out that dude really was both an opera singer AND a wrestler! And sadly, he died in 1987, the same year this movie came out. It's too bad he never got to reap the benefits of his screen work as a flamboyant murdered and would-be rapist.

 

 

There isn't really a "WWF connection" to it, in terms that they didn't have any real input, Jesse Ventura and Toru Tanaka had already retired, and the WWF weren't anywhere near as strict as they are now when it comes to their talent appearing in other shows.

 

Arnold, however, is a very good friend to a lot of old school wrestlers, particularly Bruno Sammartino, who would train with Arnold, as they had both immigrated to America around the same time, Arnold even inducted Bruno into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013

[Wil Dride 121]

"Killian, it's the attorney general -- He just bought life insurance ..."

 

"What kind of workout clothes should she be wearing?"

"I don't know. How air just underwear. A teddy or something."

"Can we put her in a bra?!?"

"Wrong movie."

 

They undoubtedly score the stalkers on their performance, so Captain Freedom must've been the highest scoring stalker in the nation, for the year, ten times. Maybe just most kills, or whatever, or highest killing percentage.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

did ye hear the little post credit easter egg thing ... when the end credit song fades out the announcer comes back and starts reading out fake "the running man" sponsors and suppliers

 

starts at about the 4:40 mark. my favorite part is "if you'd like to be a running man contestant send a self addressed stamped envelope to "ICS talent hunt" care of your local affiliate and then go out and do something really despicable ..."

 

[Smigg 1488]

Kulap singing "Restless Heart" by John Parr has made me want HDTGM Karaoke, where the singer is pulled at random, and they have to sing a song from the soundtrack to end the episode.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Listened to the ep, I haven't seen the movie, and probably won't get to for a while, being that my homework tonight is to watch TIMECOP for tomorrow's show, but just a thought I had...

 

I hope you have a Blast! Take some pictures if you can

[tomspanks 9039]

Maria Conchita Alonso is definitely more cavalier with her security deposit than I ever was. She bolted her Solo Flex right into those hardwood floors.

 

Not only that, but she bolted it right in front of the tv. So if she wants to watch tv, she can't even move the contraption out of the way.

 

There was some confusion in this episode about the stalker named Buzzsaw. Throughout the episode I think at some point each of the hosts refer to him as "Chainsaw" this is a natural mistake because he wields a chainsaw for a weapon. This does beg the question why not call him "Chainsaw"? He has a chainsaw, not a buzzsaw. Buzzsaws have that distinct round circular shape and in no way can be confused for a chainsaw namely because it has no chain. I mean one could argue that the name Chainsaw is as frightening as Buzzsaw. Then again maybe it's strategy. People are expecting a buzzsaw and when they see the chainsaw they're confused and that's when he pounces!

 

Maybe because his hair had a sort of buzz cut?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Quick query about Arnold's worst pun ever: ""Here's Subzero! Now... plain zero!"

 

Isn't he giving Subzero a promotion? I mean, if you're using 'zero' as the pun, then something that's sub zero is lower than zero, and has to move up to hit zero. So, Subzero has been improved to just plain zero with his death.

 

Not well thought out there, Arnie.

[tomspanks 9039]

Quick query about Arnold's worst pun ever: ""Here's Subzero! Now... plain zero!"

 

Isn't he giving Subzero a promotion? I mean, if you're using 'zero' as the pun, then something that's sub zero is lower than zero, and has to move up to hit zero. So, Subzero has been improved to just plain zero with his death.

 

Not well thought out there, Arnie.

 

Unless he's referring to temperature and is saying that he's less "cool" now that he's dead?

[tomspanks 9039]

I thought it was fucked up that they changed Amber's Running Man uniform because she's a woman. They gave her a scoop neck since it's sexier, I assume?

 

 

 

Well, that sucks for her, because that's less material covering her skin. As seen below, Arnold received a wound on his chest, which would've been worse for Amber.

 

 

By the way, that wound on Arnie keeps appearing and disappearing out of order throughout the Subzero scene.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Maria Conchito Alonzo's name is way too long.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's is longer.

 

To continue: M.C. A took over the apartment from Arnold's brother, but she never changed the door code? Especially with that shitty password 4 4 5 5 6 6, which I only know because there is this deliberate insert shot of Arnold slowly keying it in. I guess it was important for us to see that?

 

To make the uplink code look better in comparison (while still being short enough to be memorized).

 

Almost as ridiculous as the idea that the same people who are into the bloodsport of The Running Man would be into opera.

 

Two words: Heavenly Creatures.

 

Plus opera and classical music in general has storylines more violent than the genre's hoity-toity reputation. The March to the Scaffold in Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique has the protagonist marched to the guillotine for a public execution for murder. And the music actually has sound effects for the blade slicing off his head and the decapitated head bouncing to the ground!

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Plus opera and classical music in general has storylines more violent than the genre's hoity-toity reputation. The March to the Scaffold in Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique has the protagonist marched to the guillotine for a public execution for murder. And the music actually has sound effects for the blade slicing off his head and the decapitated head bouncing to the ground!

 

Singing psychopaths makes me think of this scene.

 

[charles_richter 2]

Stephen King's book owes a great deal to the 1958 short story "The Prize of Peril," by Robert Sheckley, who had been playing around with the idea of legal hunter/hunted games for a few years. In his 1953 story "The Seventh Victim," anyone could join a game that would match you with a random hunter, who would be tasked with finding and killing you. If you survived (by killing your hunter), you got the chance to be a hunter yourself for a random prey. (If they filmed this today, there would surely by a Tinder-style app to make the matches.) "The Seventh Victim" was expanded into a series of three novels and adapted a a film starring Ursula Andress.

 

But "The Prize of Peril" added the element of live television to the hunt genre, and eerily predicted elements of reality television. The protagonist has already survived other, less-lethal programs such as race-car driving, bull fighting, and a man-shark battle royale. He finally competes in the big show, in which he is hunted down in a city by trained killers. Meanwhile, "good samaritans" can help him out with supplies or intel--an idea later lifted for Hungee Games. The whole game plot, though, is almost exactly what Stephen King used in the novella.

 

And finally, the end of the King's book is even more amazing than how it was described on the podcast: Ben Richards not only crashes the plane into the network building with his intestines hanging out, but he flies it right into Killian's office window. Killian looks up to see the plane coming at him--and through the windshield, Richards grinning and giving him the finger.

[pscudese 701]

Anyone else wondering how much the bookies lost at the end of that night?

 

I mean these poor guys!

 

Right after the cute lil old lady says Richards will make the next kill, we see a brave bettor yell out to place $200 on Richards. Then the bookies make Richards' odds at 100-1. That guy alone just won $20,000 and there were a ton more people placing bets on Ben.

 

Those guys are seriously in debt now.

 

 

[Smigg 1488]

Anyone else wondering how much the bookies lost at the end of that night?

 

I mean these poor guys!

 

Right after the cute lil old lady says Richards will make the next kill, we see a brave bettor yell out to place $200 on Richards. Then the bookies make Richards' odds at 100-1. That guy alone just won $20,000 and there were a ton more people placing bets on Ben.

 

Those guys are seriously in debt now.

 

 

 

What makes it even worse is the old lady. She is openly cheering for a guy who, to her knowledge, opened fire in an attack helicopter on unarmed people trying to get some food, in fact, she said he was a "bad motherfucker". Now it makes me wonder what she did when she watched the news.

 

I can just imagine her sat there at the start of the news, edge of her seat saying "C'mon, give nanna what she wants" to the TV. Then the anchor says "Gang violence has erupted in downtown Los Angeles", she loses her shit with excitment. I bet she has her grandkids bareknuckle fighting in the basement, taking bets from her book club... I hate old people.

[Smigg 1488]

I don't want to argue against Jason here, but I can't agree that Arnold was the original Katniss Everdeen, because the purpose of The Running Man wasn't to fight with the stalkers, it was to run away from them, hence the title "The Running Man", otherwise it would be called "The Fighty, Killy, Fuck People Up Man".

 

The original Katniss Everdeen, is Jack Conrad in "The Condemned", Stone Cold Steve Austin is the original Katniss Everdeen. The Condemned was released in 2007, the first Hungee Games book was released in 2008, blatent rip off.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JOFS4A2leo

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

"The Fighty, Killy, Fuck People Up Man".

 

100% would watch that reboot

[Smigg 1488]

 

100% would watch that reboot

 

"John Cena, Terry Crews, and Michael Cera star in... THE FIGHTY, KILLY, FUCK PEOPLE UP MAN!"

 

Let's get this made, people!

[ChunkStyle 1160]

 

What makes it even worse is the old lady. She is openly cheering for a guy who, to her knowledge, opened fire in an attack helicopter on unarmed people trying to get some food, in fact, she said he was a "bad motherfucker". Now it makes me wonder what she did when she watched the news.

 

 

I think the old lady is a good focus point for this movie's view on society as a whole. It is very grim. The opening text ends with "When high-tech gladiators are not enough to suppress the people's yearning for freedom..." That seems to say that the primary thing that makes people OK with living in a fascist police state is that they get to see an unarmed person run down and killed by stalkers every now and then. They are lied to and told the runners are criminals but regardless having their blood-lust sated is what is keeping them accepting of their situation. If this movie gets remade Alfonso Cuaron should direct it to really land the message.

[Smigg 1488]

 

I think the old lady is a good focus point for this movie's view on society as a whole. It is very grim. The opening text ends with "When high-tech gladiators are not enough to suppress the people's yearning for freedom..." That seems to say that the primary thing that makes people OK with living in a fascist police state is that they get to see an unarmed person run down and killed by stalkers every now and then. They are lied to and told the runners are criminals but regardless having their blood-lust sated is what is keeping them accepting of their situation. If this movie gets remade Alfonso Cuaron should direct it to really land the message.

 

Oddly enough, I jokingly mentioned The Condemned, but they actually do combat the issue of audience blood-lust directly. The Condemned had 10 Death Row convicts dropped on an island in the Pacific Ocean, and they have the fight to the death over three days, all 10 of them had explosive devices attached to their leg, so if they try anything, it blows up.

 

The "tournament" was broadcast over the internet to a worldwide audience that paid $40 to watch it. And the TV guy putting it on said "No, I don't feel anything. These are people who were going to die anyway", basically telling the audience "You're not a bad person for watching it, you're watching the bad people get what's coming to them."

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

I would totally support Lactaid coming on as a sponsor. I prefer this discussion to the SKYN condoms ads. (I mean, thanks for sponsoring the show, SKYN Condoms, but I hate you.)

 

Richard Dawson kissing the contestants on Family Feud always creeped me out a bit. I totally buy it from Ceaasr Flickerman though (Hungy Games reference!).

[H.P.Hovercraft 119]

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

never heard of these but looking at youtube this could be a weird couple of episodes