Visible crew/equipment: In one of the scenes where Arnold is running through piles of debris an explosion behind him causes him to fly through the air. The mechanism that launches him in the air can clearly be seen flipped up from the ground.
The Running Man (1987)
Plot summary
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Maria Conchita Alonso
Ben Richards is a former soldier, wrongly accused of slaughtering 1500 innocent people at a food riot. After escaping from prison with his friends, Laughlin and Weiss, he comes back to his apartment for some clothes, but finds a woman named Amber living there. He takes her hostage, but she turns him in at the airport. After being recaptured, Richards is given a choice: He may return to prison, or compete on "the most popular show in the whole, wide world": The Running Man, a show where criminals must escape from several "Stalkers" to earn pardons. Given that choice, Richards chooses the game show. Upon arriving, he finds that Laughlin and Weiss have also been captured and chosen to compete. As the prisoners are launched into the game zone (not before Richards promises the show's host, Killian, "he'll be back"), the Stalkers enter: Subzero, dressed as a hockey goalie with a sword shaped like a hockey stick, Buzzsaw, a motorbike rider with his namesake as a weapon, Dynamo, an opera singer with an electric shock blaster and electric car, and Fireball, with his flamethrower and jet pack ready to destroy. As the game escalates dangerously, Richards' goal becomes not only to prove his innocence, but to survive.
Laughlin: Who the hell is this?
Ben Richards: She's the one who turned me in at the airport. Guess this is her reward.
Amber: Oh, go ahead. Make jokes. It's all your fault I'm here. They think I'm helping you out. They even think I'm your girlfriend.
Ben Richards: I can straighten that out. You see that camera up there? I'll strangle you in front of the whole audience.
Question: At the very beginning of the movie, Ben refuses to fire on anyone even though he was under orders to do so. I can understand him being court-martialed for this but, why would they alter the video to show him killing innocent people with orders not to? And why send him to prison for allegedly killing innocent civilians?
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Answer: They needed a scapegoat, someone to blame. The government controlled the people through violence, but at the same time tried to convince the people the government was fair (i.e. Runners who made it through were given their freedom when in fact they never left the arena alive). The people at Bakersfield were still massacred (that part wasn't made up) by the government in order to control the riot, but just not by Ben. But people would just riot more if they knew the government ordered their killing, so the footage was faked to make people think Ben acted alone and against orders. And to continue the ruse, they convicted him to appease the people and prevent them from rioting.
Bishop73