The Running Man

Question: How is Ben able to enter his brother's old apartment, now occupied by a single young woman, and still be able to shave off his beard and find a change of clothes?

Answer: When Ben is walking to the apartment door, he has a huge case with him which is big enough to hold clothes and even shaving equipment. Ben entered the door code into the keypad which unlocked the door so the code was never changed.

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?

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

Question: What exactly is the re-education that people keep talking about?

Answer: As this is a totalitarian government, they would re-educate (reprogram) its citizens into whatever social and political beliefs they advocate. This would allow them to better control the population and prevent dissension and rebellion.

raywest

Question: Has Stephen King ever commented on this film? It's an enjoyable film in it's own right but the only thing it has in common with the book is the title and some character names.

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: Several movies (The Lawnmower Man, Maximum Overdrive, The Running Man, etc.) have been made from King stories that bear little or no resemblance to the original story. King has commented that this is unfortunate but normal movie-making.

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.

More mistakes in The Running Man

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.

More quotes from The Running Man

Trivia: As Killian is addressing the crew, watch the end credits on the monitor over his left shoulder. The entire list is totally nonsensical.

Movie Nut

More trivia for The Running Man

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