The images above belong to their respective owners, not me
Hello Enthusiasts,
Today I will be trying a different kind of post, where I examine book-based movies and compare them to their written counterparts. I will start this new installment with The Running Man.
The book was written by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, and was released in 1982. The film version was released in 1987, directed by Paul Michael Glaser, and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, the main character of both versions of the story. The name of the story and the main character are basically where the similarities end though, as these are wildly different stories. As a head's up, there are Spoilers Below.
First, the movie's story, for those who haven't seen it. Ben Richards was a helicopter pilot for the police, who is wrongfully accused of firing into a crowd of starving civilians that are rioting for food. Richards goes to prison, escapes with the help of some of the other convicts, only to get caught again. Richards is convinced to participate in the game show, The Running Man, a show where convicted felons are hunted down in a battlefield-like setting. The contestants are pursued by the stalkers, a group of killers employed by the show, who all have their own gimmicks to use as they murder. Any contestant who survives the game not only gets pardoned, but gets to go live in paradise. Richards survives the show and exposes that the winners are actually killed and get stuffed in the battlefield somewhere, where nobody would dare to look. The movie also includes an unconvincing romance, tied in with some fun action scenes.
The book, on the other hand, has Ben Richards volunteering for The Running Man, which pays out to a winner an award of one billion dollars. Richards volunteers so he can afford for his daughter to go to the doctor without his wife having to sell herself as a prostitute. Rather than a battlefield, contestants are released into the world, which is a run-down future reminiscent of Soylent Green, able to run wherever they want to avoid the hunters. However, there is a prize for anyone who calls and turns in a contestant, so it's a constant effort for Richards to hide who he is from pretty much everyone. During the story, Richards uncovers a conspiracy that the games like The Running Man are being used to distract the everyday workers from the fact that they are being slowly killed by the polluted air.
The very basis of the book really seems more appealing to me; I would be much more afraid of regular other people turning me in than the over-the-top stalkers of the movie. It's a great idea to have to use street smarts to survive when you're being actively hunted. King makes Richards a bit smarter than a lot of the other people on the streets, most of whom are illiterate. Richards can be clever and funny, but also a complete jerk, which is understandable given his situation. He doesn't respect the authority, but none of the poor folks do, and it's this connection to them that helps Richards out at certain points.
However, the action of the film is fun, and we of course get a couple of really good Schwarzenegger lines. It's all the over-the-top action that one would expect from one of his movies in the 80's. On top of that, Richard Dawson plays the host of the show, Damon Killian, which is funny to see since he was portrayed as such a kind guy when he was hosting Family Feud. There's also the fun of having Jesse Ventura as a former stalker, though he doesn't fight Ben Richards like some of the other stalkers do. Really, when it comes down to it, it's the cast of the movie that holds this one up, as it would be a somewhat dry story otherwise.
In the end, neither of these are bad, but they are very different. Each one has its own merits, but if I had to pick one as the better version of the story, I would say the book wins out. This movie would have tanked without it's cast, whereas the book holds itself up as an engaging story that kept me glued to the page.
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
No comments:
Post a Comment