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Changes are bound to be made when adapting an author’s work for the big screen, but 1987’s “The Running Man” is an entirely different beast.<\/a> The 1982 novel from Stephen King, published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, is a bleak piece of dystopian science fiction in which a desperate man named Ben Richards signs up for the demented game show to pay for his daughter’s medicine. It’s an ongoing game of survival that spills out into the totalitarian world at large. In the ’87 film, however, Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a former police officer who’s incarcerated after refusing to fire on civilians, with the rigged “Running Man” game show serving as his only escape. The “American Gladiators”-inspired hunt is largely relegated to an underground Los Angeles arena known as the Game Zone, where a whole bunch of crazy costumed hunters named Stalkers are dispatched to fight him. Plot differences aside, the film is an overblown ’80s action film first and a dystopian satire second.<\/p>\n Paul Michael Glaser’s “The Running Man” will never be remembered among Schwarzenegger’s best, but it’s still a goofy good time with corny one-liners, dynamic colors, and an operatic Tron-jan man named Dynamo (Erland van Lidth) who can shoot lightning bolts out of his hands. I’m also enamored with the bloodthirsty old ladies in the studio audience, whom \/Film’s Danielle Ryan also agrees are one of the best parts of the film.<\/a> There’s always something going on in the background, whether it be some really rowdy extras or a faux television show called “Climbing for Dollars,” where a contestant is tasked with evading a bunch of ruthless dogs for cash. But the best easter egg features a whole bunch of joke credits for the in-universe “Running Man” show that’s hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n