If you’re going to see only one version of The Running Man, it probably should be the 2025 remake. It’s far more loyal to the source material and has a more fully-realized world with more exciting action sequences. That said, there was one aspect of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film that not only surpasses the remake, but also the original novel by Stephen King.
Back when he was still using the pseudonym Richard Bachman, King released The Running Man in 1982. It tells the story of a dystopian future where wealth inequality in America is worse than ever and much of the poor cannot find work, including the protagonist, Ben Richards. In desperate need of cash to buy medicine for his sick child, Richards decides to compete in one of the government-sponsored game shows/reality shows that are constantly blaring on omnipresent television screens.
Image: Paramount/Everett Collection
Richards is chosen for The Running Man, a competition where you can earn a billion dollars if you survive for 30 days out in society while network-hired assassins known as “Hunters” try to kill you. The public at large is also entitled to prize money for reporting you or even killing you themselves.
Besides the ending, which I won’t spoil here, director Edgar Wright’s 2025 adaptation stays very close to the source material, whereas the 1987 film, directed by Paul Michael Glaser, changes a lot. For example, in the 1980s version, Richards is not an unemployed blue collar guy, but a police captain who refuses to fire on innocent civilians. He is then forced to compete in The Running Man, a game show where he must last three hours in the “Game Zone,” an abandoned section of Los Angeles where hunter after hunter tries to kill him.
By limiting the scope of the game show, the original film lost what was most compelling about the book, which is the contestant being on the run in the real world and unsure who to trust. Thankfully, that’s some of the best stuff in the 2025 film which features several action-packed sequences where Richards, played by Glen Powell, is cornered by a hunter and must find a way out. These scenes make the 2025 film feel like a fully-realized dystopian future, whereas the 1987 version feels very contained on a handful of grungy-looking sets.
Image: Tri-Star Pictures/Everett Collection
Ironically, both movies suffer from the same central flaw of an ill-defined main character that they try to establish with an abrupt, exposition-filled opening scene. In the 1987 version, the very first scene is Richards flying a helicopter and refusing to fire on civilians. In the 2025 film, Richards pleads with his ex-boss to rehire him while holding his sick baby, which offers an excuse to explain everything about the character in about two minutes. It’s as though both directors didn’t want to waste time by organically establishing the character, which makes him seem underbaked in each version.
Both movies have some fairly cheesy writing too. Schwarzenegger’s Richards is very quippy in a typically 1980s-action-movie kind of way. Whereas the 2025 film has several characters that speak in overly expository dialog that the movie never backs up. The worst example of this is Powell’s Ben Richards, who we’re told over and over again is an angry guy, but he doesn’t really seem like he is. It’s as though Powell was a miscast and the script is trying to overcompensate.
Still, despite its flaws, the 2025 film is way better and a pretty decent action flick, though it would have been made far better had it kept one big change the 1987 film made to the source material.
Image: Paramount/Everett Collection
In the book and the 2025 film, the big bad guy is Dan Killian, the executive producer of The Running Man who cares only about ratings. As far as King villains go, Killian is pretty generic — think less Pennywise and more that jerky prison guard who wet himself in The Green Mile. This role is played by Josh Brolin, who does a faithful job but doesn’t elevate the material.
In the 1987 version however, the renamed Damon Killian was made into the most compelling part of the entire film. Rather than have a generic evil producer, the film combined Killian with the host of The Running Man, Bobby Thompson (played competently by Colman Domingo in the 2025 movie). Merging these characters results in a sum greater than both of its parts, as it gave Killian a lot more to do and made him into a much more charming and deceptive character. The casting for the role was particularly ingenious: Glaser brought in the long-running host of Family Feud at the time, Richard Dawson. In the 1980s movie, Dawson plays what is basically a diabolical version of himself. He knows how to charm the old ladies in his audience, but also has no qualms with exploiting human lives for TV ratings.
While Dawson had some previous acting credits, by the mid 1980s he’d basically settled into being a game show host people tuned into on a daily basis. While game show host may not always be the most respected title in show business, it does take a very specific skill set, and charm is a big component. Because of that, it took some real balls for Dawson to risk his image at the time to play a two-faced villain who is both charming and hateful. Dawson is also totally convincing as Killian. You hate the guy, but also understand why old ladies love him.
Just imagine the surprise the 2025 film could have delivered had they employed the 2025 equivalent? What if the first thing Pat Sajak did after retiring from Wheel of Fortune was play an evil game show host? Or for that matter, what about Ryan Seacrest, Steve Harvey, or Drew Carey? I don’t know which of these guys has the acting chops to make such a turn, but it would have been downright shocking to see any of them pop up in a movie in such a capacity, which is precisely what happened in the 1987 version.
If only the rest of the 1987 film were as interesting as its villain, it might be a much more beloved entry into Schwarzenegger’s filmography, instead of competing for the bottom along with Junior and any of the Terminator films after T2.
Both versions of The Running Man are now streaming on Paramount Plus.
