With the brand new Edgar Wright re-adaptation about to drop on Friday, we decided to revisit the OG 1987 movie, itself an adaptation of the “Richard Bachman” novel, itself the pseudonym that Stephen King wrote his non-horror novels under, something he managed to keep secret for over a decade and hysterically the person who secured the movie rights to the book had no idea it was King!!!
We deep dive into this history, then talk at length about the movie’s themes and whether or not they resonate today (we did NOT agree on this point!) A man falsely accused of crimes forced to fend for his life on a televised game show where the stakes are life and death all for the entertainment of the passive masses…that sure sounds pretty resonate today, doesn’t it?
And in broad strokes, it absolutely is. But the devil is in them details.
Written by Steven E De Souza (Die Hard, Commando, 48 Hrs., and Street Fighter which is his masterpiece, I will brook no disagreement on that front!), directed by - of all people - Paul Michael Glaser the actor who plays Starsky in Starsky & Hutch! And bursting with the star-studded cast of Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Dawson (in the role of his life!), Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, the incredible Erland Van Lidth, Professor Toru Tanaka, with Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa.
Chapters
1:57 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
3:07 Richard Bachman / Stephen King
7:32 George Linder and The Running Man
11:29 Screenwriter Steven E De Souza
12:52 Casting the Film
14:20 The Many Directors of Running Man
23:37 Final Cast - With Two Standouts!
26:48 Release and Legacy
36:12 Dallas’ Love Take
41:44 Dave’s Hate Take
49:49 Dallas’ Wine Pairing
56:31 Dave’s Cider Pairing
1:02:20 Bonus Pairing - Riunite is BACK! We Love the Shit!
1:05:22 Final Thoughts
1:08:12 Wrap-Up!
1:11:55 Outtakes!
1:13:28 Wine Trivia Answer!
The Pairings
Dallas’ Wine Pairing
The history of the winery suggests that it owes its name and profile to a moment in Claifornia’s history when one William B. Ide presided over the “California Republic”, a rebellious and independent nation that in 1846 existed for 25 tense days between Mexican and American territories. The moment would be called “California’s Ide”.
This film has a certain grip to it that makes it rewachable and entertaining. It is not, by any means, a great film. But the structure beneath it is lofty and what it is attempting to do or rather, what it seems to be attempting to do is alert the masses that this reality is not exactly the stuff of pure fiction.
Again, I think this film is a bit out of it’s time in the sense that its message seems as if it would be much more platable to the audiences of today, given their consumption patterns.
In this wine you get all the things you’d expect from this profile, there’s the black fruit, some hinted licorice and even some toasted bread and a bit of spice on the palate.
All in all, it is wonderfully pleasant and doesn’t require a great deal of time to open up. It’s a great drinker and I think the film is solidly entertaining. The ABV sits at 14% and it, like the film is kinda quirky fun.
Ide Lamplighter 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County
Dave’s Cider Pairing
So this movie is dumb. It wasn’t fun for me. It wasn’t entertaining. The plot is nothing but a series of convenient set-ups and payoffs. The way a single hero and a small band of resistance fighters just dismantle an entire misinformation system by pirating the airwaves for a handful of minutes is so quaint and non-believable in 2025 as to be a poor finale.
Police and security guards rush out into the open to be picked off by Schwarzenegger and Co. while the heroes stand feet planted out in the open and no bullet ever hits them. They get revenge on the game show host without actually touching the underlying machinery that made him possible. The action is WWF mouth-breathing idiocy, unexciting, slow, lumbering, meat-headed. It’s dumb and annoyed the absolute shit out of me. Everything about this movie annoyed the absolute shit out of me.
But the movie is excessive. It’s a lot of a lot. It isn’t deep or complex or thought-provoking. Even superficially the themes are barely there, barely functioning. While I watched it, I completely forgot to drink anything. I just watched it in slack-jawed disgust until it was over.
So, look, I won’t say “don’t watch this”. Many of you are going to love the dumb or see the “smart” because YOU are too smart and filling in all its blanks on its behalf. So when you do see this, and/or if you enjoy this film for all the reasons I don’t, I think the following will be a solid pairing:
Cider.
Get one that isn’t too sweet, a Cider that’s largely dry, but not too dry. A touch a sweetness. The movie itself isn’t sweet, it isn’t saccharine or particularly fun. It’s mostly what I’d consider a beer movie, which tells you what I tink about beer. But I wouldn’t drink something I didn’t like to pair with this - you NEED something nice to counteract the pain.
So since this is beer-dumb in all the 1980’s California / Hollywood ways of the time, I picked a Cali cider - though if you’re east coast maybe look for a Maine cider to honor the Stephen King roots of the story - Golden State “Mighty Dry” Cider, which is a mostly dry cider, 6.1% ABV, the slightest touch of sweetness to make it nicer / more sippable. They also make a “Brut” Bone Dry cider, 6.9% ABV, fermented with champagne yeast but that is way too refined for this piece of shit, so don’t do that.
In fact, the IDEAL cider from Golden State is their “Jamaican” cider, which also retains a touch of sugar but then is infused with Jamaican hibiscus for a tart / bitter element as well. I personally would want the slight bitter element to challenge me. To keep the drink from being too pleasant. YMMV.
So what do YOU think of the 1987 RUNNING MAN? Do you love it? Hate it? And why? Are you planning to see the remake?
And what would YOU drink while watching it to match its energy, style, tone, content, and themes?
