Continuity mistake: In the scene after the prison break, we see Richards, Weiss and Laughlin walking through the city. On the big television screen there is a commercial for The Running Man game show. The footage they feature on the commercial is footage from the episode Richards is in. How could they show footage from that episode if it has not taken place yet?
The Running Man (1987)
Plot summary
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Maria Conchita Alonso
Ben Richards is a former soldier, wrongly accused of slaughtering 1500 innocent people at a food riot. After escaping from prison with his friends, Laughlin and Weiss, he comes back to his apartment for some clothes, but finds a woman named Amber living there. He takes her hostage, but she turns him in at the airport. After being recaptured, Richards is given a choice: He may return to prison, or compete on "the most popular show in the whole, wide world": The Running Man, a show where criminals must escape from several "Stalkers" to earn pardons. Given that choice, Richards chooses the game show. Upon arriving, he finds that Laughlin and Weiss have also been captured and chosen to compete. As the prisoners are launched into the game zone (not before Richards promises the show's host, Killian, "he'll be back"), the Stalkers enter: Subzero, dressed as a hockey goalie with a sword shaped like a hockey stick, Buzzsaw, a motorbike rider with his namesake as a weapon, Dynamo, an opera singer with an electric shock blaster and electric car, and Fireball, with his flamethrower and jet pack ready to destroy. As the game escalates dangerously, Richards' goal becomes not only to prove his innocence, but to survive.
More mistakes in The Running Man
Dynamo: Thought it was pretty funny out there in the zone. What's the matter now, bitch? Why aren't you laughing?
Amber: Because there's nothing funny about a dickless moron with a battery up his ass.
Trivia: When Killian is talking about the next possible contestant, he points out he's 120 pounds and wouldn't last 30 seconds. This is somewhat making fun of how they used Arnold Schwarzenegger to portray Ben Richards. In the book "The Running Man" (which has a very different structure), Ben Richards is described as "scrawny", the complete opposite of Arnold.
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?
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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