The Running Man (1987) - Quotes

Taglines: 2019. A game nobody survives. This year might be the exception.

Taglines: It is the year 2017. "The Running Man" is a deadly game no one has ever survived. But..... Schwarzenegger has yet to play.

Taglines: A game nobody survives. But Schwarzenegger has yet to play.

Taglines: The year is 2019. The finest men in America don't run for President. They run for their lives.

Damon Killian: [on video] And who loves you, and who do you LOVE?!

Studio Audience: KILLIAN!!!

Killian: [zoom in; zoom in further; "KILLIAN IS LYING TO YOU" appears on the screen] YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!

Audience member: Hey, what's going on?!

Killian: [on video; stills appear of the corpses that Amber found in the locker room] We don't lie - lie - lie... like our previous winners Whitman, Price, and Haddad. You remember them! There they are at this very moment, basking under the Maui sun, their debt to society paid in full. Watch that screen.

Dispatcher: [to Richards] Yankee Nine-Niner, what's the status of the crowd?

Ben Richards: Food riot in progress. Approximately 1,500 civilians. No weapons are evident.

Dispatcher: Proceed with Plan Alpha, eliminate anything moving.

Richards: I said the crowd is unarmed! There are lots of women and children down there. All they want is some food, for God's sake!

Dispatcher: As you were, Richards. Proceed with Plan Alpha. All rioters must be eliminated.

Richards: The hell with you! I will not fire at helpless human beings!

Dispatcher: You have your orders, Yankee Nine-Niner, proceed with Plan Alpha.

Tony: Where's it coming from?

Brenda: The network satellite.

Stevie: [menacingly] Don't touch that dial!

Richards: Abort mission. We return to base...

Dispatcher: Saunders, do you copy? Take command. Detain Richards and proceed as ordered.

Soldier: Richards, what the fuck are you doing?!

Killian: Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll please bear with us, we're experiencing technical difficulties!

Agnes McArdle: Bullshit!!

Richards: It's showtime!

Captain Freedom: Forget it, Killian, I won't do it!

Killian: It's not a request, moron, it's an order.

Captain Freedom: [strips off gear] I don't need this crap! This stuff is garbage! I was killing guys like this ten years ago with my bare hands! I'm not going for any of these tricks! This is a sport of death and honor, Code of the Gladiators!

Killian: Cap, will you spare me the combat Zen speech? What the hell's the matter with you? Can't you see what's going on out there? This isn't a game! They're betting on Richards up there!

Captain Freedom: Bullshit!

Killian: [to his bodyguard Sven; Sven stays still] Get out of here! Get him out of here! What's the matter? Steroids make you deaf? Get him out of here NOW!!

Amber Mendez: [checks dogtags] Whitman... Price.

Fireball: [appears just as Amber looks at Haddad's corpse; enters room] Haddad.

Mendez: They're Running Men. Last season's winners.

Fireball: No. Last season's losers.

Damon Killian: OK Agnes. Who do you think is going to make the next kill? Fireball or Dynamo?

Agnes McArdle: [thinks; Audience boos] Boy, that is a toughie. Umm...I am going to go with...Ben Richards.

Killian: Agnes, Ben Richards is a Runner. You have to elect a Stalker.

Agnes: I can vote for anyone I want and I endorse...Ben Richards. That boy is one mean motherfucker!

Bettor: [at street bookie; other bettors join the bidding; bookie shrugs shoulders and sets up the board at RICHARDS: 100-1] Two hundred dollars for Richards!!!!

Buzzsaw: Richards, I love this saw. The saw is a part of me and I am going to make it part of you!!

Ben Richards: [moves chainsaw away from face and positions it between Buzzsaw's legs; shoves chainsaw up through Buzzsaw, who shrieks in pain before he dies] That's all right, keep it!

Amber Mendez: [rejoins Richards as they walk away] What happened to Buzzsaw?

Richards: He had to split.

Damon Killian: [audience laughs] You know how this works. The game zone is divided into four hundred square blocks, left over from the big quake of 97, and I don't think any of us will ever forget that. Once inside the zone, the Runners have three hours, they've got to go through all four game quads, three hours or less, and they're gonna need every second, cause you know who's on their tail?

Studio Audience: The Stalkers!

Killian: Who?!

Studio Audience: THE STALKERS!!!

Killian: And you know what happens then!!

Studio Audience: Anything goes!

Killian: What?!

Studio Audience: ANYTHING GOES!!!

Killian: [goes back up the stage; faces audience with arms up high] Right! Without further ado, it's time to start... RUNNING!!

Killian: [to Richards] On your marks! Get set!...

Ben Richards: [[w:I'll be back|I'll be back] Killian! ].

Killian: [pauses; softly; loudly; Richards' sled launches; Laughlin's sled launches] Only in a rerun. GO!! GO!!

Laughlin: You son of a bitch!

Killian: [Weiss's sled launches] GO!! YES!!

Damon Killian: [On the phone getting chewed out by government officials for the death of Subzero; [Gilligan's Island; Hums a few bars from "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island"] Yes, I know a Stalker died. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Well, it IS a contact sport. Now look, you people at the Justice Department cannot have it both ways! You hired me to entertain. If you want to keep the people away from tax revolts, food riots, and bread lines and parked in front of their TVs? Well, you ain't gonna get that with reruns of ]!...Gilligan's Island?...You know!...'...Yes, the one with the boat!

Ben Richards: [rips camera off the wall and speaks into it to Killian, who just offered him a job as a Stalker; smashes camera] You cold-blooded bastard! I'll tell you what I think of it. I'll live to see you eat that contract! But I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and BREAK YOUR GODDAMN SPINE!