You guys are awesome. Not sure if you guys ever seen the movie “Big Trouble in Little China” but it’s a great movie from the 80s. Put it this way, there would be no “Mortal Kombat” video games if it wasn’t for this movie. It’s starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter. Literally the creators of Mortal Kombat took inspiration from this movie. Raiden and Shang Tsung were created because of this movie. Just wanted to make a request not sure if this is the proper way.
This movie had a huge resurgence when the Hunger Games came out. Battle Royale is another movie that people kept bringing up when talking about The Hunger Games. I'm kind of new to your channel so maybe you've already done Battle Royale but if you haven't you totally should.
He played hands down the biggest badass blaxploitation villain ever as Harvard Blue in 'Truck Turner', with Isaac Hayes playing the titular hero. He's legit scary in that role, how stone cold gangster he is.
I'm a little older, and grew up watching a lot of the movies you watch on this channel. It's awesome to be able to re-live them for the first time, in a way, by watching you guys see these movies with fresh eyes. Love the channel guys, keep it up.
Steroid guard was the guy in Conan that gets the spike trap to the chest during the last fight. The big bad guy with the hammer. He was a bodybuilder friend of Arnold's named Sven-Ole Thorsen who has been in a ton of movies as small roles. Including the Hunt for Red October as a crewman on the Russian sub.
He was also in Predator I think as the guy who shot the prisoner and got blown out the window by Arnie. He was also in Hard Target, Gladiator (as tigris) and the security guard in Mallrats.
R.I.P. Jim Brown, the guy who played Fireball in this movie. He passed away in May this year at age 87. His NFL career as a running back for the Cleveland Browns lasted 9 years... pretty impressive, since the average NFL career is about 3 years.
Damon's bodyguard is also played by Sven Ole Thorson, world champion strongman and Arnold's body double who did a lot of work as his stunt work, becoming his official stand-in.
Based on a short story by Stephen King, and the host is Richard Dawson, who hosted the family feud for a long time. Great movie, probably one of my top 5 Arnold movies.
Absolutely. Are you a fan of the short story? I like it but LOVE the movie. Just curious. I think it is cool that you knew it was based on a short story by Richard Bachman (Stephen King). A lot of people don't know that and didn't know it at the time. I didn't know until years later after seeing it.
I knew Richard Dawson from Hogan's Heroes before he ended up on Family Feud. When I saw this I knew it was action comedy. Any death or 'gore' scenes didn't even create a somber mood.
The actor that played Dynamo, Erland van Lidth, was also an opera singer. That is his singing. Unfortunately he died a few months after he finished filming. Another great, funny film he was in is "Stir Crazy", with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
That great host is Richard Dawson. He was the original host of the Family Feud. He hosted for about 10 years. Before that he was a panelist on the Match Game. Before that he was a regular on a sketch comedy series called Laugh-In. Before that he starred in a drama series called Hogan's Heroes. He was actually very talented and very well loved. Famous (or infamous) for basically kissing hello most of the female contestants on his show. He would ask women to tell him backstage in advance if they didn't want to be kissed. Anyway, he's just basically being the evil version of his game-show host self in this.
Another fun fact. The guy who takes off the collars in the beginning (Mic), was played by Mick Fleetwood from the band Fleetwood Mac and his young sidekick (Stevie), was played by Dweezil Zappa, son of singer Frank Zappa.
Fun fact: this was actually made not only after The Terminator and Commando, but the same exact year as Predator! That's right, Arnold was such a hot commodity by 1987, he was making more than one film a year! Vince McMahon was trying like hell to get him at Wrestlemania back then because he was basically the biggest action star in Hollywood at the time. They finally got him to appear at a Smackdown taping in '99, where he was crowned "World Heavyweight Box Office Champion." He was actually awarded a custom belt and beat up Triple H outside the right during the main event...and of course the crowd went wild!!! Nice vid. Thanks. :)
Killians body guard is played by Sven-Ole Thorsen. There is only one guy that has done more Arnold movies than him, and that is Arnold. Whenever you watch an Arnold movie, try to do a find Waldo (Thorsen). This was one of the easier to spot.
Featuring the late, great Yaphet Kotto. Fun Fact: At one point, Kotto was on the short list for the role of Captain Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Interesting because I heard Picard was originally written to be a swashbuckler type almost a extreme version of Kirk that's why when they picked Patrick Stuart people in production were surprised
"Hey Killian, here's SubZero, now plain Zero!" "Over here, Christmas tree!" "You guys don't shut up, I'll uplink your ass, then you'll be underground." "Hey Cutie pie, one of us is in big trouble." "Well, that hit the spot." "Hey, Killian. I'll be back." "What a hothead." "Where's Buzzsaw?" "He had to split."
Those are what make me cringe, and the one thing I dislike about. They all sound like they were written by someone else. Any line that Arnold could have ad-libbed would have been so much better.
Arnold (who has and always was great delivering one liners and quips, great comedic timing) is so funny in this movie and while everyone remembers "I'll be back" from Terminator, this version is my favourite especially with it being followed up with "only in a rerun"
The huge main guard at the end also was in Gladiator. He played the retired gladiator that fought Maximus. But was defeated but Maximus didn't kill him. He just damaged his foot badly. He was also one of the brothers barbarians in Conan the Barbarian. He was Arnold stunt man in some of his movies too. He's passed away too.
THANK YOU FOR REACTING TO A CHILDHOOD FAVORITE OF MINE! Here's some trivia bits related to this one: 1) Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky, lol) directed it, 2) Christopher Reeve was initially chosen for the lead Ben Richards role before it finally went to Arnold, 3) Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac drummer), Dweezil Zappa (Frank's son), and NFL legend Jim Brown (Fireball) also guest star in it, and 4) film was based off a short story by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name and the game was actually played across the entire US instead of Los Angeles (O_O)! Man oh man, I put this one in the same category as Demolition Man in that some of the themes within ended up becoming prophetic today... >;-D
The 1990 arcade game Smash TV was inspired by this movie. The original rom talked about a ‘pleasure dome’ as a reward for winning the game, but it was unreachable, like in Running man. So many people complained, they added a bonus level.
"Running Man" did just fine back in the day. First R-rated movie I saw in a cinema, if I remember correctly. Seems to me Arnold's stock went up a fair bit with this movie. It made money and the satirical elements made him more than a stack of muscles that hit people. Not that Arnold produced it or anything, but that he chose to be involved in such a movie and embraced it with such obvious relish reflected well on him. It's worth looking up the guys who played the stalkers. Jim Brown (Fireball) was a superstar football player who did some acting and was something of an icon in his day, Jesse Ventura and the fellow who played Subzero were wrestlers, the guy who played Dynamo died of heart failure not long after he finished making this movie. Buzzsaw is the one I know the least about - seems to have been an uncommonly large weightlifter. Very well-cast bunch of dudes. :)
You forgot to mention that Jesse Ventura later would become Governor of Minnesota in 1999 serving until 2003! After having a falling out with the WWF in the 1990’s over unpaid video royalties and Hulk Hogan tattling on him for floating the idea of a wrestler’s Union, he’d reconcile with the Federation and was the Special Guest Referee for the main event (Stone Cold v Triple H v Mankind) at Summerslam ‘99 which was held in Minneapolis and would also do occasional colour commentary on their programming into the 2000’s.
This movie was quite popular in Spain by the end of the 80's and the first half of the 90's. I think you can easily guess the reason why this movie is not aired anymore by any tv station in America nor Europe.
Great movie. I am so glad you enjoyed it. One of my favorite Arnold movies it is so underrated. It was overshadowed by the the success of Predator that came out at the same year. Other great Arnold movies is End Of Days and Collateral Damage. Fun fact the leader of the resistance Mic is an actual Singer of the Fleetwood Mack a famous rock band. The bad guy was an actual show host. The bodyguard was in Conan was Kurgen with the big Hammer.
I loved this movie when I was a kid but I wish that instead of Paul Michael Glaser they had gotten Paul Verhoeven (Robo Cop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers) to direct it and add in the more of the dark social comedy that they had in those movies
I love, love, love this movie since I was a kid. My cousin had this great carnival black and white cards with the characters that I would stare at every day and trying to draw them with my color pencils. Thus said I recommend you reading the book as well. It's more like a novel, really short, but so much more visceral.
This was based on a short story by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman - he was super pissed when the movie came out as it's almost nothing like the book.
Erland van Lidth (Dynamo) was actually a trained professional opera singer who sang is own lines. Other FYI is the the music playing when Dynamo attacks is "Flight of the Valkyries" the most well known opera in the world in such movies/shows as "Apocalypse Now" and "What's Opera, Doc?" Bugs Bunny's opera (think "I killed the Wabbit" sung by Elmer Fudd).
King(of course writing as Bachman for this, which didn't get revealed they were the same person for some time) is often pretty on point with his commentary. If you get time, recommend reading the book too. The differences are quite striking.
Yeah, I read the novella many years ago. I was a big King and Arnold fan back then. Even though it has been a long time, I remember some of the differences between story and movie.
Another one you two will love, is the great but underrated action sci-fi "comedy" Demolition Man (1993), and it's with the other big 80's action hero! 🤞🏻✌🏼
One of the things that is not mentioned enough is that they cast a Latina actress as the female secondary character / love interest. That was not a common thing at the time for roles that were not specifically written that way.
At the time, there were two Arnold movies coming out per year, with the previous one being Predator, so it's not surprising it kinda got lost in the shuffle. The movie did okay at the time, and has survived fairly well, though its uncanny prescience has only become apparent more recently.
Steven King wrote the short story for this under a different name. The story was different as Ben volunteered for the money to pay for his daughters operation and it took place across the world and over a period of weeks/months. Eventually he hijacks a plane and his daughter died before he could win, so he flew the plane into the ICS building at Cillian. Apparently the last think he saw before the impact was Ben smiling and flipping him the bird as he did it.
This. I think they should re-do this one according to the book (It was of the same name as the movie, but written under Richard Bachman). Think they could do a much cooler movie these days with the book content. I had read the story before the movie, so was kinda disappointed with the massive changes. Still a fun Arnie flick though.
@@krypticeye2126 Yeah, I think this is one of the few "Arnie movies" to be remade, cause it had a good premise that was not perfectly executed like say Terminator or Conan. A closer link to the book would make for a better movie. I feel its time.
The dance sequence that opens the show, was choreographed by Paula Abdul. Yes, THAT Paula Abdul. Also worth a mention is the end title song, "Restless Heart," by John Parr. He had more success with the theme to "St. Elmo's Fire," though. Main score, however, was mostly Harold Faltermeyer. Axel F, remember that tune? Same guy. Richard Dawson had been a regular on "Hogan's Heroes," and was pretty much a fixture on the Gene Rayburn version of "Match Game" in the 70's. This was his final film role.
Thanks for another great reaction! I suggest leaving Last Action Hero as the last Arnold movie to watch. You might also want to check out Demolition Man with Stallone and Snipes.
Definitely leave last Action Hero until last in Arnold's Action-Period, before moving on to the comedy movies. It's a wonderfully loving and good natured poke at the whole 80's action movie genre, and having the context of the earlier material just makes it all the better. Some familiarity with other 80's actioners would be worthwhile too, but I can't decide in which order you should watch Last Action Hero and Demolition Man. It probably doesn't matter.
I'm not sure how this did in theaters, but it was a staple of early cable channels in the '80s/early '90s. Along with "Big trouble in Little China," "The Beastmaster," "Conan," "The Ice Prirates," "Red Sonja," "Caddyshack," "Airplane!," and just a litany of others.
There was a TV show called American Gladiators that came out after this movie. The concept was super fit "gladiators" battling average looking people. They had tennis ball cannons, net walls, a game where you had to get a ball in a container past the gladiators, pugil sticks. There was a cash prize for the player who did the best.
That was the first time I saw Gina Carano. she started as a contestant and be came a gladiator the next season. BTW I'm 35, and I love shows like AG, and Nickelodeon's Guts. Had both games on SNES.
I think the reason this doesn't get talked about as much is because this was right in the middle of when Arnie had been putting out two movies a years. Commando came out the year before, Predator came out the same year, and this was followed by Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop and T2... I think it just got lost in all the other outstanding Arnie movies. And not always because people loved them, sometimes it got overshadowed cos the movies were so different, like Twins and KC. But I always loved this movie! And one of the better B-Grade Stephen Kings movies too.
It been so long since I have seen this movie, I had forgotten that Sub Zero was played by Harold Sakata. He was mos famous for playing Oddjob henchman to the eponymous villain in 007 Goldfinger.
Demolition Man will be next although Escape From New York could happen at the same time. Another weird dystopian movie is Tank Girl starring Lori Petty. Not a great movie or plot, but set in the future where there is the same division between poor and rich.
@@taoist32 my favorite dystopian film is prayer of the rollerboys. if you can find it, its definitely worth a watch. its a shit film, but still, nothing is cooler than a drug dealing rollerblading white supremacist gang movie featuring corey haim.
So, on behalf of all your viewers/patrons/fans, I’m gonna suggest that you two dress like Arnold & Maria Conchita Alonso from the airport arrest sequence for Halloween (complete with huge hair & shoulder pads plus a red ‘capture’ net ) only super cool people would appreciate it.
26:05 -- The "traveling mat" sequence where they put a face on a stunt double..... What do you think we have now with these "deep fake" videos? Can you really trust anything you see on TV anymore?
Fun Fact: This movie goes along with the genre called Cyberpunk. The first movie that really showed the visual aesthetics that has become to be known as Cyberpunk. For the literal aspect of that genre was William Gibson's Neuromancer. The late 80's and into the 90's had a whole collection of Cyberpunk type movies. You can also and Anime into that genre. But it's funny that a lot of these movies take place from about 2015-2021.
The guard with the flat-top and beard is Arnold's friend, Sven-Ole Thorsen. He was in Conan the Barbarian, Predator, and many other Arnold films, he is even in Gladiator too. They both started out body building and when Arnold got into acting, he made sure Thorsen got roles in his films. It's pretty cool to see Arnold and Thorsen stay friends for so long, and have helped one another.
Oh yeah, the game show host was an actual game show host for Family Feud during the 70s and 80s, and before that Richard Dawson was in the comedy series Hogan's Heroes.
The Running Man is basically a Stephen King adaptation, although King sued to get his name removed from the credits as the movie pretty much has nothing to do with the novel it's based on. It's credited to Richard Bachman, a pseudonym for Stephen King. I remember reading somewhere that King and his friend went to see the movie, and at one point the friend leaned to King to ask what happens next. King replied with "I don't have a clue, this is nothing to do with what I wrote."
@Bender Bending Rodriguez Can't remember, it's been literal decades since I last read it. I think Ben in the book was trying to get medication for his daughter or something...
@Bender Bending Rodriguez They get a certain amount of money depending on how long they stay alive. I think it was $1,000 per hour or something? And then bonuses for stuff and some grand prize for surviving a certain number of days, it's been awhile since I read it. Basically they're just released into the world and then hunted, so no "game zone" or whatever.
It should also be noted that while King may have hated the movie, the story was originally published under the Bachmann pseudonym anyway, not under King.
@@frankrodriguez2999 That would be cool! As fun as this is, the book was really fearsome and excellent, and has gained (even more than when it was written) a great deal of pertinence to our society.
There's another movie that takes the collar exploding idea and expands it into a movie length thing. It's called Wedlock. It's one of those Rutger Hauer movies made in the 90's when they were trying to make him an action star. He's the blond replicant from Blade Runner. He's in another movie called Split Second which is kind of Predator lite set in a future where London is now flooded due to global warming and it's up to roughly halfway up to their knees. It's a cult classic I quite like because he's so good. Anyway this other movie. It starts in a prison and instead of incarcerating people they put collars on everyone and each inmate is "wedlocked" to another inmate. If they get too far apart both their collars explode and nobody knows who their wedlock partner is so they can't escape. It's a cool concept. Of course they do escape and the story goes on. I won't spoil it. It's a fun movie.
I just remembered that I wound up seeing this at the theater after agreeing to go see Fatal Attraction with friends and walking out of that because it sucked. One of the best decisions I ever made as a teenager. 😂
I'm so happy your reacted to this movie. When it was first released in theaters, my brother and I saw it with the stipulation that every time Arnold used a really bad pun or comment, we'd look at each other to see if we both caught it. I can't count how many times we exchanged looks and laughed during that movie. Doing THAT was more entertaining than the movie itself. If you ever read the novella this movie was based on, you'll find a very different kind of movie with a very different type of ending. Well worth the read, though.
The host of the Running Man show. Was played by the late Richard Dawson played on the NBC 1960's tv series. Hogan's Heroes a comedy set in a WWII German prisoner of war camp. He later in the 1970's-80's was the host of the game show Family Feud. So he was parody himself here too. Former NFL super star running back the late Jim Brown aka Fireball. Was also in other movies in the late 1960's and 70's like the Dirty Dozen a great WWII action/comedy movie.
Probably mentioned elsewhere, but there are too many comments to check - this is based on a short story written by Stephen King, using his alias Richard Bachman. It's not terribly faithful to the source material, but sufficiently so that the plot is way more satisfying and complex than it should be, considering the Cheese factor of the movie adaptation. That has a lot to do with why this works, in my opinion. By the way, the Bachman Books (a collection of 4 of the short stories written by Mr King under this alias) is WELL worth reading, for those who still know how to do so. This one and The Long Walk are particularly haunting, in my opinion.
@@MicroClases_Ciencia No, there are not. The Bachman Books consists of four short stories. I know, because I physically own the original anthology which was named the Bachman Books. Thinner came later and is not part of the anthology.
@@MicroClases_Ciencia Happens to to best of us bud. I barely remember last week nowadays! But those stories had an impact on me at a young age, so I guess that's why I knew. Oh yeah and having the orignal book obviously helped. They may actually have released a second version with all five later on, but I wouldn't know for sure.
In the far distant future of 2019... I watched this again last year and with a pandemic, a wrecked economy, a reality TV host as president, and deep fakes it started to feel a little too real. Love the movie. Love the reaction! Bring on Commando!
So 2 years later how's that pandemic doing? How's that economy and inflation doing? How's that fake installed dementia patient doing? How well is Brandon doing?
This movie, in a stange way, reminded me of a terrific little-known film, starring Bill Paxton, Linda Koslowski (fresh from her role in Crocodile Dundee), Tim Curry and Annie Potts, called "Pass The Ammo." I bet you all would love that one!
Ok some nifty stuff. The choreography for the dancers was done by Paula Abdul. The old bearded fellow was none other than Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The young revolutionary with the red beret was played by Dweezil Zappa. Kilian was performed by Richard Dawson, who was host of the game show "THE FAMILY FEUD for a number of years. And, the ending song "Running Away With You(Restless Heart)" was performed by John Parr whom also performed the song "St. Elmo's Fire".
The Butcher of Bakersfield vs The Butcher of Blaviken!? Who you got!?
Thanks for all the support everyone!!
You guys are awesome.
Not sure if you guys ever seen the movie “Big Trouble in Little China” but it’s a great movie from the 80s. Put it this way, there would be no “Mortal Kombat” video games if it wasn’t for this movie. It’s starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter.
Literally the creators of Mortal Kombat took inspiration from this movie. Raiden and Shang Tsung were created because of this movie.
Just wanted to make a request not sure if this is the proper way.
This movie had a huge resurgence when the Hunger Games came out. Battle Royale is another movie that people kept bringing up when talking about The Hunger Games. I'm kind of new to your channel so maybe you've already done Battle Royale but if you haven't you totally should.
One of my favorite movies
by the way, Killian's actor is the same guy for the first Family Feud tv show host!
@@Ant-bm1qk Big Trouble in Little China is awesome! They should def watch it!
11:50 RIP Yaphet Kotto.
Great actor! 😊
He played hands down the biggest badass blaxploitation villain ever as Harvard Blue in 'Truck Turner', with Isaac Hayes playing the titular hero. He's legit scary in that role, how stone cold gangster he is.
R.I.P Mr. Kotto.
The guy that played the main revolutionary was Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) and his chief subordinate was Dweezel Zappa (Frank's son)
Easter egg Mick Fleetwood is actually playing an older version of himself. He talks about his music
@@mortonsomerville6271 Yeah, I think I remember someone calling him Mick.
I’ve seen this film dozens of times and I’ve never clicked that that was Mick Fleetwood
You're telling lies .......
Sweet little lies 😂😂😂
I'm a little older, and grew up watching a lot of the movies you watch on this channel. It's awesome to be able to re-live them for the first time, in a way, by watching you guys see these movies with fresh eyes. Love the channel guys, keep it up.
Completely agree with this!
True for me as well.
Love this friggin movie. Brings back memories of going to the video store and picking out a good flick.
Absolutely agree 👍
Steroid guard was the guy in Conan that gets the spike trap to the chest during the last fight. The big bad guy with the hammer. He was a bodybuilder friend of Arnold's named Sven-Ole Thorsen who has been in a ton of movies as small roles. Including the Hunt for Red October as a crewman on the Russian sub.
Wasn't he Zangief in the Street Fighter movie?
@@bluejays25 Haven't seen it, but probably. That guy was everywhere
@@bluejays25 no that was a different actor Andrew Bryniarski who played Zangief
Oh, now that you mention it I know which crewman in Red October your talking about. Cant believe I never noticed as I love both movies.
He was also in Predator I think as the guy who shot the prisoner and got blown out the window by Arnie.
He was also in Hard Target, Gladiator (as tigris) and the security guard in Mallrats.
R.I.P. Jim Brown, the guy who played Fireball in this movie. He passed away in May this year at age 87. His NFL career as a running back for the Cleveland Browns lasted 9 years... pretty impressive, since the average NFL career is about 3 years.
Richard Dawson was the original host of Family Feud and was playing a “version” of himself. This movie/book helped bring about reality TV
He also goes back to his role on Hogan's Heroes. He is wonderfully oily in this film and gets to throw Arnold's "I'll be back" phrase in his face.
Damon's bodyguard is also played by Sven Ole Thorson, world champion strongman and Arnold's body double who did a lot of work as his stunt work, becoming his official stand-in.
@Akbar Shabazz-Jenkins I am old enough to have memories of him on Match Game. Before his grabby self on FF.
@@bfdidc6604 Newkirk
@@Scallycowell He also played Thorgrim in Conan. He was the guy with big hammer.
Based on a short story by Stephen King, and the host is Richard Dawson, who hosted the family feud for a long time. Great movie, probably one of my top 5 Arnold movies.
Absolutely. Are you a fan of the short story? I like it but LOVE the movie. Just curious. I think it is cool that you knew it was based on a short story by Richard Bachman (Stephen King). A lot of people don't know that and didn't know it at the time. I didn't know until years later after seeing it.
I knew Richard Dawson from Hogan's Heroes before he ended up on Family Feud. When I saw this I knew it was action comedy. Any death or 'gore' scenes didn't even create a somber mood.
This is nothing like the book at all except the names, but I find both awesome in their massive differences
they should do a remake with Steve Harvey playing Richard Dawson's part
It was written under a pseudonym and it was a novel, not a short story. It was a small novel but still a novel.
"We should have gone on the trip to Hawaii!"
"I had the shirt but you fucked it up!"
Yo whoever wrote this script should get an Oscar.
they don't write lines like these no more!
@@RandyReviews1990 The '80s were *awesome* for this kind of writing.
The actor that played Dynamo, Erland van Lidth, was also an opera singer. That is his singing. Unfortunately he died a few months after he finished filming. Another great, funny film he was in is "Stir Crazy", with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
Ah yes. He played the big dude that was their cell mate.
Wow!
He also played Terror, the leader of the Fordham Baldies in the cult classic The Wanderers. I highly recommend.
If you loved the one liners in this, just wait until you see Commando.
@Malorm get to da choppa was predator but I love "let off some steam, bennett" from commando haha
THIS - Right here. Gotta watch Commando - "Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired".
"Let off some steam Bennett"
"Chill..."
Oh wait, no. Wrong movie.
Don't disturb my friend. He's dead tired.
This was the role of a lifetime for Richard Dawson. He loved it.
This movie inspired the show "American Gladiators" which is essentially a non-lethal version of the Running Man show
They basically used the red and blue singlets for the Runners, yeah lol
Fireball is played by NFL legend Jim Brown.
Known to us Dirty Dozen fans as "Jefferson".
This movie was popular. Strangely enough, it depicted many of the reality TV tropes that are common today.
That great host is Richard Dawson. He was the original host of the Family Feud. He hosted for about 10 years. Before that he was a panelist on the Match Game. Before that he was a regular on a sketch comedy series called Laugh-In. Before that he starred in a drama series called Hogan's Heroes. He was actually very talented and very well loved. Famous (or infamous) for basically kissing hello most of the female contestants on his show. He would ask women to tell him backstage in advance if they didn't want to be kissed. Anyway, he's just basically being the evil version of his game-show host self in this.
Another fun fact. The guy who takes off the collars in the beginning (Mic), was played by Mick Fleetwood from the band Fleetwood Mac and his young sidekick (Stevie), was played by Dweezil Zappa, son of singer Frank Zappa.
I cant wait until we get to see you react to the glorious cheesefest that is Commando. That will be a treat Im sure. 😆
LOVE COMMANDO!!!!!!!
Right? Same! Commando rules!!!!
@@Masky5150 I can't wait. I think they're gonna love Commando!
Unlimited ammo hack activated!
something i didnt realise was that Alyssa Milano was Jenny.
Fun fact: this was actually made not only after The Terminator and Commando, but the same exact year as Predator! That's right, Arnold was such a hot commodity by 1987, he was making more than one film a year! Vince McMahon was trying like hell to get him at Wrestlemania back then because he was basically the biggest action star in Hollywood at the time. They finally got him to appear at a Smackdown taping in '99, where he was crowned "World Heavyweight Box Office Champion." He was actually awarded a custom belt and beat up Triple H outside the right during the main event...and of course the crowd went wild!!! Nice vid. Thanks. :)
Killians body guard is played by Sven-Ole Thorsen. There is only one guy that has done more Arnold movies than him, and that is Arnold.
Whenever you watch an Arnold movie, try to do a find Waldo (Thorsen). This was one of the easier to spot.
Thorsen is also the big gladiator that faces Maximus in the tiger fight of Gladiator, the one Maximus spares.
@@mnomadvfx
Now that you mentioned it, I made the connection to his face.
Featuring the late, great Yaphet Kotto.
Fun Fact: At one point, Kotto was on the short list for the role of Captain Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Really? That would've been absolutely awesome!
Interesting because I heard Picard was originally written to be a swashbuckler type almost a extreme version of Kirk that's why when they picked Patrick Stuart people in production were surprised
He wasn’t about to draw straws! He wanted that god damn role right now!
"Hey Killian, here's SubZero, now plain Zero!"
"Over here, Christmas tree!"
"You guys don't shut up, I'll uplink your ass, then you'll be underground."
"Hey Cutie pie, one of us is in big trouble."
"Well, that hit the spot."
"Hey, Killian. I'll be back."
"What a hothead."
"Where's Buzzsaw?"
"He had to split."
The dad jokes are pretty much non-stop in this one😆
Hahaha great summary of some of the amazing lines in this movie!
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 Arnie is like one of the only people who can make dad jokes sound so badass.
Those are what make me cringe, and the one thing I dislike about. They all sound like they were written by someone else. Any line that Arnold could have ad-libbed would have been so much better.
YES. This movie is so cheesy & hokey & bad & I totally love it! It has so much rewachability.
Arnold (who has and always was great delivering one liners and quips, great comedic timing) is so funny in this movie and while everyone remembers "I'll be back" from Terminator, this version is my favourite especially with it being followed up with "only in a rerun"
I agree. Best comeback to "I'll be back" ever.
Fun fact: the guy that says “don’t touch that dial” in the studio was Dweezil Zappa, a reference to Frank Zappa’s “I am the Slime”
The movie was changed dramatically from the book, but the original story was written by Stephen King under the name Richard Bachman.
The huge main guard at the end also was in Gladiator. He played the retired gladiator that fought Maximus. But was defeated but Maximus didn't kill him. He just damaged his foot badly. He was also one of the brothers barbarians in Conan the Barbarian. He was Arnold stunt man in some of his movies too. He's passed away too.
THANK YOU FOR REACTING TO A CHILDHOOD FAVORITE OF MINE! Here's some trivia bits related to this one: 1) Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky, lol) directed it, 2) Christopher Reeve was initially chosen for the lead Ben Richards role before it finally went to Arnold, 3) Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac drummer), Dweezil Zappa (Frank's son), and NFL legend Jim Brown (Fireball) also guest star in it, and 4) film was based off a short story by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name and the game was actually played across the entire US instead of Los Angeles (O_O)! Man oh man, I put this one in the same category as Demolition Man in that some of the themes within ended up becoming prophetic today...
>;-D
The 1990 arcade game Smash TV was inspired by this movie. The original rom talked about a ‘pleasure dome’ as a reward for winning the game, but it was unreachable, like in Running man. So many people complained, they added a bonus level.
This movie and that game was always my favorite growing up
@@supermodeldiva1977 you’re obviously a person of quality and taste
"Running Man" did just fine back in the day. First R-rated movie I saw in a cinema, if I remember correctly. Seems to me Arnold's stock went up a fair bit with this movie. It made money and the satirical elements made him more than a stack of muscles that hit people. Not that Arnold produced it or anything, but that he chose to be involved in such a movie and embraced it with such obvious relish reflected well on him.
It's worth looking up the guys who played the stalkers. Jim Brown (Fireball) was a superstar football player who did some acting and was something of an icon in his day, Jesse Ventura and the fellow who played Subzero were wrestlers, the guy who played Dynamo died of heart failure not long after he finished making this movie. Buzzsaw is the one I know the least about - seems to have been an uncommonly large weightlifter. Very well-cast bunch of dudes. :)
This movie didn't affect Arnold's stock one way or the other. Predator came out the same year and was a much bigger hit.
You forgot to mention that Jesse Ventura later would become Governor of Minnesota in 1999 serving until 2003!
After having a falling out with the WWF in the 1990’s over unpaid video royalties and Hulk Hogan tattling on him for floating the idea of a wrestler’s Union, he’d reconcile with the Federation and was the Special Guest Referee for the main event (Stone Cold v Triple H v Mankind) at Summerslam ‘99 which was held in Minneapolis and would also do occasional colour commentary on their programming into the 2000’s.
I love reactions like this (mirthful grin on one face, pure horror on the other 😂)
6:15 😁 María Alonso tied up like that was a childhood fantasy of mine. 😏
First movie I saw her in was Moscow on the Hudson with Robin Williams. 😍
Lol you to
She was hot! I remember her from the movie Colors as well.
@@joelsalgado5808 colours yes Robert Duvall right ? Haven't seen that in a long time greart movie
Also in Predator 2.
Killian is played by Richard Dawson, he used to host Family Feud. That's why he's a good host.
The Running Man is based on a novel by Stephen King under the pseudonym "Richard Bachman."
This movie was quite popular in Spain by the end of the 80's and the first half of the 90's. I think you can easily guess the reason why this movie is not aired anymore by any tv station in America nor Europe.
"Demolition Man" with Stallone and Snipes or "The Last Action Hero" with Arnold is next?
Both absolute top notch choices.
@randall it's "Last Action Hero" there is no "the"
@@chrismeulen8108 Sorry. It's still a fun watch.
Such an underrated Arnold movie, this and total recall were two of my favorites growing up.
Great movie. I am so glad you enjoyed it. One of my favorite Arnold movies it is so underrated. It was overshadowed by the the success of Predator that came out at the same year. Other great Arnold movies is End Of Days and Collateral Damage. Fun fact the leader of the resistance Mic is an actual Singer of the Fleetwood Mack a famous rock band. The bad guy was an actual show host. The bodyguard was in Conan was Kurgen with the big Hammer.
I remember seeing it and Predator on HBO in 1987/1988, I probably would have been 12...great nostalgia :)
Fireball was played by Jim Brown, who is considered by many (myself included) to be the greatest running back in the history of the NFL.
I loved this movie when I was a kid but I wish that instead of Paul Michael Glaser they had gotten Paul Verhoeven (Robo Cop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers) to direct it and add in the more of the dark social comedy that they had in those movies
I love, love, love this movie since I was a kid. My cousin had this great carnival black and white cards with the characters that I would stare at every day and trying to draw them with my color pencils. Thus said I recommend you reading the book as well. It's more like a novel, really short, but so much more visceral.
There is nothing like 80s action films. The Running Man is just one film in a bunch of fun Arnold films throughout the decade.
For real
This was based on a short story by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman - he was super pissed when the movie came out as it's almost nothing like the book.
All the puns in this movie are hilarious
Erland van Lidth (Dynamo) was actually a trained professional opera singer who sang is own lines. Other FYI is the the music playing when Dynamo attacks is "Flight of the Valkyries" the most well known opera in the world in such movies/shows as "Apocalypse Now" and "What's Opera, Doc?" Bugs Bunny's opera (think "I killed the Wabbit" sung by Elmer Fudd).
King(of course writing as Bachman for this, which didn't get revealed they were the same person for some time) is often pretty on point with his commentary. If you get time, recommend reading the book too. The differences are quite striking.
Yeah, I read the novella many years ago. I was a big King and Arnold fan back then. Even though it has been a long time, I remember some of the differences between story and movie.
Great 80s flick! Fun trivia as well: The Running Man is based on the book with the same name written by Stephen King (under a pseudonym).
Another one you two will love, is the great but underrated action sci-fi "comedy" Demolition Man (1993), and it's with the other big 80's action hero! 🤞🏻✌🏼
One of the things that is not mentioned enough is that they cast a Latina actress as the female secondary character / love interest.
That was not a common thing at the time for roles that were not specifically written that way.
At the time, there were two Arnold movies coming out per year, with the previous one being Predator, so it's not surprising it kinda got lost in the shuffle. The movie did okay at the time, and has survived fairly well, though its uncanny prescience has only become apparent more recently.
I remember vividly the tv add at the time. Arnold running and a guard shooting a rocket that opened a net that caught him
Steven King wrote the short story for this under a different name. The story was different as Ben volunteered for the money to pay for his daughters operation and it took place across the world and over a period of weeks/months. Eventually he hijacks a plane and his daughter died before he could win, so he flew the plane into the ICS building at Cillian. Apparently the last think he saw before the impact was Ben smiling and flipping him the bird as he did it.
This. I think they should re-do this one according to the book (It was of the same name as the movie, but written under Richard Bachman). Think they could do a much cooler movie these days with the book content. I had read the story before the movie, so was kinda disappointed with the massive changes. Still a fun Arnie flick though.
@@krypticeye2126 Yeah, I think this is one of the few "Arnie movies" to be remade, cause it had a good premise that was not perfectly executed like say Terminator or Conan. A closer link to the book would make for a better movie. I feel its time.
I saw this movie as a little kid, then red the book as a teenager and was baffled at how the filmmakers got from point A to point B on this one.
The dance sequence that opens the show, was choreographed by Paula Abdul. Yes, THAT Paula Abdul.
Also worth a mention is the end title song, "Restless Heart," by John Parr. He had more success with the theme to "St. Elmo's Fire," though.
Main score, however, was mostly Harold Faltermeyer. Axel F, remember that tune? Same guy.
Richard Dawson had been a regular on "Hogan's Heroes," and was pretty much a fixture on the Gene Rayburn version of "Match Game" in the 70's. This was his final film role.
Thanks for another great reaction! I suggest leaving Last Action Hero as the last Arnold movie to watch. You might also want to check out Demolition Man with Stallone and Snipes.
Definitely leave last Action Hero until last in Arnold's Action-Period, before moving on to the comedy movies. It's a wonderfully loving and good natured poke at the whole 80's action movie genre, and having the context of the earlier material just makes it all the better.
Some familiarity with other 80's actioners would be worthwhile too, but I can't decide in which order you should watch Last Action Hero and Demolition Man. It probably doesn't matter.
I'm not sure how this did in theaters, but it was a staple of early cable channels in the '80s/early '90s. Along with "Big trouble in Little China," "The Beastmaster," "Conan," "The Ice Prirates," "Red Sonja," "Caddyshack," "Airplane!," and just a litany of others.
Your You Tube audience is screaming "Commando, Commando, Commando!"
There was a TV show called American Gladiators that came out after this movie. The concept was super fit "gladiators" battling average looking people. They had tennis ball cannons, net walls, a game where you had to get a ball in a container past the gladiators, pugil sticks. There was a cash prize for the player who did the best.
When AG premiered, there was no doubt in my mind that it had been inspired by The Running Man.
That was the first time I saw Gina Carano. she started as a contestant and be came a gladiator the next season. BTW I'm 35, and I love shows like AG, and Nickelodeon's Guts. Had both games on SNES.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 it absolutely was
@@brucechmiel7964 I'm 47 and I loved that show. I was into the muscle women, not that I ever had the fit body type.
Amber
"I'm warning you, I get sick. Air sick, car sick. I'm gonna throw up all over you."
Richards
"Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt."
I think the reason this doesn't get talked about as much is because this was right in the middle of when Arnie had been putting out two movies a years. Commando came out the year before, Predator came out the same year, and this was followed by Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop and T2... I think it just got lost in all the other outstanding Arnie movies. And not always because people loved them, sometimes it got overshadowed cos the movies were so different, like Twins and KC.
But I always loved this movie! And one of the better B-Grade Stephen Kings movies too.
9:23 "Just some clever editing, and now he's a villain" - welcome to today's "journalism".
That's the liberal left for you
The crunch noise when they inject between the knuckles gets me everytime as well!
'Who loves you?"
"And who do you loooove?"
"That's right, The Running Man !" : D
BRUCE FORSYTH: "Nice to See You! ...."
CROWD: " ... to See You NICE!"
You can't beat a good gameshow host.
It been so long since I have seen this movie, I had forgotten that Sub Zero was played by Harold Sakata. He was mos famous for playing Oddjob henchman to the eponymous villain in 007 Goldfinger.
The Running Man: 1:20 Hey -- it's not just a TV show -- there's a home board game version you can get too!
I'm currently watching all the Schwarzenegger movies for the first time and this is my favorite so far
between this, robocop and escape from newyork, ...idk which dystopia we're headed for first...we're already living in 1984
Demolition Man will be next although Escape From New York could happen at the same time. Another weird dystopian movie is Tank Girl starring Lori Petty. Not a great movie or plot, but set in the future where there is the same division between poor and rich.
@@taoist32 my favorite dystopian film is prayer of the rollerboys. if you can find it, its definitely worth a watch. its a shit film, but still, nothing is cooler than a drug dealing rollerblading white supremacist gang movie featuring corey haim.
@@foreignmilk Hmm. Never heard of that one. Obviously seen some Corey Haims movies back in the day, but wasn’t really a fan.
@@taoist32 yeah, he sucks lol...but still
And just a few years later, we got a show called American Gladiators, or as I called it, Running Man Light.
So, on behalf of all your viewers/patrons/fans, I’m gonna suggest that you two dress like Arnold & Maria Conchita Alonso from the airport arrest sequence for Halloween (complete with huge hair & shoulder pads plus a red ‘capture’ net ) only super cool people would appreciate it.
26:05 -- The "traveling mat" sequence where they put a face on a stunt double..... What do you think we have now with these "deep fake" videos? Can you really trust anything you see on TV anymore?
Last Action Hero is an underrated gem in Arnie's filmo, it's a lot of fun, and has its lot of cool one liners too! And the soundtrack is gold.
Charles Dance as Benedict was a wonderful villain in that one.
Fun Fact: This movie goes along with the genre called Cyberpunk. The first movie that really showed the visual aesthetics that has become to be known as Cyberpunk. For the literal aspect of that genre was William Gibson's Neuromancer. The late 80's and into the 90's had a whole collection of Cyberpunk type movies. You can also and Anime into that genre. But it's funny that a lot of these movies take place from about 2015-2021.
RIP Yaphet Kotto
"I'm ALONZO!"
The guard with the flat-top and beard is Arnold's friend, Sven-Ole Thorsen. He was in Conan the Barbarian, Predator, and many other Arnold films, he is even in Gladiator too. They both started out body building and when Arnold got into acting, he made sure Thorsen got roles in his films. It's pretty cool to see Arnold and Thorsen stay friends for so long, and have helped one another.
Oh yeah, the game show host was an actual game show host for Family Feud during the 70s and 80s, and before that Richard Dawson was in the comedy series Hogan's Heroes.
The steroid Bodyguard is Sven Ole Thorsen. He was in also in Predator and Conan ( he was Throgrim, the guy with the hammer who got impaled).
You guys are uickly becoming one of my favorite reaction channels. It's fun watching movies with you all! ^_^
RIP to Yaphet Katto . He will always be missed. Much ❤ as always
The guy with the beard at 4.05 is Mick Fleetwood, drummer of Fleetwood Mac.
This whole gameshow is like a future facebook.
*Crying* They did not recognize Richard Dawson, just called him the host. Sad day in America when RD is not known. *slight giggle*
The Running Man is basically a Stephen King adaptation, although King sued to get his name removed from the credits as the movie pretty much has nothing to do with the novel it's based on. It's credited to Richard Bachman, a pseudonym for Stephen King. I remember reading somewhere that King and his friend went to see the movie, and at one point the friend leaned to King to ask what happens next. King replied with "I don't have a clue, this is nothing to do with what I wrote."
@Bender Bending Rodriguez Can't remember, it's been literal decades since I last read it. I think Ben in the book was trying to get medication for his daughter or something...
Supposedly Edgar Wright is in the process of making a film adaptation of the running man that is going to be more faithful to the Stephen King story.
@Bender Bending Rodriguez They get a certain amount of money depending on how long they stay alive. I think it was $1,000 per hour or something? And then bonuses for stuff and some grand prize for surviving a certain number of days, it's been awhile since I read it.
Basically they're just released into the world and then hunted, so no "game zone" or whatever.
It should also be noted that while King may have hated the movie, the story was originally published under the Bachmann pseudonym anyway, not under King.
@@frankrodriguez2999 That would be cool! As fun as this is, the book was really fearsome and excellent, and has gained (even more than when it was written) a great deal of pertinence to our society.
There's another movie that takes the collar exploding idea and expands it into a movie length thing. It's called Wedlock. It's one of those Rutger Hauer movies made in the 90's when they were trying to make him an action star. He's the blond replicant from Blade Runner. He's in another movie called Split Second which is kind of Predator lite set in a future where London is now flooded due to global warming and it's up to roughly halfway up to their knees. It's a cult classic I quite like because he's so good. Anyway this other movie. It starts in a prison and instead of incarcerating people they put collars on everyone and each inmate is "wedlocked" to another inmate. If they get too far apart both their collars explode and nobody knows who their wedlock partner is so they can't escape. It's a cool concept. Of course they do escape and the story goes on. I won't spoil it. It's a fun movie.
I just remembered that I wound up seeing this at the theater after agreeing to go see Fatal Attraction with friends and walking out of that because it sucked. One of the best decisions I ever made as a teenager. 😂
Paul Michael Glaser directed this, who played the original Starsky in Starsky & Hutch...also, the original novel was written by Stephen King.
I'm so happy your reacted to this movie. When it was first released in theaters, my brother and I saw it with the stipulation that every time Arnold used a really bad pun or comment, we'd look at each other to see if we both caught it. I can't count how many times we exchanged looks and laughed during that movie. Doing THAT was more entertaining than the movie itself. If you ever read the novella this movie was based on, you'll find a very different kind of movie with a very different type of ending. Well worth the read, though.
The host of the Running Man show. Was played by the late Richard Dawson played on the NBC 1960's tv series. Hogan's Heroes a comedy set in a WWII German prisoner of war camp. He later in the 1970's-80's was the host of the game show Family Feud. So he was parody himself here too. Former NFL super star running back the late Jim Brown aka Fireball. Was also in other movies in the late 1960's and 70's like the Dirty Dozen a great WWII action/comedy movie.
Probably mentioned elsewhere, but there are too many comments to check - this is based on a short story written by Stephen King, using his alias Richard Bachman. It's not terribly faithful to the source material, but sufficiently so that the plot is way more satisfying and complex than it should be, considering the Cheese factor of the movie adaptation. That has a lot to do with why this works, in my opinion.
By the way, the Bachman Books (a collection of 4 of the short stories written by Mr King under this alias) is WELL worth reading, for those who still know how to do so. This one and The Long Walk are particularly haunting, in my opinion.
There were five
@@MicroClases_Ciencia No, there are not. The Bachman Books consists of four short stories. I know, because I physically own the original anthology which was named the Bachman Books. Thinner came later and is not part of the anthology.
@@cristonsloan it was such a long time I read about those books that I got confused, I think it was in 1992
@@MicroClases_Ciencia Happens to to best of us bud. I barely remember last week nowadays! But those stories had an impact on me at a young age, so I guess that's why I knew. Oh yeah and having the orignal book obviously helped. They may actually have released a second version with all five later on, but I wouldn't know for sure.
U notice a lot of the characters are in lots of Arnold's film. Jesse, Sven the body guard from Conan. Mac from Predator
The grl is also from Predator 2
The running man would be a great idea for corrupt politicians, judges, cops and corporate lobbyists.
thank you guys for cheering me up with this! 26 minutes of my smile with you two and this great cult movie
The actor who played the game show host was the original host of The Family Feud. This is what really made his part in this movie so great.
YEp, Richard Dawson, my mother loved him. He would kiss all the women (guests) on the show.
Everything with Arnold in is pure gold!
Fireball is Jim Brown NFL legend!!! nothing on earth is gonna stop him!!!
Brown is the GOAT. In his prime today he would rule ass.
The "Don't touch that dial" guy is Dweezel Zappa, son of famed Frank Zappa, and the old guy on the controls is Mick Fleetwood.
SuperB. Commando and Red Heat. you guys gonna luvvv it .ciao 👊🏼
Don’t forget Raw Deal. A lot of people have forgotten this movie.
That whole dance routine was choreographed by Paula Abdul
In the far distant future of 2019... I watched this again last year and with a pandemic, a wrecked economy, a reality TV host as president, and deep fakes it started to feel a little too real. Love the movie. Love the reaction! Bring on Commando!
So 2 years later how's that pandemic doing? How's that economy and inflation doing? How's that fake installed dementia patient doing? How well is Brandon doing?
This movie, in a stange way, reminded me of a terrific little-known film, starring Bill Paxton, Linda Koslowski (fresh from her role in Crocodile Dundee), Tim Curry and Annie Potts, called "Pass The Ammo." I bet you all would love that one!
This was a lot of fun with friends on a Friday on a big screen.
Great reaction to my favorite Arnie film, pure 80's sci-fi fun. Also R.I.P Yaphet Kotto
If you like the one-liners in this, I can't wait for you two to get to Commando! Don't save it for last.
Ok some nifty stuff. The choreography for the dancers was done by Paula Abdul. The old bearded fellow was none other than Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The young revolutionary with the red beret was played by Dweezil Zappa. Kilian was performed by Richard Dawson, who was host of the game show "THE FAMILY FEUD for a number of years. And, the ending song "Running Away With You(Restless Heart)" was performed by John Parr whom also performed the song "St. Elmo's Fire".