The Running Man

1987 dystopian action film by Paul Michael Glaser

Quotes

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Ben Richards: Killian, here's your Subzero, now plain zero.
(Damon Killian is talking to the operator on the telephone)
Damon Killian: Hello, this is Killian. Give me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division.
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.
(after killing Damon Killian)
Ben Richards: Now that hit the spot.
Damon Killian: Yes, I know a stalker died! It had to happen sooner or later!
(pause)
Damon Killian: Well, it is a contact sport, okay? You want ratings. You want people in front of the television instead of picket lines. Well, you're not gonna get that with re-runs of Gilligan's Island.
(pause)
Damon Killian: Gilligan's Island.
(hums the theme song)
Damon Killian: Yeah, the one with the boat.
(Amber is being introduced to the audience as a special guest 'runner')
Phil Hiton: ...Later, she cheated on College exams. Then she had sexual relations with three, sometimes even four men within a single year. Then came Mad Dog Ben Richards, her *Confederate*, her LOVER!
Amber: That's a lie!
Damon Killian: Let's reunite these two lovebirds!
(audience cheers)
Damon Killian: (Amber is sent down to the game zone)
Ben Richards: I told Killian I'd be back. I wouldn't want to be a liar.
Ben Richards: (to Killian) One of us is in deep trouble.
(Sven enters)
Damon Killian: (laughs) Sven, do you wanna talk to Mr. Richards?
(long pause)
Damon Killian: Well?
Sven: I've got to score some steroids.
(Sven leaves)
Ben Richards: If you're not ready to act, give me a break and shut up!
Amber: (seeing Fireball enter the game) Jesus Christ!
Ben Richards: (seeing Fireball discharge a burst from his flamethrower) Guess again!
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.
Amber: (after Richards cut Buzzsaw in half with a chain saw) What happened to Buzzsaw?
Ben Richards: He had to split.
Damon Killian: We have one hell of a show for you tonight. Phil, please, if you will, introduce tonight's guest runner...
Damon Killian: (to Mrs. Agnes McArdle and the audience) ... and watch that screen.
(an CGI falsified version of the actual events of the Bakersfield massacre is shown; the police heilcopter is flying over the city)
Phil Hiton: Our star runner tonight needs no introduction. He's Ben Richards, the brutal slayer of 60 men, women, and children in the Bakersfield massacre.
Ben Richards: Food riot in progress. Approximately 1,500 civilians. Moving in.
Dispatcher: (to Richards) Yankee-nine-niner, the crowd is unarmed. Repeat, unarmed. Abort attack. Acknowledge, Yankee-Nine-Niner.
Ben Richards: (to dispatch) The hell with you.
Dispatcher: Lieutenant Sanders, take command. Detain Richards and return to base.
(Ben attacks Sanders and the crew; Thousands of shanty residents, the audience, and the guests in the locker room, including Captain Freedom, are watching the shocking events infolding)
Dispatcher: Acknowledge, Yankee-Nine-Niner! Acknowledge! Return to base! Those are innocent, unarmed people down there! Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!
(Ben starts shooting at the crowd with an automatic machine gun and laying waste to the entire city using rocket launchers; The audience and the residents watch in sheer horror)
Damon Killian: Well, we all know the aftermath: Grieving parents, orphaned children, and a nation shocked to its very core. Here he is, ready to pay the price for our home audience. In person, the Butcher of Bakersfield!
Damon Killian: You bastard! Drop dead!
Ben Richards: I don't do requests.
Ben Richards: (trying to get Dynamo's attention) Hey, Lighthead! Hey, Christmas Tree!
(Ben had just killed Subzero)
Ben Richards: (to Damon) Hey, Killian! Here's Subzero! Now... plain zero!
Damon Killian: (sadly) Ladies and Gentlemen, this is... just horrible. Words can't express what we're all feeling at this very moment. A great champion has fallen. We'll be back right after these important messages.
Ben Richards: (to a trapped Dynamo) No. I won't kill a helpless human being. Not even sadistic scum... like you.
(Referring to dead bodies)
Amber: They're running men. Last season's winners.
Fireball: No. Last season's losers.
Agent: Mr. Richards, I'm your court-appointed theatrical agent.
Damon Killian: (after the introduction of Dynamo) Oh, thank you. You're beautiful. Well, it's been an exciting show so far, right? We've had shocks. We've had surprises. And we thought, why not one more surprise? Will you please help me welcome our mystery contestant: Miss Amber Mendez!
(Amber is dragged onstage by Sven and his other two guards; audience applauds)
Amber: Let me go!
Damon Killian: Amber! Now I understand that you're single, Amber, and that you live on the West Side. And not surprisingly, she's flaunted the law and traditional morality all of her life.
Amber: Go ahead. Tell some lies about me now.
Damon Killian: We don't lie. Phil, tell us all about her.
Stevie: Don't touch that dial!
Amber: Me and my big mouth. We should have taken the trip to Hawaii.
Ben Richards: I had the shirt for it, but you fucked it up.
Ben Richards: Now I'm gonna untie you, and then you're gonna get dressed, and then you're gonna come with me.
Amber: Oh yeah? But why should I?
Ben Richards: Because I'm gonna say "please"...
(Arnold tears up the bench Amber is tied to from the floor it was bolted to)
Amber: Well, why didn't you say so?
Damon Killian: This is television, that's all it is. It has nothing to do with people, it's to do with ratings! For fifty years, we've told them what to eat, what to drink, what to wear... for Christ's sake, Ben, don't you understand? Americans love television. They wean their kids on it. Listen. They love game shows, they love wrestling, they love sports and violence. So what do we do? We give 'em *what they want*! We're number one, Ben, that's all that counts, believe me. I've been in the business for thirty years.
Ben Richards: Well, I may not have been in show business for as long as you have. But I'm a quick learner. And right now, I'm going to give the audience what *I* think they want.

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The Running Man

Quotes