MovieChat Forums > The Running Man (1987) Discussion > plot hole or confusing story element? ne...

plot hole or confusing story element? need confirmation

posted 10 years ago by frylock313
8 replies | jump to latest

In the scene where they digitally put arnolds face on a fake richards seen being killed by captain freedom, and then after the broadcasting is over they show it was actually jesse ventura who got spiked on the wall, and the woman says to killian "oh you didnt have to kill him" or something. Does this mean that A. The fight was using two people who were not stalkers, one a female and another large man, and jesse was tricked by killian and was killed in retaliation for acting out against him. B. Some other large guy in captain freedoms costume killed a random woman (she was killed before 'arnold' enters the scene so it would make sense, because 'arnold' here is actually jesse) or C. it was all digitally made up and captain freedom left his job without dying. VERY CONFUSING NOW that I think about it bwaa, which one is it?

[–] hulkamania 10 years ago

There is a chance I could be wrong, but I believe they put an image onto a stunt double. That is why the assistant said something like "You didn't have to kill him." They also said briefly that they were putting the image onto a stunt double when they first did it.

[–] Cassandra_Speaker 10 years ago

They just re-used an old video of one of Captain Freedom's fights in the past and pasted Arnold and Maria's faces onto the two people Freedom fought in that battle.

When she said "You didn't have to kill him" she meant they didn't have to use an old video of Captain Freedom killing his opponent.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6IwVKuAoQ

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] garrisonaw 10 years ago

A) I agree with your initial opinion of the scene. They even stated that they were putting Richards' face on a stunt double. Although I have a pretty good hunch they "neglected" to tell the stunt doubles that they wouldn't walk away from this one.

B) Capt. Freedom was disgusted and refused to do the scene dressed up in all the cheesy "armour" that he was wearing in the control room. "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!" That's why he was back in his old costume for the fight scene. As for why he would do the scene only to fake Richards' death, well, Killian ran a sort of 'do it or face the consequences' kind of operation.

C) Yes, you're right. Since "The Running Man" was the "number one television show in the whole wide world", recycling an old fight scene would have been noticed right away by a lot of the show's fans.

D) I've never read the book, but I'm guessing Stephen King gave more of the back-story between Killian and Freedom. I got the idea that Capt. Freedom was retired as a stalker because he was getting too popular and may have been upstaging Killian. Of course, Killian could never allow himself to be upstaged. Hence, his cutting the Capt. off in mid-sentence in the locker room scene. Capt. Freedom was only returned to active duty because there weren't any other stalkers left.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Kruleworld 10 years ago

and the woman says to killian "oh you didnt have to kill him" or something

it's been a while since i've seen it, but i thought she was refering to killing Ben, who had proved popular by that point in the movie. eg, as if they could have him loose the fight by being knocked unconscious instead of killed.

...
Reality is a nice place to visit, but i wouldn't want to live there

[–] Dale_Denton 10 years ago

They killed a stunt double when filming the scene

[–] mail-924 10 years ago

I got the impression they used footage of an old fight, where the criminal died.

Cardboard Box is the Future.