“Uplink underground, uplink underground. If you say that one more time, I’ll uplink your ass, and you’ll be underground!”
THE RUNNING MAN screens Wednesday night December 3rd at Schlafly Bottleworks at 8pm
You never know what’s brewing at Webster University’s Strange Brew cult film series. It’s always the first Wednesday evening of every month, and they always come up with some cult classic to show while enjoying some good food and great suds. The fun happens at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143).
In the 1987 sci-fi spandex and cheese-fest THE RUNNING MAN, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards AKA ‘The Butcher of Baker’s Field Massacre’, who becomes a contestant on the reality TV show (hosted by The Family Feud’s Richard Dawson!) “The Running Man” where various criminals play a game in which the prize is a “Trial by jury”, ‘A suspended sentence” and even a “Full pardon”. However nobody has ever won due to the stalker’s painful advantage, this is until Schwarzenegger starts playing. There were few things that young filmgoers like myself looked forward to at the drive-in in the 80’s, one was nudity/sex and two were summer action movies with big body counts. The Running Man at the time was a surreal action flick and although I loved it, I figured a recent rewatch would result in this nothing but a two star nostalgia-fueled 90 minutes. However THE RUNNING MAN has aged in an interesting way. It predicted the reality television craze and although it’s fairly exaggerated, the future elements make this a movie that has aged fairly well. The soundtrack makes it feel really 80’s but I for one loved the imagination taken with the material. As a younger viewer, I doubt I got much of the satire and jokes that basically took shots at us, the main audience, however in hindsight THE RUNNING MAN is a fascinating feature which works not only as a fun Schwarzenegger action flick but also as a sly satire on Reality TV and basically the viewer in general. Today, a gameshow like The Running Man may be closer to reality than anyone would have ever thought possible.
Check out THE RUNNING MAN when it screens Wednesday night December 3rd at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143). The movie starts at 8pm and admission is $4. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed beer.
No game show is complete without the esteemed host and The Hunger Games are no different with Stanley Tucci’s role as host Caesar Flickerman. This ringmaster round-up will feature some of the greatest showman’s in film, from Richard Dawson in The Running Man to Jim Broadbent in Moulin Rouge and Michael C. Hall in Gamer. So, let’s take a look back at some of these fantastic men in action!
Stanley Tucci in THE HUNGER GAMES
Tucci brings color (literally… check out that hair!) to the eccentric character of Caesar Flickerman in THE HUNGER GAMES. Flickerman is the host of the games, as well as a show where he interviews the contenders. He seems sympathetic and encouraging to those about to fight for their lives, but he also does not seem to phased when they are killed during the games. Still, he helps the contestants out with their interviews, and always seems to spin things back around to the positive… despite the fact that they are facing a grim fate. Tucci does a remarkable job of playing a charismatic host that seems to lack real emotions.
Richard Dawson in THE RUNNING MAN
Dawson channels a version of his game show hosting self with his character of Damon Killian. Killian was the host of the highest rated television show in 2017 “The Running Man”. Much like in THE HUNGER GAMES, Killian watches as he sends men into a world that the game can manipulate, all while he moderates the life or death action. That’s just what it is too… the player fights for his/her life.
The goal of Killian’s show was simple… To keep people glued to their tv’s so they don’t pay attention to the dwindling society around them. It’s easy for them to control the action in the “show” too, because all of the runners are marked for tracking. This makes hunting them down extremely easy. To Dawson Killian, the idea of hunting humans is not an issue. He has no ethics or moral compass. Richard Dawson did an incredible job at playing the eccentric, evil host.
Jim Broadbent in MOULIN ROUGE
Jim Broadbent gets to show off his hosting skills in a bit of a different way. Since there weren’t game shows back then, Broadbent gets to show off his skills as Harold Zidler, host of a live show where the girls are offering up skin and dancing for their audience. Much like in THE HUNGER GAMES, our host is not concerned with the health and safety of his entertainers. His shining star Satine (Nicole Kidman) is dying, but that doesn’t phase Zidler. Rather than trying to fix her, or letting her rest, he pushes her out on stage every night for his own benefit. Broadbent’s performance is energetic and twisted… which makes it even more fun to watch!
Michael C. Hall in GAMER
Michael C. Hall plays Ken Castle. He isn’t necessarily the host of a game. Instead, he invented it. Castle invented a new technology that takes gaming to an all new level. He developed a technology that allows the player to control another human being. The second of his developed games, “Slayers”, lets the gamer control prison inmates in a third person shooting match. Any player sentenced to death row that wins 30 matches gains his/her freedom. The reason that I have included Castle is because, like the other hosts, he has a lack of concern for human life. To him, it’s all about the game. His twisted goal is to entertain the world and gain power. Human life means nothing. Hall always plays a villain with great ease.
What do you think? Who are some of your favorite evil hosts?
Directed by Academy Award® nominee Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), The Hunger Games, starring Academy Award® nominee Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), features an ensemble cast that includes Golden Globe® winner Donald Sutherland (Citizen X), Academy Award® nominee Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt), Lenny Kravitz (Precious) and Emmy® nominee Elizabeth Banks (TV’s “30 Rock”). The film also stars some of the industry’s brightest up and coming actors such as Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) and Liam Hemsworth (The Expendables 2).
The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy of books published by Scholastic that has already become a literary phenomenon with over 36.5 million copies in circulation. Set in the future, one male and one female from each of the twelve districts of the nation is forced to participate in the annual competition called The Hunger Games, which is broadcast live throughout the country for the entertainment of the Capitol’s wealthy residents. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers in her younger sister’s place to enter the games, and is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy when she’s pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
To experience The Hunger Games online, please visit:
Actor, game show host Richard Dawson has passed away. According to TMZ, Dawson’s son, Gary Dawson, initially broke the news on Facebook:
“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my father passed away this evening from complications due to esophageal cancer. He was surrounded by his family. He was an amazing talent, a loving husband, a great dad, and a doting grandfather. He will be missed but always remembered…”
A fan favorite, THE RUNNING MAN wouldn’t have been the same without Dawson’s spot on portrayal of evil host Damon Killian. One of our readers says it best, “He was awesome on Family Feud and no less than iconic on Running Man. He MADE that movie! Throwing him a T.V. kiss for the journey home. RIP Mr. Dawson.”
From the AP:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s TV comedy “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
Dawson, also known to TV fans as the Cockney prisoner-of-war Cpl. Peter Newkirk on “Hogan’s Heroes,” died Saturday night from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital, his son Gary said.
The game show, which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted families who tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as “What do people give up when they go on a diet?”
Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best TV game show host. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called him “the fastest, brightest and most beguilingly caustic interlocutor since the late great Groucho bantered and parried on `You Bet Your Life.'” The show was so popular it was released as both daytime and syndicated evening versions.
He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed “somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000.”
“I kissed them for luck and love, that’s all,” Dawson said at the time.
He reprised his game show character in a much darker mood in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film “The Running Man,” playing the host of a deadly TV show set in a totalitarian future, where convicts try to escape as their executioners stalk them. “Saturday Night Live” mocked him in the 1970s, with Bill Murray portraying him as leering and nasty, even slapping one contestant (John Belushi) for getting too fresh.
The British-born actor already had gained fame as the fast-talking Newkirk in “Hogan’s Heroes,” the CBS comedy about prisoners in a Nazi POW camp who hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.
Despite its unlikely premise, the show made the ratings top 10 in its first season, 1965-66, and ran until 1971.
Both “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Family Feud” have had a second life in recent years, the former on DVD reissues and the latter on cable television’s GSN, formerly known as the Game Show Network.
On Dawson’s last “Family Feud” in 1985, the studio audience honored him with a standing ovation, and he responded: “Please sit down. I have to do at least 30 minutes of fun and laughter and you make me want to cry.”
“I’ve had the most incredible luck in my career,” he told viewers.
“I never dreamed I would have a job in which so many people could touch me and I could touch them,” he said. That triggered an unexpected laugh.
Producers brought out “The New Family Feud,” starring comedian Ray Combs, in 1988. Six years later, Dawson replaced Combs at the helm, but that lasted only one season.
According to the Internet Movie Database, Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm in 1932 in Gosport, England. His first wife was actress Diana Dors, the blond bombshell who was Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe.
