The Running Man
Richard Bachman
Signet, 1982
ISBN: 0-451-151122-4
What’s more 80s than Stephen King? Leg warmers? No. Deloreans? No. Walkmans? No. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Yeah, probably. He’s Maximum Overdrive in a person, funny, slightly scary, slightly ridiculous and going at full-tilt. So, in the world of cinema of the 80s Arnie and Stephen were bound to meet up at some point. Luckily it wasn't The Dead Zone or Stand By Me. The muscular Arnie going out to the woods to look for a dead body could have been good. No, it was The Running Man.
Richard Bachman was a paperback writer, dairy farmer and a veteran of the coast guard...oh, wait. No, he’s Stephen King. The film version of The Running Man came out in 1987, but the Bachman-bubble had burst by then and it was known that King had multiple writing personalities. He’s still credited as Bachman on the film, which I’m sure set-up a million trivia questions about “what Schwarzenegger movie did Stephen King write?” The Bachman books are King playing around a bit, there’s no obvious lapse in quality, though they might be considered a little meaner and most definitely, usually, much shorter. This is just an established author squashing insecurities. Seeing if his success was a fluke or if he had talent. Just imagine, the finest author of the modern age being insecure about his authorly skill.
There’s the temptation to say The Bachman Books where King tackling different genres. Science-fiction here with The Running Man, or a revenge thriller with Roadwork. Indeed Misery was originally going to be under the Bachman pseudonym, which is a somewhat of a departure for King, being more reserved thriller than a work of outright horror. But all King’s themes were woven into good swaths of his work. The Stand as sci-fi, horror, thriller, love, revenge all plunked in a blender and set to puree. The Bachman Books do have a “feel” to them though. They rely more on the baser thrills a reader might be seeking out.
Or, it’s all just because they are usually shorter.
The Running Man, Ben Richards is a classic King protagonist. He’s instantly relatable with common problems, i.e. no money and a family to provide for. Most notable is a very sick eighteen-month old daughter who needs expensive medicine. Luckily (or actually unluckily) for Ben it’s the future of 2025 (NEXT YEAR, spookily futuristic) and there’s a televised reality death sport of him to get involved with. What follows works on a couple of levels, as a thrilling sci-fi-tinged chase novel, this book is hands-down great. This is cliched “edge of your seat” stuff. Once Ben agrees to be on The Running Man, the book hardly lets up. This is the popcorn flick that it’s in the text. Running, jumping, chasing, big bloody set-pieces, etc. etc. The novel works SO WELL on this level that the underlying themes slide smoothly into your brain without any resistance.
See, Ben is also a total anti-authoriarn, a man who loses jobs because of his inabilities and the system that has failed him (and like everyone) and unveils the deeply anti-establishment tone of the novel which obviously isn’t hidden. King has long been critical of the establishment. In the film, The Running Man, is light-anti-establishment. The TV show is bad, the people who watch it might be a little bad, but they embrace Arnie once he wins. In the novel, there’s no winning. It’s a venomous book about a cruel system that preys on the weak of a society and turns their plight into Grade-A entertainment. King is early on the idea of the masses being desensitized to incredible violence for the sake of entertainment. The “horror” of the novel is there, on the surface with the random violence but also tucked up under with the ideas of the book. Aside from all that, it's a rollicking adventure story and a smart tale of science fiction.
Of course, it's almost hard to write about Stephen King. He’s good. He’s an icon. He’s ground zero for horror and reading for a lot of people. He’s a smart guy writing smart books that don’t look down on a reader and most importantly he’s a fantastic creator of character. So yeah. Go read his books.
Roy Nugen is an award-winning writer, producer, property master, plus actor. He comes from a family of musicians, engineers, wildcatters, cops, lion tamers, and carpet salesmen. Evil Dead II changed his life and he once partied with Lloyd Kaufman.
He has written 15 short films including Bag Full of Trouble, Potboiler, Handle With Care, Death in Lavender, Hole in the Ground, and the feature film Arrive Alive, many of which have played across the country. He has been the property master on 17 short films and 2 feature films.
Roy is also a prolific book reviewer and collector of vintage pulp paperback books. You can read his reviews on his blog Bloody, Spicy Books and multiple magazines including Paperback Fanatic, Hot Lead and Sleazy Reader. He has also written afterwards for novels and for various websites. He lives in the only city that once arrested L. Ron Hubbard with his wife and cats.