User Reviews

Sorely underrated and dismissed at the time of its release, THE RUNNING MAN can now be seen for what it it: a highly effective thriller. Director Carol Reed was said to be shaken after being dismissed from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, but it really doesn't show. He conducts us deftly through a nicely conceived intrigue, with no time wasted. If a viewer can forgive a small handful of plot contrivances, this movie delivers in suspense, interesting characters, acting, and pleasing use of locations. The cast is superb: Laurence Harvey might look underfed, but his character is richly drawn he seems to have a great time. Lee Remick has never been better: a woman who sees her husband for what he really is when he assumes a new identity. And Alan Bates, an actor who radiated charm, brings a lot of substance to his part. Watch for Fernando Rey and Fortunio Bonanova (the singing teacher from CITIZEN KANE--"Impossible! Impossible!") as a bank manager. The script has a good helping of humor along with the suspense. And William Alwyn's music score enhances the film as well. It may not be THE THIRD MAN, but THE RUNNING MAN is likely to satisfy most fans of thrillers, the director and the estimable cast.

A bitter airline pilot fakes his own death and gets his wife to collect the money. They escape to sunny Europe after committing a perfect crime. But, of course, there's always the dogged investigator to make things difficult.

This movie is a good afternoon's diversion. It's bright, flashy and pacey. With John Mortimer writing and Carol Reed directing, it has a certain touch of class. It's not an A list movie by any means, but a quick look in any reference book will tell you that it's well respected. Good performances, bright locations and a decent pace make this well worth a look.

Good drama with a bit of mystery thrown in. It's hard to say what's more beautiful in this movie the locations, which are breathtaking or Lee Remick and Alan Bates both at the peak of their individual attractiveness who are equally stunning. They offer the best performances doing an uncertain dance around each other never sure of the other's motives. Laurence Harvey is his usual squirrelly pompous self but that fits the role. Well known to be an abrasive, selfish, uncooperative and egotistical jerk behind the scenes Harvey apparently was incredibly difficult on this shoot to the point where Lee Remick refused to discuss the problems but was quoted as saying "The tales I can tell of working with him are too horrendous to repeat." Not a classic Reed film but he guides the film well although apparently his confidence had been shaken by exiting another troubled production, the Marlon Brando Mutiny on the Bounty, just prior to this.

This movie surprised me. It started out as one type of movie and ended up as another - it was a pleasant enough surprise though.

Laurence Harvey plays charter pilot Rex Black who fakes his death allowing his wife, Stella, to claim the insurance. Although Harvey was not particularly loved by many of his peers, he made some great movies. I always liked him and his Rex Black is cocky and edgy.

Lee Remick plays Stella. Time spent watching Lee Remick on the screen is never wasted. She was an actress whose abilities were sometimes under-appreciated because she was so beautiful. She is as disarming here as she was in everything she did.

Alan Bates plays Stephen Maddux, an insurance agent who investigates Rex's death and later fancies Stella when they cross paths in Spain - he thinks she is a widow, and Rex assumes another identity. Bates plays it low key while Harvey's character becomes darker and more aggressive as he attempts further scams, and is prepared to do anything to stop his plans unravelling.

Sadly all three actors went far too early - cancer in each case.

Directed by Carol Reed, the film has an unusual energy. It starts out as a light caper film, but by the half way mark we realise that the game has become more dangerous. The ending has a similar touch to the one that made "The Third Man" so memorable.

The film was made in 1963, and although it benefits from great locations in Spain, it actually feels a little like British films of the 40's and 50's.

The score by William Allwyn has a lot to do with that. For a long while British film music had a distinctive sound with some brilliant scores. It had a different timbre to the typical Hollywood score. You could tell a film was British as soon as the main title music started, but by the late 50's, composers like John Barry and John Addison brought a fresh sound that was far more international. However the score for "The Running Man" was a throwback - it was Allwyn's last score - maybe Reed had asked for him - but it could almost be a score for a film in 1948.

Although "The Running Man" does not represent the best work of those involved it is more than watchable and has a couple of twists worthy of Hitchcock.

For those who resent paying their insurance premiums--and who amongst us doesn't--there is Carol Reed's The Running Man, not to be confused with the Arnold Schwarzinator film of the same name. The always dapper but much too thin Laurence Harvey stars as Rex Black, a professional pilot whose insurance claim is turned down by frosty Allan Cuthbertson due to coverage that expired two days prior to an accident. Enraged, Harvey and wife (played by an icily beautiful Lee Remick) launch a scheme to bilk the insurance company of a very large sum of money. Unfortunately, claims adjustor Alan Bates is on the job to complicate matters for the felonious couple. John Mortimer's screenplay is a bit flat and frankly unbelievable at times, but the superb cast more than makes up for it. The film, shot in colour and on location in Spain, looks gorgeous, but Encore is airing a pan-and-scan print that severely compromises the original Panavision framing. At least this print retains a widescreen credits sequence, which features some superb work by Bond main man Maurice Binder.

Watchable but somehow unmemorable suspense thriller from a major British director. The plot, cleverly written by John Mortimer, has some quite subtle twists and turns; the acting good. Laurence Harvey as a dislikeable insurance fraudster, Lee Merick is particularly fetchi9ng as his increasingly uncertain wife, Alan Bates gives his usual sensitive performance as investigator who might be on to them, all convince. But Carol Reed (director of such classics as The third Man, Odd Man Out, Oliver) never manages to give it quite enough urgency or edge. It all comes across as something of a pot-boiler in his career. The scenery in Spain and Gibraltar is atmospheric, but it's one of those films that relies just a bit too heavily on pleasing sunny locations.

This movie had the misfortune of being released just around the time of JFK's assassination, where it got swallowed up in the general grief of the time. It did not do well at the box office, and one of its publicity stunts backfired when Dallas police saw personal ads in the newspaper signed by "Lee" and asking to meet up at an appointed place. The police thought it might be a Lee Harvey Oswald connection, not a Lee Remick stunt -- and spent some time chasing down this blind alley.

I caught the film while flipping channels in the middle of the night and quite enjoyed it.

Laurence Harvey plays an airline pilot/owner who loses out when a two-days' late insurance premium lets his insurance company deny his legitimate claim after he crashes his plane in the sea, narrowly escaping with his life. An honest guy with a love of risk-taking and a mutually reciprocated passion for his beautiful wife, Lee Remick, he decides to get back at the insurance company by faking his own death, with his wife's reluctant collusion. She hopes that this will get his anger out of his system and give them enough money to live comfortably, which seems to be why she goes along with the scheme. But at heart she just wants a quiet, comfortable life, an "ordinary life", she tells him. He, however, takes to life at the edges quite wonderfully, and pretty soon he's all about living the high life and risking their freedom with additional swindling schemes.

Alan Bates plays the insurance investigator who comes round to the wife asking questions after her husband's "death". He has a whole Columbo thing going on, asking questions in an affable, bumbling way that always seems to indicate he knows more than he is letting on. He turns up again in Malaga, Spain, where the couple has gone with the insurance money to start their new life. Again, he's got the questions that could be innocent or could be a dogged inspector following his prey.

Harvey decides that the best way to keep an eye on Bates is to invite him along to enjoy the Malaga sun and surf with the two of them. The three of them hang out together, swimming and eating and drinking and enjoying what Bates says is his vacation time and Harvey claims is a working vacation. Remick is supposed to be the new widow, technically single, who gravitates to the orbit of the Australian rich guy that Harvey is impersonating.

At the movie's emotional core is, yes, a love triangle, as Lee Remick grows disenchanted with her husband's attraction to the James Bond lifestyle while discovering that Alan Bates likes museums and quiet walks, like she does, and seems to like her.

So it's cat and mouse between the two guys on two levels -- over the insurance money and over the woman. The Malaga locations are glorious and reminded me of the villages in Romancing the Stone where Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas run across weddings, dancing, and general romantic danger.

The movie doesn't take itself seriously, and the characters are conflicted in a way that you don't know what to hope for and what the final moral and romantic resolutions will be. Will the husband redeem himself? Will the wife stay true to him or fall in with the man who is on his tail? Harvey is not irredeemable and we do feel sympathy for him, and see that he is more oblivious to his wife's unhappiness than deliberately mean. He treats her as an extension of himself and just doesn't recognize that she has no interest in playing Bonnie to his Clyde.

Good flick. Not great, but good.

This movie is much better than what the angry (apparently for no reason) viewers write here. And it is a much, much better than the most current thrillers. A lazy written thriller usually contains some claim that is absurd and inconceivable. The Running Man doesn't have that feature. It's absolutely plausible and unpredictable. And the acting trio, including the gorgeous Lee Remick, makes the movie a very good entertainment.

excellent thriller about man and wife who plan a scam to swindle the insurance company for a large amount of money after being turned down after a legitimate claim was turn down earlier and the deception begins and they go on the run in Spain where life's fine until the insurance man turns up in the same places, thats where the fun and tension begins.there's great camera work & direction by carol reed and a edgy script by john Mortimer,lots of colour and location works very well as does the three actors,Harvey is at his reptilian and charming best with Remick quite stunning as the not so wife and bates as the dogged insurance man.a delightful diverting film for a Sunday afternoon.

A decent enough thriller but one that really needed a Hitchcock or at least a director who knew how to mould the somewhat far-fetched material into something more plausible than this. Instead we get Carol Reed on something of an off-day and he seems more content to let the material carry itself rather than actually do something with it.

Laurence Harvey is seriously miscast as the serial insurance fraudster pursued to Spain by Alan Bates' insurance investigator while Lee Remick does what she can with the rather thankless part of Harvey's wife. Bates is very good and just about carries the picture while the cat-and-mouse scenario is often exciting and Robert Krasker's widescreen cinematography, (it was shot mostly in the South of Spain), is certainly attractive. It's the kind of film you might expect from someone like Michael Anderson or a host of other serviceable directors slumming it in some exotic locale but from Reed you really do expect more.

I was really enjoying this at first. The first fifteen or twenty minutes seemed a good set-up for a premise that sounds exciting and suspenseful. Then suddenly Laurence Harvey is walking around with dyed blonde hair and a terrible Aussie accent and the film derails itself from there. Literally nothing happens for over half an hour. Just characters going to dinner with each other and talking a lot about nothing. Carol Reed was a great director who has done much better but his attempts at building suspense between the insurance agent and the couple fell flat, in my opinion. I've seen a few reviews that referred to this as a "great cat and mouse thriller." Personally I think this is very misleading as it implies this is a movie full of action and intrigue when there's very little of either.

The actors are fine, for the most part. Harvey's fake Australian accent is terrible and he tends to overact more than under. Alan Bates is good for a rather dull part. Lee Remick is beautiful and does OK with the material but her character makes choices we have to make guesses as to the reasoning behind and that sort of thing always bugs me. Anyway, check it out if you come across it. Your opinion might be more favorable than mine. It's not a bad film, just not a particularly good one.

The Running Man is directed by Carol Reed and is adapted to screenplay by John Mortimer from the novel "The Ballad of the Running Man" written by Shelley Smith. It stars Lee Remick, Laurence Harvey and Alan Bates. Music is by William Alwyn and cinematography by Robert Krasker.

Miffed about missing out on an insurance pay out due to a financial technicality, Rex (Harvey) decides to get his own back. He takes out a massive policy and fakes his own death, which subsequently sees his gal Stella (Remick) get the pay out and they run off to sunny climes to live it up. However, when insurance investigator Stephen (Bates) turns up, the deceit and personality shifts begin to hang heavy on the situation.

You see the names Reed and Krasker as a pairing and it instantly conjures up images of truly great film noir in magical monochrome. So watching The Running Man in booming colour makes it something of a first time viewing curio. It looks terrific, no problems on that score, the Andalucía locations sparkle and Remick is positively ravishing. Narrative is pretty much a straight three hander, where Rex and Stella try to keep Stephen from finding out the truth of their swizzle, but as Rex becomes more agitated and gruff, Stella begins to wane as Stephen likewise appears to be attracted to her.

Sadly, with the pic in booming colour, there's a lack of peril like menace in the atmosphere, it's all too pretty. As a story this would have had a greater impact in moody monochrome. This is never more felt with the midsection of the piece, where the cat and mousery of the deception becomes a bit too meandering, it lacks an edge. Yet the final quarter saves the pic, as things pick up a couple of gears and truths start to will out, we get taken on a thrilling ride that rewards those who stayed the course.

It's lower tier Reed and Krasker, and even though it's Hitchcock like in plotting, it doesn't have the wherewithal to reach great suspenseful heights. However, it's a good film, with interesting characterisations, beautiful locales and a finale that has dramatic worth - nifty opening title credits as well! 7/10

The first half of the movie could have been handled better. The appearance of the supposedly deceased Rex Black a few moments after his mourners have departed his flat, and at the same time as a visit from an insurance investigator leads to something that resembles a scene from a bedroom farce without the laughs. When the action switches to Malaga things improve significantly, partly because it's beautifully filmed but mainly because Lee Remick and Alan Bates are convincing and appealing together. This was an early glimpse of what a fine, sympathetic leading man Alan Bates would be for decades to come. Unfortunately it was also confirmation of Laurence Harvey's limitations. A better, more subtle actor might have retained at least part of our sympathy to the end, giving the final twist an element of tragedy. Harvey loses the audience every time he opens his mouth, though, and that torpedoes The Running Man in spite of the good work of his co-stars and the attention to detail of gifted cinematographer Robert Krasker. Worth watching but a missed opportunity.

An Englishman pilot (Laurence Harvey) with a grudge against an insurance company for a disallowed claim fakes his own death by means of an allegedly deadly plane crash at the ocean and whose beneficiary results to be his own wife (Lee Remick) . Then , they're soon chased by an obstinate insurance investigator (Alan Bates) . They flee to Spain , but when the insurance investigator shows up, things go wrong. England...France...Gibraltar...Malaga...From the Four Corners of the Earth...To the Far Corners of Suspense!.Time is Running Out for the Running Man...And His Woman!. Famed director Carol Reed focuses on naked fear!

This first-rate and entertaining British thriller draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as drama , emotion and moody atmosphere . It packs a good realization , an original script , haunting ambient and intriguing events . This classic and fascinating mystery thriller bears certain resemblance to ¨Billy Wilder's Double indemnity . Twisted film Noir style tale about a feigned murder , loving relationships , dark secrets , including an unforgettable dialog . An intelligent and powerful effort by Carol Reed and a decent example of the respectable quality of the British cinema which achieved splendor and apotheosis in the Sixties . Carefully crafted film with notable interpretations , plenty of thrills , intrigue , twists and turns . Director Reed carries out a restrained , tasteful making , as he explores admirabily a controlled environment , he has a special ability to elicit remarkable acting from his actors and a nice skill for delving psychological depths without sacrifice narrative coherence . And providing a sophisticated analysis of the intersection between a magnificent trio of players , all of them performing a cat-and-mouse game. Interesting and thrilling script by John Mortimer based on a novel titled "The Ballad of the Running Man" written by Shelley Smith . Main cast is frankly fabulous and responds masterfully to the particular demands of the director . Laurence Harvey is nice as English pilot Rex Black who fakes his death . This exquisite Brit actor Laurence Harvey was in his splendor period of a fruitful career , but it was , the next and last decade of Harvey's screen life was a disappointment, with the actor relegated to less and less prestigious pictures and international co-productions that needed a "star" name. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Harvey became largely irrelevant as a player in the motion picture industry. His luck had run out. Good friend Liz Taylor, whose string of motion picture successes had also run its course, had him cast in Night Watch (1973), and he directed the last picture in which he appeared, Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973). If he had lived, he might have made the transition to director , he had earlier directed The Ceremony (1963) and finished shooting A Dandy in Aspic (1968) after the death of original director Anthony Mann. Laurence Harvey died on November 25, 1973, from stomach cancer, he was dead at age 45 . He publicly revealed that he was dismayed by being afflicted with the fatal disease, as he had always been careful with the way he ate. Sadly, his personal luck, just as capricious as his professional career, had also gone into eclipse . His wife's extraordinarily played by the luminous Lee Remick , she's reallly perfect , she gives a magnetic and sympathetic acting . While Alan Bates delivers an enjoyable portrait as the stubborn , good-natured insurance agent . And remaining support cast is frankly excellent giving fine acting in spite of their brief appearances , such as : the British Allan Cuthbertson , Felix Aylmer , Noel Purcell , John Meillon , Eddie Byrne and being a production mainly shot in Spain , the notorious Spanish actors Fernando Rey , Juanjo Menéndez , Adriano Dominguez and Fortunio Bonanova who had a long Hollywood career as a prestigious secondary actor .

In The Running Man(1963) stands out the sunny and colorful cinematography by super-productions expert Robert Krasker , shot on various Spanish locations such as Gibraltar , Algeciras, Cádiz, Malaga , Andalucía, Spain ; furthermore in Ardmore Studios, Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Carol Reed , being one of his most engrossing films showing understanding of character and realized in his late period . Reed once considered to the greatest British director , had his clay feet , mercilessly exposed by the auteurist critics of the 60s . Now stripped fo his old and inflated reputation it is posible to appreciate better his virtues . Reed worked for important producers as Alexander Korda and J. Arthur Rank . Carol Reed made stunning thrillers and some historical bios : Kipps (1941) with Michael Redgrave and The Young Mr Pitt (1942) with Robert Donat . He did service and war effort fare through World War II, but these were more than flag wavers, for Reed dealt with the psychology of transitioning to military life. His Anglo-American documentary of combat , The True Glory (1945), won the 1946 Oscar for Best Documentary. With that under his belt, Reed was now recognized as Britain's ablest director and could pick and choose his projects. Carol realized notorious adaptations based on Grahame Greene novels, the first was 'The fallen idol (1948)' , following the hit The third Man' (1949) and later 'Our man in Havana (1959)'. And other successful pictures. The Running Man(1963) raing : 7/10. Better than avergae.

Had "The Running Man" not been a Carol Reed film, I might have enjoyed it more. One has a certain expectation that goes with a name. Here, however, the result is disappointing.

Lee Remick plays Stella Black, a widow who isn't one. Her husband Rex (Laurence Harvey), angry that his insurance company didn't pay a claim for 20,000 pounds, decides to get back at them by playing dead. As his widow, Stella is due to collect a good deal of money. The couple makes a plan to meet in Spain after she gets the settlement.

When Stella arrives, Rex is now blond and an Australian named Jim Jerome, and he's totally into the subterfuge. Stella feels somehow unable to connect with him. Then she's spotted by the insurance agent (Alan Bates) who questioned her after Rex's "death." Both she and Rex are convinced that he's after them - he writes in a little book, seems suspicious of Rex, and asks a lot of questions. Then Stella realizes that Rex is also planning on killing off Jim Jerome - and she panics.

The scenery in the film is stunning, and the acting by this fine cast is very good, though the only truly strong role belonged to Laurence Harvey. I don't agree with one of the other comments - I didn't find him particularly likable. The Bates character is much more likable. Rex doesn't have much regard for what Stella wants or needs.

As far as any plot twist, some of this film was fairly predictable.

All in all, for this writer, the film seemed remote and didn't draw me in.

One of my fave 60's movies has you hooked from the start. Harvey, Remick & Bates are excellent in the leads & the interplay between the their characters is riveting. Harvey's character is truly something else. Really enjoyed this movie & so so underrated 5 stars from me

Lee Remick is absolutely delicious and the main reason to see the movie. Laurence Harvey and Alan Bates are also in great shape, better than ever. Smart direction signed by master Carol Reed, who has made many other exceptional films. In a small tiny role, Fernando Rey.

"The Ballad of the Running Man" (also called "The Running Man") is a frustrating film. It starts off very well and about midway through, it all seems to fall to pieces. It's a real shame, as the movie hooked me and then just left me hanging.

The film begins with a funeral. Rex has apparently died--leaving a young widow, Stella (Lee Remmick). However, a bit later you learn that Rex (Laurence Harvey) is NOT dead but has been faking it. Why? Because he felt the insurance company had cheated him when he'd been in an accident. In a way, you feel a bit sorry for the couple.

Rex disappears to Spain and has created a whole new identity as a blond Aussie. Stella soon joins him--but they cannot act like husband and wife because they don't want to arouse suspicions. During this time, you see a significant change in Rex. He's really enjoying the high-life and seems ready to perhaps commit insurance fraud again--whereas Stella just wants to settle down some place and live a quiet life. He's a great portrait of a sociopath, that's for sure.

All this is quite interesting. However, what happens next is pretty limp. The same insurance man who paid off on Rex's supposed death just happens to be in Spain and meets up with the grieving widow and her new friend, the Aussie (Rex). It's pretty obvious that he's caught them and yet absolutely nothing happens for the next 30 or so minutes. The three go to dinner, have drinks, go to the beach and a lot of other mundane things. Then, completely out of the blue, Stella sleeps with the insurance man--and you are left very confused wondering as to why she did that. In fact, not understanding folks' motivations becomes a big problem with the film. Because of this, it made me feel like I'd wasted my time watching. It really looks like they'd only written half the script and just decided to wing it in the middle.

Love the convertible Lincoln Continental. More of a melodramatic noir than a thriller.

A nosy British insurance investigator dogs a recently-widowed woman and her "boyfriend" in Spain; the couple is on the run after bilking the insurance company out of a fortune and don't know for certain whether their newly-acquired friend is onto them or not. Carol Reed-directed drama needed more paranoia-excitement or suspense. As it is, the three leads (Alan Bates, Lee Remick, and Laurence Harvey--looking impossibly skinny) are perpetually stuck in a fog, playing a tepid game of cat-and-mouse that seems fraught with errors (by the characters and the screenwriter). From Shelley Smith's book "The Ballad of the Running Man", and not helped by Reed's lack of grip on the narrative (he seems much more interested in the local Spanish flavor). ** from ****