The Running Man (1987)

Richard Dawson: Damon Killian

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Damon Killian : [1:10:37]  There are still two crack stalkers out there. Dynamo and Fireball. Who do you think will make the next kill?

  Elderly Lady : Oh, boy. That's a tough one.

  Damon Killian : Come on. You can do it. Who do you think?

  Elderly Lady : Okay, I think the next kill will be made by... Ben Richards.

  Damon Killian : Agnes, Richards is a runner. You gotta pick a stalker.

  Elderly Lady : I can pick anyone I choose. And I choose... Ben Richards. That boy's one mean motherfucker.

• Ben Richards : [to Killian]  Hello cutie pie, 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 : Killian! I'll be back!

  Damon Killian : Only in a rerun. GO!

• Damon Killian : You look pissed, Ben. Believe me, you got every right to be. But hey, will you just let me explain. This is television, that's all it is. It's nothing to do with people, it's to do with the 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 thirty years.

  Ben Richards : Well, I haven't been in show business as long as you have, Killian. But I'm a quick learner. So I'm going to give the audience what *I* think they want.

  Damon Killian : [Ben shoves Killian into the rocket sled and the restraints automatically lock in place]  You bastard. Drop dead!

  Ben Richards : I don't do requests

  [Ben launches the rocket sled into the game zone tunnel which later crashes into a billboard with Killian on it, exploding and killing him] 

  Ben Richards : Well that hit the spot

• Damon Killian : Huh? I... I know a stalker died! Well, it had to happen sooner or later!

  [pause] 

  Damon Killian : Look, it is a contact sport, right? Yes, but you see, you guys at Justice. You cannot have it both ways. 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. Yeah, the one with the boat.

• Damon Killian : You bastard! Drop dead!

  Ben Richards : I don't do requests.

• Damon Killian : [after incriminating footage is shown on the studio screen]  Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen! If you'll please bare with us, we're experiencing technical difficulties!

  Elderly Lady : Bullshit!

• Damon Killian : Hi, cutie pie. You know one of us is in deep trouble. You know who I am?

  Ben Richards : I've seen you before. You're the asshole on TV.

  Damon Killian : That's funny. I was going to say the same thing about you.

• Tony : The Justice Department's calling every ten minutes.

  Damon Killian : Just give them an evasive answer. Tell them to go fuck themselves.

• Damon Killian : [25:15]  And that's why I'd like you to volunteer to appear on tomorrow night's episode of The Running Man.

  Ben Richards : [beat]  Fuck you!

  Damon Killian : [chuckles]  You're a brilliant conversationalist, Ben. A trifle limited, but brilliant.

• [Damon Killian is talking to the operator on the telephone] 

  Damon Killian : Hello, this is Killian. Give me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division. No, no, hold that, Operator? Get me the President's agent.

• [Amber is being introduced to the audience as a special guest 'runner'] 

  Phil Hiton : ...Later, she cheated on college exams. Had sexual relationships with two, sometimes three different men in a year. And then she met Mad Dog Ben Richards, her *Confederate*, her LOVER!

  Amber Mendez : That was a lie!

  Damon Killian : Dear, dear, dear. Let's reunite these little lovebirds! GO!

  [audience cheers] 

  Damon Killian : [Amber is sent down to the game zone] 

• Damon Killian : What's the matter? Steroids make you deaf?

• Damon Killian : I want a kiss, now, a big kiss, but remember... no tongues.

• Damon Killian : Brenda, if that ass hole is mopping the floor tomorrow, you'll be mopping it for the rest of the week. Let's go!

• [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.

• Damon Killian : Who loves you and who do you love?

• 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 : [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?

  [Killian laughs] 

  Damon Killian : 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 Mendez : Let me go!

  Damon Killian : Amber. 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 Mendez : Go ahead. Tell some lies about me now.

  Damon Killian : We don't lie. Phil, tell us all about her.

• Damon Killian : It's all part of life's rich pattern, Brenda, and you better fucking get used to it.

• Damon Killian : [gets thrown into the turbo slide by Ben and the restraints lock in place]  You bastard! Drop dead.

  Ben Richards : I don't do requests.

• Damon Killian : Don't touch the hair!

• Damon Killian : [Killian is explaining the rules of the game]  Once inside the zone, the runners have three hours! They gotta go through all four game quads! Three hours or less and they're gonna need every second! Cause you know who's on their tail?

  Audience members : The stalkers!

  Damon Killian : Who?

  Audience members : The stalkers!

  Damon Killian : And you know what happens then!

  Audience members : Anything goes!

  Damon Killian : What?

  Audience members : Anything goes!

  Damon Killian : Right! Without further ado, it's time to start... RUNNING!

• Damon Killian : They want ratings. l can get 10 points for his biceps alone.

• Damon Killian : [42:10]  Edith Wiggins, come on down! Whoa, whoa, Edith! You look like you might have done a little stalkin, yourself! Now we need you to give us the name of the stalker that we send out to weed out those 3 deperate criminals. 10 seconds, please. Time's up!

  Edith Wiggins : I don't know, they're all so good!

  Damon Killian : Quickly!

  Edith Wiggins : My husband and my little boy have their favorites. But I like my men big & cuddly.

  Damon Killian : Yeah? Who is it?

  Edith Wiggins : Subzero!