The Running Man (1963 film)

The Running Man
Directed byCarol Reed
Screenplay byJohn Mortimer
Based onThe Ballad of the Running Man
1961 novel
by Shelley Smith
Produced byCarol Reed
StarringLaurence Harvey
Lee Remick
Alan Bates
CinematographyRobert Krasker
Edited byBert Bates
Music byWilliam Alwyn
Color processEastman Color
Production
company
Peet Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • May 1963 (1963-05) (United Kingdom)
  • October 1963 (1963-10) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish

The Running Man is a 1963 British-American neo-noir drama film directed by Carol Reed, starring Laurence Harvey as a man who fakes his own death in a glider accident, then runs into trouble when an insurance investigator starts taking a close interest.[1] It was adapted by screenwriter John Mortimer from the 1961 novel The Ballad of the Running Man by Shelley Smith.

It was filmed in San Roque, Cádiz; La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz; Algeciras, Cádiz; Spain; Gibraltar; and Ireland. The film opened at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End on 1 August 1963.[2]

Lee Remick and Alan Bates co-starred with Harvey.

The film briefly came to the attention of the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy because of a viral marketing campaign that placed personal ads in the Dallas Morning News asking the "Running Man" to please call "Lee". Investigators thought that these might be coded messages placed by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald until they discovered the source of the advertisements. In Hollywood, an urban legend arose claiming that the film was a flop because it starred actors named Lee and Harvey.[3]

  1. ^ Variety film review; 7 August 1963, page 6.
  2. ^ The Times, 1 August 1963, Page 2
  3. ^ Shenon, Philip (2013). A Cruel and Shocking Act. Henry Holt and Company. p. 279. ISBN 9780805094206.