NateWatchesCoolMovies Mark L. Lester's Night Of The Running Man, not to be confused with the Schwarzenegger classic of a similar moniker, is a mean spirited little urban thriller with Scott Glenn in one of his primo amped up psychopath roles. In the spirit of Scorsese's After Hours, a hapless cab driver (Andrew Mcarthy) finds himself being hunted through the Las Vegas nightscape after one of his fates is murdered right in front of him, but not before leaving behind a suitcase full of millions. The hot man called in to pursue the funds is David Eckert (Glenn), a sociopathic monster with a heavy artillery, bent on retrieving the case and killing as many people along the way. One is reminded of the cult flick Judgment Night as the poor cabbie is forced to run all willy billy through the urban hustle, constantly evading Glenn's lunatic presence. Further villainy is provided, albeit of the more hammy variety, by a scene stealing John Glover as an associate of Eckert's who also casts his net to catch McCarthy, his scenes are so arch and bizarre that they almost swerve the thing into slapstick comedy territory. You can do way worse in budget B movie land, and this one clearly seeks to entertain with it's broad characteristics and blatantly trashy tone. Plus, Glenn is, quite literally, killer good.

David_Brown This is without question a "B" Movie, but what a "B" Movie, one of the best "Cat and Mouse" films you are likely to find. "The Cat", Scott Glenn's Dave Eckert is without question one of the most evil villains you will ever find in a film. There is not an ounce of decency in this person, he is a mob hit-man who while being a sociopath, is cool, calm, collective, rents silver Jaguar's, and always well dressed with a nasty sense of humor. If James Bond decided to work for the Mafia, he would be Dave Eckert. Spoilers ahead: There is one scene where a guy tries to mug Eckert, and Eckert takes out his knife and cuts his face, and when the guy says "I can't see" Eckert says "Get A Dog." He is also so heartless, he is dating this woman, and he murders her because she wants to find out who he really is. "The Mouse" Jerry Logan (Andrew McCarthy), is an innocent Las Vegas cab driver who picks up a fare who stole money from the Mob, and gets killed. Logan then takes the money and starts to fun, and so begins the chase. Eckert finds the trailer that Logan lives in, Logan gets away by hiding on top, Eckert tracks him down at the airport, he outruns Logan, and in the bathroom, steals a blind man's cane, and gets escorted onto the plane by a stewardess, and gives a finger to Eckert (You see the real anger in Eckert for the first time). Then he gets to LA and at the airport, he takes a cab to get away, but finds the driver is Derek Mills (John Glover), and even more sadistic hit-man then Eckert, who puts Jerry's feet in boiling water. Note: Eckert is robotic, but this guy enjoys torturing people and cannot wait until the day he has a showdown with Eckert to know who is best. Jerry is able to escape by pretending to be unconscious and knocks Mills out. He then collapses in the street and is taken to the Hospital where he is treated by Chris Altman (Janet Gunn), and when Eckert and Mills show up, he tries to run away, and she says if you leave you will die, he says if they catch me, I will die, and lets her know they are Mob hit men, and says he will pay anything to get away. Then they escape to a hotel, and Eckert and Mills track them down, and they flee to her home. Eventually Chris becomes his girlfriend and as Jerry says "Its been a long time since I met anyone nice." At the end, Mills punches out Chris cold, and Eckert murders Mills before he can come after him. I am not going to spoil anything else, but it will come down to Jerry vs Eckert for all the marbles. Does Jerry win? Of course, but how he does it is the best part (Which I will not spoil). 10/10 stars.

ccthemovieman-1 Ah, another somewhat bizarre crime film that few people have heard about and, as of March in 2006, still is not available on DVD. It is one of the fastest-moving films I've seen.Usually, I like to see at least one good person in the film but this is an exception but this is a notch above the average low-life affair because of the performances of Scott Glenn and John Glover. They play cold-blooded professional killers who act polite, have impressive vocabularies, dress with class, keep their cool, don't get loud and obnoxious....but are brutally sadistic. Both are also fascinating to watch with Glenn having the bigger role as the main hired killer and Glover as his friend in another city.I might be overrating this a bit because the last 45 minutes is a stretch, a real stretch, beginning with the entrance of a beautiful nurse who unrealistically gets involved with Andrew McCarthy, a guy on the run from these killers. That just wouldn't happen, but it does keep the story going strong.There are some memorable scenes in this movie and some of them not too pleasant, so be forewarned: a woman dangled from the top of Hoover Dam and McCarthy being tortured with his feet scalded. Tough to watch. There are two gratuitous sex scenes in here, too.At any rate, for a no-name movie, it was surprisingly entertaining and I'd like to see it out on DVD before too long.

Castor-11 This is one of those plots where the good guy finds the mob money, and the bad guys try to get it back. O.K. it's a formula movie, but one that I found thoroughly entertaining for two hours. I was puzzled by the star billing of Scott Glenn in the credits, since McCarthy is the hero. I didn't mind, since Glenn is one of my favourite tough guys. Nor was I disappointed, since he and John Glover form a team satisfyingly tough,merciless, and competent. Usually a "chase" film lasts as long as two hours because of the bad guys ineptness: not so in this movie - hero and villains are well matched; the latter pros demonstrate their competence by being always one step ahead of their amateur quarry, the playing field is levelled by his resourcefulness, guts, their bad luck, and his youth (in one sequence, the McCarthy character simply outruns the pursuing Glenn, through a crowd). Also hampering them is the fact that the villains have to operate in a law-abiding environment - more than once, Glenn is forced to quit the chase because of onlookers. Yes, it's a fair, fast-paced fight, and I admired all three protagonists.The McCarthy character evolves through his reaction to the various threats to him and his girl-friend, while the villains are well served by a non-formula script, and the smooth, humorous ruthlessness of Glenn and Glover.