Ben Richards Quotes in The Running Man (1987)
Ben Richards Quotes:
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Ben Richards: [after ripping the surveillance monitor off the wall] You cold-blooded bastard! I'll tell you what I think of it: I live to see you eat that contract, but I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your god-damn spine!
[Smashes monitor on the floor]
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: Killian! I'll be back!
Damon Killian: Only in a rerun.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: Killian, here's your Subzero, now plain zero.
-- Ben Richards -
Amber Mendez: Me and my big mouth. We should have taken the trip to Hawaii.
Ben Richards: I had the shirt for it, but you fucked it up.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: Uplink underground, uplink underground. If you say that one more time, I'll uplink your ass, and you'll be underground!
-- Ben Richards -
Damon Killian: This is television, that's all it is. It has nothing to do with people, it's to do with 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 for thirty years.
Ben Richards: Well, I may not have been in show business for as long as you have. But I'm a quick learner. And right now, I'm going to give the audience what *I* think they want.
-- Ben Richards -
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 -
Ben Richards: I'm not into politics. I'm into survival.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: I told Killian I'd be back. I wouldn't want to be a liar.
-- Ben Richards -
Damon Killian: You bastard! Drop dead!
Ben Richards: I don't do requests.
-- Ben Richards -
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.
-- Ben Richards -
Amber Mendez: [after Richards cut Buzzsaw in half with a chain saw] What happened to Buzzsaw?
Ben Richards: He had to split.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: [trying to get Dynamo's attention] Hey, Lighthead! Hey, Christmas Tree!
-- Ben Richards -
Amber Mendez: [seeing Fireball enter the game] Jesus Christ!
Ben Richards: [seeing Fireball discharge a burst from his flamethrower] Guess again!
-- Ben Richards -
[after killing Damon Killian]
Ben Richards: Now that hit the spot.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: [after strangling Sub-Zero with barbed wire)] What a pain in the neck.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: Women. Can't live with 'em, can't live... with 'em.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: I'll be back!
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: Now I'm gonna untie you, and then you're gonna get dressed, and then you're gonna come with me.
Amber Mendez: Oh yeah? But why should I?
Ben Richards: Because I'm gonna say "please"...
[Arnold tears up the bench Amber is tied to from the floor it was bolted to]
Amber Mendez: Well, why didn't you say so?
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: [to a trapped Dynamo] No. I won't kill a helpless human being. Not even sadistic scum... like you.
-- Ben Richards -
Amber Mendez: They think I'm your girlfriend.
Ben Richards: I can straighten that out. See that camera up there? I'll strangle you in front of the whole audience.
-- Ben Richards -
[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.
-- Ben Richards -
Agent: [Richards is signing a contract given to him by the agent] here here here use my back, victim
Ben Richards: [Richards signs the contract on the agent's back and then stabs him with the pen, yelling out a painful scream] Don't forget to send me a copy
Agent: [Runs screaming in pain while trying to get the pen out of his back]
-- Ben Richards -
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!
-- Ben Richards -
Amber Mendez: [Fireball arrives in the game zone by jetpack] Jesus Christ!
Ben Richards: Guess again.
-- Ben Richards -
Ben Richards: If you're not ready to act, give me a break and shut up!
-- Ben Richards -
Fireball: [Richards rips his fuel line] My gas line! My gas line! Go to commercial! Go to Commercial!
Ben Richards: [lights a flair] How about a light?
Fireball: [Fireball screams and then explodes]
Ben Richards: What a hothead.
-- Ben Richards
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