OldBoy

This is one of my all time favs. It was the perfect blend of sci-fi action and why I still think Selleck should have been bigger in movies. Gene Simmons was just a great baddie. Those eyes, that droll face.

So, is it a forgotten Michael Critchton classic?

GoldenJCJ

This was one of those movies that always seemed to run on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid. I watched it numerous times with my dad.

Those mechanical spiders scared the shit out of me though.

DJariya

It's free to watch on Amazon Prime and I watched it again about 2 months ago.

It doesn't hold up very well to be honest. It feels very dated. But Selleck's charisma is one of the stronger points of it.

And by the way, that had to be the longest closing kissing scene with Selleck and Cynthia Rhodes. The camera stayed on them for almost the entire 10 minutes of end credits. Selleck must have wondered to Crichton, when the hell are you fading to black?

urrutiap

Runaway would be on HBO alot all the time back then in the 1980s. When I was a little kid I thought the movie was cool since it involved robots. Plus the movie got scary but not scary scary with the killer spider like robots that injected or spit acid.

that and the flying seeker bullets. impressive.

MR Round

Its cheesy but I've always loved this movie. Selleck is great and Gene Simmons plays a great bad guy. I first saw it in the mid 90s when i was 5 or 6 on the SCI-FI channel and loved it ecer since

Hokeyboy

Saw it in theaters in 1984. It came out right around the same time the original Terminator did, so I kind of lump the two together as sci-fi thrillers. Obviously Terminator went on to be a phenomenon, but I've always had a soft spot for Runaway. Fun little movie.

Trevor

Yeah, I’ve always considered it a guilty pleasure of sorts.

wishbone

I watched it not too long ago -- it is dated for an '80s movie but concepts like tech-laden dwellings and drones were ahead of their time. Not sure why there is a police team for runaway robots when that should be the task of the manufacturer or a private company.

I like the enthusiasm of Lois the robot's response when Selleck asks what was cooked for his son's dinner... "Hotdogs!"

Mabuse

It’s tech is outstanding. The real lost Crichton masterpiece is Lookers.

Giantrobo

Being a KISS fan it was fun to see Gene in this as well as Tom Selleck. I think it was way better than Gene's other 80's flick "Never Too Young to Die".

Mondo Kane

I'm still disappointed that Slade's title-song wasn't used in the movie.

Hokeyboy

To be fair, he had a hell of a set of tits in that flick

d2cheer

I have completely wiped Never Too Young to Die from my memory...

Runaway I thought was pretty good. I have not seen it in ages and will have to check it out on Prime.

Brian T

101 Films (UK) has this up for pre-order (March 2). Not sure if it'll be region-free, but since it's a Columbia title there's hope.


The listing doesn't say it, but the disc includes a commentary by 'film critic Kevin Lyons'.

Like others here, I think this is a very underrated film, and would definitely be worthy of a few more supplements. I don't recall Selleck ever bad-mouthing it; it's too bad they couldn't have tracked him down along with Rhodes and Simmons for interviews.

SmackDaddy

This has always been one of my favorites. Loved it as a kid and still do. Is it dated? Certainly, but the topic holds up now more than it did then.

OldBoy

yeah, this seems ripe for a nice Shout! Edition. I mean they do this type of stuff. I have the German version. No extras, but very good transfer. I don’t think the UK would be too much better and I, unfortunately, don’t really listen to commentaries. And this is only a critic. No one that has anything to do with movie, but probably reviewed and liked it and for some reason knows 1 hour and 40 minutes of stuff about this movie.
I saw this one in theaters. I’m sure of that. Don’t remember where, who, or anything, but sometime you just know when you saw it first time...

kd5

Rented Runaway back in the day on VHS, liked it enough to buy it on DVD, probably won't buy the BD unless this DVD craps out. I always enjoy watching this when it comes up in the rotation, good movie, entertaining!

Brian T

I looked him up after my last post and realized that I've actually listened to some of his commentaries and/or interviews already. He participates in some form (commentaries, interviews, booklet essays) on quite a few of the titles in the UK Indicator Hammer and William Castle sets, as well as some individual Indicator and Second Sight titles, probably others. He's more of a historian-critic type, and does decent research, so 101 Films calling him solely a 'film critic' on this release will probably not inspire a lot of people to listen.

Still, I'm tempted to hold out for a US edition in the hopes that it will include more extras, which should be pretty easy with this one. Shout's always good at digging up supporting players for shows like this, and several from RUNAWAY's supporting cast are still active: Stan Shaw, Kirstie Alley, G.W. Bailey, Chris Mulkey, Michael Paul Chan. Even child actor Joey Cramer, who hasn't done much since the mid-90's, did an interview for the recent UK collector's edition of FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, and RUNAWAY was his debut. Crichton's widow Anne Marie Martin would be a real score, since she was in the film as well, but she's been off the radar for quite a while.