42 Years Ago, French Sci-Fi ‘Running Man’ with Gérard Lanvin Told a Similar Story to Stephen King’s!

On January 26, 1983, exactly one year after the release of “Espion, lève-toi,” which had drawn an audience of 1,302,777, French viewers were introduced to Yves Boisset’s new film, “Le Prix du danger.” Boisset, known for his previous works like “Dupont Lajoie” and “Canicule,” is a filmmaker committed to highlighting societal flaws and inequalities through entertainment. This time, he targets television, setting his story in the near future where a man becomes the star of a show where he must reach a secret location while evading assassins. However, he soon realizes the game is rigged against him.

From today’s perspective, “Le Prix du danger” shares the essence and flavor of “Running Man,” with Gérard Lanvin playing the role of the contestant, originally penned by Richard Bachman (a pseudonym for Stephen King) in his novel released a year before Boisset’s film. However, there’s no official connection. The 1983 film is actually based on the 1958 short story “The Prize of Peril” by Robert Scheckley, which deals with themes such as manhunting and assisted suicide—a topic not as widely discussed then as it is today.

In Boisset’s film, the original character Jim Raeder is transformed into François Jacquemard, portrayed by Gérard Lanvin (who replaced Patrick Dewaere, the initial lead who opted out for Claude Lelouch’s “Edith and Marcel”) while the host Frédéric Mallaire is played by Michel Piccoli. Many see similarities, particularly in the premise, with the 1987 “Running Man” film directed by Paul Michael Glaser (the Starsky of American television) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, based on Stephen King’s novel published a year prior to “Le Prix du danger.” This led to allegations of plagiarism.

“If you have the means to sue Fox and Schwarzenegger, go ahead”

Despite the apparent overlap, Boisset’s film is distinct from King’s book, which hadn’t yet revealed the identity behind the Richard Bachman pseudonym at the time of filming. The plagiarism concern specifically targets “Running Man,” which the French director felt was too similar to his own work. This wasn’t just a figment of the director’s imagination: “Well, that’s indisputable, but we’re not going to upset Schwarzenegger just for you,” responded Alain Sussfeld, then head of UGC and distributor of Glaser’s film in France, as recounted by the filmmaker to the INA.

Consequently, Boisset took his case to the High Court of Paris in October 1988, and it wasn’t until ten years later that he saw a resolution—barely covering his legal costs, despite “Running Man” being recognized as a plagiarism of “Le Prix du Danger.” This marks it as the third adaptation of Scheckley’s story (the first being the 1970 German film “Das Millionenspiel”), even though it remains officially credited as inspired by the Bachman/King novel, despite Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acknowledgment of its deviation from the original material.

Video and Television Releases Affected

According to Le Point, the lawsuit ultimately hindered the further distribution of both films, affecting their availability on video and television. Today, while Edgar Wright and Glen Powell have sought to rectify the damages incurred nearly four decades ago, “Le Prix du danger” is available in France on DVD and Blu-Ray (released in April 2024 and currently viewable on Mubi), whereas “Running Man” is only available through imports, despite a 4K re-release in February 2023.