Running Scared

1980 "Chased! Hunted! Running for Their Lives. What Deadly Secrets Do They Know?"
4.9| 1h36m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 November 1980 Released
Producted By: The Running Scared Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

It's 1961. Two servicemen smuggle a box of military gear to USA. Leroy tries out a military camera and accidentally takes a picture of some military facilities. Army finds one of the pictures and thinks they're communist spies.

Watch Online

Running Scared (1980) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Paul Glickler

Production Companies

The Running Scared Company

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Running Scared Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Running Scared Audience Reviews

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
sandcrab277 Judge reinhold never did a serious role in his life...he acts like a child most of the time and a teenager the rest....this isn't a very comical plot but the zany antics by reinhold and wahl try hard to turn it into a comedy without success...the bad guys can't shoot, drive or make a roadblock...some serious destruction of some 1957 chevrolets makes it more like mayhem...
sol- Suspected of being spies, two former military serviceman with a stolen box of hi-tech military equipment find themselves on the run from their own government in this action thriller set in the early 1960s. The time period is no coincidence, coming off as an intentional tie-in to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and all the paranoia of the military in the lead-up to it. What the filmmakers intended to say by linking their heroes' plight to the historic event is hard to work out though. The military are portrayed as extremely inept, constantly losing the two ex-servicemen after capturing them (the pair jump out of the back of a moving van at one point), so perhaps the intention was to hint at the notion of the Bay of Pigs failing due to the military being distracted when they should not have been? In any case, the movie unsteadily walks a fine line between serious thriller and straight-out comedy. With Judge Reinhold imitating a monkey in order to hitch a ride at one point (!), the film certainly has its humorous moments, but the action for the most part comes off as grim and serious. On the other hand, there is little sense of danger in the air since the military are really that inept here... and the list goes on. Most disappointing in any case is how seldom the servicemen actually use all the nifty gadgetry that they have smuggled out in the box. A captivating thriller could have easily been shaped through the pair eluding the military MacGyver style. Never to mind, 'Running Scared' is a film that certainly has its moments, but they far between if not necessarily few.
zpzjones I'll be as brief as I can be. This is a well done early Judge Reinhold /Ken Wahl picture. Before both actors went on to bigger things, Wahl to TV's Wiseguy and Reinhold to Fast Times at Ridgemont, Stripes & the Beverly Hills Cops movies. RS is filmed on location for the most part in the Everglades. It starts with the boys in 1961 Panama and they are coming back to their hometowns in the Everglades after a 3 year stint in the Army. Knuckle head Leroy(Reinhold) has stolen a foot locker full of 'goodies' from his base. A rifle, some grenades and a camera that is infra red and can take night time pictures. The guys hop a DC-3 Cargo plane back to the states and on the way back the plane lands at some airfield presumably in the Caribbean somewhere. Leroy snaps a picture with the infrared camera and leaves the tearoff on the plane. The DC-3 eventually lands in Florida bringing the boys' home. Later some soldiers cleaning the plane find the tear off part of Leroy's picture and take it to a strange individual(played by Bradford Dillman) whose planning a Cuban invasion. Chaz's(Wahl)image appears in a positive print of the tearoff negative when the photo is developed by the would be invaders. Mistaking Leroy & Chaz to be privy of the Cuban invasion, the men involved in the planned invasion now set out all over the Everglades looking to hunt down Leroy & Chaz. The boys separate for a while then get back together and meet up with a wealthy but sassy rich blond named Sallie Mae. One series of adventures leads to another with the trio escaping always in the knick of time from their Cuban pursuers. Mind the Cuban leader is played by John Saxon.The movie boasts some great filming such as the boys' first encounter with two girls at a jukebox joint and subsequent makeout in the girls' station wagon, and the airboat getaway from Leroy's parents house. Or the scary night the boys' and Sallie Mae spent in the swamp. As time goes on a romance blossoms between Chaz & Sallie Mae. Leroy however is finally caught and secretly interrogated by Dillman & his gang. In short they beat his face! Chaz & Sallie Mae go back to her dad's sprawling estate(Dad's in Europe...how convenient) and clean up. The Cubans track them to the house and abduct Sallie Mae by boat. Chaz jumps in another boat and pursues them to the Cuban hideout. Leroy has now managed to escape his captors. He has managed to find some dynamite and is now wiring the compound to be blown to Kingdom Come. Chaz rescues Sallie Mae and they rescue Leroy and finally foil the villains. As the credits roll Dillman has been tied up on a boat by the trio and is set adrift in this boat with it's engine running and steering set for CUBA.This is a sadly forgotten movie. It used to appear on cable all the time in the 80s. A low point is that this is supposed to take place in 1961 Florida. Early in the film when the armed guerillas first set out to pursue the boys' Saxon and his men use a big yellow Ryder van minus the word Ryder. No problem but the van is a late 70s model Chevrolet and is out of place in 1961 Florida Everglades. Other than this flaw and the fact that leroy manages to carry his heavy 'goodies' footlocker while being on the run, the production is top notch and had some solid acting from the cast. Also I should mention the great Pat Hingle has a minor role here as Chaz's father. Enjoy this.
Frank-113 Chas McClain(Wahl) and Leroy Beecher(Judge)are returning home to Florida from military service in the Panama Canal zone as stow-aways on a C-47 cargo plane. Leroy is smuggling a trunk full of guns, cameras, and other goods he has appropriated as his Army "discharge bonus"When the C-47 makes an unexpected supply drop at a secret military base, under preparation for a Cuban invasion, Leroy innocently takes a photograph while testing his new infra-red camera.Chas and Leroy's civilian freedom is short-lived because a paranoid intelligence agent has discovered evidence of Judge's photography and assumes the boys are spies. Captain Munoz(John Saxon)doing his best Cuban,officer in the invasion force, is ordered to bring in the boys for questioning. Order are to stop at nothing, including torture, to get the answers they want. This is some of Reinhold best acting, he shows skill he hasn't use since. A good late-nite actioner. Oh yeah lots of cool cars from late 50's and early 60's.