Many are familiar with The Running Man as a somewhat lackluster Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie from 1987, but there's an earlier version, released in 1963 and starring Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, and Alan Bates, that centers on a man whose life is upended by the allure of wealth. The story begins in London, where Stella (Remick), a grieving widow, puts on a public display of mourning for her husband, who supp…

It’s hard not to be charmed by this one, isn’t it? The way they play with each other, testing boundaries because of the assumption that the other is trying to figure them out—it's engaging. The Running Man comes from director Carol Reed and features a screenplay by John Mortimer based on Shelley Smith’s novel "The Ballad of the Running Man." Lee Remick, Laurence Harvey, and Alan Bates lead the cast; William Alwyn …