The Running Man

The Running Man is a 1963 British-American neo noir drama film directed by Carol Reed, starring Laurence Harvey as a man who fakes his own death in a glider accident, then runs into trouble when an insurance investigator starts taking a close interest. It was adapted by screenwriter John Mortimer from the 1961 novel The Ballad of the Running Man by Shelley Smith. It was filmed in San Roque, Cádiz, La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz , Algeciras, Cádiz, Spain, Gibraltar and Ireland. The film opened at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End on 1 August 1963. Lee Remick and Alan Bates co-starred with Harvey. The film briefly came to the attention of the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy because of a viral marketing campaign that placed personal ads in the Dallas Morning News asking the "Running Man" to please call "Lee". Investigators thought that these might be coded messages placed by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald until they discovered the source of the advertisements. In Hollywood, an urban legend arose claiming that the film was a flop because it starred actors named Lee and Harvey.