Run for Your Life
Run for Your Life
| 13 September 1965 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant
    Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
    Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
    Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
    ambimom I was in college when this first aired and I remembered this series as being "important" and exciting to watch. When I saw it was scheduled on Cozi TV, I couldn't wait to see it again. Yikes, what a disappointment. Despite the charms of Gazzara, who was always better than the material he got to perform, re-watching this series is embarrassing. I feel sad for Gazzara who was a fine actor stuck in this drivel. I hope he made a bundle though he probably didn't because it didn't have much syndication, if any. Most of the people in these episodes are long dead anyway.The scripts are generally awful, bordering on being sexist, somewhat racist at times, and downright preposterous. Yet, 40 years ago these plots seemed perfectly plausible.Cozi hasn't yet rerun episodes of the "romance" Paul Bryan had with Claudine Longet (then married to Andy Williams). My sisters and I were completely enthralled when those first aired. They'll probably make me laugh out loud today.Someone here has remarked on the poor production values and cheesy sets. True, but Star Trek first ran during the same period and had sets even cheesier, yet the writing was typically thought-provoking and reality-based, which is why it became a classic despite the overwrought acting of its star, William Shatner.Cheesy sets and poor production values aside, Gazzara was 20 times the actor Shatner was. Shatner rested on good writing and is a TV icon. Gazzara rested on preposterous plot lines and was largely ignored except by us baby boomers who remember him.
    Billsbarandgrill I just saw my first (and hope not the last) Run For Your Life show. I'm a bit of a fugitive in my life, too, running from myself most of the time. I liked the Fugitive series almost too much, even writing three stories on the character and theme. I liked the Incredible Hulk and the A-Team, two other shows with a 'running' and hiding theme. All the main characters in these shows are pursued by a man (or by death, as in RFYL) who represents a strong authority, and who wants to destroy the characters in some way. What's stronger than death? An element of blame in these stories exists, too, where the innocent (a dying man, or criminally innocent men) face certain death & daily disruptions of their lives because of the authority figure (a metaphor for a strong government?). Watching the disruptions these characters must experience is a lot like watching our own times. We're innocents, under the strong authority of Others, running, hiding, trying to live out our lives decently, but always being chased into corners (try balking the tax man!).
    animal_8_5 This was a very clever concept. A lawyer, Paul Bryan, has been diagnosed with an incurable disease and has been told he has just two to three years to live. The idea put this lead character in the position of living life to the fullest and the most responsible. There is a message in that for all of us somewhere, isn't there?While somewhat morbid straight off the top, the concept made for interesting viewing from my perspective. Ben Gazzara played the main character and each week he would resolve other people's problems, but at the end of the show he would still be facing the anguish of a limited time on this earth. One of an unnamed genre of shows like "The Fugitive" and "The Incredible Hulk", "Run for Your Life" was set in locales all over the world, but probably filmed on studio back-lots, renovated to look like the French Riviera, Hawaii and Rio. The idea was that Bryan was seeing the world with what little time and resources he had left. Each episode he would engage in new relationships, involving himself in new circumstances, resulting in high action and adventure.This wasn't a great show, but was certainly a product of its time. Always reminded us of our own mortality, which all of us need occasional reminders of in life.
    occupant-1 At one time, TV shows occasionally had an interesting premise. This one's a variant on the question of what you'd do if you had the means and perhaps the time. Time, though, this character doesn't have, and the threat of death is probably what gives the series its focus and urgency. "To cram thirty years of living into one or two" is the voiced-over premise at the start of an episode; we would all do well to remember it at the start of a day, and live as though it's the last one, not recklessly but deliberately.