The Running Man

Not strictly a sports film, but it has a competitive edge and the word 'running' in the title. Dustin Hoffman's Marathon Man or Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait may have been worthier contenders, but in the week Jade Goody passed away, Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1988 vehicle The Running Man seems most appropriate, if mainly for its prescience. Set in a futuristic game show, the wrongfully accused Ben Richards faces a live public execution by weapon-wielding Gladiator-style terminators, but Richard's has other ideas. Brilliant spoof clips from other game shows, such as 'Climbing For Dollars', in which contestants climb ropes for cash or fall and get eaten by hungry dogs, doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility anymore.