Run 1991

Boston law student and part-time mechanic Charlie Farrow is asked by his boss to deliver a new Porsche from Boston to Atlantic City for a client. When he nears Atlantic City, the Porsche breaks down. While Charlie waits for the car to be repaired, a cab driver who mistakes him for an Atlantic City high roller takes him to an underground casino that has a bar room and kitchen, so Charlie can get something to eat.

Inside the casino, Charlie’s skill at poker provokes the ire of Denny Halloran, the son of mob boss Matt Halloran, who runs the place and wields influence over much of the local police, including Chief Travers and Lieutenant Martins, who begin to suspect Charlie’s innocence. In a tense confrontation after Charlie beats Denny at the table, Denny trips over a potted plant, smashes his head on a sharp counter, and dies. Charlie is suddenly in the spotlight, because Denny is connected to the Halloran family and the casino’s machinery of power.

Wrongfully accused of murder, Charlie finds himself on the run from Matt’s men and from corrupt cops who want the bounty Matt has posted: fifty thousand dollars. With only one ally in sight—reluctant witness Karen Landers, who knows the truth and agrees to help—Charlie enters a deadly game of cat and mouse that snakes through a series of eerie urban stages. The chase climbs through racetracks, amusement parks, bowling alleys, and shopping malls, as Matt’s men, along with Travers and Martins, close in and bodies pile up around them.

Karen is wounded somewhere along the way, and two dirty cops die as the pursuit intensifies. Charlie ultimately surrenders himself to Travers and Martins, hoping for a break that never fully comes. They are then pursued by two of Matt’s men, Sammy and Marv, and the trio careens off the road in a high-stakes chase. Travers and Martins are disabled, with Travers suffering lasting injuries. Sammy and Marv haul Charlie to Matt, who orders them to kill him—but Matt ends up killing Marv and then Sammy by causing them to fall from a roof.

With the remaining henchmen dispatched, Charlie faces Matt at a dog-race track, and the struggle reaches its brutal conclusion as Matt dies when an out-of-control mekanical pacer rabbit impales him. A recovering Martins arrives on the scene and offers a quiet, steady presence, placing a reassuring hand on Charlie’s shoulder as he mutters the final line of defiance:

they sure messed with the wrong guy.