History Film / Runaway

* HandCannon: As well as the huge handgun that fires Luther's heat-seeking projectiles, there's Ramsey and Thompson using the Detonics [=ServiceMaster=], or the smaller (but still .45 calibre) [=CombatMaster=] as a backup weapon.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Laser weapons are used, but only against robots, implying they're less effective against flesh and blood targets.

* MacGuffin: Integrated circuits (and the templates for building more) which can turn any common robot into an assassination tool. Luther lists terrorists and foreign intelligence organisations as possible interested buyers.

* DuelingMovies: With one of the biggest actors at the time and written/directed by a science-fiction legend, this film was projected to be the major sci-fi film of 1984. Instead, it got overshadowed by a [[TheTerminator B-movie about a robot assassin played by an Austrian bodybuilder who barely spoke English, co-starring alongside actors who only had theater experience, and written/directed by an unknown]] (whose last film credit was ''[[{{Piranha}} Piranha II]]'').

* ShaggySearchTechnique: In a {{fanservice}} scene Kirstie Alley is scanned for bugs -- turns out her psycho boyfriend has loaded her with them -- but the police fail to search her handbag where both the templates and another bug are hidden.

* HandCannon: Not just the handgun that fires Luther's heat-seeking projectiles. Ramsey and Thompson use the Detonics [=ServiceMaster=] or the smaller (but still .45 calibre) [=CombatMaster=] as a backup weapon.

** During the routine interception of a runaway at the start of the movie, Ramsey and Thompson jump on top of it only for the robot to explode in a large ball of smoke, to the amusement of watching farmers.

In the near future, when robots become commonplace, Sgt. Jack Ramsey (Selleck) handles cases involving malfunctioning robots.He gets involved in the schemes of a twisted genius named Dr. Charles Luther (Simmons), resulting in a cat and mouse game with such weapons as guided bullets, rolling bombs and acid squirting robotic spiders.

* MacGuffin: Intergrated circuits (and the templates for building more) which can turn any common robot into an assassination tool. Luther lists terrorists and foreign intelligence organisations as possible interested buyers.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Luther's killbots allow Ramsey in to the exchange, but will kill the first person to come out. [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo That starts of being Ramsey's son]] -- it ends up being Luther.

* HomingProjectile: the infrared homing rounds.

* HandCannon: Not just the handgun that fires Luther's heat-seeking projectiles, but also the standard weapons of the runaway squad.

* RobotMaid

* [[WeHaveYourWife I Have Your Son]]

* HostageForMacGuffin: First Luther grabs Ramsey's partner in exchange for his girlfriend and the chips, then when that fails he abducts Ramsey's son.

* MacGuffin: Computer chips (and the plans for building more) which can turn any common robot into an assassination tool. Luther lists terrorists and intelligence organisations as possible interested buyers.

* BigDamnKiss: Ramsey and his female partner kiss at the end, showered with sparks from the building site.

* WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut: Ramsey's partner gets one of Luther's heat-seeking microshells in her arm, which fails to detonate. They can't risk moving her to the hospital because it could explode any moment, so Ramsey has to remove it then and there.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The two men who helped design the killbot chips, and Luther's girlfriend.

* TheDulcineaEffect: Ramsey charges in to save a pretty girl being zapped by a malfunctioning security robot, instead of returning to his car to suit up in protective gear. He gets zapped repeatedly, snarked at by both the girl and his female partner, and ends up smashing the expensive robot with a chair.

* TheDulcineaEffect: Ramsey charges in to save a pretty girl being zapped by a malfunctioning security robot, instead of returning to his car to suit up in protective gear. He gets zapped repeatedly, snarked at by his female partner, and ends up smashing the expensive robot with a chair.

* PainfullySlowProjectile: The homing bullets of Luther's gun.

* ChaseScene: A fairly memorable one - Luther attacks a police convoy with roving smart bombs by dropping them from a trapdoor in his car, so the heroes can't even see where he's attacking them ''from.''

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* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Ramsey is scared of heights. Knowing this, Luther sets the exhange in the climax to happen in an unfinished skyscraper.

A 1984 film starring TomSelleck and [[{{KISS}} Gene Simmons]]. It was written and directed by MichaelCrichton

* DuelingMovies: With one of the biggest actors at the time and written/directed by a science-fiction legend, this film was projected to be the major sci-fi film of 1984. Instead, it got overshadowed by a [[TheTerminator B-movie about a robot assassin played by an Austrian bodybuilder who barely spoke English, along with actors who only had theater experience, and written/directed by an unknown]] (whose last film credit was ''[[{{Piranha}} Piranha II]]'').

* AIIsACrapshoot
* ChaseScene