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The Million Game
Das Millionenspiel
1970 · Film · 96 min
Directed by Tom Toelle
A candidate in a game show is hunted by three men. He will get a Million DMark, if he survives for a week; the hunters will get the money, if they can kill the candidate. The audience of the show is watching the transmissions of twenty camera teams filming the hunt. The showmaster appeals to the TV-viewers to help either the candidate or the hunters, whomever they want.
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2 comments on Hacker News
"The Running man" by Stephen King was published in 1982, the movie starring Schwarzenegger was released in 1987 (another adaptation will be released this year in 2025)
The story is similar to a Robert Sheckley's short story from 1952,"The Prize of Peril" adapted into a movie in Germany in 1970 "Das Millionenspiel" and in France in 1982 "Le prix du danger" (same year as King's Running Man novel)
I would say "The Prize of Peril" is the grandfather of these books, movies and series, as far as I know. Battle Royale is the start of another branch, though : it's not one vs many anymore, it's many vs many.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prize_of_Peril
Regarding gameshows in which you have to pay with your life there was a mockumentary called 'Das Millionenspiel' [0] from 1970 . People where rather shocked at the time.
[0] https://m.imdb.com/de/title/tt0066079/