Bostonlaw student and part-time mechanic Charlie Farrow was asked by his boss to deliver a new Porsche from Boston to Atlantic City for a client. When he gets close to Atlantic City, the Porsche breaks down. While Charlie waits for the car to be repaired, a cab driver takes him to an undercover casino that has a bar room and kitchen, so Charlie can get something to eat. At the casino, Charlie earns the wrath of Denny Halloran, who takes exception to Charlie beating him at poker. In the resulting fight, Denny trips over a potted palm, accidentally hits his head on the sharp corner of a counter, and dies. Charlie is now on the spot, because Denny happens to be the son of a mob boss named Matt Halloran, who is the owner and despot of the casino and most of the police force, including Chief Travers and Lt. Martins who think Charlie could be innocent. Wrongfully accused of murdering Denny, Charlie finds himself on the run from both dirty cops and Matt's henchmen, all of whom want to collect the $50,000 bounty that Matt placed on Charlie. With only one ally, reluctant witness Karen Landers who knows the truth and agrees to aid Charlie, Charlie finds himself in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The bodies pile up as Charlie dodges flying bullets and bowling pins, explosions from numerous assault weapons and miscellaneous shrapnel and twisted auto parts as he is pursued on a nightmare race through racetracks, amusement parks, bowling alleys and shopping malls by Matt's men, corrupt cops and Travers and Martins. After Karen is wounded and two dirty cops die chasing him Charlie surrenders himself to Travers and Martins but they are pursued by two of Matt's men, Sammy and Marv, and run off the road, Travers is killed and Martins is injured. Sammy and Marv take Charlie to Matt who tells them to kill Charlie, however, he kills Marv then Sammy by causing them to fall off of a roof. After killing Matt's other henchmen, Charlie and Matt confront each other at Matt's dog-race track. Matt dies as he is impaled by a mechanical pacer rabbit that was speeding toward him. Martins arrives after this and tells Charlie that "they sure fooled with the wrong guy", before placing a reassuring hand on Charlie's shoulder.
It was the second feature directed by Geoff Burrowes."If you want to do an action picture, it should be one that doesn't let up and for that reason this movie appealed to me enormously," he said. "In Run, we're projecting a situation which could quite conceivably happen to any member of the audience, a situation with which they can identify through a character who is fundamentally Everyman. We pose the question, `What would happen to me if I were caught up something in which I was an outsider, where all due process fell away and I were left alone?' " Filming started in Vancouver in April 1990. Kelly Preston replaced Tracy Pollan who bowed out during early filming in May. According to a publicist, "The part had evolved and both parties agreed that she was no longer right for the role. There were no awful tantrums."
