Night of the Running Man

Logan becomes a target because he unknowingly has the stolen money. After his passenger is killed, Logan escapes with the $1 million still in the taxi. Since the cash was stolen from mob-connected casino manager Al Chambers, and Chambers hired hitman David Eckhart to recover it, Logan is the only person who knows where the money is. Even though Logan is innocent, Eckhart views him as a witness who must be eliminated to keep the theft secret.

The waitress is killed because she reveals Logan's destination to Eckhart under pressure. Logan confides in a friendly waitress before leaving Las Vegas, telling her where he's headed. When Eckhart tracks her down and threatens her, she breaks and reveals the information. To prevent any further leaks that could lead back to the mob, Eckhart kills her to silence her permanently.

Logan's trust in a stranger early in the film sets up the tragic consequences of the waitress's death.

Eckhart kills Mills because Mills offers to retrieve the money himself, which reveals his greed and unreliability. When Logan reveals the money is hidden in the basement, Mills immediately volunteers to get it, showing he'd betray Eckhart for a share of the cash. Eckhart views this disloyalty as a betrayal and kills Mills on the spot, then proceeds to the basement alone to get the money himself.

Gurino orders Chambers killed because Chambers skimmed $1 million from Gurino's casino operations and let it get stolen. When Chambers couldn't recover the money or explain the loss, Gurino sees him as both a security risk and a traitor. Rather than let Chambers talk to authorities or rivals, Gurino has Eckhart eliminate Chambers and his wife to completely silence the leak and prevent any investigation into the missing funds.

Logan kills Eckhart using a wooden plank with a nail protruding from it. During their knife fight in the dark basement, Eckhart overpowers Logan and moves in for the killing blow. Logan grabs a wooden plank lying nearby and swings it desperately. A nail in the plank impales Eckhart, killing him instantly and giving Logan the upper hand he needed to survive.

Altman helps Logan because she treats him as a patient and develops sympathy for his situation. When Logan is hospitalized after escaping Mills' torture, Altman tends his wounds and learns he's being hunted. Rather than hand him over to Eckhart, she hides his involvement from the hitman and later moves him to a hotel for safety. Her compassion stems from seeing Logan's injuries and recognizing he's an innocent man being brutally pursued.

Mills tortures Logan to force him to reveal where the money is hidden. After kidnapping Logan at the airport, Mills takes him to his house and boils his feet in hot water as torture, trying to break Logan's resistance. The brutal method is meant to inflict enough pain that Logan would tell Mills the location of the $1 million, allowing Mills to steal it for himself rather than delivering Logan to Eckhart.

Logan can't simply return the money because it would implicate him in the theft. The money is connected to a mob operation, and handing it over to police would make Logan appear as the thief who stole from mob boss Gurino. Additionally, no one believes he's innocent, he's the only witness with the money. By the time he realizes the danger, Eckhart is already hunting him, so running becomes his only option for survival.

Eckhart kills Chambers because Gurino orders it, not because Logan asked. After Logan proposes splitting the money in exchange for their lives, Eckhart goes to Las Vegas. Gurino then commands Eckhart to kill Chambers and his wife to silence the skimming leak entirely. Chambers served his purpose as the one who hired Eckhart, but now he's a liability who knows about the stolen money. Eckhart carries out Gurino's orders and kills Chambers before returning to deal with Logan.

Logan and Altman leave the country because Eckhart is dead but the mob still wants them silenced. With Eckhart killed, Gurino and whatever remainders of Chambers' operation still know about the stolen money and will continue hunting Logan. By leaving under assumed names and paying cash for tickets, they hope to disappear completely and start fresh abroad, away from anyone who might connect them to the money or the murders.

Eckhart kills the waitress because she now knows information that could link back to the mob. After she reveals Logan's destination under pressure, keeping her alive risks her going to police or others about the encounter with a hitman. Killing her ensures complete silence about the pursuit and removes any potential witness who could trace the assassination attempts back to Chambers or Gurino's operation.