Raw Deal (1986)

A former FBI agent turned small-town sheriff agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia when the FBI chief's son is killed by them. Raw Deal for years was my least favorite 80's Schwarzenegger action flick and it still is but that doesn't mean that the movie sucked you have Schwarzenegger driving around shooting people and Rolling Stones playing on the background, there's some cool one liners such as 'You should not drink and bake' or even 'what do i look like Dirty Harry?' let's not forget the Theme Song of the movie as well which is badass but the film has issues slow pacing and lack of good villains such as Bennett in Commando or even The Predator in Predator the villains are weak and forgettable although the last 20 minutes or so are by far the best part of the movie Schwarzenegger goes all Rambo fury in them and terminates every single one of them and for the most part the cast did a nice job but Schwarzenegger is easily the best part of the movie and the shining star as well. I give Raw Deal a 8 out of 10 it has problems and it's easily not one of Arnie's best from that time but it's still a pretty cool enjoyable flick!!

Continuing my plan to watch every Arnie movie in order, I come to Raw Deal.Plot In A Paragraph: Mark Kaminski (Arnie) a former FBI agent turned small town sheriff, agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia.Following 4 movies in two years Arnie only had Raw Deal released in 1986. I don't know if this movie has any fans here. But I am not one.Arnies acting seems to have gone backwards. There is none of the charisma shown in Commando, maybe if there was, it wouldn't be as bad. But Arnie plays it very straight, no hint of tongue in cheek. And it's to the movies detriment. The Oaks biggest asset is his charisma. Here he can't even answer a telephone convincingly, and the less said about how he awkwardly places a coffee cup on the table the better!! He just comes off as any other poor actor with an impressive physique. In fact this role could have been played by any such actor. In fact it probably should have, Arnie struggles with the dialogue, and it makes him look bad, throw in some unconvincing fight scenes and it's not a good watch. At least in amongst the camp cheesy fun of Commando, the shootout at the gravel pit would have fit in, here it is awful. Ed Lauter is wasted, Sam Wannamkaer is never convincing as a ruthless mobster. Even Robert Davi (normally a perfectly fine bad guy) is poor here, The love interest is ridiculous, The rest of cast is rounded out by people who just seem to have been the cheapest alternative. Arnies long time friend Sven-Ole Thorsen turns up as Bearded Bodyguard after roles in both Conan movies and Red Sonja. Raw Deal only gets two mentions in Arnie's autobiography Total Recall. The first is "In the months before the wedding, I was busy promoting Commando and shooting Raw Deal - the action movie I'd promised to make for Dino De Laurentis- and getting ready to start Predator" And the second is when he is talking about the movie Total Recall, how De Laurentis had the rights to it, but wouldn't cast him. The first time he tried to make it, he cast Richard Dreyfuss, and when it went into development hell, he left. Then he he tries again, and this time he gave Patrick Swayze the role. He says "I was peed Dino didn't give me the part, he knew I wanted it. Instead he gave me Raw Deal." Amazingly Raw Deal was the 54th highest grossing movie of 1986 with $26 million at the domestic box office. Excluding Red Sonja (because he refused to do any promotional work) this would be the lowest grossing movie with Arnie in a lead role for a long time. In a quirky twist of fate, this movies failure, sent De Laurentis into bankruptcy and he had to sell the rights to Total Recall, which Arnie convinced Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna at Carolco to buy as a project for him. Just remember one thing kids "You shouldn't drink and bake"

Mark Kaminski (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a small town sheriff. His wife Amy is tired of small town life after 5 years. Mark had roughed up a bad guy and Marvin Baxter threatened to prosecute him unless he resigned from the FBI. Baxter is now after mobster Luigi Patrovita and his muscle Paulo Rocca. Mark's old boss Harry Shannon lost his son to Patrovita's men when they hit a witness under their protection. There is a mole in the FBI. Harry wants to send Mark undercover into Patrovita's organization without anybody else's knowledge and holding out the possibility of reinstatement. Mark fakes his death and takes on a new identity as he bulldoze the organization.I don't know why he has to blow up an oil facility to fake his death. The explosion does look cool. I also don't know what kind of cop could simply gun down suspected bad guys for no reason. So this movie has no subtlety and can't be taken realistically. Director John Irvin has stuffed a lot of action and explosions to cover up the non-sense. Schwarzenegger shows himself to be more than just a sword swinger or a killing machine. He stretches his acting to show a little bit of range which he puts to better use in his other movies. It's not mindless action but the story is not written well enough to be taken seriously.

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a former FBI agent(who had been fired under dubious circumstances) now small-town sheriff who is contacted by his former FBI boss Harry Shannon(played by "Kolchack: The Night Stalker" veteran Darren McGavin) to help him take down a Chicago mob family, who are responsible for the recent death of his son. Arnold agrees, but this requires him to go undercover in the family, to confirm their responsibility, and gather evidence.A bit better than "Commando", which this film resembles, though it is still very familiar, unconvincing stuff. McGavin in particular is wasted, though he does enliven the scenes he is in. Has a funny action climax involving the song "Satisfaction", but otherwise, strictly routine.