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"
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"