Cobra (1986)

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.

Director:

George P. Cosmatos

Writers:

Paula Gosling (novel), Sylvester Stallone (screenplay)

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Marion Cobretti
Brigitte Nielsen	...	Ingrid
Reni Santoni	...	Gonzales
Andrew Robinson	...	Detective Monte
Brian Thompson	...	Night Slasher
John Herzfeld	...	Cho
Lee Garlington	...	Nancy Stalk
Art LaFleur	...	Captain Sears (as Art La Fleur)
Marco Rodríguez	...	Supermarket Killer (as Marco Rodriguez)
Ross St. Phillip	...	Security Guard
Val Avery	...	Chief Halliwell
David Rasche	...	Dan
John Hauk	...	Low Rider
Nick Angotti	...	Prodski
Nina Axelrod	...	Waitress

Storyline

As crime runs rampant in the United States, the hard-as-nails LAPD Lieutenant, Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, is the only cure for the crime-infested urban jungle of Los Angeles. In the meantime, a string of seemingly unconnected and unmotivated random assaults on civilians will soon drag the hardened officer into a violent war against the psychopaths of the secret organisation named "The New World". With the criminal society's sole purpose to weed out the weak, Cobra will escort an important witness--the young model, Ingrid--out of town to protect her; however, the movement's delusional killers will stop at nothing to track her down. Now, the only one who stands in their way is the one-man-army Lieutenant. Are they prepared for Cobra's nasty bite?

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic | psychotronic film | cult film | serial killer | tough guy | 

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Taglines:

The strong arm of the law.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA Israel

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kobra

Filming Locations:

2701 Manhattan Beach Blvd; Redondo Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$49,042,224

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$160,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Cannon Group, Golan-Globus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Ultra Stereo (35 mm prints) (as Eagle Stereo)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brigitte Nielsen wore a wig for her role as Ingrid. However, her trademark short blonde hair does make an appearance during Ingrid's modeling shoot, ironically representing a 'wig' her character is wearing to look futuristic.

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Goofs

Axes beating out of sync in a close-up.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Marion Cobretti: [narrating] In America, there's a burglary every 11 seconds, an armed robbery every 65 seconds, a violent crime every 25 seconds, a murder every 24 minutes and 250 rapes a day.

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Alternate Versions

A brief 4 sec shot of Stallone saying "You have the right to remain silent" as the petrol-soaked man rubs his eyes was cut from the UK video version by the BBFC (cinema prints were uncut). The print shown on subscription TV (Sky) is intact.

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: Beverly Hills Cop II/Amazing Grace and Chuck/Ishtar/The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)

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Soundtracks

Loving On Borrowed Time
(Love Theme from Cobra)
Performed by Gladys Knight and Bill Medley
Written by Brian Short and Ed Hamilton
Produced by Joe Chicarelli
Gladys Knight appears courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Where Rambo stops, Cobra Begins

With two Rambo movies, First Blood (1982) and Rambo : First Blood part II (1985) under his commando belt, Sylvester Stallone had confidently confirmed himself as the Box Office king of the Action Thriller genre. With all the gingoism and American flag waving that went with the comic strip adventures of the worlds favourite fictional viet nam vet, Stallone steps up a gear into Cobra (1986), one of the tightest, exciting, well written and under-rated action movies of the past few decades. Stallone takes British crime novelette Running Duck (US - Fair Game} from celebrated writer Paula Gossling and gives it the full Rambo gloss treatment. Gone from the novel is the alcoholic schizoid lead character and in his place is Marion Cobretti, the typical, four square Stallone character, and the story is all the better for this. Stallone' screenplay is pretty simple, and so is the under lying message that evil is a force that must be met on its own terms. So what we have is a violent actioneer chock full of punch ups, car chases and shooting. Sadly, the script isn't developed enough, and the Rocky elemnts so typical of Stallone's movies at this point, IE, the underdog hero who everyone is against, is used to the maxim here. Unlike the Rocky movies, the glare of humour isn't up to scratch, and so a great many of the lead characters are unlikeable. So what? Wasn't this the case with thrillers such as Seven or Resovoir Dogs? However, Rambo Director George Pan Cosmatos gives a fresh coat of paint to this particular movie, adding stylish touches of film noir to the action genre in a way that precceeds Face/Off (1997) and a whole host of successors. Bridgette Nielsen is the movies real surprise, giving a likeable and sincere performance as Helgar, under the watchful eye of her then Husband. What is really surprising is that Cosmatos manages to succesfully blend into the action genre touches of classic and contemporary horror movies such as Friday the Thirteenth and John Carpenters Halloween with the chilling depiction of the Night Slashers. The movie also contains some of the most exhilerating action and chase sequences, particularly in the movies climax, where Cobra lets rip unto the Night Slashers men. This is an under-rated gem, a very efficient Stallone/George Pan Cosmatos vehicle, and very possibly the best ever Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus/Cannon Film Group picture ever produced. .......................................................................

8/10