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 film | cult film | tough guy | wisecrack humor | one against many | 

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Taglines:

This is where the law stops... and I start.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sylvester Stallone was a fan of John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band and approached them about doing a song for the film. The song "Voice of America's Sons" was written for the film, and John Cafferty had contributed to the Rocky IV (1985) soundtrack as well.

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Goofs

When the gang member on the motorbike comes crashing through the door of the motel, the door and door frame that breaks away appear to have very little weight indicating it is obviously made of balsa wood..

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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

There is uncut,about 2 hour long work print of Cobra. This work print contains many scenes not shown in any other versions. Almost all deaths scenes are longer and much more gorier,some characters have more dialogue or character development scenes(Ingrid's photographer friend,Cobra's partner Gonzalez,detective Monte and some others),action scenes are much longer with more violence and deaths (hospital attack and attack on Cobra's place,car chase,pick-up truck chase and final shootout) some parts of the movie have different music than the one heard in DVD versions.

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Connections

Featured in Bad Movie Beatdown: The Riddle (2010)

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Soundtracks

Voice of America's Sons
(Theme from Cobra)
Performed by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Written by John Cafferty
Produced by Kenny Vance
Courtesy of Scotti Brothers Records

User Reviews

Some brilliant sequences jammed between the mediocrity

George Cosmatos, the director of the dim-witted RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2, directs this schizophrenic exercise in style with some aplomb.

The title sequence is simply stunning. DOP Ric Waite's images exist in some sort of surreal world that the film can't possibly contextualize. At magic hour, a bad guy on a motorcycle is intercut with ludicrous but gorgeous images of other bad guys (in suits, no less) ritualistically banging axe handles together in some underground warehouse in Los Angeles in time with a dark, brooding synth score

The sequence that follows, a madman's bullet-ridden assault on a supermarket, is again stunningly shot and staged and a triumph of style over anything you want to name.

Once these bravura sequences have passed, mediocrity and Hollywood Plotting 101 cuts in and we're pulled back into a dull reality.

But don't fret. Sit tight for long enough and you get an enthusiastically staged car chase with ducks, machine guns, classic cars bursting from buildings, a Santa who comes close to being roadkill and badly uttered Stallone lines.

Fast forward then to the film's climactic shootout on motorcycles and you're left with an action film that spends forty minutes doing everything right.

Stallone emotes with cruise control and his wife-at-the-time Brigitte Nielson just wears the clothes and moves from first position to second.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA Israel

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cobra

Filming Locations:

2701 Manhattan Beach Blvd; Redondo Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,653,032, 25 May 1986

Gross USA:

$49,042,224

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$49,042,224

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., The 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