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DVD Raw Deal
A by-the-numbers action flick featuring a stern Arnold Schwarzenegger, Raw Deal has all the traditional traits of the genre. Schwarzenegger is a disgraced former FBI agent who winds up as sheriff of a backwater Southern town. He is given a chance to reclaim his job when the head of the Bureau offers him reinstatement if he'll go undercover to capture the mob boss responsible for killing his son. Schwarzenegger must get close enough to gain the trust of the gangster without being discovered as a mole, while gathering enough evidence to take him down. One of Schwarzenegger's early films, in which he honed his persona, Raw Deal offers up the usual quotient of gun battles and tough talk, with a trace of self-deprecating humor from its star, making it reasonably worthwhile entertainment. --Robert Lane
Let's face it - schlock as an art form has its place in our culture. Schlock takes many forms, from formulaic teen comedies, weepy romantic `comedies' and the trying-to-be-serious-but-looking-positively-ridiculous hard-boiled cops `n' robbers movie.
Raw Deal is the latter. Taken in a slightly different direction (and with an entirely different cast) the script might produce something dark, gripping, and ultimately rewarding. But watching John Irving's vision of Raw Deal is rewarding in its own way - lots and lots of unintentional laughs, not to mention a seemingly never-ending clatter of empty shell casings. If you like Ah-nuld pre- "Eraser," when his characters were given more leeway to act like, well, a muscle-bound Austrian playing the John Wayne role without a hint of shame, Raw Deal is an outstanding film.
As I said before, the plot could have been believable, but there's no real concern with reality here, and that works in the film's favor. The current Governor of California is a small-town sheriff in an unhappy marriage, having been removed from "The Agency" (gamely represented here by a super frumpy Darrin McGavin as some kind of rogue FBI boss named Shannon). Well, wouldn't you know it, Arnie's former boss loses a son to gangsters. To quote Mayor Quimby , "Those wacky gangsters. What're ya gonna do?" Well, Shannon decides to enlist the Terminator off the books to terminate those wacky gangsters.
But the termination comes not in the "Commando" mold of seek-and-destroy, but in possibly the least logical way possible - Mr. Schwartzenegger goes undercover in the Chicago mob. I'm no organized crime expert, but I somehow get the sense that the mob, whether Italian, Chinese, or Russian, tends to recruit from within. Walk-ons must be extremely suspect, especially if they look like escapees from WWE Raw (or the WWF, during the time this film was shot). But the mob honchos accept him with open arms, and the rest of the film is Arnold knocking the mob down piece by piece from the inside.
The film really shines in its cartoony portrayal of gun violence, where more rounds are fired per scene than in a comparable day in Iraq. Sometimes the bullets hit, and then get ready for mobsters falling off of cranes, mobsters falling down stairs, and mobsters blowing up inside their cars. My absolute favorite moment of the film comes towards the end. Arnold has just wasted an entire room of baddies, and is setting off in pursuit of the main bad guy. The main bad guy leaves one poor schmoe, let's call him `Gangster #37' at the staircase. Gangster #37 fumbles with his weapon and says something like "Bring it on! I'm going to go crazy and kill you!" Arnold just walks around the corner and wastes him. Well, at least Gangster #37's heart was in the right place.
So, if you like Arnold, and you like the idea of the mob getting its comeuppance in a hail of gunfire, check out Raw Deal. You won't be disappointed.
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As the Chicago Mafia attempts to murder witnesses who could incriminate them in court, Mark Kaminsky, a former FBI agent (Arnold Schwarzenegger), attempts to infiltrate the organization and root out the assassins. It's time for dues to be paid ... "Ah-nuld" style! Kathryn Harrold, Ed Lauter, Darren McGavin and Sam Wanamaker co-star.
Early Ah-nold yarn worth checking out
After finding sucess with Conan the Barbarian and the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in this half decent action yarn playing a disgraced FBI Agent called back into duty to go undercover to track a mob boss. The script, directing, action, and so forth are pretty routine for an 80's action movie, but good 'ol Arnold's magnetic charm keeps Raw Deal rolling even when it seems it's about to fall apart. The cast also includes longtime Law & Order vet Steven Hill, and most of the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable. Still worth checking out though for Arnold afficiondos who missed out on it.
After scoring a hit with the Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte cop thriller 48 Hours, director Walter Hill returned to the buddy formula with this half-ridiculous, half-invigorating action flick about humorless Russian cop Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He follows a drug dealer from Moscow to Chicago, where he's matched up with city cop Art Ridzik (James Belushi), whose work ethic is considerably more relaxed. Most of the humor revolves around Danko's grumpy reaction to good ol' American capitalism, while Ridzik urges him to chill out. Red Heat is not bad as action comedies go, but only if you get into the absurd spirit of this predictable fare, in which the unlikely buddies get to wisecrack and act casually while mayhem erupts everywhere they go. Incidentally, Red Heat... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger - James Belushi Director(s): Walter Hill DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A massively underrated action thriller that kept Arnold Schwarzenegger occupied between mid-'80s blockbusters, Commando may be one of the last shoot-out films ever to have real characters in it. Not, of course, that they're anything other than stereotypes, but they're painted with such detailed, positive strokes that it's impossible not to relate to them. Arnie plays a retired military special-ops officer whose daughter (played with an expert balance of cute/feisty by Alyssa Milano) is kidnapped by the baddest of bad guys, who'll only hand her back as and when he's assassinated a tiresome banana-republic president on their behalf. Needless to say, Arnie is deeply annoyed by this, rescues the moppet single-handed amid more bullets and explosions than you can shake a stuntman's pay... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger - Rae Dawn Chong Director(s): Mark L. Lester DVD Release Date: Released the 18 December 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If you're going to submit yourself to a dazzling example of mainstream action, this thriller is as good a choice as any. Eraser is a live-action cartoon, the kind of movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger can survive nail bombs, hails of bullets, an attack by voracious alligators ("You're luggage," he says, after killing one of the beasts), and still emerge from the mayhem relatively intact. Arnold plays an "eraser" from the Federal Witness Protection Program, so named because he can virtually erase the existence of anyone he's been assigned to protect. His latest beneficiary is an FBI employee (Vanessa Williams) who stumbled across a secret government group involved in the sale and export of an advanced weapon capable of shooting rounds at nearly the speed of light. Fantastic action... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger - James Caan - Vanessa L. Williams - James Coburn Director(s): Chuck Russell DVD Release Date: Released the 27 August 1997 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In this action thriller based on an early story by Stephen King, Los Angeles in the year 2017 has become a police state in the wake of the global economy's total collapse. All forms of entertainment are government controlled, and the most popular show on television is an elaborate game show in which convicted criminals are given a chance to escape by running through a gauntlet of brutal killers known as "Stalkers." Anyone who survives is given their freedom and a condominium in Hawaii, so when a wrongly accused citizen (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is chosen as a contestant, all hell breaks loose. Cheesy sets and a slimy role for game-show host Richard Dawson make this violent mess of mayhem a candidate for guilty pleasure; it is the kind of movie that truly devoted Arnold fans will want to... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger - Maria Conchita Alonso Director(s): Paul Michael Glaser - Andrew Davis DVD Release Date: Released the 16 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Brigitte Nielsen, as Conan creator Robert E. Howard's female warrior Red Sonja, gets an assist from Arnold Schwarzenegger in this enjoyably campy, Italian-lensed sword & sorcery adventure. Nielsen's thespian skills may be a bit stiff, but she certainly fills out the physical demands of the role, which asks her to look impressive with a sword as she avenges the death of her priestess sister and the theft of a sacred orb by an evil queen (Sandahl Bergman, also from the '82 theatrical Conan and a match for Nielsen's acting ability). Schwarzenegger (not playing Howard's barbarian king) lends some star power in a supporting role as a warrior assisting Sonja, and if the film stumbles in the acting, scripting, and special-effects departments, Richard Fleischer's direction... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger - Brigitte Nielsen - Sandahl Bergman Director(s): Richard Fleischer DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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