Raw Deal | | Cast : | Arnold Schwarzenegger | | Director : | John Irvin | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 06, 1986 | | DVD Released Date : | April 19, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 29, 2005 | | Summary | A Classic From the Golden Age of Ah-nuld | Content
 | 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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| Rating | | | Date | October 31, 2004 | | Summary | super | Content
| 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. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 30, 2004 | | Summary | Early Ah-nold yarn worth checking out | Content
| 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. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 24, 2004 | | Summary | One of Arnold's Better Movies | Content
| John Irvin directed this standard mob-action film that had a decent plot and good action sequences. Not one of Arnold's best movies but certainly above average compared to the many flops he contributed to over the years as an action star.
The film is a standard mob-action plot where Schwarzenegger plays Joseph Brenner, a former FBI agent who lost his job and whose son was killed by mobsters. Brenner now works as a sheriff in some rural town and is approached by an old FBI pal named Max Keller (Robert Davi) who comes to him with an offer to reinstate him into the FBI if he helps bring down two big mafia leaders named Patrovita (Sam Wannamaker) and Rocca (Paul Shenar): the same leaders who were responsible for killing his son. Going undercover, Joseph Brenner gets the mobsters to fight each other until the final showdown.
I don't understand why other reviewers have such a low opinion of this film: it's actually quite good. In my mind, there are many other Arnold films that would fall into the below-average category of 2 or less stars long before this one; films such as 'Commando', 'Conan the Destroyer', and 'Red Sonja', to name a few. If anyone thinks that 'Raw Deal' is on par or lower in quality than the latter films, then they should really study some film basics before writing any more reviews.
In conclusion, I think this is one of Arnold's better movies and is worthy of either purchase or rental. It has a decent screenplay with a good script as well as good action sequences. Check it out! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 19, 2004 | | Summary | One of Arnies worser movies | Content
| A simple plot about an ex-FBI officer forced by an old friend to infiltrate a Mob who murdered his son.Definitley not Arnie's best but it does have the odd good scene where his driving a convertable and shooting people at the same time while listening to the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" but it was really corny how his car was riddled with bullets and didn't even get a flesh wound and of course he shot everyone.There wasn't many beautiful women in it and I think I prefer the shootout scene at the end of "Commando" to this.But I think he played his character reasonably well. |
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