Schwarzenegger Corpus 1: Raw Deal

Some years ago Heckler and I came back from the pub with some friends and discovered that a Schwarzenegger film we'd not heard of was coming on: Raw Deal (1986, Director: John Irvin. Trailer.). This, we thought, would be perfect after-pub fare - mindless violence and a quotable one-liner or two. We got the one-liner out of the way fairly quickly:

"You should not drink and bake" (Not Safe For Work) (Afterwards quoted by us as "Don't drink and bake" to anyone who cooked in the style of Keith Floyd)

The film continued with Arnie driving into an oil refinery in his police car, rigging it to blow up and driving out on a motorbike. He then reappears in a smart suit with slicked back hair and begins a one man war against the mob.

("Why did he blow up that oil refinery again?"asked Heckler. "To get enough crude oil to slick back his hair," I replied.)

After Arnie drove a lorry cab into a gambling den, the film got a bit talky for five minutes and we got distracted, stopped paying attention and never did figure out what was going on.

Anyway, the 21st Century rolls around and Raw Deal becomes available on DVD at a highly discounted price. Heckler, determined to find out what the hell that film was about, purchases it. And, earlier this month, we wander back from the pub after a friend's birthday and set it going.

As you might imagine, the evening ended about forty five minutes into the film with Heckler lying on the lounge floor snoring loudly.

If you want to know our impression of the film at that point, this video will probably show you.

Finally last weekend, after watching the Eurovision song contest, we put it on and finally make it through to the end. In brief: Arnie shoots, punches, blows up and generally destroys the Chicago mob, is never in a situation he can't handle, very little collateral damage happens etc. etc. in classic 80s action film style. Good Guys win, Bad Guys lose. High point? The final battle sequence including buildup). Low point? The film in general. Most disappointing is that this exchange (NSFW) is actually in Commando, not Raw Deal as I thought.

So a film from our shared history is out of the way. Still, the DVD has a use: if Heckler is having trouble sleeping, I'll just slip it in the player.

Final Score: 2 rounds (one for the film, and one for you if you miss)

All the Youtube videos from this post arranged in one playlist below.