Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

'Raw Deal' is for me somewhat of a tough film to rate and review. It is not a great, or even a good, film and is as close to ridiculous as Arnold Schwarznegger films get. At the same time, it's difficult to be too hard on 'Raw Deal' because there is some entertainment value.Let's start with the good things. Schwarznegger is not the greatest of actors and never has been, but he has always had a hugely charismatic screen presence, a larger-than-life likability and a knack for action sequences. One gets all of this from his performance in 'Raw Deal', even with some expressionless and moments where he does struggle with lines he is immensely watchable and it is very vintage Schwarznegger. Generally it is the cast that come off best. Robert Davi is a rightly hiss-able bad guy and Kathryn Harrold has charm and sass. Sam Wanamaker and Paul Shenar make much of relatively little, they bring colourful menace to their stereotypical roles despite (particularly Shenar) being underused.There are a few fun one-liners here and there and some excitement in the action. Can't say that on the whole as individual components the script and action were great, but the entertainment was there. The soundtrack is cool too and the scenery has atmosphere.On the other hand, the story is not just ridiculous (even by Schwarznegger film standards) and generic but has too many scenes that feel like filler and either drag the story out or confuse it. A few nice one-liners here and there, but the script is quite weak and there is a lot of unintentional humour and next to no care developing the characters in a film littered with stereotypes (only Kaminski has any kind of development).Action-wise, 'Raw Deal' is hardly amateurish and has some exciting moments but too much of it is too routine and a huge amount of suspension of disbelief is needed. Although the ending is certainly memorable, more so than most of the stuff before it, it's for all the wrong reasons. Visually, it has a low-budget made-for-TV-production-like look to it. Ed Lauter is pretty wasted and while the direction is competent it's never more than that.In conclusion, watchable but doesn't feel cooked all the way through. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Continuing my plan to watch every Arnie movie in order, I come to Raw Deal.Plot In A Paragraph: Mark Kaminski (Arnie) a former FBI agent turned small town sheriff, agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia.Following 4 movies in two years Arnie only had Raw Deal released in 1986. I don't know if this movie has any fans here. But I am not one.Arnies acting seems to have gone backwards. There is none of the charisma shown in Commando, maybe if there was, it wouldn't be as bad. But Arnie plays it very straight, no hint of tongue in cheek. And it's to the movies detriment. The Oaks biggest asset is his charisma. Here he can't even answer a telephone convincingly, and the less said about how he awkwardly places a coffee cup on the table the better!! He just comes off as any other poor actor with an impressive physique. In fact this role could have been played by any such actor. In fact it probably should have, Arnie struggles with the dialogue, and it makes him look bad, throw in some unconvincing fight scenes and it's not a good watch. At least in amongst the camp cheesy fun of Commando, the shootout at the gravel pit would have fit in, here it is awful. Ed Lauter is wasted, Sam Wannamkaer is never convincing as a ruthless mobster. Even Robert Davi (normally a perfectly fine bad guy) is poor here, The love interest is ridiculous, The rest of cast is rounded out by people who just seem to have been the cheapest alternative. Arnies long time friend Sven-Ole Thorsen turns up as Bearded Bodyguard after roles in both Conan movies and Red Sonja. Raw Deal only gets two mentions in Arnie's autobiography Total Recall. The first is "In the months before the wedding, I was busy promoting Commando and shooting Raw Deal - the action movie I'd promised to make for Dino De Laurentis- and getting ready to start Predator" And the second is when he is talking about the movie Total Recall, how De Laurentis had the rights to it, but wouldn't cast him. The first time he tried to make it, he cast Richard Dreyfuss, and when it went into development hell, he left. Then he he tries again, and this time he gave Patrick Swayze the role. He says "I was peed Dino didn't give me the part, he knew I wanted it. Instead he gave me Raw Deal." Amazingly Raw Deal was the 54th highest grossing movie of 1986 with $26 million at the domestic box office. Excluding Red Sonja (because he refused to do any promotional work) this would be the lowest grossing movie with Arnie in a lead role for a long time. In a quirky twist of fate, this movies failure, sent De Laurentis into bankruptcy and he had to sell the rights to Total Recall, which Arnie convinced Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna at Carolco to buy as a project for him. Just remember one thing kids "You shouldn't drink and bake"

Between the marvellous, macho, military mayhem that was Commando and the sheer brilliance of sci-fi/action classic Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in this shoddy shoot-em-up, most notable for being the one where the star slicks back his hair (seriously, that's the only thing I could remember about this film from my previous viewing).The uninspired plot for this largely forgettable cheese-fest sees Arnie as disgraced FBI agent turned small-town sheriff Mark Kaminsky, who slaps on the pomade to go deep undercover in the Chicago mafia after being offered the possibility of reinstatement if he helps to kill the mobsters responsible for the death of his ex-boss's son. The slicked back hair fools everyone but mob heavy Max Keller (Robert Davi), who suspects that the new muscle isn't on the level.There's no denying that this is far from Arnie's best film—the script is diabolical, the action is poorly staged, and the majority of the movie seems to be simply treading water until the bullet-riddled finale—but for those after a few unintentional laughs to go with their gratuitous violence, look no further…This film's so-bad-they're-good highlights include Kaminsky's hilarious domestic spat with his inebriated, cake-hurling wife (Don't drink and bake!), Arnold struggling to deliver the priceless line 'He molested, murdered and mutilated her' (the film is worth watching for this moment alone), the ridiculous attack on the bad guys' quarry hangout which sees our hero effortlessly picking off numerous villains while fishtailing his car at high speed, Kaminsky's reckless suggestion to start a bombing campaign on the city's police precincts (what's a few maimed cops in the pursuit of vengeance?), and the inevitable scene in which Kaminsky 'tools up', preparing a vast collection of weaponry for the final battle, pulling on his leather jacket and checking himself out in the mirror before he leaves to kick ass.Unmitigated tripe this may be, but it sure is funny at times.

Another action flick starring Arnold Scharzenegger, where he plays former FBI agent Mark Kaminsky, now a small town sheriff in North Carolina. He is enlisted by FBI Chief Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin) to help avenge his son's death by going undercover in mobster Patrovina's gang to take them down, in exchange for Kaminsky's reinstatement in the FBI. This movie title, unfortunately, says it all. This is a film that is basically all talk with very limited action, which makes the plot go at a slow pace; it almost seems the filmmakers were trying to give this flick a Godfather feel to it with its overly preachy mobster scenes. There is hardly any suspense or tense moments and even Arnold's one-liners were scarce. The acting, however, was OK and I think Arnold pulled off the best he can in this otherwise lackluster movie. Darren McGavin played a heartfelt role as the FBI Chief.Overall, not an exciting action movie and not one of the better ones starring Arnold.Grade D+