Bullet Points: Raw Deal

If there is one movie that seemingly gets lost in the Schwarzenegger Shuffle it is 1986’s Raw Deal. Considering Raw Deal was released between two of Arnold’s most beloved films, 1985’s Commando and 1987’s Predator, it is not difficult to understand how this could happen. Plus to me, Raw Deal always felt more like a movie that Arnold was in as opposed to an Arnold movie.

• Small Town USA: Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Mark Kaminski, a former FBI Agent who after using excessive force found himself on the outs with the Bureau. For the past five years, Mark has been the sheriff in a small town, something that is beginning to wear on his big city wife. But a single phone call is about to change Mark’s trajectory. The call comes from Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin), an old FBI buddy that is offering Mark a chance to get back in the game in a major way.

• A Revenge Story: Harry’s offer to Mark is an off the books operation targeting Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker), a big time Chicago mobster. Harry’s son was on witness protection detail for a star witness in the ongoing trial of Patrovita. After the whereabouts of this information was leaked to Patrovita, Patrovita dispatched a hit squad to take out the witness and anybody who stood in their way… like Harry’s son. Harry is equal parts heartbroken and vengeful. Harry’s plan is to have Mark infiltrate Patrovita’s organization and take out those responsible for the death of Harry’s son. Mark stages his own death and assumes the identity of career criminal Joseph P. Brenner.
• Whatcha Know Joe: To ingratiate himself with Luigi Patrovita, Brenner targets the operations of an underworld rival of Patrovita, Martin Lamanski (Steven Hill) including tearing up one of Lamanski’s gambling operations… and by tearing up I mean, driving a tow truck through the freaking building! Brenner manages to get a meeting with Patrovita’s right hand man Paulo Rocca (Paul Shenar) and Brenner finds himself with a temporary position with the Patrovita family. Despite proving to be a valuable asset to his new mobster colleagues, not everyone is a fan of Brenner being around… namely Max Keller (Robert Davi, Wild Thing).

• Taking it to the Max: Max throws shade Brenner’s way every chance he gets and he is super suspicious of Brenner from the moment they met. Max uses Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who is a regular at Patrovita’s underground casino, to gather info on Brenner and get as close to him as possible. When Monique doesn’t get any dirt on Brenner, Max continues to dig and eventually learns that Brenner is not who he claims to be. Patrovita decides it is time to really test Brenner and Brenner is selected to go with Keller to take out a rogue FBI agent that has popped on their radar… Harry Shannon! This is the moment that changes everything and sets up the final 20 minutes of the film that goes absolute balls to the wall with heavy duty action and violence as Brenner is done and Mark Kaminski is back and he is pissed!

After revisiting Raw Deal, I can’t help but feel the movie gets a raw deal from some action fans.

Sure it isn’t the over the top extravaganza like Terminator, Predator or Commando. And it doesn’t feel like your typical Arnold movie (much the same way Code of Silence didn’t feel like a typical Chuck Norris movie). But those factors certainly don’t prohibit Raw Deal from being an entertaining movie and a unique entry in Arnold’s filmography.

Nothing will prohibit me from sharing some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Familiar Faces: Ed Lauter (Death Wish 3) plays Detective Baker, who has a few run ins with Joseph P. Brenner through out the course of the film, but his instincts tell him not to push too hard where Brenner is concerned… Sven-Ole Thorsen has an uncredited role as one of Patrovita’s bodyguards and gets gunned down by his good buddy Arnie in the process.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see a woman throw a chocolate cake with the word SHIT written on it at Arnold Schwarzenegger, then Raw Deal is the movie for you.
• Burn Quote: “The only way you’ll ever end up lying next to me, Max, is if we’re run down by the same car.” – Monique
• Directed By: John Irvin served as the director of Raw Deal much to the delight of the star of the film Arnold Schwarzenegger, who enjoyed working with Irvin. Irvin also directed the Patrick Swayze/Liam Neeson movie, Next of Kin.