Codice Magnum

Don't be angry with me for only awarding "Raw Deal" 5 stars out of 10. It's a 'strong, almost a 6' 5, not a 'weak, barely above a 4' 5. If that makes any sense.

I think that part of the problem is that I saw this after I saw "Terminator" and "Commando", and it was a bit of a let-down. (And I might have been suffering from a bit of "Schwarzenegger-overexposure".) Arnold is a bit wasted here. It's as if someone mistakenly cast him in a role meant for someone like Chuck Norris. Let's face it, this is a smaller scale movie with a seemingly smaller budget; Dolph Lundgren or Rutger Hauer or Micheal Biehn or even that guy from "Eddie And The Cruisers" could have filled in for the S-man in this movie and you would hardly have noticed the difference, except for a few one-liners. Not to mention the director for "Raw Deal" seemed to be nowhere near Cameron's or Lester's class. Same thing goes for the cast (with all respect to Darren McGavin and Robert Davi). Kathryn Harrold is not a substitute for Linda Hamilton. She's OK, but she's a Ford Taurus to Hamilton's Corvette Stingray.

There are pacing problems, too. The screenwriter felt the need to include several filler sequences that are meant to advance the plot and fill in back story and give the other cast members something to do. But most of these sequences are pretty lackluster: a fistfight in a women's clothing store goes nowhere; a romantic confrontation between Davi and Harrold leaves no lasting impact (though it does let Harrold get off a good put-down line); and the 10 minute car chase scene where a crime boss winds up hamburger is an exercise in by-the-numbers padding if there ever was one (good sound design, though).

But the last 20 minutes serves as a payoff to the first part of the film, and it is basically one long bullet-fest. Arnold basically shoots everything short of LAWs and RPGs at the bad guys, and they obligingly miss with all their shots and fall over and die. None of this is staged with anything like the panache of the firefights in "Commando" or the desperate high speed run-and-gun highway fights in "Terminator". It's all very meat-and-potatoes stuff that wouldn't have be out of place in a typical Cannon/Golan-Globus production. But there's plenty of it, and the S-man is appropriately grim and indestructible, and any fan will be satisfied once the final bad guy goes down in the final hail of bullets.

After 3 viewings, I still don't understand why no one can hit the huge, slow-moving white guy when they shoot at him, but it's his movie, so I'll just attribute it to Arnold's penchant for bringing a Browning Automatic Rifle to a revolver fight, and let it pass.

And I don't discount this movie just because it was an Arnold vehicle - I felt that his follow-up "The Running Man" was a return to form (although still not as good as "Terminator" and "Commando").

Anyway, "Raw Deal" doesn't place in the top 5 (or even 10) Arnold films, but any Schwarzenegger completist will want to have it, and will probably find much to enjoy. And fans of "Crime Story" and gangster films in general will also find this to their liking.

Arnold at his peak as a one-man wrecking crew as he demolishes a crime family single-handed. It reminds me of the Stallone film where Rambo takes on Russia in Afghanistan. This film has good acting though, and the ever-evil Robert Davi at his slimy best. The shoot-out at the gravel pit with "Satisfaction" playing is a classic. And don't forget the classic line :"You should not drink and bake"!

In Arnold's best period of his film career, it is unquestionable that Raw Deal is his worst film from that era. Sandwiched between two of his best action movies, Commando and Predator. Raw Deal is real weak by comparison. The film is a mess and it seemed that those involved with the production could not agree on what they were making. Also, it would appear that funds were too low for anyone's vision to get on screen. The editing and music for this movie is really poorly done. This film is definitely lacking in a consistent tone or focus. The action scenes seem out of place as well. Raw Deal was probably meant to be a low budget police thriller. Any way you slice it, this film is not a cohesive piece of work and is filled with plot holes. Arnold, at this point in his career had massive physicality and charisma. However, he was lacking in acting skills and was horrendous in the more dramatic scenes here. The supporting cast was pretty good for the most part. Even though this is not Arnie's highest quality production, it still remains fairly entertaining. There is quite a bit of funny stuff here(some intentional and some not). Also, there is plenty of Arnold one liners with one of my favorites, "You should not drink and bake". While Raw Deal is not a well made movie, it is not totally unwatchable and is still quite amusing and outrageous.

Arnold takes on the entire Chicago syndicate run by mob chief Luigi Petrovita, Sam Wanamaker, with predictable results.

Arnold, Mark Kaminski, is canned from the FBI because he was too rough with the bad guys and told by his boss Baxter, Joe Regalbuto, to "resign or be prosecuted". Now working in a dead end job as a lawman in some hick town in North Carolina a friend of his from the FBI Harry Shannon, Darren McGavin, gets in touch with Arnold for help in the death of his son who was killed in a mob attack on a FBI safe house.

Harry tells Anold that there's a mole in the FBI's higher ups that's tipping off the mob on what the FBI has as informers and witnesses and where there being kept from the mob to live long enough to testify against it and is responsible for his son's death. Arnold goes undercover as a hood and joins the mob to find out who's working with them from the FBI and bring him to justice in this action-packed Arnold Schwarznegger vehicle; and just guess who the FBI mole is?

A must for Schwarznegger fans with Arnold, for the first time in his movie career, speaking whole sentences and showing some sensitivity in scenes with his love interests in the movie his wife Amy, Balnche Baker, to whom Arnold utters the movie best line " You shouldn't drink and bake at the same time". There's also Arnolds sexy mob girlfriend Monique, Kathryn Harrold, whom he avoids having any action with and has no idea that Arnold is an undercover lawman as well as a loyal and happily married man.

Great action sequences sprinkled all throughout the film with a tremendous and unbelievable shoot-out at the end of the movie to the explosive and thumping music score of "The Kaminski Stomp" which raises the adrenaline level of the theater audience to it's limits.

Big Arnold stars in this action-packed movie as a former FBYI agent who goes back in action , being recruited by his previous chief (Darren McGavin) as an act of vengeance, to infitrate the Chicago mafia led by a nasty villain (Sam Wanamaker) and his henchman (Paul Shenar) . The government gave him a raw deal . Nobody gives him a raw deal. Nobody gives him a Raw Deal . His trigger has all the answers. The system gave him a raw dea l. Nobody gives him a raw deal.

Thiis is a predictable , run-of-the-mill thriller , even formulaic , but the usual formula works , at times . Arnie as an ex raw deal infitrated agent is nice and , of course , he shoots lots of people , as our hero will eventually take a machine-gun and mow down the entire syndicate of bad guys just like Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris . Violence , profanity , sex , grisly killings and bloodshed ensue here and there , that's why it's rated R . Main and support cast are pretty well , as Arnold Schwarzenegger is well accompanied by a good cast , such as :Darren McGavin , Kathryn Harrold , Sam Wanamaker , Paul Shenar , Blanche Baker , Robert Davi , Ed Lauter and Joe Regalbuto.

It displays an adequate cinematogrphy by director of photography Alex Thomson , shot in Chicago city . As well as atmospheric musical score composed y means of synthesizer by Boardman .The motion picture was professionally directed by John Irvin who managed to stage some excellent action scenes , stunning scenarios and clever edition. Irvin has made some thrilling action and wartime movies such as : Dogs of war , Hamburger Hill, When Trumpets Fade , The Fourth Angel , Freefall , Shinner , Next of kin , Robin Hood , City of industry , among others. Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable . An Arnold typical vehicle that will appeal to his fans . Worthwhile seeing .