Dishonoured and forcibly retired from the FBI on grounds of excessive brutality, Mark Kaminski (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is demoted to being a Sheriff in a small town, where his wife heads straight for the bottle and his career goes nowhere. However, when the son of an old friend, Agent Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin), is killed whilst guarding a mob informant against the criminal outfit led by Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker), Kaminski is given a second chance. Charged with infiltrating and single-handedly bringing down the mobsters from within without the protection of the FBI, Kaminski assumes a new identity and must resist the temptations of the mysterious Monique (Kathryn Harrold) and maintain his cover, with his eyes on the biggest prize of all – reinstatement and thus a return to the life that was taken away from him.
“You should not drink and bake.” Arnie is remembered for his one-liners, but Raw Deal only has the one. It’s an odd film; coming in between Commando and Predator. Schwarzenegger was eager to get out of his Dino De Laurentiis contract after the failure of Red Sonja and Dino was eager to make a fast buck in order to make his dream Total Recall project. The irony!
The script is as ready-baked as Bojo’s Brexit deal. A threatened gang war leads to… well nothing much at all. Wannamaker and the usually excellent Robert Davi are just bad-guy ciphers waiting to be violently dispatched by Arnie. It’s hardly a plot spoiler as any aficionado of ’80s action films will know exactly what’s coming and who it’s coming to.
Yet despite this, and despite the incongruity of Arnie attempting to fit in with the mob by slicking back his hair and wearing tailored suits, he actually makes Raw Deal watchable. It can’t be denied that Arnie has the same charisma as that of film stars that have come before. Bogart, Wayne, Eastwood, even though he may not have the thespian prowess of such stalwarts, Arnie certainly commands the screen.
The extras are oddly minimal for a Studiocanal release. We’re offered Arnold Schwarzenegger: The Man Who Raised Hollywood featurette, Raw Deal: A Generic Gangster Film featurette, and the obligatory original theatrical trailer. All of which comes in under thirty minutes which may itself seem like a raw deal!
Raw Deal is out now on 4K and Blu-ray.
