Director: John Irvin
Story: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati
Screenplay: Gary DeVore, Norman Wexler
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Sam Wanamaker, Paul Shenar, Robert Davi, Ed Lauter, Darren McGavin
Country: US
Running Time: 106 minutes
Year: 1986
BBFC Certificate: 18

There’s a certain, simple joy to be had with 1980’s action movies, full wanton violence and splashy squibs, often accompanied by ridiculously big explosions and a healthy slice of synth rock. Let’s not forget the stars that often accompanied such shenanigans; Stallone, Segals and, probably largest and most famous of all Schwarzenegger. To say that the future governor of California was a big name in 80’s action movies is probably an understatement, with a slew of huge movies on his CV including Conan The Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando and Predator. The 80’s for Arnold Schwarzenegger weren’t all so rosy, though, with several duds bearing his name; one such flop is Raw Deal.

Raw Deal is an odd film. Sitting between the massive hits that were Commando and Predator, it’s a strangely low key affair which sees Arnold’s ex-FBI agent turned small town Sheriff enlisted by his former boss to enact revenge on the Mafia gang who killed his son. It starts out promising enough with a big shootout in a remote cabin and a 4×4 and motorcycle chase through a building site, but it very quickly commits one of the cardinal sins of action movies; it gets a bit boring.

It’s fair to say that Arnie feels very miscast in what is ultimately a gangster thriller. Quite how producer Dino De Laurentis thought the audience would buy a gigantic Austrian body-builder managing to go undercover, besuited as a member of the Chicago mob is a bit of a mystery, but go undercover he does. In Yojimbo style he then proceeds to set different mob factions against each other with a little bit of inside espionage, culminating with a showdown against the main mafioso boss played with scenery chewing glee by Sam Wannamaker. The story is just so oddly disjointed, floating from one set piece to another and culminating in scenes that basically recast Schwarzenegger as another indestructible Terminator, tearing his way through the baddies until everyone is dead and the good guys have won.

It’s that dullness that just makes Raw Deal hard to enjoy. It lacks the gonzo insanity of Commando or the hard edged sci-fi story telling of The Terminator and Predator and just becomes a rather rote mob movie with tacked on action scenes. Indeed it would appear that Schwarzenegger was never intended for this role, but was hired by DeLaurentis to get a big name star on the poster for the first release from his newly minted DeLaurentis Entertainment Group. Sadly this was one of many early flops for this production company that started years of financial woe.

On a positive not, this restoration from Studio Canal certainly looks the business. I’ve said before how watching older films converted to 4K, especially with a HDR glow up can be an interesting experience and Raw Deal is no exception. The visual presentation is remarkably crisp, with detail including film grain showing through well in the clean up, while the HDR gives each frame a great deal of clarity, from the cold blue palette of the Chicago scenes to some more autumnal tones, while the messy red squibs and bright explosions pop from the screen. The audio is nice and clean too, with easy to hear dialogue not getting lost in the mix, while still allowing the choice 80’s soundtrack to shine through.

Bonus Features

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Man Who Raised Hollywood
  • Raw Deal – a Generic Gangster Movie
  • Original Trailer

Raw Deal is a tricky movie to recommend to all but the hardened Arnie fan, and the scant bonus features presented on this 4K release reflect that. Other than a retrospective documentary on Schwarzenegger’s rising star in the 80’s and a theatrical trailer, we’re also presented with a visual essay basically summing up how bland and generic Raw Deal is as a film. While this does explore some interesting aspects of the films production, the fact that the extras can’t even drum up some enthusiasm for the movie you’ve just watched is incredibly telling!

Raw Deal (StudioCanal UHD)
2.0Overall Score
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