Raw Deal (DVD)

Whether you love him, hate him, think his acting’s crap, one thing remains perfectly clear: Arnold Schwarzenegger is an action man, and let’s be honest a pretty good one at that. Throughout the eighties and nineties, Schwarzenegger has had a variety of foes from drug lords, terrorist, liquid terminator killing machines, alien predators, Satan himself, toy stores, clones, Batman, male pregnancy and his dialogue coach. So when you want to see a film ...
...of ultra-violence, Schwarzenegger is usually the man to go to and if he’s unavailable, Stallone can kick some stereotype bad guy a$$ as well…

People may not be too familiar if I were to utter the film title “Raw Deal”, it is the film Schwarzenegger did between “Commando” and “Predator” back in 1986. Arnie plays Mark Kaminsky a small town sheriff who used to be in the FBI before being kicked out for seriously roughing up a suspect. ... more

Whether you love him, hate him, think his acting’s crap, one thing remains perfectly clear: Arnold Schwarzenegger is an action man, and let’s be honest a pretty good one at that. Throughout the eighties and nineties, Schwarzenegger has had a variety of foes from drug lords, terrorist, liquid terminator killing machines, alien predators, Satan himself, toy stores, clones, Batman, male pregnancy and his dialogue coach. So when you want to see a film with a simple yet bold plot and brilliantly executed scenes of ultra-violence, Schwarzenegger is usually the man to go to and if he’s unavailable, Stallone can kick some stereotype bad guy a$$ as well…

People may not be too familiar if I were to utter the film title “Raw Deal”, it is the film Schwarzenegger did between “Commando” and “Predator” back in 1986. Arnie plays Mark Kaminsky a small town sheriff who used to be in the FBI before being kicked out for seriously roughing up a suspect. He’s not happy with it either with his wife Amy not exactly being supportive and drinking herself into a right state. Things however change when one of Mark’s old FBI buddies, Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin) pays him a visit.

Shannon tells his old friend about his son being killed on the order of big Chicago mobster Patrovita (the late Sam Wanamaker – “Private Benjamin”, “Superman IV: the quest for peace”). Shannon promises Mark full FBI reinstatement if he helps him on his personal vendetta of vengeance. After a brief reflection on his current lifestyle, Mark accepts, faking his death and going undercover inside Patrovita’s gang as Joseph P. Brenner, a slick, cigar chugging, muscle man who wants to work with the ‘best’. Slowly but surely, Kaminsky (or Brenner) destroys the syndicate from within as agreed with Shannon as a successful outcome will result in his reinstatement.

Performances throughout aren’t exactly shining: strangely enough, Schwarzenegger is the best as the very brutal Kaminsky, displaying a rare human side to his otherwise bullet-proof character. “Raw Deal” is an early sign that The Oak is in fact capable of acting without having to blow something up during the process. Surprised? Other films that display Arnie’s abilities as a competent actor are “End Of Days” and possibly “The 6th Day”. Darren McGavin (“Billy Madison” and an incredible amount of TV work) plays the gruff, veteran FBI agent Chief Harry Shannon exactly to the line, offering moments for Schwarzenegger’s character to lean on but that’s about it. Just like all action mentors, Shannon can talk the talk, but when it comes to shooting guns and blowing up car loads of bad guys, he’s not that good. This seems to be the case for lots of action vehicles, the veterans can never fire their gun fast enough or escape in time so as not to die. Surely with their countless years of field experience, they’d be able to outshoot some hood unsure of which end of his gun he should point.

Other performances are ultimately lacklustre: Sam Wanamaker (1919-1993) provides nothing new to the street smart mob boss Luigi Patrovita, your typical Schwarzenegger foe and TV actress Kathryn Harrold only seems to be involved with the plot to spice things up with Arnie and spawn some awful ‘I’m an independent woman’ one liners like:

“The only way you'll ever end up lying next to me, Max, is if we're run down by the same car”

British Director John Irvin (“Hamburger Hill”, “Shiner”) is very formulaic (just like the script) when it comes to the film’s presentation, offering ill conceived, convoluted action sequences that lack real imagination. As if having those said sequences for the sake of having them, hell, if “Raw Deal” sold out on its script to deliver more action (the kind of thing, most audiences don’t like, because blowing lots of stuff up doesn’t make a good film) it would be a better film. At least it would’ve chosen a genre and stuck with it. If the film was a brainless hundred minutes, at least it would have been fun. But “Raw Deal” tries to be an action thriller, drama, black comedy and numerous other things and to be honest, fails in delivering in all aspects. When you watch a Schwarzenegger film you expect one (or more of three things):

1) An action bonanza with a thin and convenient storyline that is slowly buried under each new action sequence, bigger and better than the one previous.

2) A comedy where humour is intentional but only raises the odd smile rather than tears of joy.

3) A film where humour is unintentional, but you just can’t help laughing at certain aspects because it is poorly executed/delivered.

“Raw Deal” vaguely sits in the third category, if you survive the poorly done “Dukes Of Hazard” style chase at the very beginning, you’re lucky. A scene that tries to be fun but instead you find yourself supporting your head in your hands muttering to yourself in dry sarcasm; ‘Why god? Why?’. The same could be said for the script penned by Gary DeVore and Norman Wexler. Devore wrote “The Dogs Of War” and “Black Roads” before his death in 1997 (car accident) and Wexler scripted the brilliant “Serpico” as well as “Saturday Night Fever” before suffering from a fatal heat attack in 1999. Strangely, “Raw Deal” does not benefit from the writer’s past glories, trying to be too complicated for its own good and still trying to incorporate the action scenes that are guaranteed with Schwarzenegger’s name. It fails, not in the worse way imaginable, but still pretty bad. Director John Irvin tries to extend the credibility and quality of the story way beyond that of the script’s limits. And the dialogue is just awful, I teased you with one line earlier, here are some more…

“Magic… or magnet?”

“Losing improves your character”

“When I want to make friends, I’ll go to summer camp!”

“What do you think I look like, Dirty Harry?”

“Smart I like. Smart aleck, I don’t”

[Monique takes off Kaminsky's shirt] “Oh… my… god!”

“Don’t drink and bake!”

The only time when the film starts to get good is the bullet ridden finale, where Schwarzenegger frees himself from the confides of the script and does what he does best, kick the general crap out of people and he does it in such a cheesy eighties way. Smiles all round. But this happens at the end. So to recap, the film actually starts to get going in the final scene. Not a wise move, it has to be said. Although watching Arnie stroll into the mob nightspot armed to the teeth then single handedly taking on a room full of mobsters is very fun to watch, it is indeed too little too late and a few minutes of fun cannot surpass the dire hour and a half that came before… this isn’t “Titanic”

BOTTOM LINE
“Raw Deal” means well but is weak on all fronts. Irvin’s direction is a true disappointment as I’ve seen much better from him and Schwarzenegger’s acting is actually a pro for the film! Don’t often get to say that but when it concerns a film that is just plain dire and formulaic, it doesn’t seem that difficult. An ultimately dreadful experience with a nice final impression in the form of a cheesy but well made action finale. Not recommended and only for the strictest of Schwarzenegger fans. Don’t all run out to buy it at once. How would the world work then?

CERTIFICATE: 18
TIME APPROX: 101 minutes

CAUTION:
Strong violence
Strong language
Some sexual references

IF YOU LIKE THIS TRY
“Commando” – An Arnie flick that is dumb, but damn, it sure does know how to have fun.

I guess that’s why they call it… poetic justice.

<DarkMark
 

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