Raw Deal

Primitive, bare-bones action crime romp that's nothing more than a hardy vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger to do his thing. However you could say "Raw Deal" is middle ground as it's not all that great but at the same time far from terrible. So it's no raw deal. Simply put it's a modest action joint directed with confidence and touch of flair by John Irvin (who brought us "The Dogs of War", "Ghost Story" and "Hamburger Hill"), but it's rather sparse on the vigorous activity leaning on story mechanisms with Schwarzenegger spending most of his time wooing the gorgeous Kathryn Harrold and trying to be best buddies with the mobsters he's infiltrating (Sam Wanamaker, Paul Shenar and Robert Davi who seems born to play these roles), but when it kicks into gear it doesn't disappoint as it can be quite violent with a full-out assault in the climatic 15 minutes where it has Schwarzenegger going on a shooting spree while driving his car with The Rolling Stone's "Satisfaction" blaring. Quite a change from the beginning when he's a small town sheriff who spends his spare time sitting in the lounge room listening to classical music. Schwarzenegger fit's the role perfectly with his timing of the wry one-liners, chomping on a cigar and delivery of the action. The support cast are an able group with Darren McGavin, Joe Regalbuto, Steven Hill, Ed Lauter and Victor Argo. The best moments occur when Schwarzenegger and Davi's characters come to blows, but the worst has got to be cheery tact on ending. While generically laid-out and a little slow in parts, it's competently slick and amusingly bruising by sticking to its strengths.