Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Film Raw Deal Available to Watch Free on YouTube

Even passionate movie fans might not know who Luciano Vincenzoni is. Known as the script doctor, the Italian screenwriter from Treviso penned scripts for more than 60 movies over half a century. Most notably, his credits include For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, two masterpieces of the Spaghetti Western genre directed by Sergio Leone. Vincenzoni also worked on commercial flicks, including a mid-1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger misfire.

Raw Deal is a 1986 action movie directed by John Irvin. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mark Kaminski, a former FBI agent forced to resign after roughing up a sexual assault suspect. Kaminski now works as a county sheriff in rural North Carolina. He is drawn back into danger when a former colleague asks him to infiltrate the Chicago mob. Bloodshed ensues. Released between Commando and Predator, the movie is free to watch now on YouTube.

There is not much to say about the plot of Raw Deal. The film received high praise from New York Times critic Vincent Canby, who described Raw Deal as “better than Stallone’s Cobra.” Pauline Kael called it reprehensible and enjoyable. The movie is based on an earlier script penned by Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, another prolific Italian screenwriter, more than a decade earlier. Unfortunately, the final screenplay by Gary DeVore and Norman Wexler leaves much to be desired. The clichéd plot of Raw Deal is garbled by irrelevant side characters and twisted logic.

While Raw Deal lacks a scene featuring the protagonist making a pizza smoothie like Cobra does, the movie has silly and fun moments. The best scene happens in the first few minutes. Schwarzenegger drives home from his job to find his alcoholic wife Amy, who resents him for having to move to the boonies, baking a cake. The conversation escalates. Amy throws the cake, which has the word shit written on it with whipped cream, at her husband. Schwarzenegger calmly dodges and delivers an iconic line: “You should not drink and bake.”

Even a diehard Schwarzenegger and 1980s action movie fan must admit that Raw Deal sits low on the scale. The movie still showcases Arnold’s uncanny knack for making stock action characters slightly interesting through natural wit and irony.

If you want 100 minutes of brain-dead fun with a tinge of 1980s nostalgia, the mix of nonsense action and trashy humor in Raw Deal might be the right fix. Later, you can brag to friends about watching a movie by the writer of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Source: Polygon