Raw Deal (1986)

Director: John Irvin

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin, Sam Wanamaker, Paul Shenar, Steven Hill, Joe Regaibuto, Robert Davi, Ed Lauter

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The government gave him a raw deal. Nobody gives him a raw deal.

Plot: Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, Kaminsky must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

I remember seeing this in the theater way back when and liking it like most 17 year olds did back then. That was 26 years ago. I still like it. Although it's by no means a great flick, it's still a good deal of fun and Arnold is 87.4 times better in it than he was in RED HEAT (1988). After watching this one it makes me want to lower RH's score as this picture is tons more fun than that one. It's great to see Darren McGavin in anything (I forgot he was in it) and Davi is always fun and menacing as a villain but the real star is Arnold. You get the idea that he's actually having a good time on the set and he's a lot more relaxed and jovial than usual. Overall it's got plenty of action and enough fun characters, dialogue and situations to keep you entertained for nearly a couple of hours. Now that I'm thinking about it, I would have LOVED to see Jack Palance or John Vernon in the role of the mob boss. That would kick this up to a 7.5.