RAW DEAL. Directed by John Irvin; written by Gary M. Devore and Norman Wexler; produced by Marths Schumacher for DeLaurentis Entertainment Group. Starriny Arnold Schwarzengger and Kathryn Harrold. Rated R (language, violence).
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Raw Deal is a little unusual for a macho-action-law-and-order type of movie. But only a little. It has some witty dialogue and a few interesting characters, as well as more plot than is good for it.
In the end, though, blood, guts and senseless violence win the day. And even though the mayhem is displayed with now routine excellent special effects, it's too repetitive and unoriginal to be anything but a disappointment.
The "raw deal" of the title was visited upon former FBI agent Kaminsky (Schwarzenegger) some years before the movie begins. Seems he used excessive force on a heinous criminal, then found himself out of a job.
But all that happened back in the days when criminals were coddled a lot, at least in the movies. Before Bronson and Eastwood made tough cops fashionable again. Now Kaminsky's old boss wants him back, to help take out some especially nasty mobsters in Chicago.
Kaminsky is a likeable character for most of the movie, because Schwarzenegger makes him that way, and because the screenplay gives him some uncharacteristic things to do. Such as helping a woman friend (Harrold) decide on a new party dress. Such as, in spite of a rather steamy friendship with Harrold, remaining faithful to his wife.
But then at the end of the movie (I'm giving away nothing here—everybody knows who gets theirs in movies like this) he turns into just another bloodthirsty thug. Maybe he has more than just frivolous reasons for doing in one or two of the bad guys. But he mows them down wholesale, in living color. This kind of character reversal may please some of his audience—but it turns my stomach.
Critics of action movies often complain about thin plots. But Raw Deal' s writers have overcompensated. The storyline here is more confusing than The Godfather. But unfortunately, crowded, confusing plots are not necessarily more interesting than almost nonexistent ones.
One of the biggest (literally) pluses Raw Deal has going for it is Schwarzenegger. As a phenomenon, he may not be in Sylvester Stallone's class. [Hindsight note: he wasn't when this was written.] But he's got a lot more of the other kind of class. His portrayals are usually just self-mocking enough to be funny, while still being macho enough not to turn off the hardcore action fans.
His best movies (Terminator and the original Conan the Barbarian) are masterpieces of their—admittedly—lower-class art. Raw Deal however, falls far short of even that dubious distinction.
In fact, Schwarzenegger seems as good here as he does only because of pre-sold appeal. Someone seeing him for the first time in Raw Deal might well wonder what all the fuss is abont.
July 2, 1986