Re-Evaluating Bad Movies

I remember Christmas 10 or 12 years ago I asked for Black Hawk Down on DVD.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the DVD shaped present and found....Behind Enemy Lines.  My mom got confused when she went to Best Buy to pick it up.  I was not happy.  I was even less happy when my brother opened it to watch before I could exchange it. 

I live in LA and believe me you can get by with no Spanish. Although not for much longer....

For Doomsday and SnoBorderZero


RAW DEAL (1986)




Of all the movies that Arnold Schwarzenegger made in the 1980's, Raw Deal is his least popular. And for good reasons. It's awful. Okay... maybe not awful, but it's definitely a disappointment. Schwarzenegger plays an FBI agent by the name of "Joey Brenner" who infiltrates the Chicago mafia. We're all used to Schwarzenegger playing characters with American names even though he's clearly an Austrian bodybuilder in any role that isn't Conan or The Terminator. But we always go along with it because Schwarzenegger's movies are tongue-in-cheek. But in Raw Deal, with the exception of the over-the-top action scenes, the movie takes itself seriously. It forces you to roll your eyes at the idea of Schwarzenegger showing up at the doorstep of the mafia and killing everyone with no effort whatsoever. But I also can't help but notice that if the role of "Joey Brenner" had been played by someone else, the movie might have worked. And it didn't have to be someone serious. Sylvester Stallone could have played the role and it would have worked out perfectly. And that might have been their intention. It's my understanding that Schwarzenegger and producer Dino De Laurentiis made the movie together to fulfill a contractual obligation and hopefully raise money for Total Recall. So I guess Raw Deal is a victim of circumstances and I shouldn't be too harsh in my criticism. At least the movie gave us the classic line, "you shouldn't drink and bake" and the incredibly cheese-tastic soundtrack:





OVERALL... I would give the movie a "C". I think that's fair. I don't know how Doomsday or SnoBorder feel about it. But we all know that Schwarzenegger ended up making movies in the later part of his career that are much worse than Raw Deal. 

Damn, I've never seen Raw Deal. If it's on youtube then I may have to sit and watch it on a rainy, beer riddled afternoon.

And even though it's a bad movie, I'd still watch it again over "Batman and Robin", "Junior", "The Villain", and "Red Sonja". "Hercules in New York" is the worst of all, but it's also absolutely hilarious.

You should have us recommend bad movies and then you see if you can defend them.

I nominate Batman Returns.

It is just you. And Neverending.

I've even come around on Batman Returns.

Now let me tell you about Batman Forever.

If you can make me like Batman Forever you can probably accomplish anything.