Cobra (1986)

Cobra is a 1986 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also starred in the title role. The film co-stars Reni Santoni, Brigitte Nielsen and Andrew Robinson. It is the first film in which Brian Thompson plays a prominent role. The film was loosely based on the novel Fair Game by Paula Gosling, which was later filmed under that title in 1995. However, Stallone’s screenplay was originally conceived from ideas he had during pre-production of Beverly Hills Cop, whose screenplay he heavily revised. He had wanted to make Beverly Hills Cop a less comedic and more action-oriented film, which the studio rejected as being far too expensive. When he left that project, Eddie Murphy was brought in to play the lead role. The film received negative reviews, with much criticism focused on the overuse of genre tropes and excessive violence. It debuted at the number one spot on the U.S. box office, and earned $49 million in the US and a total of $160 million worldwide. It has come to be considered a cult classic.

Plot.

After a failure of negotiations between a lone armed gunman and law enforcement during a hostage crisis at a Los Angeles supermarket, the LAPD summons Lieutenant Marion Cobretti (Stallone), a member of its elite division known as the “Zombie Squad”. Cobretti, addressed by his codename “Cobra”, infiltrates the store, locates, and negotiates with the gunman, who threatens him by speaking of a vague and unknown organization known as “The New World”, a supremacist group of social darwinist radicals that despise modern society and believe in killing the weak, leaving only the strongest and smartest to rule the world. Cobretti then kills the gunman by throwing a knife at his abdomen and then shooting him dead. As the hostages and bodies are removed from the store, Cobretti is admonished by Detective Monte (Robinson) for his seeming disregard for police procedures and protocols. Harassed by reporters, Cobretti admonishes them for failing to prioritize the safety of potential victims.

Little does everyone realize at the time that the supermarket hostage crisis is only one of a string of recent and seemingly unconnected acts of violence and murder that have broken loose in Los Angeles, perpetrated by the same supremacist group the supermarket gunman mentioned. Model and businesswoman Ingrid Knudsen (Nielsen) later becomes the New World’s priority target after witnessing their members and their leader, only identified as “The Night Slasher” (Thompson), going on a killing spree. She is placed under the protective custody of Cobretti and his partner, Sergeant Tony Gonzales (Santoni) after a failed attempt on her. When several more failed attempts are made on their lives by various people connected to the New World, Cobretti theorizes that there is an entire army of killers operating with the same modus operandi rather than a lone serial killer with some associates, but his suggestion is rebuffed by his superiors. However, the LAPD agrees with Cobretti that it will be safest if he and Knudsen relocate from the city.

Cobretti becomes romantically involved with Ingrid shortly after venturing out into the countryside, but Nancy Stalk (Garlington), the New World’s second-in-command and right-hand infiltrates the police team escorting the Cobretti party and compromises their whereabouts. Despite Cobretti’s suspicions and mistrust of Nancy, he does nothing and the party spends the night in a motel complex. The organization moves in at dawn and besieges the small town. With barely enough time to react, the attackers storm the motel complex, wounding Gonzales in the process. Killing several members but with more swarming into the town, Cobretti and Ingrid escape in a pickup truck. When the truck is severely damaged from the chase, the duo cut through a grapefruit plantation to escape into a nearby factory.

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Development and writing.

When Sylvester Stallone was signed to play the lead in Beverly Hills Cop, he decided to rewrite the script almost completely, removing nearly all the comedic aspects and turning it into an action movie that he felt was better suited to him. The studio read his revised script and rejected it. The proposed action scenes would have increased the budget far beyond what they planned. Stallone later channeled his ideas for it into an original script. The novel Fair Game by Paula Gosling was cited as source material, enough so that she received a screen credit. When Cobra was released, Sylvester Stallone allegedly wanted the novel to be reissued with himself credited as co-author. Gosling declined the offer. The 1995 movie Fair Game was also based on the same novel by Gosling. Sylvester Stallone’s earlier draft of the script contained many differences from later drafts and the final film. These include: the opening shootout taking place in a movie theater (instead of a grocery store), during which many more people are killed;

Cobra mentioning how he had a girlfriend who was killed by a psychopath he was trying to catch; an additional big nighttime action sequence on a boat where Cobra and Ingrid are hiding and are attacked by the Night Slasher’s cult members, with Cobra and Gonzalez managing to kill them all; and a different ending, in which it’s revealed that Monte was the actual leader of the New World cult and when he tries to kill Ingrid he is shot and killed by Cobra. The line, “This is where the law stops and I start, sucker!”, was inspired by a line spoken by Steve McQueen in The Reivers. Cobra needed much additional editing because the film was so graphically violent that, at first, it received an X-rating from the MPAA. Warner Bros. also did not like the level of gore and violence of the first rough cut, which is why they would not release the film until most of those scenes were deleted and it received an R-rating.

Casting.

Brian Thompson auditioned seven times before he was hired. On the fourth audition he met Stallone, who thought that Thompson was too nice to play the Night Slasher. But after a screen test, he immediately got the job. Also, in the original script, the Night Slasher was called Abaddon, possibly after the “angel of the abyss” from the Bible. Thompson repeatedly sought Stallone’s advice about how to play the Night Slasher, including questions about his background and personal motivations, but Stallone showed no interest in the subject and told Thompson that the character was simply evil. In an unfortunate surprise for Thompson, after filming was completed, director Cosmatos unexpectedly told him: “You could have been good if you had listened to me.”

Filming.

Originally, Cobra was supposed to be filmed in Seattle, climaxing with a motorcycle chase scene on a ferry between the islands. Even though everything was prepared to start filming the final theatrical version of the scene at night, Stallone demanded the ending be changed because of the mosquito problem at that time, which would have made night time filming very difficult to endure. The supporting cast and extras were forbidden from talking to Stallone on set. At one point during filming, Stallone complained to cinematographer Ric Waite that they were falling behind and that he needed to push his crew to work harder.

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Box office.

Cobra opened the widest for a Warner Bros. release at the time opening on 2,131 screens and debuted at number one at the U.S. box office with a Memorial Day weekend debut of $15.7 million. It eventually went on to gross $160 million, over six times its estimated $25 million budget. According to The New York Times, the film was still considered a disappointment because its $48 million at the box office in the US did not live up to the success of Rambo.

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone as Lieutenant Marion “Cobra” Cobretti
Brigitte Nielsen as Ingrid Knudsen
Reni Santoni as Sergeant Tony Gonzales
Andrew Robinson as Detective Monte
Brian Thompson as “Night Slasher”
John Herzfeld as Cho
Lee Garlington as Nancy Stalk
Art LaFleur as Captain Sears
Marco Rodriguez as Supermarket Killer
Ross St. Phillip as Security Guard
Val Avery as Chief Halliwell
David Rasche as Dan
Nick Angotti as Prodski

Cobra (1986) Biography, Plot, Development, Writing, Casting, Filming, Box office, Trailer.