Raw Deal (1986)

Raw Deal is a 1986 American action film directed by John Irvin, from a story of Sergio Leone’s screenwriters Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin and Sam Wanamaker. The film was released in North America on June 6, 1986. The film tells the story of an elderly and embittered high-ranking FBI chief, Harry Shannon, who wants to get revenge against a Mafia organization and sends a former FBI agent and now small-town sheriff Mark Kaminski to destroy the organization from the inside. The film received negative reviews, grossing $16.2 million domestically against its $8–10 million budget.

Plot.

On December 16, 1985, in a remote wooded cabin, a mob informant is under protection by the FBI. They are ambushed by a hit squad who brutally slaughter the bodyguards and the witness. One of the agents killed is Blair Shannon, son of FBI Agent Harry Shannon, who vows revenge. After capturing a man posing as a motorcycle cop, small-town sheriff Mark Kaminski goes home to his alcoholic wife Amy, who resents what their lives have been reduced to; Kaminski once worked for the FBI, but five years ago he brutally beat a suspect who sexually assaulted and murdered a young girl. Kaminski was given the option to “resign or be prosecuted” by ambitious prosecutor Marvin Baxter, who is now Special Federal Prosecutor heading up a committee investigating the dealings of Luigi Patrovita, the strongest of the Chicago Outfit Dons. Due to a leak within the FBI ranks causing their agents to be killed, Shannon recruits Kaminski for an unsanctioned assignment to infiltrate and dismantle Patrovita’s organization. Kaminski fakes his own death in a chemical plant explosion and poses as convicted felon Joseph P. Brenner.

He manages to get an audience with Patrovita’s right-hand man Paulo Rocca, and convinces them of his worth by harassing Martin Lamanski, a rival mob boss who is trying to move in on his former boss Patrovita’s territory. While at Patrovita’s casino, hidden in a basement level of a high class hotel, he makes the acquaintance of Monique, who works for Rocca’s top lieutenant Max Keller. Kaminski continues to work his way into the good graces of the Patrovita family, including devising a plan that recovers $100 million of heroin and cash seized by the feds from one of Patrovita’s hideouts and simultaneously assisting in Lamanski’s assassination.

Production.

The film was originally produced so that Dino De Laurentiis could inject some quick cash into his long gestating project Total Recall, a film for which De Laurentiis had owned the rights, and one in which Schwarzenegger would later take the leading role. Partly due to the poor box office performance of Raw Deal, De Laurentiis would eventually file for bankruptcy and the rights to Total Recall were sold to Carolco Pictures. At the time, Schwarzenegger was still under contract with De Laurentiis for a number of Conan the Barbarian sequels, and in exchange for dissolving this multi-picture agreement, Schwarzenegger agreed to star in Raw Deal.

Firewalker (1986) Biography, Plot, Production, Home media, Box office, Trailer.

Home media, Box office.

Raw Deal was released to DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on June 20, 2003 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and to Blu-ray on June 28, 2010 by Paramount Home Entertainment as a multi-region widescreen Blu-ray. Raw Deal released in the United States on June 6, 1986 and made $5,438,978 in its opening weekend. It went on to gross a total of $16,209,459 in the United States. Though the film made a decent profit at the box office and was a modest success, its earnings were considered a disappointment.

Cast:

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sheriff Mark Kaminski / Joseph P. Brenner
Kathryn Harrold as Monique
Darren McGavin as FBI Agent Harry Shannon
Sam Wanamaker as Luigi “Lou” Patrovita
Paul Shenar as Paulo Rocca
Steven Hill as Martin Lamanski
Ed Lauter as Detective Baker
Joe Regalbuto as Marvin Baxter
Robert Davi as Max Keller
Blanche Baker as Amy Kaminski
Louise Robey as Lamanski’s Girl
Mordecai Lawner as Marcellino
Victor Argo as Dangerous Man
George P. Wilbur as Killer #1
Gary Houston as Patrovita Thug
Denver Mattson as Killer #2
John Malloy as Trager
Steve Holt as FBI Agent Blair Shannon
Dick Durock as “Dingo”
Frank Ferrara as “Spike”

Raw Deal (1986) Biography, Plot, Production, Home media, Box office, Scene.