I was a teenager when "Raw Deal" first came out, and when it was released on video I remember renting it... and fast-forwarding through big chunks of it. More then twenty years later, I found it on DVD at my local video store, and not remembering anything about it, I decided to give it another chance. Well, I did not fast-forward through it this time... though I was sorely tempted to. It's no wonder that this movie has been mostly forgotten despite the presence of Schwarzenegger. It often has a cheap and tacky look to it, for one thing. Nobody on screen seems to be having that much fun, despite occasional stabs at humor. But the most surprising thing about it is that there is considerably less action than you might think. And the action, when it does come, isn't the least bit exciting. The most interesting thing about this movie is how closely it resembles the generic straight-to-DVD action movies of recent years.
