It you are looking for a pure action film with no plot to speak of and a lot of fighting, shooting and blowing up of stuff then Raw Deal is the film for you. Arnold walks through the film hitting and shooting and generally making a mess of the Chicago underworld.
However for all the talent involved in front and behind the camera there is a curious lack of engagement. The director John Irvin had proven himself in the action genre with films like The Dogs of War and Hamburger Hill. The writers Gary Devore and Norman Wexler were good Hollywood professionals and Alex Thompson the cinematographer and the editor Anne Coates were well regarded film technicians. But nobody seemed even remotely interested in making a good action film.
The producer put together an excellent cast for Raw Deal, Ed Lauter, Steven Hill, Paul Shenar, Sam Wanamaker, Darrin McGavin and the underrated Kathryn Harrold as a past her prime party girl. Harrold is probably the best thing in this film. Unfortunately it was all for nothing. There just wasn't much they could do to breath any kind of life into this film.
At the climax when Arnold shoots up most of the cast the action is so rote that a viewer probably won't care if he succeeds in eliminating all of the bad guys or not. In essence this is a very generic action film.
The running time is 101 minutes
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