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In Raw Deal, ex-FBI agent Mark Kaminsky (Arnold), forced to retire for excessive brutality, is offered a chance to reinstate himself if he manages to infiltrate the Chicago mob, headed by Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker), and destroy it from the inside. He is recruited by Shannon (Darren McGavin), who also wants to uncover the FBI "mole" who is collaborating with the mob.
After faking his death in an oil refinery explosion, Kaminsky assumes a new identity - that of Joseph Brenner - and destroys a gambling outfit headed by Patrovita's rival (Steven Hill). Over the objection of a Patrovita enforcer named Max (Robert Davi), Brenner is rewarded with a job by Patrovita's second in command, Paulo Rocca (Paul Shenar). Max hires Monique (Kathryn Harrold), a pretty, in-debt gambler to seduce Brenner and discover his real game. But Brenner uses the attempted seduction to further prove his "loyalty." Still, Max does find out that Brenner isn't the man he pretends to be and involves him in a "hit," where he's required to assassinate Shannon. In the ensuing scuffle, Shannon is killed by Max, who, in turn,is eliminated by our hero. Then Brenner singlehandedly finishes off Patrovita and his entire gang. Raw Deal was not Arnold's first foray into the gangster genre. "It's contemporary," the star told The San Francisco Chronicle, "but still hard-boiled, and I wear three piece suits and double-breasted jackets, with my hair slicked back ...."
A modified appearance was only part of Arnold's approach to the role. He remarked to the Chronicle that John Irvin, whom he terms "an actor's director", "works on your neuroses, trying to get the most out of you. I must say, I like that. Acting is like body building: the more you do it, the better you get - and each time I see myself getting closer to the perfect delivery of the scene."
Arnold also enjoyed the tame screen romance with Harrold, whose character must labor to seduce him. "We don't get into the sex right away," he explained to the Chronicle. "That's old stuff. Instead, we have a relationship that keeps growing".
Gangster thrillers have been a staple of Hollywood filmmaking since the early days of movies. Raw Deal is slick, but familiar. High on carnage, the movie didn't make much of a splash with either critics or moviegoers, and was Schwarzenegger's first box-office flop since Red Sonja.
But at least The New York Times' Vincent Canby, by no means a Schwarzenegger fan, wrote, "The former Mr. Universe wears well as a film personality, partly because there's something comic about the massiveness of his frame and the gentleness of his manners (when in repose)."
Not a bad assessment for a film that was far from a high point of Arnold's screen career.
