Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.
Raw Deal is a mid-tier Schwarzenegger vehicle that hits familiar 1980s action beats without much distinction. The undercover-in-the-mob plot is functional but generic, leaning heavily on genre conventions without subverting or elevating them. Schwarzenegger's charisma carries some scenes but his dramatic range is limited, and the supporting cast is serviceable at best. Visually it's competent but unremarkable — workmanlike cinematography typical of mid-budget action films of the era. Novelty is low; it's essentially a by-the-numbers revenge/undercover crime thriller with nothing particularly distinctive in conception or execution. The climactic shootout delivers the expected cathartic carnage that fans of the genre expect, giving the ending a slight edge over the rest of the film.