1. Conan: I think his first big block buster is still his best. Milius was right when he said that if Arnold didn't exist they'd have to build him from scratch to make the movie. This is the perfect match of star and material, and let me just say I really don't give a **** about anyone from the hardcore Conan fandom that say it's a bad "Conan" movie etc. It's a GREAT Conan movie and a great movie period. Exciting as well as thematically rich with incredible production design as well as top notch production values from it's time. The cast is perfection and it absolutely delivers on what it's selling. And I'll go even further... Arnold gives a damn fine performance in this film. His Conan has layers and isn't just a big meathead. You always get the sense that this character has the wheels turning on the inside, thinking and reacting in ways both peculiar to the character as well as viscerally relatable. It's truly a shame that the studio and really, Arnold himself, did not get what was possible with this property. Arnold should have understood that Milius' vision was so key to the film and that thematically empty follow ups, which is what the sequel was, could not match the quality the mad director imbued into this movie. Arnold should have come back every two to three years and done on like James Bond of the time only with a consistent directorial voice. Alas... Add in Basil's music to top it all off complementing Milius' vision and this is Arnold's number one film for me of all time.
2. True Lies: This is a film that literally has something for everybody yet doesn't suffer from the usual four quadrant syndrome of being processed down to a flavorless gruel but then when you got James Cameron at the helm you are dealing with maybe the second best pop corn director after the master Spielberg himself. The film works as simultaneous commentary on the sort of action films Arnold specialized in during his ascent up the Hollywood ladder but also actually being a slick and well produced action film. But it's also a heartfelt story of a marriage that's hitting snags because the spark has gone out of the relationship between the husband and wife. While it's Arnold's film no doubt, the truth is also that he's surrounded by a truly cracker jack cast that compliments him and works for the characters they are inhabiting, especially Jamie Lee Curtis who gets to be both average house wife and middle aged sex bomb all in one film. This also has probably one of the best Bill Paxton cameos of all time, perhaps only matched by his appearance in Edge Of Tomorrow. Arnold also is able to meld some of the softer characterization he did in say, Twins, with his usual action bravado and that's actually not as easy to pull off as you might think. Kudos again to Cameron who does some of his best work here both with the characters and some truly spectacular set pieces.
3. Total Recall: Once again our Austrian hero teams with a director at the height of his powers to deliver one of the greatest sci fi action shoot em' ups of all time. Paul Verhoeven had the right mind set and directorial vision to make a film that was probably Arnold's most ambitious both in terms of plot and character. Loosely based on the work of Philip K. Dick, this tale of identity amidst planetary revolution in a far flung future of fantasy technology such as memory implants and Martian colonies is one that sets itself up beautifully and then pays it off just as well. An action thriller that's also high on sensuality and gross out moments this is also I think Arnold's first film that integrates his deadpan smart ass humor with it's characterization and plot in a way that's smart and not just groan worthy dialog that was placed in the script to fill a "tough guy tag line" quota. A visual feast that still gives fans points to debate to this day ("blue sky on Mars...") I always look at this as the Arnold film that feels it has the most scope to it. This feels like a big movie with big visuals and big stakes. This is literally Arnold saving the planet... Only the planet is Mars.
4. The Terminator: The first film where Arnold teamed with Jim Cameron is one of the tightest little B-Movies ever unleashed on the world and is a kinetic masterpiece that builds it's tension and action until the very end. Arnold is again seemingly tailor built for the purposes of his role. Despite the robotic characterization he dominates this film as the driving force behind the plot and the human characters actions. Sometimes it's hard to remember given the subsequent installments but The Terminator was a sci fi and horror hybrid and Arnold as the villain came off quite scary in that first film. One of the best things about Terminator is that I feel that Cameron takes advantage of the SFX artistry and talent that Lucas had brought to the fore with his Star Wars film and that Spielberg had furthered along with his Close Encounters and E.T. to NOT make a film swimming in the same waters as those films or trying to ape them in any way. Terminator is not trying to be an uplifting fantasy film. It's a down and dirty techno thriller/horror movie in which the outcome of nuclear war is the happy ending.
5. Predator: Before all of Arnold's work became fodder for memes we need to remember that he was on a roll during his 80's heyday. Perhaps the film that best embodies this is Predator, in that it could be dismissed as a simply man versus monster B-movie but that would be selling it short or at least selling short the extreme amount of effort and craftsmanship that went into making the movie such a pop culture perennial. Once more working with a strong director (see a pattern yet?) Predator is filled with cliches but they are so expertly executed you don't mind. Big broad characters get picked off one by one until only Arnold remains to take on the universe's baddest mofo. And yet that simply outline doesn't do the artistry that went into this film any justice, from the work
John McTiernan did in polishing every aspect as much as he could to Stan Winston's incredible and at the time revolutionary design for the Predator. the film simply will not be labelled "just a B-Movie" despite trafficking in the well worn "most dangerous game" plot. The film's action and dialog is on point but what it excels at is atmospherics so that you immerse yourself in the story despite it's wacked out conceit. A perfect example of the differences in big budget blockbusters today and those of yesteryear, the film has no problem totally grossing you out or having characters be unlikable to both the audience or to each other. Just a hell of a good flick that will never go out of style in my mind.
6. Terminator 2: This might shock many but while I thoroughly enjoy this movie I have never felt it was a better film than the first installment. It's a retread in many ways and it tries to make up for this fact by simply being so much "BIGGER" than the first one. And while there are a number of aspects that will always drive it's score down as compared to our first exposure to this universe (Eddie... ****ing Furlong... Nuff' said.) it's still an amazing action film and Arnold somehow makes the cyborg killing machine this go around actually kinda endearing. And truly the throw downs between the two different Terminators are some of the best donnybrooks between super human opponents from the film's era, or any for that matter. Landmark for both being a really good sequel as well as one that brought the use of CGI to the next level the film while maybe over praised in my mind, also earns all the love it gets.
7. The Running Man: Despite being adapted from a Stephen King work, this is maybe Arnold's SECOND most schlockiest film, and yet... I think it's a film that in terms of it's satire of American culture in the 21st Century is actually pretty spot on and ahead of it's time, while also anachronistically it comes off as being a really good late 70's sci fi dystopian yarn. Still it's also a film that doesn't quite have the textures of Arnold films higher on the list and it's also heavy with Arnold one liners. But it's still both gritty and fantastical, brutal and again, schlocky in the best sense. It's over the top in all the ways it should be. A fine supporting cast as usual helps to raise the bar all around.
8. Twins: This film at the time was a gamble on Arnold's part and the pitch alone would sound either chuckle worthy at best or groan inducing at worst. Yet the film finds the right balance and Arnold proves he can handle comedy beyond just tough guy one liners. He has actual chemistry with his co-star, Devito, and the film delivers genuine laughs all the way through and never really exhausts the possibilities inherent in the concept. An entertaining trifle that showed that Arnold could handle a variety of projects. Maybe not the greatest comedy of all time but given the way Arnold was thought of by the audience at the time this film more than opened up the type of films that he could consider to do...
9. Kindergarten Cop: Which is why he would later star in this film that again finds him being asked to play it for laughs. Quotable and breezy it does tend to run on the treacly side and sometimes overplays it's cuteness card. Still, Arnold is surprisingly watchable playing a tough cop that faces an even tougher challenge than the scum on the streets. Not a great film of Arnold's career but far from a slog to sit through.
10. Commando: More so than Terminator this is the film that showed that Arnold could do more than just swing a sword in the Conan movie. Now this is just PURE schlock. The sleazy characters are SO sleazy and in some ways it feels like it's from an earlier era of Hollywood pictures. It lacks any nuance or believability and the characters are all pulled out of Hollywood's exploitation central casting. Still, it's entertaining in a complete and total lowest common denominator way.
I'll start us off!
photo upload online
Especially Ahnuld attempting that ridiculous Russian accent in the former. Last Action Hero's rad, Kindergarten Cop. Eraser's prime ridiculous fun among his 90s action stuff. Hell, I even dig End Of Days a lot, everyone hates that one - Ahnuld V.S. Satan though, that's 2 hours well-spent no matter how you slice it.
It's really sickly-sweet to the extent a lot of adults would find it too much, but it's also way too damn violent for kids.
Man it's been maybe 20 years since I last saw Raw Deal, I need to give it a rewatch!
