I knew not all of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early work were going to be winners. And there was a reason I never wanted to take a chance on Raw Deal. From everything I’d seen, trailer and image wide it looked pretty horrible.

Surprise, surprise I was right. It has a horrible soundtrack and score, and the whole thing was produced by Dino De Laurentiis (take from that what you will).

Arnold plays Mark Kaminski. An ousted FBI agent turned sheriff in Smalltown, Nowhere. Honestly, Kaminski seems to like it there, but his wife, Amy (Blanche Baker) has sunk into day drinking and arguing.

When his old boss, Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin) reaches out to him about an off-the-books mission, Kaminski jumps at the opportunity.

Soon he’s back in the big city, and working on helping Harry get revenge against the mobsters who killed his son. In his sights is Luigi (Sam Wanamaker) with Max (Robert Davi) at his side.

Max doesn’t trust Mark, and his new cover as a high-rolling baddie, so he dangles Monique (Kathryn Harrold) in front of him.

Sure, you’ve got Arnold, McGavin, Davi, heck there’s Ed Lauter as well, but it’s just a pretty crappy film.

Do you remember Wiseguy? The television show with Ken Wahl? It’s kinda like that, but with more violence and foul language. But not as enjoyable. Sorry Arnold.

Honestly, this one could barely hold my attention, I fought to stay engaged, and no matter how much I like Arnold movies, I am quite willing to block and forget this one existed. Sure, it’s cool to see Arnold all dressed up, but his character seemed much more likable at the beginning of the film than he did at the end.

I do like that he remains faithful to his wife, despite their problems.

Arnold is giving it his all, but the rest of the movie kind of stumbles along. It’s not the most enjoyable watch, though there are some fun moments. I’ll be blatantly honest, I’m glad I didn’t see this one when it came out originally (I remember the posters hanging in the video store window) and I’m almost sorry I wasted my time out now.

But hey, Arnold was working, making his way, and bigger things kept coming his way, so if he had to pay his dues with some lesser films, even coming on the heels of some beloved early features, then that’s the way it goes.

But man, this one was bad.