Raw Deal (1986)

Raw Deal (1986)

Taglines: His trigger has all the answers.

Raw Deal movie storyline. Mark Kaminski 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 Luigi Patrovita, enlists Kaminski in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovita is taken down. To accomplish this, Kaminski must go undercover and join Patrovita’s gang.

Raw Deal is 1986 American action film directed by John Irvin, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin and Sam Wanamaker. The film was released in the United States on June 6, 1986. The film tells the story of an elderly and embittered high-ranking FBI chief, Harry Shannon, who wants to get revenge against a Mafia organization and sends a former FBI agent and now small-town sheriff Mark Kaminsky to destroy the organization from the inside.

About the Story

On December 16, 1985, in a remote wooded cabin, a mob informant is under protection by the FBI. They are ambushed by a hit squad who brutally slaughter the bodyguards and the witness. One of the agents killed is Blair Shannon, son of FBI Agent Harry Shannon (Darren McGavin), who vows revenge.

After capturing a man posing as a motorcycle cop, small-town sheriff Mark Kaminsky (Arnold Schwarzenegger) goes home to his alcoholic wife Amy (Blanche Baker), who resents what their lives have been reduced to and in a drunken fit throws a cake at him. Kaminsky once worked for the FBI, but five years ago he brutally beat a suspect who “molested, murdered, and mutilated” a young girl.

Raw Deal (1986)

He was given the option to “resign or be prosecuted” by ambitious prosecutor Marvin Baxter (Joe Regalbuto), who is now Special Federal Prosecutor heading up a committee investigating the dealings of Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker), the strongest of the Chicago Outfit Dons.

Shannon calls Kaminsky in with an unsanctioned and possibly illegal assignment: to infiltrate Patrovita’s organization and “tear it up”. Harry cannot do anything officially, and the FBI has a leak who has been getting agents killed, which is why Kaminsky must go in secret. Harry dangles the prospect of Kaminsky being reinstated with the FBI, leading to Kaminsky faking his own death in a chemical plant explosion and posing as convicted felon Joseph P. Brenner.

He manages to get an audience with Patrovita’s right-hand man Paulo Rocca (Paul Shenar), and convinces them of his worth by harassing Martin Lamanski (Steven Hill), a rival mob boss who is trying to move in on his former boss Patrovita’s territory. While at Patrovita’s casino, hidden in a basement level of a high class hotel, he makes the acquaintance of Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who works for Rocca’s top lieutenant Max Keller (Robert Davi).

Kaminsky continues to work his way into the good graces of the Patrovita family, including devising a plan that recovers $100 million of heroin and cash seized by the feds from one of Patrovita’s hideouts and simultaneously assisting in Lamanski’s assassination. Keller isn’t convinced that ‘Brenner’ is who he says and manages to find proof of the deception, showing Kaminsky’s photo to a police informant who previously arrested the real Brenner.

The leak the FBI has been looking for is revealed to be Baxter, who is forced to stay close to Patrovita. Kaminsky accompanies Keller to a cemetery for a hit job, but discovers that the target is Harry Shannon, which causes him to blow his cover. Kaminsky and Shannon manage to kill Keller and another hit man, but Shannon is severely wounded in the exchange.

Raw Deal Movie Poster (1986)

Raw Deal (1986)

Directed by: John Irvin
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Sam Wanamaker, Paul Shenar, Robert Davi, Ed Lauter, Darren McGavin, Mordecai Lawner, Blanche Baker
Screenplay by: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati
Production Design by: Giorgio Postiglione
Cinematography by: Alex Thomson
Film Editing by: Anne V. Coates
Costume Design by: Clifford Capone
Set Decoration by: Hilton Rosemarin
Art Direction by: Maher Ahmad
Music by: Chris Boardman, Tom Bähler, Albhy Galuten
Distributed by: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Embassy Pictures
Release Date: June 6, 1986

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