FILM · 1986
Raw Deal
29 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (29)
- #001
Arnold Schwarzenegger said in promotional interviews that this was the first film to feature a detailed, modern wardrobe, and that earlier productions had allocated "10 dollars" for that purpose. The wardrobe consisted mainly of custom suits worn under the alias Joseph P. Brenner, the identity used to infiltrate the Chicago outfit.
- #002
Producer Dino De Laurentiis initiated the project to secure emergency financing for Total Recall (1990), the adaptation he originally planned to make with Patrick Swayze. The film's box office gross of 16.2 million dollars contributed to the bankruptcy of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, leading to the sale of the screen rights to Carolco Pictures and allowing Arnold Schwarzenegger to secure the lead role.
- #003
Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to star only after lengthy negotiations to break his remaining multi-picture contract with Dino De Laurentiis. He preferred the lead in Total Recall (1990) despite an unfinished commitment, but the producer rejected him as unsuitable for Quaid and had already cast Patrick Swayze before the bankruptcy.
- #004
During production the picture carried the working title "Triple Identity," a reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger's character Mark Kaminski, who moves from FBI agent to small-town sheriff and then to undercover work. Several script drafts by Norman Wexler and Gary DeVore bore this title on their cover pages, and the release title was later chosen so the film would look like a conventional action movie.
- #005
At the start of the film, the sign at the entrance of the oil refinery that Mark Kaminsky blows up reads "Irvin Oil Processing Company," a name matching the director's surname. John Irvin directed the film for De Laurentiis Entertainment Group from a screenplay by Gary DeVore and Norman Wexler.
- #006
Only one of the hitmen in the film's opening scene appears again. The heavy-set hitman is killed in the final shootout.
- #007
The rock quarry scene was shot at Rogers Group's Pilot Knobb facility in Gallatin, TN.
- #008
The Heckler & Koch HK94 that Kaminsky uses during the raid on the gravel quarry and the attack on Patrovita's hideout, and brandishes on the theatrical poster, is the A3 variant with a folding stock, ventilated barrel shroud and vertical foregrip. The armorers converted the semi-automatic civilian carbine, the imported market version of the MP5 submachine gun, to full-automatic fire for the production.
- #009
At 1 hour, 14 minutes and 8 seconds, James Brown's scream is heard just before a car explodes.
- #010
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Davi later appeared in The Expendables 3 (2014), in which they shared no screen time. Arnold was also considered for Bruce Willis's role as Detective John McClane in Die Hard (1988), the film that gave Davi the role of FBI agent Johnson, but he turned the offer down. Davi also appeared in Predator 2 (1990), the sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Predator (1987).
- #011
Robert Davi was considered for the role of Richter in Total Recall (1990), which would have pitted him against Arnold Schwarzenegger again after this film. He turned the offer down, as did Kurtwood Smith, who had played such a character in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987). The role went to Michael Ironside, who was also considered to play RoboCop as well as Clarence. Davi later worked with Verhoeven on Showgirls (1995).
- #012
Luigi Patrovita's reported income is 73,000 dollars, which comes to about 219,410 dollars in 2025. [17:23] Harry Shannon tells Mark Kaminsky he has 45,000 dollars in savings, which comes to about 135,253 dollars in 2025.
- #013
Ralph Foody plays the police chief of the Chicago Police Department. In The Blues Brothers (1980) he was an officer in the Chicago Police Department. He was also Tommy, the armed gangster in the film-within-a-film Dirty Angels in Home Alone (1990), which was likewise shot in Chicago.
- #014
Blanche Baker is the daughter of Carroll Baker. Carroll Baker plays Eleanor Crisp, the character who shoots Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop.
- #015
Grace Jones's "I've Seen That Face Before" plays in a club scene. She had previously appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer (1984).
- #016
The phone number of the safe house Mark Kaminski could call was 743-2481. No area code is shown because at the time Chicago had only one, 312.
- #017
When Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker) talks about stealing drugs and money back from the police station, he is referring to 10 million dollars' worth of cocaine recently stolen from a New York police station. This may be a reference to a real-life heroin robbery at an NYC police station in 1972, when the drugs had a street value of 10 to 15 million dollars.
- #018
Arnold Schwarzenegger would again play a sheriff in The Last Stand (2013).
- #019
The film was shot in Chicago. Darren McGavin also appeared in Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974), which was likewise shot in Chicago.
- #020
George P. Wilbur, who plays the butler in the red jacket at the start of the film, played Lieutenant Saunders in The Running Man (1987), which also starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- #021
Sam Wanamaker, who plays the film's main villain Luigi Patrovita, was actually born in Chicago.
- #022
Raw Deal came out in the summer of 1986 and was set up and shot in Chicago. Two other films were also shot in Chicago that same summer: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) and About Last Night (1986).
- #023
Blanche Baker played the love interest of both Arnold Schwarzenegger, a.k.a. the Terminator (1984), and Peter Weller, a.k.a. RoboCop (1987). She appeared in films such as Shakedown (1988) and in this film.
- #024
When Joey shoots one of the waiters in the bar, the blood stain on the wall forms the shape of a Valentine's Day heart.
- #025
Steven Hill, whose real name was Solomon Krakovsky and who plays Martin Lamanski in this film, became an Orthodox Jew in the 1960s. So in real life, just like his character in this film, he would go to synagogue on all the holy holidays.
- #026
When Joey (Arnold) first meets Monique at the casino, he says: "Winning improves your wardrobe." Later in the film, when they go shopping, he buys her two dresses.
- #027
Monique reads Joey Brenner's identity details over the phone: Social Security Number 567-34-5787, driver's license number Dade County (Florida) 48736892-R, passport number H-1032642.
- #028
The two classical works Arnold listens to at home are: Stravinsky's Overture to Romeo and Juliet, with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic, and Beethoven's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 3, Op. 37.
- #029
Raw Deal was also a novel by bestselling author Walter Wager.
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