Scenes I Love: Raw Deal


The gravel shootout in Raw Deal is pure, unfiltered 80s excess — the kind of scene that makes you grin even as you shake your head at the absurdity of it all. Arnold Schwarzenegger rolls up in a leather jacket over a white t-shirt, hair slicked back, with that dead-serious look that says he’s about to turn a quarry into a warzone. Then the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” starts blaring — a choice so wildly on-the-nose that it wraps around to genius. Bullets fly, gravel explodes, and every bad guy who dares show his face gets launched off a cliff or riddled with rounds like it’s just another Tuesday.

It’s one of those moments where action filmmaking and rock-and-roll attitude collide in glorious overkill. Everything about it—the slow-motion carnage, the editing rhythm synced to Mick Jagger’s drawl, even the dust clouds swirling around Arnie—feels like a music video someone made after chugging pure testosterone. It’s ridiculous, it’s brilliant, and it’s exactly the sort of scene that makes Raw Deal such a lovable slice of 80s mayhem and why I just love this scene.