Rewatchables Reference

• Shea: The opening sequence – his favorite opening of any Arnold action movie. The music, the montage, the guards dying immediately.
• Kyle: The garden shed scene – Arnold killing people with axes, machetes, and throwing saw blades at heads. Full 10 out of 10 comedic violence.
• Bill: Arnold escaping from the plane – killing the guy, 'Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired,' hanging from the landing gear, jumping from hundreds of feet, and just looking at his watch.

• Rae Dawn Chong – Shea and Kyle both pick her. She's funny, charming, kicks ass, fires a rocket, no forced romance with Arnold, and a woman of color cast in an 80s action movie. The director auditioned Sharon Stone but liked Rae Dawn Chong.
• Arnold's one-liners: 'I'll be back, Bennett,' 'You're a funny guy, Sully, I like you, that's why I'm going to kill you last,' 'Remember Sully when I promised to kill you last? I lied,' 'Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired,' 'Let off some steam, Bennett.'
• Bill Duke's first three quick scenes at the top of the movie.
• Mid-80s malls – the Sherman Oaks Mall was a time capsule with Swenson's ice cream.
• Arnold's secret gun shed with the code lock.
• Bill Paxton's little cameo (he and Arnold also had a scene together in Terminator).
• The cliff scene – 'I let him go.'

• 'Commando' hijacking the 48 Hours theme song (Bill puts it in both best and worst).
• Rae Dawn Chong becoming team Arnold within 30 minutes – Stockholm syndrome speed record.
• Kyle: The police department's incompetence – Arnold is a crazed man who attacked the mall, then is caught with a pile of machine guns, and they put him in the back of a joke patrol car.
• Dan Hedaya's casting as a South American former dictator – he's just the dad from 'Clueless'.
• The end song 'We Fight for Love' – underwhelming compared to other 80s action movie closers like Point Break's Ratt kick-in.
• The yellow Porsche getting destroyed.
• Rae Dawn Chong shooting a missile launcher – even for this movie, completely absurd.

• Gene Simmons and Nick Nolte were in the mix for the lead before Arnold got it.
• Wings Houser was supposed to play Bennett – got fired on set on the first day, replaced by Vernon Wells.
• The director wanted Raul Julia for the Arias dictator role – went with Dan Hedaya instead.
• John McTiernan was offered the chance to direct, turned it down, and ended up doing 'Predator'.

• Bennett in the final fight – 'I don't need the gun, John. I can beat you. I don't need no gun.' The whole last scene is dialed up to 11.
• Dan Hedaya wins the 'Judd Nelson Award' (guy who's in a completely different movie than everyone else) – he's basically in an episode of Family Ties playing a dictator.

• Vernon Wells as Bennett – also in Mad Max 2 and 'Weird Science' (same year, basically a self-parody of this character).
• David Patrick Kelly as Sully – the gang leader from 'The Warriors', Luther in 48 Hours, also in The Crow and 'John Wick'.

• Bill Duke – plays maybe 12 minutes of the movie but completely owns every scene. The only time Shea thought Arnold might actually die.
• The mall security guard – 'Attention all units, suspect six foot two, brown hair, he's one gigantic motherfucker.' Two scenes, all bangers.

For the Dan Hedaya dictator role: Edward James Olmos (Shea's pick, Bill says too good of an actor), Gary Cervantes from Blood In Blood Out, Esai Morales, or Jimmy Smits.

• The mall was the Sherman Oaks Mall in LA (still exists).
• The island (Val Verde) was actually Saint Nicholas Island off the coast of Santa Barbara.
• The climax compound is the Harold Lloyd estate in Beverly Hills – same location as the final shootout in 'Beverly Hills Cop' one year earlier.
• Director Mark Lester wanted Arnold to actually dangle David Patrick Kelly over the cliff with no safety equipment; Arnold refused, so they used a crane.
• A love scene between Arnold and Rae Dawn Chong was filmed but cut due to concerns about interracial romance reception in Southern US cinemas.
• Rae Dawn Chong's little red car is a Sunbeam Alpine, a 1960s British sports car.
• Official body count: 109 (102 killed by Arnold, 7 by others).
• Director's cut is 91 minutes vs the standard 90 – extra minute is mostly additional garden shed violence and saucier Alyssa Milano dialogue.
• Bill Duke had no acting credits from 1981 to 1985, then went on a run: 'Commando', 'Predator', Menace II Society. He also directed Sister Act 2.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger: No.
• Rae Dawn Chong: Yes – this is what she's known for.
• Bill Duke: No – 'Predator' is his apex.
• Vernon Wells: Yes – this over Mad Max 2 and 'Weird Science'.
• Alyssa Milano: No – Who's the Boss? or Charmed.
• Val Verde: Yes – the fictional country was invented for this movie.
• Missile launchers: Yes – the first one Bill thinks of.
• Mid-80s yellow Porsches: Yes.

• Arnold gets shot in the shoulder, says 'I'll fight with one arm,' then uses both arms two minutes later.
• The Hawaiian shirt guy (Sully's henchman) puts Matrix in the aisle seat instead of the window – making it trivially easy for Arnold to escape.
• The Chevy Blazer chase down the mountain – the caravan could have just stopped and Arnold would have careened into the valley.
• Does Jenny go to school? They're supposedly in hiding but they're getting ice cream and hiking.
• The father-daughter opening montage is shot like a romance – uncomfortable head tilts, lip kisses, she makes an 'I love you' sign.
• Rae Dawn Chong conveniently knows how to fly a seaplane, isn't scared of anything, and can figure out a missile launcher.
• Arnold finds the perfect hostage: she can fly planes, shoot missile launchers, and isn't afraid of anything.
• Why don't the bad guys just kill the daughter once Arnold escapes the plane? He's reneged on the deal.
• Rae Dawn Chong is not nearly upset enough when her vintage sports car is destroyed.

No. All three hosts immediately say no.

• Why wasn't there a 'Commando' 2? Arnold did Raw Deal and Red Heat instead – either could have been swapped for a sequel.
• What happens after the movie? Does Arnold face charges? Rae Dawn Chong might have killed two cops with that rocket launcher.
• Does Arnold drop Rae Dawn off at her house? Do they go back to his lair? Are they a family now?
• More indefensible non-sequel: 'Commando' 2, Roadhouse 2 with Swayze, or 'Point Break' 2 with Keanu? All three say 'Point Break'.

• Shea: The missile launcher – would carry it everywhere like a cell phone.
• Kyle: Bennett's chain mail and the garden shed saw blade – would wear the saw blade on a chain like Flavor Flav.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, unanimously. Kyle says he can't even come up with a joke answer.