What’s Aged the Best?
Bill Duke's opening scenes; mid-80s malls; Arnold's secret gun shed; Bill Paxton cameo; Arnold's one-liners; the borrowed 48 Hours theme; Rae Dawn Chong
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:43Read transcript
- Bill Duke's three quick opening scenes, mid-80s malls and Arnold's secret gun shed are loved.
- Bill Paxton's out-of-nowhere cameo ('We lost them, sir') is praised; Paxton had a scene with Arnold in The Terminator, and the guess is Arnold wanted him around.
- Arnold's one-liners are top of the game: 'I'll be back, Bennett', the Sully 'kill you last' and 'I lied' callback, 'I let him go', 'We'll take Cook's car' and 'Let off some steam, Bennett'; he reportedly had more ad libs in deleted scenes; the cliff scene was considered for this list and called more of a what's-aged-the-best item.
- Commando unapologetically lifts the 48 Hours steel-drum theme; for a devoted 48 Hours viewer it is jarring but also a reminder of that film.
- Rae Dawn Chong is the pick: funny, doing fight commentary during the Bill Duke fight and freaking out in the car, a great balance for Arnold; Justin Long in the Die Hard franchise is cited as a later version of the idea. — Shea Serrano
- Seconding the pick: she fires a rocket, there is no romance with Arnold, and the director says they auditioned widely, including Sharon Stone; a planned romantic scene was cut over concerns about southern audiences reacting to a Black woman and a white man.
- The Golden Child's love scene with Charlotte Lewis was cut for similar reasons; casting Chong rather than the white girl du jour was inspired.
- In the mid-80s it was a novelty that she was Tommy Chong's daughter; some once assumed Chong was Mexican because of Cheech.
- Her career illustrates old Hollywood: Soul Man, then within five years a Melrose Place arc, and it never happened for her.