Who else agrees that this is the best movie Arnold stared in? He had a lot of great films but I love Total Recall’s mystery story telling and direction.
shareTotal Recall is a fantastic film and one of the best sci-fi films ever. I love that Arnold plays an everyman in this film, too. He's physically huge, but he's just a workin' Joe type. It's neat.
All that said, I think Conan the Barbarian might be my favourite Arnold picture. Epic fantasy done with minimal dialogue so that the physicality of the performers gives us 90% of the show. It's brilliantly done, like testosterone ballet. And the music score is one of the most underrated in history.
Total Recall might be a close second, though.
"And the music score is one of the most underrated in history."
You mean Conan the Barbarian score? Its hailed as one of the best scores ever, so I can't see how its underrated. Sure, it didn't win an oscar, but few do.
Maybe I just don't hear anybody talking about it. The best scores most people list are John Williams. I usually see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Psycho, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Mission, Superman '78, The Lord of the Rings, etc.
Not that those aren't deserving of recognition. I'm just saying I rarely see Conan mentioned on these lists.
After some quick Googling (which, I grant you: I didn't do extensive research), I found that...
Conan's score is not in the AFI's top 25 they did as their "100 Years" series.
It didn't make the Guardian's top 50.
It was nowhere to be found in Vulture's top 40.
It was number 25 on udiscovermusic.com's list.
Pitchfork had a top 50 - they ignored it. (They also ignored Lord of the Rings...)
It's number 61 on ranker
It was also missing from lists by complex.com, Entertainment Weekly, AmericanMusicPreservation.com, but was number 37 on Digitaldreamdoor.com's list.
So, out of ten sites and publications that I found by doing a quick google search, only three (30%ish) had it ranked at all. It barely broke top 25 on one of those sources. And on ranker it wasn't even top fifty. Ranker is, I find, a decent site for toe-testing the zeitgeist. Because it's just random people voting, it gives a bit of a gauge as to what a more general population thinks.
All that to say, I'm going to stick with "underrated" for now.
Wow, I haven't done as extensive research on the subject. All I've seen is praise of this score. People who say its bad seem to be in small minority. Maybe the score has slipped under the radars because the movie its associated with is quite mediocre and not as famous as Star Wars, for instance...
"The best scores most people list are John Williams. I usually see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Psycho, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Mission, Superman '78, The Lord of the Rings, etc."
Those are very famous high profile movies (well, maybe with exception of The Mission), so its not surprising they climb on the charts...
I've never seen anybody say it was bad. I think it's just not very well known, so it gets missed a lot and hasn't been found by these people making these lists. That's their fault for passing over Conan, probably dismissing it as a dumb movie.
So, maybe what I mean is that it doesn't get the love it deserves, and that's why it's underrated. But if I went "per capita", as in: if somebody has heard it/seen the film, do they love it? Then I'd probably agree it was ranked properly (as I've never encountered anybody who didn't like it...)
Okay, so maybe it's as much "best kept secret" as it is "underrated"?
Also, let's not confuse what I did (Googling for five minutes) with "research". I can't claim to have done anything really extensive there.
The Mission is an anomaly on these lists. I think because it's Morricone, so when researching lists, people stumble on it and then go, "Oh, man! This soundtrack is bangin'!" Because of course it is; it's Morricone.
Anomaly? That's one of the greatest soundtracks ever!
You mean it's an anomaly that people recognize Morricone's talent?
I don't understand what you mean.
It's been awhile since I wrote it; I'm not sure I remember myself...
Going back over the old posts, though, it seems that I mean of the lists I found online (Googling "best ever soundtracks" and things like that) The Mission doesn't show up much (1/3-ish of the time, according to my other post up there.
So, I think that's what I meant by "anomaly". Perhaps I should have said "rare", or even "underrepresented". Maybe extensive research would show that it pops up more often, too.
I think Morricone is recognized quite a bit, but people refer to his Leone Spaghetti Westerns moreso than The Mission.
"I love that Arnold plays an everyman in this film, too. He's physically huge, but he's just a workin' Joe type. It's neat."
I think the story required more brains and less muscle, that's primarily the reason why I have disliked Ahnold in the lead in this one.
See, for me it just reminded me that Arnold is an underrated performer and knows to play roles with a certain degree of irony and fun that makes him such a great star. I think he pulled off "everyman" in spite of his physique, which isn't easy to do.
shareI respectfully disagree with the fact that the points you mentioned meant it was a great performance. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE both this movie and Arnie, but he is not a good actor and I really didn't see any nuance here that would make me say "wow for once Arnie actually made a great performance ".
And let me also respectfully disagree with the fact it was necessarily "hard" to do. I don't pretend that I would have done any better, I just say that it doesn't seem like such a high hedge to achieve for a remotely good performer.
I can respect your opinion here.
I'll push back a little bit, though, on that last point. I think fighting type is difficult.
OP said best, not favorite. Sometimes those are different answers.
shareThat's a good point, and it might change my answer. But I still think Conan the Barbarian is a top contender. I'd narrow it to Conan, Terminator 1 and 2, and Total Recall. I also think Last Action Hero is really underrated.
My leaning towards Conan might be its uniqueness. It's rare to find such a well-made classic sword-&-sorcery film. It's played (mostly) straight, and that sincerity in such a film could have made it utterly laughable, but it works. It's moved by music and action, but not in a cheap way. We see the world of the film through the way Valeria moves like a panther, or by watching Conan and Subatai run across the plains. It's surprisingly philosophical with all of the false ideals ("What is best in life?" and the Riddle of Steel/flesh). I really think they hit some magic there.
On the other hand, while it would be hard to argue about how well the Terminator films (1 and 2, anyway) and Total Recall are put together (all with their own interesting ideas being presented visually), they aren't as standalone. The '80s produced a lot of incredible sci-fi (Blade Runner, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Tron, etc.), and this shouldn't take away from the achievements of Total Recall, it does mean that Conan shines brighter. How many S&S films of the '80s were actually good movies instead of cheap entertainment? Maybe I'm forgetting a bunch? But even among those films, few have the primal power of Conan.
Don't know about his best film but I probably don't have as much enjoyment watching any other of his films than this one. It's a real fun ride and I love the story and all its fantasy elements involving Mars, mutants and psychics. The remake by comparison is as much fun as toothache.
shareMight be Ahnold's better ones, but Verhoeven's weakest films (Hollow Man was worse). I liked even Showgirls more than this in the end.
The first Terminator is the best one to me...
I prefer predator. To each his own.
sharenot only Arnold’s best movie
the best fucking movie ever made !
.... it has everything, sci-fi, action, comedy, hot chicks, funny and cool gags and effects..... everything
I am sorry but though this is fun it is inferior to The Terminator, Terminator 2, and Predator. I find it fun but it is only a 6/10 to me.
sharetotal recall is like a culmination to arnold's great 80s catalogue of films
his quality top 80s films would be
Conan
Terminator
Commando
Predator
Total Recall (1990)
that puts him in another orbit with a fantastic catalogue
but then there's
running man, red heat, raw deal, conan 2, twins, red sonja
to back everything up.
Actually I also like Kindergarten Cop, Twins, True Lies, and Commando more than Total Recall.
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