Rock bands often have a lot of time on the road and watching films is a great way to stay entertained. Non know the road better than Scottish rockers, Serpico who can often be found touring relentlessly. So Serpico frontman Mikey told us his top 10 Schwarzenegger films.10 - Kindergarten Cop
Arnie has to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a psycho drug dealer. Arnie... as a kindergarten teacher - how incongruous and hilarious would that be!?! Directed by Twins director, Ivan Reitman, it works in a similar vein, taking Arnie and putting him into an unfamiliar setting. It's even more weighted towards the family-friendly comedy vs. action than Twins, but covers both bases pretty well and would cement Arnie's position as a major mainstream star and more than just an action hero
9 - Twins
I'm pretty sure the pitch for this film went "Arnie and Danny DeVito are twins!" and the movie got green lit from that most ridiculous of premises! It's a good fun action comedy and the first of Arnie's foray into more mainstream commercial fare that helped widen his appeal from just a muscly killing machine to the man who could marry into the Kennedy dynasty and eventually become The Governator.
8 - Conan The Barbarian
Credited as the film that really launched Arnie from bodybuilder to movie star, he's in his element as a greased up, loin cloth wearing, broad sword wielding fantasy character. Despite winning a Razzie for Worst Actor in 1983, Conan introduced America and the world Arnie's incredible physique and unique talents. As far as these kind of sword and sorcery films go it's far and away the best, not that it's saying that much!
7 - True Lies
Coming on the back of the box office bomb that was "The Last Action Hero" many thought that Arnie's star might be on the wane as excess of the 80s turned to the grungey reality of the 90s - but teaming up with James Cameron again proved to be a winning formula for the Austrian Oak. The cast is great with Jamie Lee Curtis who transforms from dowdy suburban housewife to super fox in an unforgettable strip-tease, Tom Arnold is a nice comic foil and Tia Carrerre and Art Malik are suitably evil baddies. Combining some cool action with a fast and fun plot, True Lies is one of Arnie's most under-rated films.
6 - Total Recall
Some quality trashy high concept sci-fi from Paul Verhoeven (who also directed Robocop, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers - so awesome trash all round then!). Based on a short story by sci-fi king Philip K Dick, Arnie has to go to Mars and kick some ass in zero G! There's the super evil baddie Cohaagen, the woman with 3 boobs and some crazy mutants - what more could you want?!
5 - Commando
"Hey Bennett... let off some steam!" This is a one-liner-tastic affair where Arnie has to go and save his daughter from some baddies of some variety... blah blah, who cares!? Arnie runs around killing people, spouting some of his most classic catchphrases including the immortal “But you said you'd kill me last!"... "I lied!" This is a great tour bus movie!
4 - Terminator
The first time we're introduced to Terminator Arnie and the immortal line "I'll be back!", which is a genuinely global catchphrase... and so closely associated with Arnie that he regularly uses it in his political speeches in his role as The Governator of California. Made for a tiny budget of $6.5million, it still looks pretty incredible and launched the career of James Cameron, who'd go on to direct Aliens and Titanic! Also launched one of the biggest grossing movie franchises in history... which isn't too bad for and Austrian bodybuilder and a director whose only previous feature was Piranha II: The Spawning!
3 - The Running Man
A lesser known Arnie film but one of my favouries, based on an early Stephen King novel (before he was even called Stephen King!) It's a very prescient satire on consumerism where the biggest rated show is a real life 'Gladiators' where Death Row inmates fight for their freedom. The concept has been recycled in recent films like the Death Race remake and Gamer... but this is the original! It has some nice ideas combined with Arnie violence - nice combo!
2 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The zenith of Arnie's movie career is just beaten into #2 slot, but it's still a cracker. He's just so perfect as a cyborg... obviously it was a real stretch of his acting talent. The special effects still look awesome all these years later and it remains a bench mark for action/sci-fi films in terms of spectacle. Hasta la vista, baby!
1 - Predator
The universe's ultimate hunter becomes Arnie's prey! So many classic scenes... and just Arnie kicking ass in the jungle. Can't ask for much more than that!
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