Commando (1985 film)

Commando
Directed by	Mark L. Lester
Written by	Steven E. de Souza, Joseph Loeb III and Steven E. de Souza
Produced by	Joel Silver
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Rae Dawn Chong Alyssa Milano Vernon Wells Bill Duke Dan Hedaya James Olson Michael Delano David Patrick Kelly
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Edited by	Glenn Farr, Mark Goldblatt and John F. Link
Music by	James Horner
Production company	Silver Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	October 4, 1985
Running time	90 mins
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000
Box office	$57,491,000

Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alyssa Milano, David Patrick Kelly and Bill Duke. It was directed by Mark L. Lester and shot on location in and around Los Angeles, California. The film's use of humor in an action film context became a distinctive element in Schwarzenegger's later roles and since its release, the film has gained a cult following and recognition as one of Schwarzenegger's most popular films.

The film was nominated for a Saturn Award in1986 for Best Special Effects but lost to James Cameron's Aliens.

Plot

File:Commando-Matrix-Firing Rocket Launcher.png

Arnold Schwarzenegger as John Matrix; blowing away villains with an M202A1 FLASH rocket launcher.

Retired soldier and single parent, John Matrix was a Colonel in the US Army Special Forces who once led an elite unit. He left the service to live in a secluded mountain home with his daughter Jenny. Unbeknown to Matrix, the members of his former unit are being killed one by one, first Lawson then Forrestal and finally Bennett. Even though Matrix's friend Major General Franklin Kirby gives Matrix two armed guards, attackers kill them and manage to kidnap Matrix and Jenny. Matrix learns that Cpt. Bennett, a former disgraced member of his unit, is still alive. Bennett has kidnapped his daughter to try to force Matrix to commit a political assassination for a man called Arius (who calls himself "El Presidente") and his gang of other former U.S. soldiers. Arius is a warlord and dictator who was overthrown by Matrix. He now wishes to lead a military coup in his home country, Val Verde. Since Arius will have Jenny killed if Matrix refuses, Matrix reluctantly accepts the demand.

After Matrix is taken aboard an airplane heading to the foreign country, he kills Henriques who's guarding him and jumps into a swamp just as the plane is taking off from the runway. Matrix then sets his stopwatch for the approximate time of the flight. Subsequently, he commandeers the car of Cindy, an off-duty flight attendant, and eventually manages to enlist her help by explaining the disaster that has befallen him and Jenny. The two follow Sully, the henchman designated to watch the plane leave, and Matrix kills him by dropping him off the side of a mountain. Then they drive to the motel where Sully was staying. When Cooke, a former Green Beret, arrives at Sully's motel room, he is killed by being impaled by a broken table leg during a hand-to-hand fight with Matrix.

After Matrix learns where Arius' mansion is located (the location where Jenny is presumably being held), he breaks into a surplus store and steals a veritable one-man arsenal of both small arms and heavy weapons. Matrix is interrupted by the police, who have shown up to investigate the disturbance, and is arrested. Cindy frees him by overturning the police van with a rocket launcher.

After commandeering a seaplane from a nearby marina run by Arius, Matrix and Cindy land the plane off the coast of the island where Arius is located. Matrix instructs Cindy to contact General Kirby and then proceeds to Arius' villa, fighting and killing Arius' private army on the way. He subsequently confronts and kills Arius in a gunfight.

Matrix finds Jenny in the basement, but he is shot in the arm by Bennett. Matrix then taunts Bennett into facing him in a knife fight, an invitation Bennett cannot resist. After a fierce struggle, Matrix gains the upper hand and Bennett, defeated, reaches for a machine pistol, but is impaled with a steel pipe by Matrix before he can fire. After Kirby arrives with a military detachment, he offers Matrix another term of service in the Force. Being tired of fighting, however, Matrix declines, and he, Cindy, and Jenny fly off into the sunset.

Cast

Actor	Role	Description
Arnold Schwarzenegger	John Matrix	The film's main protagonist. A former United States Army Colonel, he is forced back into action when his daughter is abducted.
Rae Dawn Chong	Cindy	Matrix's unwilling companion but later trusted ally.
Dan Hedaya	Arius	The former Dictator of Val Verde until being overthrown by a new President, he blackmails Matrix into aiding him in his revenge. He acts as the one of the film's two villains.
Vernon Wells	Bennett	Former Captain in Matrix's special forces team, described as having "loved killing a little too much", which led to Matrix dismissing him. He acts as the one of the film's two villains. Now allied with Arius, he seeks revenge. In the film's toy-line, he is reincarnated as Psycho. Bennett's costume and style was based off of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury
James Olsen	General Franklin Kirby	Matrix's former superior, who warns him of the new threat and unintentionally leads Arius's men to Matrix's location. Kirby is strongly influenced by Colonel Sam Trautman from the Rambo films even to the extent of virtually repeating Trautman's lines from First Blood.
David Patrick Kelly	Sully	A former (and presumably disgraced) Army soldier now working for Arius. He is the third member of Arius's gang to be killed by Matrix.
Alyssa Milano	Jenny Matrix	John Matrix's daughter, kidnapped by Arius and his men in order to blackmail Matrix.
Bill Duke	Cook	Arius's brutal hitman and a former (and presumably disgraced) Green Beret. He is the fourth member of Arius's gang to fall.
Michael Delano	Forrestal	Another late former member of Matrix's team.
Drew Snyder	Lawson	A late former member of Matrix's team.
Charles Meshack	Henriques	A former (and presumably disgraced) Army soldier and war buddy of Sully. He is silently killed by Matrix on the plane to Val Verde by snapping his neck, then Matrix asks the stewardess not to disturb his 'friend' as "he is dead tired".
Gary Cervantes	Diaz	The first of Arius's henchmen, who's also presumably a former Army soldier, to be killed by Matrix during the kidnapping of Jenny.

Quotes

- Bennett to Matrix "Ever since you had me thrown out of your unit I've waited to pay you back. You know what today is Matrix? Pay day." - Matrix & Cooke Cooke: "This Green Beret's gonna kick your ass" Matrix: "I eat Green Berets for breakfast, and right now, I'm very hungry." - Matrix to Sully "Remember when I said I would kill you last? I lied." -

Goofs

- While Matrix battles his way through the courtyard near the end of the movie, he lobs several grenades at Arius's men. One grenade explodes on the grass in the courtyard, throwing two men through the air. The springboard that is used to launch one of the men into the air is clearly visible, albeit painted colored like the grass surrounding it. - As Matrix fires the machine gun the ammunition belt runs low several times, then a moment later it appears as a fresh belt. - When Matrix is loading up gear on the raft boat. He has on black Speedos, when he reaches shore he has on a tan color Speedo, then back to black when on shore. - When he pushes the yellow Porsche onto its wheels, the side is dented, when he drives it away, it is not dented, when he shows up at the motel, it is dented again - When he hangs sully over the cliff just before the above scene, a rope is clearly visible around his foot. - While Matrix is destroying the guerrillas' main campsite, the audience can clearly see that at least one of the guerrillas is just a dummy, and it fails to collapse when the building it is guarding is blown up by Matrix.

Production

Screenwriter Jeph Loeb states that the film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Gene Simmons (who passed on it), and later scripted with Nick Nolte in mind to play the lead as an out-of-condition former commando struggling with the demands of his mission. Walter Hill was originally involved in the development process.

The original concept was for an Israeli special forces–Mossad agent, who is sick of the continuous death and destruction in the Middle East. So he quits Israel and emigrates to the United States, where he is forced out of his self-imposed retirement after the kidnapping of his daughter. This was modified and further adapted when Schwarzenegger was cast; some of the original dialogue can be viewed in the deleted scenes when Matrix says he regrets his past actions.

Locations

The film was shot on location in California. The island of Val Verde, to which Matrix flies to rescue his daughter, was filmed on the Pacific coast at San Simeon. The barracks that are "attacked" are actually beach properties belonging to the Hearst Castle Estate 35°38′36.55″N 121°11′29.31″W. The house that Matrix storms at the film's climax was actually the former main residence of the Harold Lloyd Estate in the Benedict Canyon district of Beverly Hills 34°5′17.18″N 118°25′36.98″W.

Sequel

A sequel was written by De Souza and Frank Darabont, based on the book Nothing Lasts Forever (1979) by Roderick Thorp (which is, itself, a sequel to his 1966 book The Detective, made into a film in 1966 featuring Frank Sinatra and Lee Remick), but Schwarzenegger was not interested in making a sequel as his previous sequel (Conan the Destroyer) had bombed at the box office. The script was reworked with a new central character, eventually played by Bruce Willis, and was retitled Die Hard. However, Commando 2 refuses to die, an internet campaign and the release on the net of the script followed by Schwarzenegger's expected return to motion pictures seems to have breathed new life into a once forgotten project.

DVD releases

The first DVD of Commando was released in region 1 in the U.S. on May 25, 1999. Common with early DVD releases, the disc featured a non-anamorphic video transfer, a basic 2.0 surround track, and only the US theatrical trailer as an extra. DVDs released in other regions soon followed, some with anamorphic transfers, but the 2001 UK region 2 DVD was censored by the BBFC (approximately 12 seconds of cuts) due to violence. These cuts were brought over from the 1985 original theatrical release. However, a German master was used for the UK DVD, meaning the film was cut even more than it should have been, leading to 56 seconds of cuts instead of the BBFC's 12 seconds. If the film had been resubmitted to the BBFC, it would be passed uncut under the BBFC's new, more liberal rules. This has proven to be the case as the BBFC's website indicates that both versions of the film (the U.S. theatrical cut and the unrated edition) for the DVD were passed on June 11, 2007. With the unrated edition released, the film is in its entirety, a first for the UK.

On June 5, 2007, 20th Century Fox officially announced that a completely unedited and unrated director's cut of the film would be released on region 1 DVD on September 18, 2007. Through seamless branching, this disc not only features an unrated cut (which was claimed to run at 95 minutes, but is only 91 minutes, with 92 seconds of extra footage), but as a bonus, also contains the original 90 minute, R-rated US theatrical cut. Aside from this, the DVD is a special edition, featuring an audio commentary from director Mark L. Lester (only on the theatrical cut), additional deleted scenes, a Pure Action featurette, a Let Off Some Steam featurette, and four photo galleries with over 150 photos. The transfer is anamorphically enhanced and features a 5.1 audio mix.

In April 2008 the 90-minute theatrical version of the film was released to consumers on the high definition Blu-ray disc format.

- == Toy line == - Diamond Toymakers released a line of action figures in 1986 in an attempt to cash in on the success of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Matrix now leads an elite special forces unit (which replaced his old deceased unit from the original film) called C-Team, made up of Spex, Blaster, and Chopper, against the forces of F.E.A.R., led by Psycho (who is based on the character of Bennett) and consisting of Lead-Head, Stalker, and Sawbones. There was an assortment of 4" figures, containing all of the above, a series of 8" figures, consisting of Matrix, Spex, Blaster, Psycho, Lead-Head, and Stalker. Oddly, Chopper and Sawbones are absent. Finally, there was an 18" John Matrix that came with a pistol, an M16, and a grenade. The toy line was criticized (as were competing lines for RoboCop and Rambo) for making toys marketed to children out of Rated-R movies that few of them should have seen.

Soundtrack

Untitled

A soundtrack album was released by Varèse Sarabande on December 2, 2003 as part of the Varèse Sarabande CD Club and was limited to 3000 copies. The score, composed by James Horner, is notable for its prominent use of steel drums.

Track listing

1. "Prologue/Main Title" – 3:58
2. "Ambush and Kidnapping" – 2:35
3. "Captured" – 2:14
4. "Surprise" – 8:19
5. "Sully Runs" – 4:34
6. "Moving Jenny" – 3:44
7. "Matrix Breaks In" – 3:30
8. "Infiltration, Showdown and Finale" – 14:32

External links

• Commando at IMDb
• Commando at Box Office Mojo
• Commando at AllMovie
• Commando at Rotten Tomatoes
• Commando at IMFDb