Arnold Schwarzenegger represents everything American, which is especially impressive for someone who didn’t reach the States until after his 20th birthday. Schwarzenegger is larger than life, in more ways than one, and he’s the ultimate manifestation of the American dream. Leaving Austria early in the 1960s, he traveled to California almost on a whim, with the dream of making it big in America as a bodybuilder. From this somewhat humble start, he’s blossomed into one of Hollywood’s biggest stars (not to mention his ascendancy to the governorship of California).
Here are our favorite Arnold movies, in no particular order. Take note, however: all of these movies are to be viewed only in high definition, with sound blasting from a decent stereo system. Any less would be an insult to the Governator.
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Beyond the mists of time, having witnessed the brutal death of his blacksmith father and the massacre of the entire village by the murderous followers of Thulsa Doom, the undead evil wizard and servant of the serpent-god, Set, Conan, the orphaned young Cimmerian, is condemned to a life of slavery.
Chained to the perpetual Wheel of Pain, the helpless boy grows into a man, and after years of rigorous training as a fierce gladiator, Conan, now an unstoppable mountain of muscle, regains his precious freedom. But, with the image of the blood-soaked raid etched on his mind, Conan teams up with Subotai, the Hyrkanian thief, and Valeria, the Queen of the Bandits, and embarks on a peril-laden journey to the mysterious Mountain of Power, and the impregnable Snake Cult Temple. Will Conan avenge his parents?
True Lies (1994)
Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a double life. At work he is a government agent with a license to do just about anything, while at home he pretends to be a dull computer salesman. He is on the trail of stolen nuclear weapons that are in the hands of fanatic terrorists when something more important comes up.
Harry finds his wife is seeing another man (Bill Paxton) because she needs some adventure in her life. Harry decides to give it to her, juggling pursuit of terrorists on one hand and an adventure for his wife on the other while showing he can Tango all at once.
Predator (1987)
A team of special force ops, led by a tough but fair soldier, Major “Dutch” Schaefer, are ordered to assist CIA man, Colonel Al Dillon, on a rescue mission for potential survivors of a Helicopter downed over remote South American jungle.
Not long after they land, Dutch and his team discover that they have been sent in under false pretenses. This deception turns out to be the least of their worries though, when they find themselves being methodically hunted by something not of this world.
The Terminator Series
This is one of the best demonstrations of Arnold’s versatility. In the first Terminator, Arnold plays the villain, a robot sent back in time to prevent the birth of the Resistance’s leader. In the second movie, Arnold reprises his role as the Terminator, playing the same android.
This time around, however, he has been sent to protect, rather than destroy.All three of the films in the Terminator series are phenomenal, especially when viewed on a high quality HD set. They’re highly recommended as an entre into the science fiction genre. Most sci-fi geeks have just one question for the next installment: will Arnold be a part of it?
Eraser (1996)
U.S. Marshal deputy John Kruger is one of the toughest Marshals, his methods are to “Erase” The identities of his witnesses he is assigned to protect. Meanwhile, a woman named Lee Cullen who works for a corporation named Cyrez performed an undercover job for the FBI to unveil a top secret weapon which uses an electromagnetic pulse to dispatch targets. Cyrez discovered this about Lee and are now out to kill her, Kruger’s job is now to protect Lee so she can testify against Cyrez.
But, when Kruger was assigned to perform a job with another Marshal named Robert Deguerin, he discovers that Deguerin is behind some kind of scam that will involve the EM Gun, which will change hands to a Russian criminal if Kruger does not stop them, Kruger must not only protect Lee’s life but his own.
