80s Arnie – Commando + Predator
Sunday June 14th
We love Arnie here at PFC, and here’s a chance to see two of his most iconic 80s action classics in a powerhouse double bill..
I saw Predator on its opening day. I was at university, and I can still feel the excitement of it, sitting down not quite knowing what was coming.
Arnie was already a huge star by then, so I turned up for him. What I didn’t expect was how tense and how sophisticated the film would turn out to be.
So that’s the night. Two of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most iconic films of the 1980s, back to back, on a big screen with a crowd, which is the only way to watch them.
At 6pmCOMMANDO
First up, this is the straightforward one, and that is the whole joy of it.
A one-man army, a body count nobody could keep up with, a one-liner every couple of minutes.
A pure 80s artefact, enormous fun in a room full of people.
PREDATOR
Following the retro-fun of Commando, Predator (1987) is the one that gets people.
John McTiernan takes what looks like a muscle-bound jungle shoot-out and tightens it into something genuinely clever and genuinely frightening, until there is almost nothing left but one man and the thing in the trees. McTiernan made Die Hard the very next year.
Two of the best action films ever made, same director, back to back.
One bit of trivia for the club. One of our favourite character actors, David Patrick Kelly (no relation) is in Commando. He plays Sully, the henchman Matrix promises to kill last. He lied.
Anyone who came to our Warriors and Deliverance double bill a year or so ago will know him as Luther, the villain who clinks the bottles together and calls “Warriors, come out to play.”
And anyone who saw John Carney’s Once with us a couple of years back might like to know that in the stage version of Once on Broadway he played Da, the father. I saw him in it, and said a very quick hello afterwards. He keeps turning up in the things I love.
Two Arnie classics, one night, back to back. Bring someone who loves the 80s and make a night of it.
