Happy birthday, Arnie! Schwarzenegger turns 70 and we watch his films
30.7.2017
Translation: machine translated
Yes, everyone gets older - even Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although we can hardly believe that the muscleman is already 70 today, Arnie's birthday is definitely a reason to take a look at his film history. I took a look at the best and worst films featuring the Austrian. Here are the results!
Happy birthday, Arnie!
Our favourite action hero turns 70 today. The man who was a bodybuilder, actor, politician and then actor again is probably eating cake today and perhaps looking back on his life. Affairs, successes, losses and elections. Today, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not only an actor but also someone who talks about his life and gives advice on Instagram and Reddit.
The likeable action hero with muscles of steel and a heart-warming smile turns 70 today. We wish him all the best and treat ourselves to a film evening in his honour. Here are the most legendary Arnie appearances .
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
- Directed by: John Milius
- Arnie as... a pitiful little boy who blossoms into a big muscular hero.
Barbarian boy Conan is forced to watch as his people are executed by the evil magician Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) and his army and his mother is beheaded before his very eyes. Although the boy survives the bloody attack, he is abducted and forced into slavery. After many years and huge amounts of hard labour, Conan eventually grows into a strong and muscular man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who wants nothing more than revenge.
"Conan the Barbarian" is a top-class action classic and a must for all Arnie fans. John Milius has captured the actor at the height of his muscle mass and created a film that is gripping and entertaining at the same time.
Predator (1987)
- Director: John McTiernan
- Arnie as... alien hunter and special forces fighter - badass action hero.
Arnie shows as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaeffer that he can also hold his own against extraterrestrial enemies. Together with his task force, he is sent into the depths of the South American continent to find missing politicians. The special unit quickly realises that there are no survivors and that they are up against something much bigger than a natural enemy.
Great action cinema that, like many other Arnie films, not only has a whole fan club, but also many franchises. Today, there is already "Predator 2", the spin-offs "Alien vs. Predator" and "Aliens vs. Predator 2", and "Predators", which shows another hunt by the extraterrestrial hunters for humans.
The total memory - Total Recall (1990)
- Director: Paul Verhoeven
- Arnie as... a clueless construction worker who suddenly no longer knows who he really is.
Construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a simple life with his wife Lori (Sharon Stone). If only it weren't for his nightmares, which rob him of his sleep. In his dream world, he believes he is living on Mars and fighting for its independence. With the help of the organisation Rekall Incorporated, he believes he can solve his problems and embarks on a dream experiment. He is supposed to travel to Mars via a virtual journey and thus be able to face his problems.
However, everything turns out differently and something goes wrong during the experiment. When Douglas wakes up, he is suddenly mistaken for a top agent and professional assassin. A hunt begins for an ordinary man - or is the truth quite different? Reality and dreams begin to blur, and even Douglas soon no longer knows who he really is.
Exciting cinema: the action-packed future film is based on the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, and a disastrously bad remake starring Colin Farrell was released in 2012. At some point, the time came when action films with Arnie achieved cult status and everything featuring the bodybuilder actor was automatically loved. "Total Recall" remains unforgotten!
Terminator 2 - Day of Reckoning (1991)
- Directed by: James Cameron
- Arnie as... a kind-hearted robot who made film history with lines like "Hasta la vista, baby!" .
In the sequel to the cult film "Terminator", the Terminator model T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), programmed as evil in the first part, turns out to be a reprogrammed, benign robot. The human resistance army of the future sends Arnie back to the past to protect the teenager John Connor (Edward Furlong) from the evil Terminator T-1000 (Robert Patrick). John plays an important role in the war against the machines, in which humans try to fight against the artificial intelligence "Skynet". The T-1000 has been sent back in time to eliminate the rebel leader while he is still young, thus preventing this from happening in the future...
As the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic", James Cameron has long been recognised as one of the best of his kind. Everything he touches has megahit potential. And so it was in 1991 when he set a milestone with "Terminator 2", presenting technical advances and special effects that had never been seen before. The film grossed around 520 million dollars worldwide with production costs of 100 million dollars - a complete success!
A little fact on the side: without Arnie, there might never have been a sequel to the iconic robots, as he was the one who pushed so hard to be allowed to play the famous robot again in 1991 until the time finally came.
True Lies (1994)
- Directed by: James Cameron
- Arnie as... a top agent of a secret anti-terrorist organisation who leads a double life and hides his action-packed professional life from his wife .
Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads two lives: On the one hand, he earns his money on top-secret missions as a secret agent, while on the other he pretends to his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) that he works as a sales representative for computers. At first glance, their life seems completely normal, but Harry understandably has to cancel dinners from time to time and Helen starts to get bored. Suddenly she begins to dream of a career as a top agent herself, and slowly learns more and more about her husband's true identity.
"True Lies" - another box office success starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. By this point, Arnie had already made a name for himself as a serious action star and the hype surrounding him had increased. A sequel to the film was actually planned, but the Austrian actor was starting his career as a politician at the time and was concentrating on the California governor's election campaign, which left him no time for another leading role. The planning of "True Lies 2" is still on hold. However, I would love to see Arnie and Jamie Lee Curtis make a comeback as an agent couple!
The Expendables (2010)
- Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
- Arnie as... an old, retired mercenary who has decided to go into politics .
Sylvester Stallone brings together the greatest action heroes of the 1980s and 1990s and delivers a brilliant film. The story is anything but complex: as leader of the Expendables, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leads hand-to-hand combat specialist Yin Yang (Jet Li), firearms specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and explosives expert Toll Road (Randy Couture), among others, on a mission to the South American continent. There, the team is to overthrow an unscrupulous dictator. But the mission turns out to be anything but simple, as the Expendables suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs and become the hunted.
Arnie is a long time coming, but the joy is all the greater when our somewhat aged action hero finally meets Stallone and Bruce Willis. Here is probably the best scene of the film:
When many aging action stars come together, the result is glorious cinema! With "The Expendables", Sly delivers the long-awaited reunion of old heroes mixed with their younger successors. The plot about the mercenaries may be straightforward, but with such a star-studded cast, the film is definitely a must-see.
Escape Plan (2013)
- Director: Mikael Hafstrom
- Arnie as a... con - and old action hero who shows us: "Yeah, I've still got it!"
The two of them are certainly old and tough, but this time the big names of the action genre are really playing cons. We're talking about a different kind of encounter, because in "Escape Plan", Swan Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and security expert Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) sit cell to cell in a high-security prison that Breslin himself designed and which was his undoing. Together, Terminator and Rocky devise an escape plan to bring them back their freedom.
Three years after "The Expendables" brought simple and uncomplicated action flicks back to the cinema and met with approval, "Escape Plan" triggers great joy. because here, too, two cinema oldies are reunited and show us that they still have what it takes as opis. I want more of this!
However, Arnie has not only achieved great things in the course of his career. Every now and then, a film would pretty much fall flat. Nevertheless, they have their very own charm, because Arnie remains Arnie, even if the film is bad.
Red Sonja (1985)
- Director: Richard Fleischer
- Arnie as... a barbarian who is surprisingly not called "Conan" but is definitely supposed to be Conan
Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen) is a strong swordswoman and leads a battle against Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman), who is in search of great power. When Sonja attacks the queen, Gedren takes revenge and has Sonja's family murdered. The warrior vows to stop the evil queen and sets out to seek revenge. Fighting at her side is the powerful Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), with whom she follows in Queen Gedren's footsteps.
"Red Sonja" was supposed to be the prequel to "Conan the Barbarian" and fans had high hopes, but unfortunately they were disappointed. The fantasy action film is probably one of the worst-produced and simply awful films of all time. What else is there to say, I don't know.
Junior (1994)
- Directed by: Ivan Reitman
- Arnie as... a pregnant scientist with strong maternal feelings .
Scientists Alex Hesse (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Larry Arbogast (Danny DeVito) invent a drug that is supposed to reduce the miscarriage rate in artificial insemination. However, as the drug cannot be tested on real pregnant women before its official market launch, Alex has herself artificially inseminated and becomes a test subject without further ado. The plan would be to abort the embryo "Junior" after three months if the results are successful, but the pregnant Arnie develops more and more maternal feelings and agrees to the impossible: he becomes the first man to carry a baby to term.
Critics keep saying that "Junior" is probably the worst comedy of all time, and even my modern-day mind tells me that if this film is on TV, I should definitely keep watching it. But I have to admit that in my childhood I was a big fan of the pregnant Arnie. I watched "Junior" countless times and always laughed heartily. I like to think back on it, but today I just shake my head at my childish naivety back then. Nevertheless, thank you Arnie for this grotty but somehow very humorous film!
Batman & Robin (1997)
- Directed by: Joel Schumacher
- Arnie as... an icy villain fighting the superheroes Batman, Robin and Batgirl .
Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is up to no good and terrorises Gotham City. At the same time, Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) mutates into Poison Ivy due to a poison experiment and joins forces with Bane (Jeep Swenson). Together, the duo make their way to Gotham City and free the now imprisoned Mr Freeze in order to take revenge on Batman (George Clooney), Robin (Chris O'Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone) as a trio. For whatever reason.
If this film can be taken seriously at all, then it is probably one of the worst of its kind. The story is teeming with unquestionable actions and completely illogical plot twists. Why Arnie would take on this role as an icy villain is probably anyone's guess.
And Arnie has many more legendary films that I haven't even mentioned here. Which is your absolute favourite with Mr Governor? Tell us about it! If you just can't get enough of the former bodybuilder and want to feel like Conan the Barbarian or Terminator yourself, then we've got just the thing for you:
I spend my everyday life with writing, eating, sports and sleeping - and in between a lot of humour. I love the summer, ice cream, chocolate, sunsets and walking barefoot. Traveling, exploring new worlds and experiencing adventures. And nothing beats a good pizza with good friends to a good movie.
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