It would’ve seemed unlikely that an Austrian bodybuilder would ever become one of the most popular stars in Hollywood, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is living proof that anything can happen. All throughout the ‘80s, “the Austrian Oak” was on top of the world, starring in the biggest action movies getting made.
He took a break from acting to focus on a political career but now, he’s back with a vengeance to star in another Terminator movie for a returning James Cameron. He’s appeared in plenty of action classics, so here are Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 10 best movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
TIE: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (69%)
Terminator fans were dubious when the studio commissioned a third movie in a franchise with a then-perfect track record without any input from its creator, James Cameron. They were right to be dubious, because the third Terminator movie, Rise of the Machines, made a mockery of the franchise’s legacy.
Sarah Connor died off-screen from a terminal disease, John Connor grew up to be a homeless burnout, and the T-800 wore Elton John glasses in a parody of the movie’s predecessors. It’s not a terrible movie, and by all accounts, it’s very fun and entertaining, but it’s certainly no T2.
TIE: Stay Hungry (69%)
This comedy-drama stars Jeff Bridges as a man going through some romantic turmoil who decides to turn his life around by joining a gym. There, he falls in love and becomes friends with a bodybuilder named Santo, played by a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Stay Hungry isn’t a particularly well-known movie, but it is to thank for Schwarzenegger’s whole movie career. After playing Santo in this movie and receiving praise from critics for his performance in particular, he was able to land Pumping Iron, a documentary about the world of bodybuilding. This led to leading roles in star-making movies like The Terminator and Conan the Barbarian.
TIE: Commando (70%)
Before aging badass Liam Neeson traveled to another country to save his kidnapped daughter, aging badass Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to another country to save his kidnapped daughter. Whereas Neeson went to a real country, Schwarzenegger went to a fictional one, Val Verde, which was the go-to fictional Latin American nation of ‘80s action cinema created by screenwriter Steven E. De Souza.
Commando has plenty of exciting action sequences, but it’s most notable for its litany of iconic Arnie one-liners: “Don’t disturb my friend, he’s dead tired,” “Let off some steam, Bennett,” “I eat Green Berets for breakfast, and right now, I’m very hungry,” “Let’s party!” etc.
TIE: True Lies (70%)
In one of his many collaborations with James Cameron, True Lies stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a secret agent who struggles to balance his work with his home life. Jamie Lee Curtis plays his wife, who gets swept up in the action when Harry’s two lives are combined.
The movie is an action-comedy with a ton of thrilling action and an equal amount of laugh-out-loud comedy, although in recent years, it has been criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of Middle Eastern villains and for certain scenes that have been deemed misogynistic. We’ve been promised a sequel for years.
Predator (81%)
Despite the fact that it has a simplistic premise – muscle-bound mercenaries battle a bloodthirsty alien in the jungle – no filmmaker has been able to make a sequel that lived up the 1987 original (not even Shane Black, who the studio cast in the first one to keep an eye on director John McTiernan, who turned out to know what he was doing).
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Dutch, the only survivor left when the alien has completed its murderous spree on his comrades. That’s when he figures out that the alien’s vision is heat-based and covers himself in mud for the final battle.
Total Recall (82%)
The original Total Recall from the ‘90s is several degrees zanier than the 2012 remake, but it’s also a lot more fun, creative and interesting.
It plays like a wacky episode of Black Mirror, as a construction worker in the future played by Arnold Schwarzenegger hires a company to implant memories of being a spy on Mars in his brain. Halfway through the process, he starts attacking the scientists, telling them he needs to get back to Mars to finish his mission. When he returns home, his wife attacks him and tells him he knows too much. It just gets crazier from there.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (93%)
Sequels rarely live up to the original, especially when the original is as iconic and masterfully crafted as The Terminator. However, just like he did with Aliens, James Cameron nailed T2. With Aliens, he threw out the haunted house feel of Ridley Scott’s original and went hell for leather with an action-packed war movie.
T2 went bigger and bolder than the original. Where the original was a chilling thriller about man versus machine, T2 was a bombastic action thriller, turning Sarah Connor from a girl into a killing machine, and building on the fictional universe established by the original.
Dave (95%)
This hilarious and biting political comedy stars Kevin Kline in dual roles as the President of the United States and his double. Initially, the double is hired to stand in for the President while he’s cheating on his wife, so that she doesn’t catch on. However, when the President dies of a stroke, the scheming White House Chief of Staff decides to use the double full-time, and not mention anything to anyone, including the First Lady.
Of course, it’s not long before everyone catches on. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of many celebrities to make a cameo appearance in the movie.
The Long Goodbye (97%)
Robert Altman directed this expertly plotted neo-noir thriller based on legendary crime writer Raymond Chandler’s novel of the same name. Leigh Brackett adapted the book for the screen. She was typically a sci-fi writer, working on a draft of The Empire Strikes Back and being crowned “the Queen of Space Opera,” but she also did plenty of work in the crime genre. She even adapted another Chandler novel, The Big Sleep, for the screen.
Elliott Gould stars as Chandler’s iconic private eye character Philip Marlowe, while Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an uncredited cameo appearance early in his career as a hoodlum.
The Terminator (100%)
Inspired by a fever dream James Cameron had in which a metallic skeleton emerged from a burst of flames, The Terminator is one of the very few movies with a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although T2 would turn the Terminator franchise into an explosive series of all-out action movies, the first installment was a more intimate, character-focused piece. It was also a lot scarier, with Kyle Reese suffering from PTSD attacks from a war that hasn’t even started yet and the T-800 being presented as more relentless and fearsome than ever. The plotting is unparalleled – there’s not a second wasted.