What are your 3 favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger films ?

[Holdfast]

Arnie is one of my fave stars; it's tough to pick just three:

Conan the Barbarian - just totally epic. I never get bored of the feel of this movie.
The Running Man - rewatched it again for the first time in ages; it really is brilliant.
Total Recall - probably the best narrative of any Arnie film.

But really, I could have happily picked any of Terminator, Commando, Red Heat and Predator too. I even like Twins & Kindergarten Cop. T2 sneaks in too. For that period between 1982 and 1991, almost everything he touched turned to gold.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Total Recall - I love everything about this movie. Schwarzenegger is awesome as Quaid and Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside are great as the villain and henchman. And it's quotable as hell. "COME ON, COHAAGEN! GIVE DEZ PEOPLE AAAIIIIHHHHH!" "Consider dat a divorce!" "Get your ass to Mars!" "Do you think you can play along? Good. If not, I'll erase your ass!"

Predator - One of my all time favorite action movies besides Die Hard. The cast is perfect and features one of the most badass military raids ever committed to film. Not to mention the Predator belongs to one of my favorite alien races.

Commando - Another great action movie, just the one-liners and hilarity of it propel it above The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day for me. "Let off some steam, Bennett!" "I had to let him go."

 

[Greylock Crescent]

T2 - Probably the one with the most rewatch value for me.
Totall Recall - Get your ass to Mars!
Running Man - Punny action

 

[Gaith]

T2 - as much as I love The Mummy ('99), I might just love T2 even more. And I'll take the extended edition every time, mind, albeit with a chapter jump past Sarah's dream of Reese. Cutting out the reprogramming scene was a most serious error.

T3 - T3 is like a classic rock cover band: it's got nothing new, but the same old recycled stuff is still far better than almost everything that followed it. Great action, great acting by all three leads, and yes, great humor, too.

The 6th Day - Forget True Lies, this is the real underrated gem of Arnie's career. As convincing a pure-80s action star as he is, I find the Austrian Oak much more engaging in roles that allow him to deploy his considerable charisma and poke fun at himself. Heck, I even like his performance as Mr. Freeze, and find some genuinely moving moments in those scenes with his comatose wife. Anyhow, The 6th Day is a legitimately clever flick whose sci-fi is deeper and more thought-provoking than Inception, and a lot of fun to boot. And it has two Arnies: all counter-arguments are therefore inherently irrelevant.

Because science.​

 

[Trekker4747]

T2, Total Recall, The Running Man.

 

[EATERoftheDEAD]

I think there are far too many great films in his career to narrow it down to 3, The Terminator is definitely at the top of the list being not only my favorite Arnie film but one of my favorite films of all time.

I had the opportunity to watch The Last Stand the other day and it is quite good. it is a return to form like few others.

 

[Harvey]

Total Recall, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Honorable mention to The Running Man.

 

[bigdaddy]

The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
True Lies

Looks good to me.

Shouldn't this be a poll?

 

[Trekker4747]

Total Recall, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Honorable mention to The Running Man.

I just watched Running Man the other day with some friends and we had a blast with it, we were riffing it the whole time. The kill-quips in it were just great.

 

[Pingfah]

I had the opportunity to watch The Last Stand the other day and it is quite good. it is a return to form like few others.

Agree. Really enjoyed it, seemed like a classic Arnie movie to me.

It reminded me a lot of the really basic but effective approach films like Commando and Predator took. Only really one salient plot point to worry about, and the rest wisecracking and ass kicking.

 

[scotpens]

The original Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, and Total Recall. Also an honorable mention to Arnie's first-ever feature film, Hercules in New York (aka Hercules Goes Bananas). I just like to sit back and bask in the sheer awfulness of it.

If you've never seen the Hercules flick, be sure to get the version with Schwarzenegger's actual voice, not the dubbed version. Believe it or not, his acting (or at least his English diction) did get better!

 

[Davros]

The Villain
Hercules In New York
Scavenger Hunt

 

[bbjeg]

1. True Lies

2. Terminator 2

3. Predator

Commando is my #4, An elite agent who's daughter is kidnapped and he must save her awesomely. But True Lies has that, plus more fun, a harrier jet, and Jamie Lee Curtis dancing.

 

[Admiral2]

1. True Lies

2. Terminator 2

3. Predator

Commando is my #4, An elite agent who's daughter is kidnapped and he must save her awesomely. But True Lies has that, plus more fun, a harrier jet, and Jamie Lee Curtis dancing.

Yep. That's pretty much THE scene right there...

 

[Trekker4747]

Jamie Lee Curtis? Really?

 

[Gaith]

Ahem - to repeat, The 6th Day has two Arnolds. All creepy Jamie Lee Curtis dancing scene arguments are therefore irrelevant.

It is a two-fer!
​

 

[Use of Time]

1. Commando - Garden tools as weapons. Takes out an entire Army it seems.

2. Total Recall - Childhood nostalgia

3. Running Man - It just seemed like an old nintendo game turned into a movie. I can't really explain it any better than that.

 

[Cayla]

1. Predator
2. The Terminator
3. Total Recall

 

[EmoBorg]

1) Predator

2) Total Recall

3) Red Heat

 

[1001001]

Ahem - to repeat, The 6th Day has two Arnolds. All creepy Jamie Lee Curtis dancing scene arguments are therefore irrelevant.

It is a two-fer!​

I liked that movie.

I liked Eraser too.