Arnie Week: Arnold's Top 10 Movies

To celebrate the last day of Arnie Week, we bring you our Top 10 Arnold movies. From a futuristic killing machine, to the perfectly genetic human who happens to be Danny DeVito's twin. While he might not have shown a lot of the range of many actors Arnold has took part in some of the biggest movies made over the past 30 years. Did your favorite Arnold movie make the cut? Did we get the top films wrong? Don't be afraid to let us know. Help us send Arnie Week off into the sunset by checking out his best movies!

(each movie listed is accompanied by its original theatrical trailer!)


10.) Eraser

Arnold plays John Kruger an U.S. Marshall who specializes in "erasing" the past of witnesses so that they can start new lives without fear of their safety. He is tasked with protecting Vanessa Williams character "Lee Cullen" who has dirt on her company "Cyrez." Along the way plenty of the normal Arnold action hi-jinks unfold, including a gun fight with a crocodile. In the end Arnold must figure out which of his co-workers he can trust as he unravels a conspiracy. Tin Can favorite James Caan also co-stars. While not a great movie, it is solid action fare and the EM gun which is used in the movie is pretty cool.

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9.) Red Heat

We recently ranked Arnold and Jim Belushi as the #5 Buddy Cop duo, and they are the reason Red Heat made this list. Lots of laughs in this one, many unintentional. Arnold plays a Russian exchange cop named Ivan Danko who is teamed with Belushi to track down a Russian drug dealer. Plenty of Buddy cop cliches and more stereotypical Russians than you can even imagine. The highlight to us is Arnie's flattop, which is doing it's best Ivan Drago impersonation. Movie might best be known for the gratuitous nude bath house opening.

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8.) Commando

Let's be honest, Commando isn't a very good movie. However it ranks extremely high on the guilty pleasure list. If you can shut you mind off for a couple hours there is plenty of fun in this one. Arnold plays John Matrix (great name btw) a retired elite commando who must rescue his daughter from an evil dictator. The acting is bad, the storyline is tired, the dialogue is cheesy, the stunts are over the top, and unbelievable. Arnold though is at his peak, picking off green berets "for breakfast" and is seemingly the perfect killing machine. The ending gun fight scene is simply unreal and deserves special recognition for it's ambition.

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7.) Twins

Arnold showing off his comedic side teamed with Danny DeVito as the most fraternal twins of all time. The result of a genetic experiment Arnold plays Julius Benedict, a genectically perfect man who has been sheltered from the real world and raised by philosphers on a private island. Meanwhile Devito is Vincent Benedict, an unforseen accident of the experiment who got all the leftover genetic material that Julius did not need. The two twins are finally united and go on a search for their long lost mother. The ride is a bumpy one though with loan sharks chasing Vincent for outstanding loans.

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6.) The Running Man

Originally a short story by author Richard Bachman (which is a pen named formely used by Stephen King) the Running Man is a pretty cool concept. In the not so distant future inmates are forced to participate in a T.V. show where they must try to escape the grasp of WWE style gladiators who are out to kill them while running through the ruins of a L.A earthquake. Arnold is Ben Richards, a former police officer who is framed and sent to prison, where he is forced to participate in "The Running Man." The one liners and over the top acting kinda hurts what could of been a real good Sci-Fi flick. In the end though it's still enjoyable. The highlight of the film is Richard Dawson (former host of the Family Feud) who plays the host of the Running Man, the main antagonist in the movie.

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5.) True Lies

James Cameron and Arnold's third collaboration after the first two terminator films. In this one Arnold is Harry Tasker a secret agent who must keep his identity secret to everyone, including his wife. Helen Tasker, his wife, is played by Jamie Lee Curtis an average housewife who is bored with her life and it's day to day activities. When Harry finds out Helen is on the verge of an affair with a used car salesmen who is pretending to be a spy, he enlists the help of his government agency to monitor their activities. In the midst of his personal troubles a real terrorist threat arises and its up to Arnold to save the day, possibly with a little help from his on screen wife. Smart and witty Action/comedy.

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4.) Total Recall

People think of Arnold as simply an action star, but he may be just as important to the Sci-Fi genre. With the Terminator films, Predator, The Running Man and this underrated gem Total Recall. In the year 2084 Arnold plays Douglas Quaid, an average blue collar worker who has a reoccuring dream about Mars. In this world Mars has become a hot spot for travel and the mining business, with the cost for a trip to mars well out of his price range Quaid decides to use the latest in mental vacationing "rekall." The fine folks at rekall offer a service, where real memories are implanted into your mind to simulate having took a real vacation. However during the implantation something goes wrong. Now stuck in the middle of a dream world and reality Quaid must figure out exactly what is real, and what his true past is.

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3.) The Terminator

The role that made Arnold a super-star. The Terminator tells the tale of a future soldier sent back in time to protect the mother of the future military resistance leader John Connor. The soldier is Kyle Reese played by Michael Biehn who is racing against time to find and protect Connor's mom, Sarah (Linda Hamilton) before she is killed by The Terminator (Arnold). The Terminator is a killing machine sent back in time by the future military resistance's enemy-The machines. A fight that rages against time and space between the last hope of humanity and an artificial intelligence built by humans that became self aware and declared us their enemy. Great story, solid acting and the movie that launched the illusturious career of filmmaker James Cameron.

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2.) Predator

Sure it would of been easy to have the original Terminator here, but we gave the slight edge to Arnold's turn as mercenary commando "Dutch" in Predator. For those of you underwhelmed with the recent "Alien vs. Predator" and "Predators" flicks, make sure to take another look at the original. Arnold's team is stalked and picked off one by one by an extra terrestrial hunter, who is treating the Central American jungle as his personal game preserve. A simple story, which doesn't try to be anything it isn't and does it's job extremely well. A plethora of memorable lines and awesome action scenes. Although the cast is small, actually has two future governors in Arnie and also former Minnesota head man Jesse Ventura. A fun ride of a movie.

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1.) Terminator 2 : Judgment Day

For our money not just Arnold's best movie, but also James Cameron's. On the very short list of greatest action movies ever. Takes the groundwork that Terminator laid, and takes every thing to the next level. After failing to kill Sarah Connor the machines are back again to try and kill a pre-teen version of John Connor so as to prevent him from ever leading the human resistance in the future. This time the future humans have sent back a machine protector in the form of a re-wired good guy terminator, again played by Arnie. The bad terminator is now a new "liquid" metal prototype which can change appearance at will and form solid stabbing objects. John, his mother and Arnold's terminator must try to stay alive while eluding the new enemy and attempting to rewrite history by preventing the machines initial attack know as "Judgment Day". Groundbreaking special effects, and a rock solid story are the backbone to this all time classic.