Arnold Schwarzenegger’s legendary reign as an action movie icon began with the release of Commando 38 years ago. Mark Lester’s direction propelled Schwarzenegger to a new level of fame, cementing his status as the prototypical action hero of the 1980s.
Commando’s exciting action scenes and hilarious dialogue helped make it an instant classic. However, an odd choice is buried deep in the film’s production history: cutting a s*x scene between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix and Rae Dawn Chong’s Cindy.
Casting Conundrum With Arnold Schwarzenegger
Despite being written for a white actress, rising star Rae Dawn Chong was cast as Cindy, the civilian flight attendant caught up in John Matrix’s mission. The forward-thinking attitude toward racial diversity displayed in the casting decision was a big deal.
Because of their different races, studio executives were wary of an intimate scene between Rae Dawn Chong and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was primarily due to fears of reception in certain regions, especially the South, that the love scene between the two characters was cut.
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Hollywood was worried that conservative viewers would avoid the film because of its depiction of an interracial couple, which was taboo at the time due to widespread prejudice. The studio gave a story-related reason for cutting the interracial kiss scene from the film.
“They were afraid that Southern theaters and drive-ins wouldn’t play the film, because we had a Black woman and a white man. There was no real nudity or anything; they were just going to be making out. This was only 35 years ago, so it shows you how times have changed.”
They claimed it was inconsistent with Matrix’s primary goal of rescuing his daughter for him to have a romantic encounter at that time. The production company claimed that including such a scene would detract from the hero’s image. As a result, the film’s final scenes suggested that John Matrix and Cindy would end up together after the events depicted.
Commando Legacy Lives On
It is clear that the decision to remove the interracial scene from Commando was because of the racial prejudices and discriminatory attitudes that pervaded Hollywood and society at the time. Interracial couples faced widespread prejudice in the 1980s when racial tensions were at an all-time high in the United States.
Commando is a classic for a reason, not just because of the interracial love scene that was cut. Mark L. Lester’s direction cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger’s place as an action superstar and set the stage for many more of the actor’s commercially successful films.
The impact of Commando on the action genre continues to live. It can be traced back to its intense action sequences, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s imposing persona, and now-famous one-liners.
Commando is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment
