1985’s delirious “Commando” gets a large part of its “It Happened One Night”-on-steroids charm from Rae Dawn Chong. She plays a flight attendant who through an “only in an eighties action movie” series of convoluted steps ends up awkwardly firing a rocket launcher at a pursuing car. She goes from terrified to taking great delight in the spirit of things as she aids Schwarzenegger in rescuing his daughter. The film is hilariously bright and buoyant. Its violence is as cheerful as the steel drums on the soundtrack. The film clicks because everybody looks to be having the time of their lives. And that mood is infectious.

“Raw Deal” is one of Schwarzenegger’s most underrated films. Playing a former Fed who infiltrates a mobster’s gang he meets his match in Kathryn Harrold. Playing the usually thankless role of the Mol, Harrold has a real forties movie dame quality. You could easily see Barbara Stanwyck play this type of part, sizing up Schwarzenegger as a phony in one glance, and braining a would be assassin with the arm of a mannequin when they’re attacked in a dress shop. The film earns major points by not killing her off horribly to prove the bad guy’s bonafides. Instead she expertly navigates a sea of dangerous men, including the hero. There’s even an admirable sense of partnership between Harrold and Schwarzenegger. His character is married and rather than get bogged down in an ill fated dalliance they help each other make it out alive.

“Running Man” is unfortunately of that stripe of not very good film that thinks it’s considerably more clever and funny than it is. Withering in the shadow of the far superior “RoboCop” you’re much better served watching Schwarzenegger be hunted for sport in “Predator.” “Running Man” does have a good performance from Maria Conchita Alonso. In fact Alonso points to a much better film about the everyday compromises good people make to survive in dystopic societies. Still, if you ever wanted to see Richard Dawson blown up on a luge it’s the only game in town. Speaking of “Predator” among its expertly sketched stock characters is Elpidia Carrillo’s rebel fighter. Like the rest of the cast she does a lot with a little. Fierce and determined to escape, she only stays with the group when she witnesses a far more deadly invading force. She is denied weapons at the end as a life saving gesture; the alien won’t attack an unarmed prey. She is the only one of Schwarzenegger’s party to survive, a sign that she belongs there much more than Schwarzenegger and his Black Ops meddlers.