ⓘ Details

Movie TitleCommando

Release DateOctober 4, 1985 in the United States

TaglineThey hunted him down. They murdered his friends. Now they’ve taken the one thing he would kill for — his only daughter. May Heaven help them.

Runtime90 minutes / 1 hour 30 minutes

DirectorMark L. Lester

Screenplay Written BySteven E. de Souza

Based OnStory by Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman, and Steven E. de Souza

Is It a Remake?No. Commando is an original 1980s action film.

BudgetApproximately $10 million

Box OfficeApprox. $35.1 million domestic / Approx. $57.5 million worldwide

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👥 Main Cast

Arnold SchwarzeneggerColonel John Matrix

Rae Dawn ChongCindy

Dan HedayaArius

Vernon WellsBennett

James OlsonMajor General Franklin Kirby

David Patrick KellySully

Alyssa MilanoJenny Matrix

Bill DukeCooke

Drew SnyderLawson

Sharon WyattLeslie

Michael DelanoForrestal

Charles MeshackHenriques

Chelsea FieldWestern Flight Attendant

Bill PaxtonIntercept Officer

Branscombe RichmondVega

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🏆 Awards

⭐ Saturn Award Nominee — Best Special Effects

⭐ No Academy Award nominations were verified for the film.

⭐ No Golden Globe nominations were verified for the film.

⭐ No BAFTA nominations were verified for the film.

⭐ The movie’s biggest legacy is not awards-season hardware — it is cult-action status, one-liners, and Arnold Schwarzenegger at peak 1980s absurdity.

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📖 Short Plot Summary

Retired special forces colonel John Matrix is pulled back into violence when mercenaries working for exiled dictator Arius kidnap his daughter Jenny. Forced onto a plane and ordered to assassinate a political rival, Matrix escapes, recruits an unwilling flight attendant named Cindy, and races against the clock to track down the kidnappers. What follows is a one-man war of mall chases, stolen weapons, exploding compounds, and a final showdown with Bennett.

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❝ Key Quotes

“Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last?” — John Matrix

“I lied.” — John Matrix

“Let off some steam, Bennett.” — John Matrix

“Don’t disturb my friend. He’s dead tired.” — John Matrix

“I eat Green Berets for breakfast.” — Colonel John Matrix

“This used to be a great place for hunting slash.” — Bennett

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💡 Trivia

Director

Commando was directed by Mark L. Lester.
Lester had previously directed Class of 1984 and Firestarter.
The movie’s tone helped define the loud, stripped-down, one-man-army action template of the mid-1980s.
The film is lean, direct, and proudly ridiculous, with almost every scene designed around either momentum, mayhem, or an Arnold one-liner.

Cast / Casting

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Matrix, one of his most iconic 1980s action characters.
Rae Dawn Chong plays Cindy, the flight attendant who gets dragged into Matrix’s rescue mission.
Alyssa Milano plays Jenny Matrix, the kidnapped daughter whose abduction kicks off the entire plot.
Vernon Wells plays Bennett, Matrix’s chainmail-wearing former teammate turned villain.
Bill Paxton appears briefly as an intercept officer, one of several recognizable faces in small roles.

Soundtrack / Score

James Horner composed the film’s score.
The score is famous for its energetic percussion and steel-drum flavor, giving the movie a surprisingly distinctive sound for a military action film.
The Power Station song “We Fight for Love” plays over the end credits.
The music adds to the film’s larger-than-life mood, making even the most absurd action beats feel like part of a victory lap.

Location

The film is set across California and the fictional country of Val Verde.
IMDb lists California filming locations including Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Simeon, and the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
The shopping-mall sequence was filmed at Sherman Oaks Galleria, a classic 1980s movie location.
The climactic island compound scenes used California locations while standing in for Arius’ base of operations.

Behind-The-Scenes

The screenplay was written by Steven E. de Souza, with story credit to Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman, and de Souza.
Joel Silver produced the film for Silver Pictures.
20th Century Fox released the movie domestically on October 4, 1985.
The film was made for an estimated $10 million and grossed approximately $57.5 million worldwide.
Box Office Mojo lists Commando as opening at number one domestically with an opening weekend of approximately $7.7 million.

Nostalgia

Commando is often treated as one of the purest examples of 1980s action excess.
The movie has everything: exploding barracks, a mall chase, a tool-shed massacre, impossible ammo logic, speedos, steel drums, and Arnold carrying a tree in the opening minutes.
Its one-liners remain some of the most quoted in Schwarzenegger’s career.
The film’s fictional Val Verde setting also connects it to screenwriter Steven E. de Souza’s recurring fictional Latin American country, used in other action stories.

Easter Eggs

The fictional country of Val Verde also appears in other works connected to screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, most famously Die Hard 2 and Predator lore-adjacent discussions.
Bennett’s chainmail vest became one of the film’s most mocked and beloved villain costume choices.
The “I lied” line after dropping Sully is one of the most compact examples of the movie’s cartoonishly brutal humor.
The opening montage of Matrix and Jenny feeding deer and eating ice cream contrasts absurdly with the body-count carnage that follows.
The film’s final confrontation visually turns Matrix and Bennett into action-figure rivals fighting in an industrial playground.

Misc.

Commando is rated R.
Box Office Mojo lists the runtime at 1 hour 30 minutes and genres as Action, Adventure, and Thriller.
IMDb lists the estimated budget at $10 million and worldwide gross at approximately $57.5 million.
The Numbers lists a $10 million production budget and an opening weekend of approximately $7.7 million.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists Commando as Episode 79, with Don rating it 3.75, Ken rating it 4.00, Jon rating it 3.00, and an overall rating of 3.58.

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