Cobra (film)
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Cobra is a 1986 action movie directed by George Pan Cosmatos, starring Sylvester Stallone, Reni Santoni and Brigitte Nielsen.
The movie was based on a novel Fair Game by Paula Gosling, and made into a movie of the same title in 1995.
The film was a modest hit at the box office, but was widely panned by critics for its cartoonish violence and cliched plot. The byline on the movie poster was "Crime is a disease... meet the cure". Some critics mocked this as "Stallone is a disease... acting lessons are the cure" or "Cobra is a disease... there is no cure".
Plot
Marion Cobretti, a policeman played by Stallone, shoots a kidnapper at a supermarket to death. Before dying, the kidnapper declares something about the way of the new world. Unknown to Cobretti, he was referring to a group of criminals whose intent was to kill every outsider and rule the world by themselves.
One night, the group decides to go on a string of killings around Los Angeles. They murder, among others, a woman in her car and a security guard. The only one to escape their carnage that night is the character played by Nielsen, who witnessed the murder of the guard. As a witness in extreme danger, she is put in protective custody and handled over to Cobretti and his partner.
As the movie goes on, Cobretti and his protected witness fall in love, and they change locations various times, with the resulting confrontations between them and members of the gang each time they are found. All that leads to a final scene where Cobretti and the gang's leader, a blond, big and muscular type (Brian Thompson), face each other in a no holds barred confrontation inside a factory, and Stallone picking up the muscular man and placing him in a large, iron hook that then took him to a burning machine.
Cobretti and Nielsen's character then fall in love and get on the road on Cobretti's bike for the movie's final scene.
Trivia
Cobretti has often been compared to other fictional rogue or maverick cops who indulge in extreme acts of violence, including Dirty Harry and Mad Max. Two of the actors who were in the original Dirty Harry, Andy Robinson and Reni Santoni, also had roles in this film.
The 1950 Mercury seen in the film is one of Sylvester Stallone's personal vehicles. Several replicas were built in the film where it was totalled.
Two Plymouth Volares are seen in the film - one driven by Gonzales, and the other was the villain's getaway vehicle.
Sylvester Stallone famously turned down the lead in Beverly Hills Cop in order to adapt and star in Cobra. Beverly Hills Cop was subsequently rewritten as a comedy in order to accomodate it's new star, Eddie Murphy.
External links
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