- The song that plays at the end credits is “We Fight For Love” by Power Station. You can find it on the Soundtrack page of this website.
- During the scene in the shed, after Matrix cuts the soldier’s arm off, he was originally supposed to hit the victim with it and tell him to shut up. This scene was edited out as being too macabre.
- Matrix kills approximately 80 people in Commando.
- Following his success in the Conan movies and The Terminator (1984), producers realized that Arnold Schwarzenegger was becoming a household name. This was the first film in which he got true “top” billing: the name Schwarzenegger was placed at the top of the poster, above the title of the film. Almost every film he has starred in since has done the same.
- John McTiernan was offered the chance to direct this film, and turned it down. Later, while editing Nomads (1986), his feature debut, he was offered the chance to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second film for 20th Century Fox, Predator (1987), which he accepted.
- The shopping mall used is the same one that was used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- The mansion used in the final shoot out between Matrix and Arius is the same mansion in the final shoot out between Axel Foley and Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
- Vernon Wells originally auditioned for the role of John Matrix.
- Long Beach Airport’s (Long Beach, California) passenger terminal served as the fictional “Aeropuerto Val Verde”.
Scenes Cut From The British Version
(Credit: http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Censorship/CensorshipDetail.asp?ID=1460)
For some reason, the British Board of Film Classification (or BBFC) decided Commando was too violent and requested 15 seconds of cuts before they agreed to release the film. If you live in the UK and wonder if you own a cut version, read below:
The cuts were as follows:
1. During John Matrix’s (Schwarzenegger’s) climactic siege on Arius’ (Dan Hedaya’s) villa to reclaim his daughter (a very young Alyssa Milano), the infamous “toolshed” sequence was trimmed of two brief, though graphic, moments; the guard being downed by an axe to the groin was removed, and the guard who has his arm chopped off by Matrix with a machete, as well as the subsequent shot of him screaming in pain at his bleeding stump, were removed in their entirety.
2. The finale fight between Matrix and Bennett (Vernon Wells, who astute readers will remember as Wes in “Mad Max 2″) has been trimmed of the pay-off to Bennett’s evisceration with a length of pipe. The close-up tracking shot down the pipe has been removed.
Clearly, the number of cuts detailed in Paul Williams’ review of Fox’s R4 do not match at all against the above cuts as censored from the UK R2 release! At a staggering 56 seconds (estimated), the cuts do not at all mirror the 12 seconds of cuts requested of the UK edition. So, the question remains, where did Fox source their master for the R4 release?
I had entertained the idea that the Australian master had been lifted from a European R2 original, and reformatted, but a decisive email from one of our readers from Denmark confirmed that the R2 disc is definitely uncut. There has been strong confirmation that the French R2 PAL disc is complete.
Thus, and I’m going out on a limb here, based upon the censorship history of film in a variety of world-wide territories; confirmation that the French R2 disc is uncut; coupled with confirmation that the UK R2 disc will undoubtedly mirror that territory’s video release (ie: the 12 seconds of cuts will stand), there is only one remaining European territory where the film was trimmed for violence for both its cinema & video releases. That territory was Germany. I am happy to be proven wrong in this instance, but all current information points towards Fox utilizing an edited German R2 master for the Australian R4 release. Until somebody owns up to the facts, or I am deluged by email from our European readers confirming otherwise, this is the best hypothesis I can offer as to the reasons behind the R4 disc of “Commando” being released in such a shoddy, emasculated version.
There are approximately 56 seconds of missing footage in total. Here is a list of all the cut scenes that I noticed and their approximate lengths, plus a general comment on what happened in the cut footage. I played my VHS tape version of Commando simultaneously with the DVD to produce this list.
Location
(mins:secs) Cut
(secs) Description of cut footage
2:01 4 Making sure the first target is dead by shooting him again.
21:18 5 John Matrix snapping Henriques’ neck.
45:31 14 Close up of Cooke dying whilst impaled on a table leg.
66:50 1 John cutting guard’s throat.
67:09 2 John cutting another guard’s throat.
67:18 5 John killing two guards.
68:35 5 John shooting two guards.
70:20 4 John shooting more guards.
71:36 2 John stabbing a guard with a pitchfork in the chest.
71:40 6 John using an axe and a machete to dispatch two more guards (ouch – that’s got to have hurt).
79:16 2 Bennett gets a longer electric shock.
79:50 1 Pipe hitting Bennett.
79:55 5 Panning shot along the pipe protruding from Bennett’s chest.
Filming Locations for Commando
Beverly Hills, California, USA
(Harold Lloyd Mansion)
Long Beach, California, USA
(Airport scene)
Los Angeles, California, USA
(Tom Bradley International Terminal, LAX International Airport)
Mt. Baldy, California, USA
(Snack bar exterior)
San Luis Obispo, California, USA
San Simeon, California, USA
(Val Verde barracks, Hearst Castle)
Sherman Oaks Galleria – 15301 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA
