Arnold Schwarzenegger Had A Brutal Idea For Commando That Didn’t Make The Final Cut

It’s worth noting that “Commando” is also replete with action movie “zingers” and one-liners that were never not corny. “I like you. I’m going to kill you last,” comes from “Commando,” as does a wonderful wielding of the phrase “F*** you.” By Steven E. de Souza’s description of the excised scene, it was actually meant to be a reference to a supposed real-life war story. Naturally, the scene would end with a zinger of its own. The writer recalled: 

“There’s one great one-liner that didn’t make it into the movie. […] Arnold and I had both heard this World War I story about a French officer who’s having his arm cut off — next to him is a guy with a bullet in his foot who’s moaning and screaming, so the officer picks up his freshly amputated arm and slaps this guy in the face with it. So Arnold, while they were shooting the scene where he cuts off the guy’s arm with an axe, suggested that he should slap him with it and say, ‘Quit whining!'”

One can count on one, uh, hand, how many movies feature scenes of people being beaten by their own severed limbs. Katie Rife, writing for the AV Club, once published an article about that unique action. “Commando” was nearly another one, but it seems that director Mark L. Lester became squeamish. He was okay with the explosions, gunfire, and flying rotary blades, but beating a man with his own severed limb was one toke over the line.