Word: helene
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Arnold is Harry Tasker, man with two lives, that of a super-secret, super-macho spy and that of a loving husband/father. Jamie Lee Curtis is his wife Helen, who's growing a bit bored by her "computer salesperson" husband. They've got a teenage daughter who occasionally steals, a house in the suburbs, the works. And no one but Harry--and his agency and partner Gib (Tom Arnold)--know the truth. Until, that is, cracks begin to appear in the marriage--and Helen suddenly gets dragged into Harry's other life...
Minimum civilian casualties: When the horrified Helen asks Harry if he's ever killed anyone, he replies, "Yes, but they were all bad." Therein lies Cameron's movie philosophy. Try to avoid killing civilians. That works fairly well here. Bad people die, and die in interesting ways, too. Almost all of the good people live...
...real misogynist in the movie is Simon (Bill Paxton), a sleazy car salesman who convinces Helen that he's a spy who needs her help. He even treats Arnold to his personal view on life and women at one point. But he's too slimy for words, the kind of guy who has to lie for sex. He's a jerk, and his lifestyle is clearly not one to be imitated...
...least, when Harry is playing the spy, he knows his part. But he doesn't know how to act like a good husband, or even a jealous one. When a sleazy salesman (Bill Paxton) brags that Helen is his mistress, Harry uses all his spy tricks to catch her in the act -- or lure her into it. The man who has no time to be with his wife does have time to prey on her, especially in the two- way mirror scene...
Schwarzenegger sees this stark encounter as Helen's chance for liberation: "During the interrogation, she says her life is boring. She needs excitement, to be at risk. My character realizes he hasn't given her the life she wanted, so he starts giving her the excitement right there. She was begging for it." To Cameron, the scene is open to several interpretations. "I want couples to argue about it afterward," he insists. "That's part...