# Is the movie "The Villain" available on any streaming service? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 8, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469 "2026-01-08T14:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/1 "2026-01-08T14:46:59Z")
I am looking for the 1979 version with Kirk Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/2 "2026-01-08T14:52:12Z")
[Www.justwatch.com](http://Www.justwatch.com) is my go to for these questions. It does not list the movie as being available on any streaming service. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/3 "2026-01-08T14:59:12Z")
I like to watch older movies and it seems strange that certain ones are never available online, even if you are willing to pay, which doesn’t make sense to me. Why keep everyone from seeing it if you can make some money by renting it? I don’t think it costs them anything to do this. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/4 "2026-01-08T15:02:07Z")
Why are some movies unavailable? My guess is that it’s because someone has to negotiate the streaming rights and this may need to be done for _each_ individual movie, depending on who owns the rights. That may not be worth it for something that’s not going to generate a lot of revenue. Rights to stream other movies can be negotiated as part of a package, perhaps one covering all of the films owned by a studio. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/5 "2026-01-08T15:10:58Z")
Maybe I’m just the Analog Kid, but you can buy the DVD for under $10. Then donate it to the library, or give it as a gift. I’d take it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/6 "2026-01-08T15:18:38Z")
Or ask your library if they can get you the DVD. I did this for _Rich Man, Poor Man_. They were able to get it on loan from another library at no cost. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/7 "2026-01-08T15:25:41Z")
I’ve whined about this previously, but the first-sale doctrine made it easier when content was released on physical media. If you owned the DVD of a movie, you could rent it to anyone in your physical store but it requires negotiations to allow users to stream a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/8 "2026-01-08T15:27:08Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Maybe I’m just the Analog Kid, but you can buy the DVD for under $10. Then donate it to the library, or give it as a gift. I’d take it. 🙂 Given that a DVD is digital content, you’re not that much of an Analog Kid. You’d have to be content watching the movie on actual film if you wanted to be The Analog Kid. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/9 "2026-01-08T15:32:41Z")
I’m not sure why it’s no longer available; 30 years ago it was in pretty heavy rotation on cable pay channels. It would be fun to find out that the Governator used his political sway to have it “disappeared”. It really was a bad movie and quite a disappointment after Needham’s Burt Reynolds vehicles. As a consulation, just think of how many great Roadrunner cartoons you could watch in the time it would take you to slog through that bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/10 "2026-01-08T15:36:02Z")
On Internet Archive. Search “Hal Needham”. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/11 "2026-01-08T15:55:23Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > you’re not that much of an Analog Kid. HA! You are correct. Call me the Physical Media Kid as opposed to the Streaming Man. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/12 "2026-01-08T16:47:30Z")
Cable has always been about what they want to sell you, not what you want to buy. A business model that has now taken over civilization. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/13 "2026-01-08T18:10:40Z")
For older movies, such as those from the 1930s and 40s, I was thinking cable companies were like libraries, when I should have been thinking they were actually like bookstores. If they can’t make good money renting them, why offer them? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/14 "2026-01-08T18:35:48Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m not sure why it’s no longer available; 30 years ago it was in pretty heavy rotation on cable pay channels. It would be fun to find out that the Governator used his political sway to have it “disappeared”. On occasion you still see Hercules Goes Bananas on television. If Arnold didn’t squash the showing of that movie he’s not going to concern himself over The Villain. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/15 "2026-01-08T18:38:33Z")
Youtube [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lV6aE6_Zjr4/hqdefault.jpg "Kaktus Džek - The Villain - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ann Margret, Kirk Douglas,") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6aE6_Zjr4) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/16 "2026-01-08T18:40:08Z")
In the theater it was billed as “Hercules In New York”, he was billed as “Arnold Strong” and his voice was dubbed. Which makes me wonder why you can find this early and lesser film streamed and not “The Villain”? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/17 "2026-01-08T18:45:43Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > It would be fun to find out that the Governator used his political sway to have it “disappeared”. It really was a bad movie and quite a disappointment after Needham’s Burt Reynolds vehicles. 1.) This relates back to the CS thread about no movie everyone can agree on, because I love the movie. 2.) That Youtube version has been there for 7 years, easily findable, so apparently nobody at all cares that it is there. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/18 "2026-01-08T19:21:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > In the theater it was billed as “Hercules In New York”, he was billed as “Arnold Strong” and his voice was dubbed. I don’t know if they showed a different version on theaters than they have now, but in the clips I see online he isn’t dubbed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/19 "2026-01-08T19:23:57Z")
Then those clips were from a video that had both versions. In the theater version he was dubbed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469/20 "2026-01-08T19:29:42Z")
See this, for example [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TMUZect_pgY/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgVihUMA8=&rs=AOn4CLD4rJ7U1Gm7Rvng9W_LY6qdCcYCcA "Hercules in New York (1969)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMUZect_pgY) And this trailer [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pvWySqI9uN4/maxresdefault.jpg "Hercules in New York (1970) OFFICIAL TRAILER [HD]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvWySqI9uN4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-movie-the-villain-available-on-any-streaming-service/1026469.md?page=2)