What The Hell Happened To Sylvester Stallone?

After knocking around Hollywood for a few years, Sylvester Stallone broke through in 1976 with one of the most beloved movies of the era. It went on to win some awards and make its title character an icon. Six years later, he would move into the role of another iconic character. Stallone rode both these characters to much box office success throughout the 80s. But when he tried to move beyond those franchises the results were either disastrous or ignored. At one point, he was on the verge of being exiled to direct to video territory and the only thing that saved him was to first bring back the two franchises for one more round, then start a whole new one.

What the hell happened to Sylvester Stallone?

As I researched this article I started to suspect that if Stallone could be compared to any other actor or director covered in the What The Hell Happened series it would be Eddie Murphy. The pattern is similar: Massive success followed by a downturn, comeback followed by another downturn. And so on.

Once I started to look closely I realized how accurate that comparison is.

Sylvester Stallone was born on July 6 1946 in New York City. His father was a hairdresser, a profession young Sly once considered (“Yo Adrian! Where’s the trimmer and shampoo?”). According to rumor, his father once told him that he wasn’t that smart and needed to rely on his physique and toughness as a way to succeed.

Here’s an interesting fact from Wikipedia:

Complications his mother suffered during labor forced her obstetrician to use two pairs of forceps during his birth; misuse of these accidentally severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of Stallone’s face

That explains his perpetual scowl and mush-mouthed dialogue delivery.

After graduating from high school, he attended College at Miami-Dade College and The University Of Miami before dropping out.

Stallone’s first acting role was in a 1970 porno movie called The Party At Kitty And Stud’s. Stallone played Stud. The film was later re-released under the title The Italian Stallion after the success of Rocky.

I’ve never actually seen it. But considering that it was a porno film released in what was the golden age of porno films according to the brilliant film Boogie Nights, it might be worthwhile. Seeing as Mark Wahlberg was in Boogie Nights, it might be worthwhile to see Stallone with his own Funky Bunch that is.

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Sylvester Stallone – No Place to Hide

In 1970, Stallone landed a lead role in a thriller called No Place To Hide. I had not heard of this film prior to researching this article and I doubt many readers have either.  The only trailer I could find had no sound.

According to Wikipedia:

The film is about New York in the late 1960s; a politically motivated group of students plans bombings of company offices who do business with dictators in Central American countries. But when they contact a known terrorist and bombing specialist, the FBI gets on their track.

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Sylvester Stallone – Bananas – 1971

In 1971, Stallone had a small, non-speaking role in Woody Allen’s revolutionary comedy, Bananas.  Stallone played a thug on a subway.  The entire scene is silent-movie style comedy.

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Sylvester Stallone – The Lord’s of Flatbush – 1974

Next up for Stallone was 1974’s The Lords Of Flatbush. This film was a look back at Brooklyn Teenagers in 1959, a sort of harder, grittier American Graffiti if you will. Stallone co-starred with Perry King and the man we would soon know as Arthur “Fonz” Fonzarelli, aka Henry Winkler. Lords Of Flatbush also marked Stallone’s first go at screenwriting; reportedly he did a dialogue polish on it.

Richard Gere was originally also cast in the movie. But after he nearly came to blows with Stallone, he was sent packing.

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Sylvester Stallone – Capone – 1975

In 1975, Stallone would go on to play Frank Nitti in the Roger Corman produced Capone. This movie was of course about the real life Prohibition-era gangster.  Having not seen it I can’t vouch for how Stallone’s Nitti stood up to the one in Brian De Palma’s 1987 classic The Untouchables.

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Sylvester Stallone – Death Race 2000 – 1975

Stallone would take on a couple more supporting roles in the Raymond Chandler adaptation Farewell My Lovely and the 1975 exploitation classic of sorts Death Race 2000.

Death Race 2000 was another Corman flick.  The film’s dystopian future (set in the far-off year 2000, naturally) involves a murderous Transcontinental Road Race which is broadcast to entertain the masses.   David Carradine starred as the lead racer, Frankenstein.  Stallone played a gangster (sensing a theme here?) named  “Machine Gun” Joe Viterbo.  His car had a giant knife and mounted machine guns.

Despite negative reviews (Roger Ebert gave it zero out of four stars), Death Race 2000 was a hit at the box office.  It has grown a cult following over the years.  Eventually, even Ebert came to respect the movie calling it a “great tradition of summer drive-in movies.”

In 2008, Death Race 2000 was remade as Death Race starring  Jason Statham.  The remake was not well-received, but it did inspire two direct-to-video sequels.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky – 1976

Reportedly while watching the March 24 1975 fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, Stallone got the idea for Rocky. He supposedly went home and wrote the screenplay for it in three days. He then started sending it out. Most of the offers were for the script so someone else could star in it. But Stallone was adamant that he’d written it for himself to star in. Finally United Artist agreed to let Stallone star provided the budget was kept low enough.

John G Avildsen signed on to direct and Talia Shire and Burgess Meredith co-starred, the former Connie Corleone played Rocky’s lover Adrian (and no, i’m not gonna yell out “Yo” before her name…oops too late) and the future Grumpy Old Man Burgess Meredith played crusty Irish trainer Mickey.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky – 1976

Rocky is the prototypical underdog becomes a champ story. Most people know the full details. For those who don’t, here’s a synopsis: Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is a low-level loan enforcer and small-time boxer when champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), an obvious stand in for the aforementioned Ali, selects him as an opponent for an upcoming bout.

The underdog becomes a champ story happened both on film and in real life.  Rocky went on to become a major success at the box office.  It was nominated for ten Oscars and won three (Best Picture, Avildsen for Best Director and Best Editing). Stallone was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Screenplay.  The scrappy underdog was now a star.

What does an underdog do once he becomes a champ?

In 1978, Stallone made two follow-ups that would try to show that he was not Mr. One-Trick Pony, that the man who fought the heavyweight of the world to a draw could go on to become Heavyweight Champion in his own right.

The first was Paradise Alley. Stallone scripted the film and made his directorial debut. He also performed the title song and proved that he was not going to give Frank Sinatra a run for his money in the acting/singing sweepstakes.

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Sylvester Stallone – Paradise Alley – 1978

Stallone co-starred with Armand Assante and Anne Archer. Stallone played one of three brothers in 1940s era Hell’s Kitchen who become involved in professional wrestling. Professional wrestling before it became the glorified cartoon that is today.

In other words, Paradise Alley was an attempt to do for wrestling what Rocky did for boxing. It didn’t work. The film flopped at the box office and as of right now has a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Next came F.I.S.T, a union drama based loosely on Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters.

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Sylvester Stallone – F.I.S.T. – 1978

F.I.S.T was directed by the well-respected Norman Jewison and featured a script written by future screenwriting superstar (the hacktastic in many views) Joe Eszterhas, who would later go on to write Flashdance and Basic Instinct. Stallone re-wrote a good majority of Eszterhas’s script (possibly to remove scenes of nudity that did not fit into the story).

According to Jewison (in his autobiography)  he and Stallone clashed frequently on the set. As we will see later on, this would become a recurring theme on many sets of movies starring Stallone that Stallone did not direct himself.

Although F.I.S.T was a fairly good movie and well liked by quite a few critics, it was under-seen at the box office. People weren’t ready to accept Stallone as a Hoffa-like figure unless this Hoffa-like figure ended up cracking skulls of corrupt union men.

After F.I.S.T got fisted at the box office and Paradise Alley was exposed as a piece of Glengarry real estate, Stallone returned to the character who made him a success. Cue Gonna Fly Now again.

In 1979, Stallone wrote, directed and starred in Rocky II.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky II – 1979

This go round, Apollo presses for a re-match. At first, Rocky declines primarily for health reasons (although he does not claim to be “too old for this shit”). Eventually, brought on primarily by financial issues and inability to find employment outside of the world of boxing, Rocky agrees. He then proceeds to win.

While not as acclaimed as the original, Rocky II was successful at the box office.

With his Rocky reputation cemented, Stallone set out to try other territories. Again, the results were mixed.

1981’s Nighthawks was a thriller that partnered Stallone with Billy Dee Williams (hot off the success of his role as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars movies) as New York city cops hot on the trail of terrorist Rutger Hauer.

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Sylvester Stallone – Nighthawks – 1981

Nighthawks received decent reviews. But under-performed at the box office.

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Sylvester Stallone – Victory – 1981

Also in 1981, Stallone starred alongside Michael Caine, Pele and Max Von Sydow in the John Huston-directed World War II prisoners of war drama Escape To Victory (Simply titled Victory in North America).

From the description, Victory sounds like what one would get if they threw The Great Escape, Stalag 17, Hogan’s Heroes and The Longest Yard into a blender and hit puree. Like Nighthawks, it too was under-seen at the box office.

It seemed as if Stallone was stuck in a rut. Anytime he tried to move out of Rocky, no one was paying attention. Fortunately, in 1982, he would stumble on to another iconic character that he would make his own.

In 1982, Stallone returned to the ring for his third go round as the Italian Stallion (makes more sense than the Sicilian Scallion). Here he again took on lead acting, writing and directing duties. The plot had him and Apollo Creed teaming up as Rocky goes up against cocky upstart Clubber Lang (Mr. T).

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky III – 1982

Despite the presence of both the man who would soon be BA Baracas and Hulk Hogan, the Rocky Series would not totally depart from reality until the next movie.

Later on that same year, Stallone would find his second iconic role in a violent action film based on a David Morrell novel, First Blood.

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Sylvester Stallone – First Blood – 1982

First Blood starred Stallone as John Rambo, a Vietnam vet haunted by memories of the war and the aftermath when he returned home. Late in the film he gets a long-winded speech where he lets it all out.

In First Blood, we see Rambo drifting his way through early 80s America. When he makes his way through a small town, he’s set upon by the local police chief (the truly talented at playing prickly pricks Brian Dennehy). As Bugs Bunny would say, “of course you realize this means war.”  After being abused by Dennehy’s men, Rambo finds his warrior mode re-activated and sets out to level the small town. When all hope seems lost, who steps in to save him but his former commander Col Trautman (Richard Crenna, long from The Real McCoys).

Despite some controversy over its high level of violence, First Blood was a box office blockbuster. It also made a significant change from the book in one regard.

Morrell’s novel ended with the death of Rambo. Hollywood couldn’t accept that since that would cut into their hopes for sequels. Unless they managed to bring in Billy Crystal as a magic man who could bring people back from the dead.

So thanks to box office success and a change in the ending of First Blood, Stallone now had another iconic character.

In 1983, Stallone signed on to write and direct the sequel to Saturday Night Fever (he also had a brief cameo in it as well, doubtlessly so he could get his acting fee for the year).

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John Travolta – Staying Alive – 1983

The film was titled Staying Alive and yes you now have that song stuck in your head. And no, Stallone did not have John Travolta’s Tony Manero try his hand at boxing or shooting up a disco because other people implied he had no dancing skills. No, this one had Tony trying his luck on Broadway.

Problem was, by 1983, disco and its associated tropes were starting to seem passe. The fact that the film was weakly scripted did not help matters at all. While Saturday Night Fever is commonly regarded as a classic by much of the general public, Staying Alive now frequently makes its way on to lists of the worst sequels of all-time, an assessment I’m inclined to agree with.

So having failed in his attempt at creating his own Saturday Night Fever, Stallone decided to try his hand at making his own Urban Cowboy.

Staying Alive was nominated for four Golden Raspberries including Worst Actor for Travolta.  But nothing for Stallone.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rhinestone – 1984

Yes, Sly decided he would star in a country western musical with a famous star teaching him how to be a country singer. What the hell was Sly thinking? More to the point, what the hell was Dolly Parton thinking?

Stallone did a significant amount of re-writing of the original script for Rhinestone. Reportedly, screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson (who would later helm Field Of Dreams and Sneakers) was so upset by the changes, he tried to have his name taken off the final film. No luck. It’s understandable why Robinson would feel that way.

In the end, it’s safe to say that the only person who made it safely out of Rhinestone with their dignity intact is the aforementioned Ms. Parton.

Rhinestone was nominated for a whopping nine Golden Raspberries including Worst Actor for Stallone.  In a close race, Stallone beat out Travolta (whom he directed) for the Worst Actor award.

After two back to back fiascoes (both critically, although Staying Alive did fairly well at the box office), Sly decided to go back to his bread and butter, his gloves and guns.

In 1985, Stallone returned to both Rocky and Rambo.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rambo: First Blood Part II – 1985

Rambo First Blood Part 2 featured a script co-written by James Cameron (who was hot off the success of the original Terminator) and Stallone. Cameron wrote most of the first draft and Stallone extensively re-wrote it. In Cameron’s draft Rambo had a partner. Stallone got rid of him, reportedly because he felt he got all the good lines.

While the original First Blood has a certain timelessness to it, First Blood Part 2 is a relic of its era. It’s a fantasy in which Rambo is given a chance to go back and re-fight and possibly win the Vietnam War if the bureaucrats in Washington don’t get in his way first. One of those bureaucrats takes the form of a character played by Charles Napier. From playing a redneck country western singer to a Washington bureaucrat was quite a progression for the late Mr. Napier.

First Blood Part 2 gave audiences what they wanted, lots of red white and blue (plasma) action. However, it is safe to say that it has not aged well and is the most dated movie in the whole Rambo series.

It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards.  Of the seven nominations, Rambo “won” Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Stallone), Worst Screenplay (Stallone and Cameron) and Worst Song (Stallone’s brother, Frank).

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Rambo: The Force of Freedom – 1986

Rambo II was so popular that it inspired a kid’s cartoon! Rambo: The Force of Freedom ran 65 episodes in 1986!

It even spawned a line of toys!

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Rambo Toys

Also in 1985, Stallone brought back the Italian Stallion for a fourth go round. It is with this one that the Rocky series lost all contact with reality.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky IV – 1985

No, Rocky IV (Which Stallone wrote, directed and starred in) did not feature the Italian Stallion fighting an alien. Nor did it feature him taking on the Terminator although there was a friendly household butler robot in it. No, this installment had ol’ Rock taking on the Soviet champion, a steroid pumped up hunk of muscle played by Dolph Lundgren. Of course when you cast Dolph Lundgren in your movie, any plausibility goes right out the window.

Rocky sets out to take on Dolph to avenge Apollo Creed’s death at the hands of the evil Commie.

Not only does Rocky whup Dolph’s ass in the movie, in real life he made off with the actress that played his wife. Yes folks, not long after Rocky IV wrapped, Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen eloped.

It was speculated throughout Hollywood that Stallone may have meant this as a shot at his chief box office rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’d co-starred with Nielsen earlier that year in Red Sonja and had reportedly had an affair (that last part looks more plausible with hindsight). Either way, the Stallone-Nielsen nuptials did not last very long. They were divorced in 1987. Since then, Nielsen has pretty much fallen into irrelevance aside from appearances on a few TV shows.

Stallone’s two big movies were up against each other at the Golden Raspberries that year and competed in several categories.   Rocky IV won five awards including Worst Actor (Stallone), Worst Director (also Stallone), Worst Supporting Actress (Nielsen), Worst New Star (also Nielsen), and Worst Musical Score.  It also received nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress (Talia Shire), Worst Supporting Actor (Burt Young) and Worst Screenplay (Stallone).

Ironically, Stallone claims to have ghost-directed First Blood 2.  So unofficially, he competed against himself for Worst Director.

So after more success with his two franchises and making off with the love interest of his top rival, Stallone set out to continue that success. His next effort has originally been intended as a script for Beverly Hills Cop. But Stallone had wanted more action, less comedy. So he took it back and made Cobra.

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Sylvester Stallone – Cobra – 1986

Crime is a disease. Marion “Cobra” Cobretti is the cure.

Co-starring Brigitte Nielsen (of course we know what screwing the lead actor will get you), Cobra featured Stallone going up against a group of neo-Nazi style criminals (too bad they couldn’t get Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski to go after the neo-nazis).

Although the reviews were mostly negative, Cobra made a profit at the box office.  Under normal circumstances, the movie would have been considered a success.  But compared to the grosses of Rambo and Rocky, Cobra was a disappointment.  More importantly, Cobra, which was intended as Stallone’s answer to Beverly Hills Cop, under-performed Eddie Murphy.

Cobra was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Stallone), Worst Actress (Nielsen), Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Screenplay (Stallone)

Personally I always saw it (along with a couple other films we shall get to shortly) as a guilty pleasure. It’s way too over the top to be taken seriously. Unlike his next film (pun intended).

After Cobra, Stallone tried to apply the Rocky formula to another sport. T-Ball? Nope. Air Hockey? Not quite. Arm wrestling.

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Sylvester Stallone – Over the Top – 1987

Yes Over The Top featured Stallone as Lincoln Hawk, a truck driver with a bratty 10-year old son, a dying wife, a tyrannical father-in-law and financial problems. However, his hidden talent is in arm wrestling.

This could have been a comedy if done right. However, Stallone (who co-wrote it) and director Menahem Golan (the far more enjoyable Delta Force) take it deadly seriously. Hence why it is pretty close to terrible.

While not quite a box office disaster, Over The Top did not perform as well as expected. So plans for Over The Top 2, which would have featured Thumb Wrestling as the sport of choice, were cancelled.

Over the top was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Actor for Stallone.

In 1988, it was Rambo time again.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rambo III – 1988

Rambo III, which Stallone wrote, featured the titular mook-hero going into Afghanistan to rescue his old army buddy Trautman (Crenna) from the Soviets.

While Rambo III isn’t as deep as the original, it’s more fun than the second.

Reviews were mostly negative and Rambo was looking a little girly at the box office.  Rambo III opened head to head against Crocodile Dundee 2 and placed second!  Despite losing to the “throw another shrimp on the barbie” guy, Rambo III was still a box office success.  However, its grosses were disappointing compared to Rambo II and Rocky IV.  As a result, it would be a while before we saw Rambo on the big screen again.

Rambo III was nominated for five Golden Raspberry awards including Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay and Worst Actor which Stallone “won”.

The following year, we had Stallone trying to break out of a nursing home.

Well not quite. Lock Up featured Stallone as a prisoner who ends up tangling with the corrupt Warden (Donald Sutherland).

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Sylvester Stallone – Lock Up – 1989

Critics and audiences alike wondered if Lock Up should have been locked up instead of being released.

The movie received terrible reviews and bombed at the box office.  It opened in sixth place between Batman and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.  Both of those movies had been in theaters for seven weeks!

Lock-Up was nominated for three Golden Raspberries including Worst Picture and Worst Actor for Stallone.

Later in 1989, Stallone decided to have a go at the then-peaking (thanks to Lethal Weapon) buddy movie.

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Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone – Tango and Cash – 1989

Tango And Cash teamed him up with Kurt Russell. It was a hit at the box office. But received a roasting by critics.

Russell and Stallone played cops who (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) don’t get along.  Stallone played the buttoned-up Tango while Russell played the maverick Cash.  It was Lethal Weapon without the racial diversity, plus more homophobic humor and cross-dressing.

Both Russell and Stallone were nominated for Golden Raspberry Awards.

After attempting to start his own Lethal Weapon series, Stallone returned to his old stomping grounds in 1990.

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Sylvester Stallone – Rocky V – 1990

Rocky V, to its credit, at least tried to restore some of the gritty realism that had been sucked out of the series since the second film. But it didn’t totally work. The movie bombed and it seemed as if the Rocky franchise was over and done with, unless Stallone planned to bring in Betty White as his opponent in the next one.

Originally, Stallone intended to kill off Rocky and end the series forever.  But Universal balked at the idea.  Stallone agreed to change the ending after deciding that Rocky was a symbol of hope and perseverance.  Having him die in a street brawl was against the spirit of the entire series.

In order to bring the Rocky series back to its roots for what was intended to be the final installment, director John G. Avildsen returned to direct.  Stallone cast his real life son, Sage, as Rocky’s son.  Real-life boxing champ Tommy Morrison was cast as Rocky’s protegé turned opponent.  Sadly, both Sage Stallone and Tommy Morrison died young.  Stallone of a heart attack in 2012 and Morrison from AIDS in 2013.

Despite the return of Avildsen to the series, Rocky V did not bring back the old magic.  Reviews were mostly negative and the movie disappointed at the box office.  It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Screenplay for Stallone.

Stallone later admitted the only reason he made Rocky V was greed.

Having milked the Rockys and Ramboes until they were dry as a bone, Stallone set out to try greener pastures. Apparently he looked and saw the success his main rival Mr. Schwarzenegger was having with comedy (Twins, Kindergarten Cop). This must’ve led Stallone to think “If the Austrian Oak can do it, who’s to say the Italian Stallion can’t?”.

Movie audiences apparently.

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Sylvester Stallone – Oscar – 1991

1991’s Oscar, directed by John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers), was Stallone’s second attempt at comedy (after the disaster that was the truly hideous Rhinestone). Oscar was based on a stage play and is a remake of the 1967 French film of the same name.  In it, Stallone played a mob boss trying to go straight.  The supporting cast included  Marisa Tomei, Tim Curry, and Chazz Palminteri.

Although it was moderately successful at the box office, Oscar was not the smash people were hoping it would be. Reviews were mostly negative although Gene Siskel gave the movie three out of four stars.  In addition, Oscar was nominated for three awards.  Unfortunately, they weren’t Oscars.  They were Golden Raspberries.  Stallone was nominated for Worst Actor

Personally I’d say that of his attempts at comedy, Oscar is the one that’s passable or close to it. It’s far from a revelation. But it’s not excruciating to watch like Rhinestone or the one we shall come to shortly.

With Oscar not being the success he had hoped, Stallone decided to have another go at comedy. This time I have a few words of advice to readers: be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

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Sylvester Stallone – Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot – 1992

1992’s Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot featured Stallone as a tough LA cop who’s partnered up with someone even tougher, Sophia Patrillo who apparently left Dorothy, Rose and Blanche to reveal herself as his mother.

Not quite, although Estelle Getty did play his mother. Despite the attempts, Rambo meets The Golden Girl did not work. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot took a beating from critics and under-performed at the box office. Foreign sales saved it. But on the whole the movie was a disaster of epic proportions. Biblical proportions. Mass hysteria. Dogs and cats living together

Stallone himself had some harsh words for it:

in some countries – China, I believe – running [the movie] once a week on government television has lowered the birth rate to zero. If they ran it twice a week, I believe in twenty years China would be extinct.

Believe it or not, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot! was only nominated for one Golden Raspberry; Worst Screenplay.  Even the Razzies wanted to forget it ever happened.

After the under-performance of Oscar and the disaster of Biblical proportions I shall not mention again, Stallone returned to his 80’s bread and butter: action.

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Sylvester Stallone – Cliffhanger – 1993

1993’s Cliffhanger featured Stallone as Gabe Walker, a Rocky Mountain Rescue Ranger (no Chip and Dale here), who goes into a deep funk (not the George Clinton kind either) after failing to save a young woman trapped above a ravine. He gets a chance at redemption when a slimy villain played by the always reliable John Lithgow hijacks a Treasury plane and it crashes in the mountains.

So what we have here is more or less Die Hard On The High Slopes directed by Die Hard 2 director, Renny Harlin.  As can be expected from a Renny Harlin film, the movie was originally rated NC-17 and had to be recut to get an R-rating.

Cliffhanger was fairly successful with both critics and at the box office.  In spite of that, it was still nominated for four Golden Raspberries.  Amazingly, Lithgow was nominated and Stallone was not!

Later that year, Stallone returned in a futuristic action comedy.

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Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes – Demolition Man – 1993

Demolition Man starred Stallone as an LA cop who doesn’t play by the rules and causes a lot of property damage in the process. Wesley Snipes played his nemesis, a criminal mastermind with a Dennis Rodman circa 1996 style hairdo.

The plot had Stallone capturing Snipes and getting blamed for deaths of hostages Snipes took. This results in them being cryogenically frozen for many years. 20 years into the future Snipes escapes. To catch him, the cops release Stallone. Also we have Sandra Bullock in a sunshiny role.

The future that Stallone and Snipes find themselves in is what Snipes refers to as a “Pussywhipped Brady Bunch” version. If you swear, a buzzer will go off and a voice announces that you have been fined “one credit for violation of the verbal morality statue”. As a result of the “Franchise Wars” Taco Bell is the only restaurant.

Demolition Man was modestly successful at the box office. But critics were not impressed. I like it quite a bit myself. To me, it succeeds where Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero failed: at combining action and comedy. To me, it’s a well-done parody of Futuristic Dystopia movies (of the Blade Runner/Terminator variety). Also, I’d say it’s better that all restaurants are Taco Bell rather than them all being McDonald’s.

In 1994, Stallone teamed up with fellow WTHH fixture Sharon Stone for The Specialist.

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Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone – The Specialist – 1994

Stallone played a former military explosives expert who’s recruited by a Miami woman to blow up the crime family that murdered her parents and brother. In some ways, this plot is kinda similar to the similarly titled The Professional also from 1994. But The Professional was a legitimately good movie. The Specialist, not so much.

In The Specialist‘s favor, it did feature a very good performance from the always dependable James Woods. And male readers, yes you do see Sharon Stone naked in one scene.

Steven Seagal was originally approached to star, but he wanted $9 million dollars and to direct.  Stallone was given a 15-minute deadline to agree to be in the movie.  Otherwise, he was told, the role would go to Warren Beatty.  Reportedly, Stallone demanded that Woods’ screentime be reduced because he was concerned (and rightly so) that Woods would steal the movie.  Of course the only way Sly could have prevented that would be to cut Woods out of the movie entirely.

The Specialist was a hit at the box office. But it currently has a 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  It was nominated for five Golden Raspberries including one each for Stallone and Stone (Stone “won”, Stallone did not).  Together, they won Worst Screen Couple in a tie with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise for Interview With the Vampire.

The same weekend The Specialist was released another movie made its way into theaters. One that would change the game of cinema for the next two decades at least.

That movie was Pulp Fiction. And its arrival announced (much as the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind put an end to 80s hair metal) that Stallone, Schwarzenegger and the action tropes associated with them were passe.  It took Stallone a little while to catch on to this though.

In the summer of 1995 he starred in a movie based on a popular comic book that’s well-loved in Britain. But relegated to cult status in the US.

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Sylvester Stallone – Judge Dredd – 1995

Judge Dredd was titled that because there wasn’t enough room on the poster for Judge Dreadful.

Judge Dredd was a mangled mess of over the top acting, horrid dialogue and Rob Schneider. Frighteningly enough, Schneider was the best thing about the whole fiasco.

The plot had Stallone as a futuristic Robocop knock-off framed for murder and yelling “I didn’t break the law. I AM the law!”. He ends up teamed up with Schneider in a bid to prove his innocence.

Many fans of the comic were reportedly outraged that Dredd took his helmet off so much in the film. Having sat through it myself, I can verify that the helmet is the least of the film’s problems.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Stallone clashed frequently with director Danny Cannon during the filming of Judge Dredd. It got to such a point that Cannon “swore he would never again work with another big-name actor. He also claimed that the final version was completely different from the script, due to the changes Stallone demanded”.

Therein lies a lesson: For the most part when you cast Sylvester Stallone in your movie, you’re no longer in the film-making business, you are in the Stallone business and he’s going to be the one calling the shots.

Stallone himself later reflected on where Judge Dredd went wrong:

I do look back on Judge Dredd as a real missed opportunity. It seemed that lots of fans had a problem with Dredd removing his helmet, because he never does in the comic books. But for me it is more about wasting such great potential there was in that idea; just think of all the opportunities there were to do interesting stuff with the Cursed Earth scenes. It didn’t live up to what it could have been. It probably should have been much more comic, really humorous, and fun. What I learned out of that experience was that we shouldn’t have tried to make it Hamlet; it’s more Hamlet and Eggs

John Wagner, the creator of the comic character, summed up his thoughts on the Stallone version: “the story had nothing to do with Judge Dredd, and Judge Dredd wasn’t really Judge Dredd.”

Judge Dredd turned out to do Dreddful business with both critics and the public. Foreign ticket sales again kept it from being a total fiasco.  Planned sequels were cancelled.  And Stallone was nominated for yet another Golden Raspberry.

Later in 1995, Stallone teamed up with Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner for Assassins.

stallone - assassins
Sylvester Stallone – Assassins – 1995

Based on a script by future Matrix creators Larry (now Lana) and Andy Wachowski, Assassins starred Stallone as the world’s leading hitman. Antonio Banderas, hot off the success of Desperado, is a crazy younger one who wants to knock him off so he could claim the crown for himself. Amidst all this we have Julianne Moore in a paycheck role as the woman who ends up as a target for both men. Of course, as all movie rules dictate, she will end up with one of them and the other one will likely end up six feet under.

Richard Donner found the script by the Wachowski brothers to be too violent.  He insisted on rewrites to tone down the violence and to make the characters more sympathetic.  The Wachowski’s lobbied unsuccessfully to have their names removed from the film.  Donner later expressed regret at having the script rewritten.  Producer Joel Silver, after seeing the Wachowski brothers’ film, Bound, apologized for what happened on Assassins and agreed to let them direct The Matrix themselves.

Assassins was an attempt at trying to give Stallone an action role with some depth. It didn’t succeed. It was savaged by critics and fired blanks at the box office.  Stallone was nominated for Worst Actor (his nomination for Judge Dredd covered both films) but he lost to the deserving Pauly Shore (for Jury Duty).

The following Year Stallone would give the disaster movie a try with Daylight.

Stallone - daylight
Sylvester Stallone – Daylight – 1996

Directed by big budget bonanza maker Rob Cohen, Daylight featured Stallone as a former New York Emergency Services chief who’s forced to come to the rescue when an explosion in the Hudson river tunnel between New York and New Jersey leaves people trapped.

By this point, the action schtick associated with Stallone was starting to seem tired to much of the general public and it showed. Daylight received negative reviews and under performed at the box office,although again foreign sales helped its cause a little.  Stallone was nominated for his umpteenth Golden Raspberry.

By the end of 1996, it was obvious to even Stallone that what had worked for him in the 80s and early 90s wasn’t going to work anymore. So taking note of that, he decided to try another serious dramatic role.

stallone - cop land
Sylvester Stallone – Copland – 1997

That role was in Cop Land, an independent crime drama written and directed by James Mangold (who would later go on to helm Walk The Line and 3:10 To Yuma). Not only was Stallone playing a regular schlub (the obese sheriff of a small New Jersey town who’s deaf in one ear), he was also acting alongside titans like Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Harvey Keitel.

Acting with those masters got Stallone to step his game up and he delivered.  Not just in terms of the forty pounds he put on for the role. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this is the best performance he ever gave outside of the original Rocky. We watch as he goes form admiring the New York cops who’ve taken up residence in his town to being forced to confront the corruption they are involved in.

Cop Land did decently at the box office. But it wasn’t a blockbuster and that’s what Stallone was counting on.

In 2006 Stallone claimed on the Opie And Anthony Radio Show that “Cop Land hurt his career” and “was the beginning of the end for 8 years”.

WTF Sly? This was one of the best roles you ever took and you say it “hurt your career”. Every film does not have to be a damn blockbuster of epic proportions!

Cop Land is now seen as a very good to great movie by those who have seen it. I feel that if it were re-released to theaters and promoted as a film from the director of Walk The Line and 3:10 To Yuma, it would get the audience it truly deserves.

stallone - antz
Antz – 1988

A year after Cop Land, Stallone did the voice of an Ant in Dreamworks pretty good animated movie Antz.

Woody Allen starred as an Ant named Z who is unsatisfied with the totalitarian structure of ant society.  He falls in love with an any princess played by Stone.  His friends are voiced by Jennifer Lopez and Sylvester Stallone.  The all-star cast of voice actors also included Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Anne Bancroft, Dan Aykroyd and Danny Glover.

Stallone’s role was originally offered to arch rival, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  But Schwarzenegger wanted to get paid.  Stallone was willing to make the movie for free.

I don’t usually spend a lot of time talking about animated features because voice work doesn’t usually have much of an impact on an actor’s overall career.  But Antz is a special case.  It is the second computer-animated feature following Toy Story and the first from Dreamworks.  And it was also part of a classic Hollywood throw-down.

Dreamworks was founded by Jeffrey Katezenberg.  Katzenberg had been the head of Disney Studios under Michael Eisner.  Eisner and Katzenberg ended on bad terms.  There was a lawsuit.  It was ugly.  When Katzenberg left, he was fully aware of Pixar’s plans for A Bug’s Life.  So it’s pretty apparent that he rushed his own insect-related cartoon into theaters before A Bug’s Life could be released.

Although Katzenberg vehemently denied the charge, Pixar head John Lasseter and Steve Jobs were unconvinced.  Lasseter, who was friendly with Katzenberg following his departure from Disney felt especially betrayed.  Lasseter claimed that if Dreamworks had released a computer-animated feature on any other subject, he would have closed Pixar and taken the whole company to see it.  Instead, Lasseter claims he has never watched Antz.

In the end, both films received positive reviews and were hits at the box office.  Unfortunately, Antz had a budget of over a $100 million dollars (largely due to racing Pixar to the finish line) so it fell short of recouping its costs in the US.  But it was profitable thanks to international and ancillary revenues.

In 2000, Stallone took the lead role in the pointless remake of the 1971 film Get Carter.

stallone - get carter
Sylvester Stallone – Get Carter – 2000

Surprisingly, Michael Caine who starred in the original (much better) version of Carter appeared in this one. The film featured Stallone as a hitman out to avenge his brother’s death. Get Carter also featured here-today-gone-tomorrow It-Girl Rachael Leigh Cook.

Get Carter was a flop at both the box office and with critics.  It was nominated for Worst Actor (Stallone) and Worst Remake or Sequel at the Golden Raspberry Awards.  Today it sits in the unnecessary remakes graveyard, which has been getting pretty full as of late.

stallone - driven
Sylvester Stallone – Driven – 2001

In 2001, Stallone shifted gears into a supporting role for the race film, Driven.

A fan of Formula One racing, Stallone decided to write a script for a racing picture. To direct, he reunited with his Cliffhanger director Renny Harlin.

Driven featured Stallone as a veteran Champ Car driver who ends up mentoring a younger one, played by Kip Pardue. Burt Reynolds co-stars as Pardue’s manager.  Former model and future real-life fugitive from the law, Estella Warren, co-starred.

Driven ultimately crashed and burned with both critics and audiences.  It also earned seven nominations at the Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple (Reynolds and Stallone) and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (also Reynolds and Stallone), with Warren winning Worst Supporting Actress.

stallone - d-tox
Sylvester Stallone – Eye See You/D-Tox

In 2002, Stallone looked to be following in Val Kilmer’s footsteps to Direct-To-DVD land. He starred in two movies that were released that year.

First up was the thriller D-Tox, which featured him as an FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer. After a very short theatrical run, it made its way to video. Reviews were mostly negative.

stowe - avenging angelo
Sylvester Stallone and Madeleine Stowe – Avenging Angelo – 2002

Next up was the crime comedy, Avenging Angelo.

Stallone played the bodyguard of a mafia boss played by Anthony Quinn.  When the mob boss is killed, Stallone finds his long-lost daughter played by Madeleine Stowe.  He reveals the true identity of her father and together they seek revenge on the men responsible for his death.

Ironically, twelve years earlier Quinn had played Stowe’s jealous husband in Revenge.  Now, in his final film, he played her father whom she must avenge.

Avenging Angelo was panned by critics.  While it received an international release, it went straight to video in the US.

stallone - spy kids 3
Sylvester Stallone – Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over – 2003

In 2003, Stallone took on the role of the villain in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3-D.

Reviews were mixed and Spy Kids 3-D, while not on the same level as its two predecessors, did pretty well at the box office.  Stallone was of course nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor.

Faced with the prospect of starring in direct to video schlock and theatrically released kids movies, Stallone set out to revive his two most famous characters for one more round.

First up, Rocky Balboa.

Rocky Balboa
Sylvester Stallone – Rocky Balboa – 2006

I admit, when I first heard there was another Rocky on the way, my initial reaction was to envision the following.

Creak…creak..creak..Yo…creak…creak…Adrian…creak…creak…creak..WHERE’S THE WALKER???

However, the more I heard about this sixth and final go-round, the more enticing it sounded. Still not enough to get me into the theater to see it. But enough that I rented it later on (one of the last movies I rented from Blockbuster).

It turned out to be pretty good. Not quite on the level of the original Rocky. But definitely the best since and definitely Stallone’s best performance since (the underrated) Cop Land.

Stallone wrote, directed and starred in the 2006 finale to the series. In it, Rocky has long since retired. Adrian has kicked the bucket. Rocky’s estranged from his son. Basically what we have here is the most human Rocky since 1976. Definitely worth a view.

Rocky Balboa was a success with both critics and audiences if not a major smash.

Next, in 2008, was the last (to date anyway) Rambo movie, simply titled Rambo. The title was chosen most likely because “Rambo Vs The Rest Of The Retirement Home” was too big.

pre-order-rambo-2008-starring-on-dvd-release-date-june-23
Sylvester Stallone – Rambo – 2008

Stallone wrote and stepped into the director’s chair for the first time in the Rambo series. The plot featured Rambo now living as a hermit in Thailand. He gets recruited to save a group of missionaries from a bloodthirsty colonel in war-torn Burma. No Trautman in this one, as Richard Crenna died a few years prior to production. Stallone does dedicate it to him.

Rambo received mixed reviews from critics. There were some complaints about its graphic violence. But it was pretty popular with audiences.

I’d say that while it was not on the level of the original, it’s about on a par with the third and ahead of the second. Not an embarrassing way for the series to end.

Now that Stallone had taken his two fall-backs to their logical conclusions, where would he go next?

His next step was to create an action all-star extravaganza, one that would bring together the young and the old.

The result was The Expendables, the 2010 summer blockbuster.

stallone - the expendables
Sylvester Stallone – The Expendables – 2010

The Expendables (which Stallone co-wrote and directed) featured Stallone teamed up with Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Randy Couture. Eric Roberts returned from The Specialist to play the primary villain. And to fill out the quota of aging action stars, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger turned up for cameos.

To many critics, The Expendables lived down to its title. But it was very popular with audiences. I personally have mixed feeling about it. The dialogue could have used work, the characters aren’t developed that well and it wasn’t quite as fun as it should have been. Bu it was more entertaining than the automatons of the Michael Bay variety.

With The Expendables a success, Stallone immediately moved on to a sequel. He filled in time in 2011, playing the voice of a lion in the Kevin James comedy Zookeeper

In August 2012 The Expendables 2 was released.

stallone - the expendables 2
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Expendables 2 – 2012

Like its predecessor, The Expendables 2 was a hit with audiences. Many critics this time seemed to be happier. This one had larger roles for Schwarzenegger and Willis, a role for Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain and more fun overall.

Having now created a new franchise to fall back on, Stallone set out to try again on his own.

First, he teamed up with action auteur Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hrs) for Bullet To The Head.

stallone - bullet to the head
Sylvester Stallone – Bullet to the Head – 2012

Bullet To The Head (a title that’s definitely not a romantic comedy) features Stallone as a New Orleans hit-man seeking revenge for the death of his partner. Christian Slater cameos as one of the many people Stallone kills throughout the movie. Jason Momoa, cold off the failure of the abysmal remake of Conan The Barbarian played the villain. Sung Kang plays the cop who becomes Stallone’s reluctant partner.

I found it to be okay. Not on par with Hill’s better work. But worth a watch. Audiences however did not and stayed away.

In other words, it was less a bullet to the head than it was one to Stallone’s wallet.

Later on in 2013, Stallone teamed up with his biggest 80s rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose own comeback had been derailed earlier that same year when The Last Stand failed at the box office.

escape_plan_a_l
Sylvester Stallone – Escape Plan – 2013

Escape Plan‘s original title had been The Tomb and that would have been a more appropriate one as that’s where the team up of Rambo and The Terminator wound up at the box office. It seemed as if Stallone and Schwarzenegger could no longer carry a movie on name recognition alone anymore.

Next, Stallone put the boxing gloves back on and teamed up with his Cop Land co-star Robert De Niro.

Tim Dahlberg
Sylvester Stallone – Grudge Match – 2013

The thought of those two together as boxers immediately screamed Rocky meets Raging Bull. Unfortunately, Grudge Match ended up closer in quality to what many people feared Rocky Balboa would be. Creak creak creak. Boom.

It also under-performed at the box office.

Old guard: Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas go through the motions in Expendables 3.
Sylvester Stallone – The Expendables 3 – 2014

In 2014, Stallone returned to the lucrative Expendables franchise with The Expendables 3.

This was the first film in the series to receive a PG-13 rating.  After a public falling out with Stallone over his salary, Bruce Willis dropped out of the picture and was replaced by Harrison Ford.  Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas and Kelsey Grammer also joined the cast.

Reviews were bad and the movie opened in third place at the box office.  A few weeks before the official release date, The Expendables 3 was leaked on the internet.  That had to hurt its prospects at the box office.  Also, it was facing stiffer-than-usual for late summer competition from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Guardians of the Galaxy both of which over-performed.

Despite the box office failure of Expendables 3, a fourth movie has been announced.  Rumors have been swirling that Jackie Chan and Hulk Hogan appear in the fourth film.  Aging action stars everywhere are crossing their fingers that the franchise can be revived.

So what the hell happened?

Aside from that brief moment in 2002 where it seemed like he was on his way to direct to video land with Kilmer and Seagal, Stallone has never really fallen off the A-list.

However, Stallone has been in a rut of sorts. In general, it seems that with a few exceptions the public keeps sending this message: If it’s not Rocky or Rambo.

Part of the problem could be that being associated with such an iconic role so early in one’s career can lead to trouble. In Stallone’s case, he had two and that may have been even more of a problem when he wanted to branch out. The dreaded typecasting.

There’s also the issue that his attempts at branching out have varied. While his efforts at comedy were fiascoes, his attempts at more dramatic roles often worked (F.I.S.T, Cop Land). But the public wasn’t buying.

In looking over his whole career, I noticed that quite a few of his 80’s non-Rocky/Rambo action films did well. But that only took him so far and once the 80’s were over and Tarantino changed the game for cinema he had to find another way to make it work.

At one point I contemplated why he didn’t just do what Clint Eastwood did and segue into directing full-time once his days as king of the box office were over. I suspect that the most likely reason is that he would not get the acting fee or that he likes acting too much to totally move on from it.

To date Stallone has written or co-written 23 movies but directed only 8. It could be that he sees directing every movie that he appears in as being too much work.

At the same time, once Stallone has been cast in a movie, he’s pretty much the one calling the shots. That’s the most likely reason why most auteur and independent-minded directors (aside from Hill and Mangold) have steered clear of working with him. He seems to prefer one he can hire to do more or less what he wants (Renny Harlin, George P Cosmatos, Simon West).

Unlike the aforementioned Eastwood, Stallone does not seem to be comfortable showing his age on-screen. And unlike many of his co-stars (De Niro, Russell, Keitel, Liotta, Woods) he isn’t a character actor which explains why he hasn’t transitioned into ensemble or supporting parts once his leading man days were over.

This brings us back to the parallels I drew up with Eddie Murphy at the beginning of this article. Major breakthrough followed by a downward spiral, followed by a comeback, followed by another downward spiral, followed by another comeback and so on.

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cinemarchaeologist
10 years ago

Another way in which FIRST BLOOD is different from the book is that Rambo was a lot more screwed up in the book. It was set in rural Arkansas, rather than the Pacific Northwest, and took place while the Vietnam war was ongoing. Rambo, in the book, is the war the U.S. has unleashed abroad coming back home to haunt it. Whereas in the film, Rambo takes great pains not to kill anyone, he freely and gruesomely slaughters his pursuers in the book. The movie replicates the book in nearly every other respect, but this change makes it a very… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago

Great stuff. I remember my brother owned the novelization of Rambo: First Blood Part 2. He was a huge fan of Stallone. I don’t think he ever read the original First Blood though.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago

Wonderful write-up of Stallone, Jeff. You certainly hit all the key spots of his career. Rocky, of course, is the magnum opus of his career, and it rightfully (in my opinion) deserved the Oscar for Best Picture. One thing worth mentioning that you might want to add to the article is that Stallone was actually nominated for Best Actor for Rocky, a worthy accomplishment in anyone’s career. Moving ahead a few years, 1985 is definately, at least career wise, his biggest year. I think many people tend to forget how much of a cultural phenomenon Rambo 2 was at the… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

Great points. I’m getting ready to read/edit this article myself. So I’ll incorporate the Best Actor nom as I do so. There’s also one key credit most people forget about (a non-speaking pre-rocky role for a major director) that I plan to add in. There is no denying that in the mid-80’s, Stallone was huge. It wasn’t until the last 80s that he was eclipsed by Ah-nold.

cinemarchaeologist
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

A heads up: When you edit, you refer to ROCKY IV several times as “ROCKY VI.”

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago

I think I caught them all. Should be right now.

cinemarchaeologist
10 years ago

I don’t know if the Murphy comparison really works in the case of Stallone. After Murphy’s initial star waned, he never had another period of superstardom that could remotely compete with it. Stallone has scattered hits after his prime years, but mostly made a lot of rubbish, and he was at that direct-to-video level of output well before he almost fell into it literally. He has reinvented himself in a major way in the last few years and has become genuinely interesting–more interesting, in fact, than he’s ever been. So add old action stars to politicians, ugly buildings, and whores… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago

I have to admit, I have never been a Stallone fan. But you can’t help but respect the guy. He’s a self-made movie star who has hung in there much longer than seems possible through sheer tenacity and reinvention. I haven’t seen much of Stallone’s recent output. But Rocky Balboa was an extremely pleasant surprise. After that travesty of Rocky V, it was great to see the Italian Stallion get a proper send-off.
Now you have me wanting to sit down and watch Rambo – a movie I have skipped countless times.

Liz
Liz
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I 100% agree. You (generally speaking) may not like his movies or think he’s talented, but you have to respect the way he came onto the scene in a BIG, big way (his fight to get Rocky made was like his own little, real life Rocky), and how he’s managed to stay relevant (for the most part) in the industry for as long as he has. Neither of those things is any small feat and are both admirable. I’m more a fan of the man than his work (though Rocky is one of my all-time favorite movies and is one… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago

Wow, Jeff, that was EPIC! I mentioned before you wrote the article that I was personally intimidated by Stallone’s massive filmography. But you handled it exceptionally well. You even cracked me up quite a few times.
I did add a few tweaks here and there. Like Stallone, I can’t help putting my stamp on things – at least when it comes to WTHH (my own personal Rocky and Rambo). All in all, you’ve done the series proud.

shoegal529
10 years ago

I will love Demolition Man to the end of my days, no matter how many times I realize how horrible it truly is. It has gone beyond guilty pleasure for me. I still own my VHS copy and I refuse to listen to the mocking when it’s noticed on my shelf.

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  shoegal529

Whenever I think about Demolition Man, I think about the time I ate at Planet Hollywood and was seated under this:

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Wow, that looks incredibly life-like! Did Planet Hollywood actually capture Stallone and lock him in a glass case to hang above patrons, or what?

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

No. At the time, I think Stallone was bussing tables. 😉
I completely lost my appetite worrying that Stallone’s ass would come crashing down on my buffalo wings.

Liz
Liz
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

LOL I was going to ask how you ATE with that over your HEAD. Just the picture is disconcerting; I couldn’t imagine that hanging above me as I tried to get a meal down. Yikes!

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  jeffthewildman

Anything is better than Judge Dredd and Battlefield Earth.
The first time I saw Demo Man, I had unreasonably high expectations. I had heard the script was very clever. But it was more of a Stallone movie than I was expecting. Like you said in the article, when you hire the Itallian Stallion,you’re in the Stallone business. I recently rewatched Demo Man and enjoyed it as a relic of a bygone era. It has aged poorly, which ironically makes it more enjoyable. Funny given that is kind of a theme of the movie.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago

I’ve always been a fan of Stallone. If you’re a fan of the action genre, as I am, then you just automatically wind up a Stallone fan, since he sure made his fair share of enjoyable action filcks. During his peak in the 80’s, he really was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, and I don’t think that’s an exageration. After the excellent Cliffhanger and Demolition Man films in ’93, a series of mediocre films throughout the mid-to-late 90’s gradually ruined his career to the point where he was relegated to direct-to-video land, and honestly I presumed… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

I was never a Stallone fan. But the oldest of my younger brothers was the biggest Stallone fan in the world. He used to watch Rocky III and Over the Top on VHS every day after school. Who watches Over the Top more than once? Stallone’s biggest fan, that’s who. I remember falling asleep in Rambo III. I didn’t want to see it, but my brother didn’t want to go alone so he bought my ticket. But even I have to admit, Stallone’s comeback is amazing. Any kind of comeback in your 60s is impressive. But Stallone was so far… Read more »

andymovieman
andymovieman
10 years ago

how are you lebeau? I’ve been checking out your Stallone article and you’re right. Stallone has done great and worse movies over the years but he never ceases to amaze me same with Schwarzenegger as well. I like that Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mel Gibson, etc., take pride in their work as an action star and aren’t greedy with money or hypocritical of nostalgic franchises like Bruce Willis and Kurt Russell. Bruce Willis is so greedy that his last die hard didn’t do so well and that he was more of a sidekick in that than the hero… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  andymovieman

Hey Andy, Long time no see. With Robocop opening, I was thinking about you. I wondered whether or not you enjoyed it. I assume you saw it since you’re such a big Michael Keaton fan. I have been surprised by how little Keaton is being used in the film’s marketing. I know he’s not as big of a draw as he used to be, but still, I expected him to be on the poster. Credit where credit is due, I didn’t write the article on Stallone. This article was written by jeffthewildman. I think he did an excellent job. At… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  andymovieman

12 Movies So Bad That They Are Actually Funny: http://www.mensmagazine.com/12-movies-so-bad-that-they-are-actually-funny/2/ The Expendables The promise of the greatest action movie star cast ever was a great concept, but “The Expendables” failed on several levels. The lack of a cohesive plot is one of the movie’s greatest downfalls, but the apparent boredom of the actors is what really kills it. Sylvester Stallone appears to give it his best shot, but the likes of Jason Statham and Jet Li look as if they know they’re there just to make up the numbers. Even the addition of Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren were not… Read more »

Dar
Dar
10 years ago

I’ll be honest, I was surprised t see Stallone featured here, as he’s never really stopped being a major star and respectable box office draw (unlike Ahnold). I like Stallone. He’s always come across as more human and relatable and likable than Ahnold. I’ll be even more brutally frank: I liked “Oscar” and “Lock-Up” “Daylight”. And, yes, even “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot”; it didn’t take itself too seriously, and unlike Ahnold’s comedy endeavours, Stallone doesn’t just rely on the old “Look, a big muscular guy is twins with a short guy/pregnant/teaching kindergarten!”. I for one hope Stallone keeps… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago
Reply to  Dar

Ideally, this article would have come out when Stallone was languishing in direct-to-video limbo. Not so long ago, everyone had written him off as washed-up. He had decades of being a big name movie star. But he was over. Knocked out. So did he stop being “a major movie star and a respectable box office draw”? Most definitely. Is he a major movie star today? No. A respectable box office draw? Only if the movie has the word “Expendables” in the title. Maybe “Rambo”. Stallone has had an incredibly surprising against-all-odds comeback. I don’t want to discount that at all.… Read more »

Dar
Dar
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

But to what extent did “Pulp Fiction” change the actually way and style and genre of films? Yes the script was influential, but aside form Tarantino, and maybe Rodriguez, who else is really influenced by “low budget 70’s drive-in” movies?
I don’t know, maybe by dislike of Tarantino blinds me to his influence.

Dar
Dar
10 years ago
Reply to  jeffthewildman

“By bringing a certain sense of irony and self-awareness to it and by showing the mainstream that movies did not have to follow the three act A to B structure.” I understand. I’m just not sure if that lasted beyond a few years. Certainly for quite some time now movies tend to take themselves too seriously. “Dark and gritty” has long been the norm. I think it’s the same with Nirvana. They launched a “grunge” wave that hasn’t survived the 90’s. Nirvana was as much a product of the 90’s as Motley Cru of the 80’s. But I don’t know,… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  Dar

Everyone is going to have their own taste.
I was more than happy to shoo away Whitesnake and Stallone and get Nirvana and Tarantino in return. Mainstream art of the late 80s was mostly very tiresome for me.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

Here’s a response that I got when I took this argument that “Pulp Fiction” was the cinematic equivalent to Nirvana’s “It Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the CineFiles’ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecinefiles/ Stallone and Schwarzenegger, were a sure thing, but if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, it gets stale. Stallone thought he was smarter than any screenwriter, and no one would tell him no. Schwarzenegger was only as good as his director, if he had someone like Verhoeven or Cameron with their hands on the reigns he was good. In those same years where they were… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

VERSUS: Schwarzengger Or Stallone – This Is Infamous:
http://thisisinfamous.com/versus-schwarzengger-stallone/
Eddie Scarito debates who has had the superior career–Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, in this week’s edition of…

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

This sort of reminds me of a special that MTV did in I think, June 1999 for their “Ultra Sound” series. The special was called “9 Movie Moments that Made the 90’s”. In a nuthsell, the program listed what they considered the nine most culturally important films from the 1990s. Looking back, I wish that I had taped it:
http://viewaskew.com/mtv/nineties/

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

The irony about the whole thing about “Pulp Fiction” bringing in a new sense of irony and self-awareness that weren’t seen in Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s leading up to that point, is that it seemed like Arnold Schwarzenegger himself released films (i.e. “The Last Action Hero” and “True Lies”) around this period which came off as more or less, self-aware and/or tongue-in-cheek parody of the action genre.
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?713240-Action-movies-What-are-the-differences-between-80s-and-90s-era-action-movies

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

To me, I would like to equate the modern day superhero film genre w/ the start of the modern day summer blockbuster. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the three most important films in terms of launching the concept of the summer blockbuster as we know it today were “Jaws” (the trope maker), “Star Wars” (the trope namer), and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (the trope codifier). Likewise, after “Batman & Robin” (and to a lesser extent, “Steel”) seemed to make the idea of making big budgeted movies about comic book superheroes movies “uncool”, we got “Blade”, “X-Men”,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

2013 Razzie Nominations: http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showpost.php?p=4735015&postcount=12 I get why Stallone keeps getting hate from the Razzies in some ways. He’s still trying to play the same kinds of roles he would have played in the ’80s or ’90s. You know, the near invincible, usually one dimensional action hero. That’s bad enough itself, usually, but it’s hard to suspend disbelief and take a 67 year old man seriously in that sort of role, at least for me it is. Stallone’s someone who can genuinely act, the first two Rocky movies and the first Rambo movie proved that, but he keeps picking these s***y… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
10 years ago

The Razzies have had it in for Sly since the mid-80s.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Movie Jail: This week’s defendant is…Sylvester Stallone!
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/movie-jail-this-weeks-defendant-issylvester-stallone

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

The CineFiles – RAMBO!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1d0rAaloI
Get out and get your vote in! Then after you’ve made a trip to your local polling center, come right back and watch our latest episode on that most patriot of all patriotic patriots JOHN RAMBO!!! We review the entire series. But, uh, what means “ex-pen-da-ble?”

vitieddie
vitieddie
9 years ago

Great article. But too many references to the Razzies. We kind of got the idea after the 2nd or 3rd time.

lebeau
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  vitieddie

Hey, if Stallone was nominated for that many Oscars, I’d reference them too. Although I will be the first to admit the Razzies picked on him quite a bit.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I caught Escape Plan recently, it was actually a solid enjoyable action flick. The movie flopped in the U.S. with a miserable $25M take, but overseas box office helped it ultimately become a decent hit, earning $137M on a $50M budget. The thing is, I swear if this same movie had been made back in the late 80’s or early 90’s, when both Stallone and Schwarzenegger were two of the biggest movie stars in the world, I would bet my bottom dollar that Escape Plan would’ve been one of the biggest blockbusters of the year back then.

lebeau
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

I haven’t seen the movie. But if Stallone and Schwarzenegger had teamed up in the 80s or 90s it would have been huge. Now, we’ve already seen them together at Planet Hollywood openings and Expendables movies. The novelty has worn off. And neither star is at the peak of their career any more. Also, that style of action movie is no longer en vogue. It’s no wonder the movie didn’t find an audience.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Superhero Rewind: Judge Dredd Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWUjOYmnaI4
This version is audio only. Watch the full-video review at:
http://blip.tv/superherorewind/judge-dredd-review-6349194

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Re-Upload: Retrospective / Review: Judge Dredd (1995):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9kr2Go9mk
Retrospective / Review: DEMOLITION MAN (1993):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SmJL7bz8jk
Retrospective / Review – CLIFFHANGER (1993) in HD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFJjkp4MkI

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago

Nice review of Cliffhanger. I just watched it again for the first time in many years, and I’m impressed with how well the movie still holds up. As an action film, it’s still highly enjoyable and engrossing. I would say Cliffhanger is Stallone’s best standalone action film, it gave his career a boost when he needed it after a few lame-duck flops like Oscar, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and such. If it weren’t for Cliffhanger’s success (along with Demolition Man later in ’93) Stallone wouldn’t have been bumped up into the $20 Million-per-picture club in the mid-to-late-90’s. Cliffhanger… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Craig Hansen

http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/749-cobra-gave-the-1980s-the-dirty-harry-knockoff-it-d/#comment-1586551533
Cobra was pretty much the beginning of the end. Though nominally a hit, it was a huge commercial disappointment following Rambo and Rocky IV and was the beginning of Stallone’s long slide (although he had made plenty of baffling choices in his career prior to then). Top Gun also rewrote the rules for action that summer – slick, high tech, with lots of pretty boys to appeal to women and gays. It’s a straight line from there to the Fast and Furious.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Craig Hansen

Stallone’s mountain man fights terrorists in this peak summer blockbuster
http://www.avclub.com/article/stallones-mountain-man-fights-terrorists-peak-summ-235054

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Disastrous Judge Dredd https://screenrant.com/judge-dredd-worst-trivia-facts-movie/ If you’re making a list of the worst comic book-based movies of all time, Judge Dredd probably isn’t in the #1 slot, but it’s almost certainly very close to the top. Upon its release in June of 1995, the movie received critical reviews that could charitably be described as poor. Reaction from longtime Dredd fans wasn’t any better. The film even churned up a bit of controversy, due to the fact that the titular character removes his helmet during the course of the story — something he’d almost never… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Looking back at Judge Dredd: http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/judge-dredd/17986/looking-back-at-judge-dredd The classic 2000AD character Judge Dredd was first adapted for the big screen in 1995, and the results were flawed, to say the least. Phil takes a look back… First, let me put my cards on the table. For the best part of thirty years, I have been a huge fan of the character Judge Dredd, and the British comic 2000AD in which he appears. I state this at the outset just so that you can appreciate the effort it has taken for me not to revert to tedious and predictable whinging about Stallone… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Cobra gave 1986 the Dirty Harry knockoff it deserved: http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/749-cobra-gave-the-1980s-the-dirty-harry-knockoff-it-d/ by Nathan Rabin Forgotbusters re-examines movies that were among the top 25 grossing films the year of their release, but have receded culturally, in order to explore what originally attracted audiences to them, and why they failed to endure. If I had all the time and money in the world, I would write a book about how the combination of Paula Gosling’s 1974 debut novel A Running Duck (also published as Fair Game) and various drafts of a screenplay once called Beverly Drive somehow resulted in three completely different movies:… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I don’t know if this is a fair comparison, but Sylvester Stallone’s career somewhat reminds me of a more “commercial” and variant of Edward Norton’s. What I mean is that both Stallone and Norton you can say, peaked really early in their careers (e.g. “Rocky” and “Primal Fear”). However, both arguably did themselves no favors in the long run w/ their apparent need to have to take control over the productions of their films. Obviously, Stallone has proven that he can be a solid screenwriter. Unfortunately, as previously addressed in this article, he tends to (when he, himself isn’t directing… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

5 Once Great Action Heroes Who Are Ready For Retirement: http://whatculture.com/film/5-great-action-heroes-ready-retirement.php/3 Sylvester Stallone It is a joke which has been driven into the ground, but I am deadly serious when I say that I struggle to understand what Sylvester Stallone is saying whenever he’s on screen. This is not a fantastic trait for someone who seems intent to get the lead in all of the schlocky action films he can rattles out. The man is in fantastic shape for his age, and although he is muscle-bound and rocking a killer bod, it is becoming clearer and clearer to see the… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

10 Actors Who Clearly Didn’t Learn Anything From Past Mistakes: http://whatculture.com/film/10-actors-who-clearly-didnt-learn-anything-from-past-mistakes.php/3 Sylvester Stallone With his endless regurgitation of tired action routines and disturbing refusal to acknowledge his now advanced age, Sly Stallone is probably this list’s least surprising entry. Despite moments of affecting brilliance, Stallone’s 40+ year career has largely amounted to that of a one-trick pony, chugging out one sluggish and pedantic actioner after another – from the cartoonish Rambo sequels, to the odious Get Carter and D-Tox, right up to last year’s excruciating Bullet To The Head. Unlike his Austrian peer, Stallone has never grasped that the action… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Stallone + Russell + four directors = the truly strange Tango & Cash: http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/636-stallone-russell-four-directors-the-truly-strange-/ Sylvester Stallone’s career is a triumph of feverish determination. The tale of how he came to star in Rocky became Hollywood legend precisely because it’s so implausible. According to the story, which has been embellished through the years, Stallone was a struggling actor, a mere sandwich away from starving to death, when studios started salivating over his screenplay for Rocky. The studios promised Stallone untold wealth (and with it, untold sandwiches) if he would give his script over to them as a star vehicle for someone… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago

Should I be ashamed to admit I own Tango & Cash on DVD? I agree totally: it is, in your words, pure grade-A 1980’s cheese, a guilty pleasure. Stallone and Russell sure seem game in it. Your comment regarding Teri Hatcher playing “one of those strippers, ubiquitious in studio movies yet nonexistent in real life, who make a fortune playing to men’s depraved desire to see a woman strip down to leggings and a modest bra”, that comment made me laugh out loud. How many times have we seen that cliche before, one that doesn’t exist in the real world?… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

Gotta give credit to Jeff the Wildman for the stripper line as he is the author of this article. I agree, great bit. I watched We’re the Millers this weekend which was a great raunchy comedy. But Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who is always wearing a bra and panties. On this one, Demi Moore got it right. Strip or don’t play a stripper.
I don’t think liking Tango and Cash is anything to be ashamed of. Any more than liking Velveeta. It’s not high cuisine. It’s not good for you in any way. But sometimes, it hits the spot.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Sylvester Stallone’s career tells a story of going the distance: http://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/275-sylvester-stallones-career-tells-a-story-of-going-/?page=all by Matt Singer WITH CAREER VIEW, THE DISSOLVE OFFERS AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY, AND CRITICAL SUMMARY, OF A CAREER IN FILM. The entrance to the Philadelphia Museum Of Art sits atop 72 of the most famous stone steps in the world. They were immortalized by director John G. Avildsen and writer-star Sylvester Stallone in the 1976 movie Rocky. In the film’s signature scene, Stallone’s eponymous hero, a club fighter preparing for an unlikely bout with the heavyweight champion of the world, finishes a grueling training regimen by leaping up the… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Actors turning down roles (that ended up being big mistakes)? http://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/294611-actors-turning-down-roles-ended-up-being-big-mistakes.html Rocky_Stallone 05-25-03, 01:18 PM Sylvester Stallone turned down several roles which would have been perfect for him, a few rolese Sly turned down that I can name: 1) He was originally signed to play the role of Max Cherry in “Jackie Brown”. Tarantino really wanted him as Max Cherry but for some reason Sly didn’t like the role, I think Sly being in a Tarantino film would HAVE helped his career 2) Sly was asked to play the lead role (Eddie Murphy’s main character) in “Beverly Hills Cop”, Sly… Read more »

bodwaya
bodwaya
9 years ago

after rocky stallone was dubbed by ebert as the next brando. He could have been a serious actor but instead decided to became an action star. I feel with the right dramatic role he can be a serious oscar contender

lebeau
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  bodwaya

The problem is, no one is interested in Stallone as a dramatic actor. He tried with Copland which got good reviews. But it bombed at the box office and Stallone claims it nearly killed his career. He’s not going to go down that career path again and he won’t be getting any offers to do so.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

“he’s not going to go down that career path again and he won’t be getting any offers to do so.” That is true. Part of what makes Stallone’s comeback so impressive is that when no one wanted to hire him anymore and everyone counted him out, he made his own comeback. He built his comeback around familiarity (Rocky Balboa, Rambo) and a new action franchise (Expendables). At this point Stallone knows he’s in a box, even during his career peak when he attempted different things (serious drama, comedy, etc.) people tuned out. He simply won’t be getting any outside offers… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

With Expendables theoretically dead, he doesn’t have a lot of options left.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

10 Incredible Against-All-Odds Hollywood Comebacks: http://whatculture.com/film/10-incredible-against-all-odds-hollywood-comebacks.php/5 Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Stallone demonstrated incredible willpower when he refused to sell the Rocky script to United Artists unless he was allowed to play the title character himself. It was a shrewd move by Stallone, as the film was a box-office smash and it shot the once-struggling actor to superstardom. The Downfall: After the overwhelming success of Rocky and First Blood, Stallone became a franchise man. In between directing, writing and starring in the Rambo and Rocky films, he made other action films like Cobra and Over The Top to varying degrees of success.… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

We Run The Series with Rocky to examine how it went from hero to zero and back again https://t.co/PHqX3NcMhf

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