I’ve been a fan of Stallone ever since I saw my first Rocky picture at the age of 5, ever since then I’ve been hooked on all things Stallone. Sure he’s not the best actor ever but Sly makes up for this by giving us pure entertainment. You know when you stick on a film with the word Stallone on the box you know you are in for a hell of a ride.I’m also over the moon to see the success the Stallion has had in recent years. After making his name in the 70s with Rocky Stallone became arguably the biggest star on the planet in the 80s with blockbuster after blockbuster. The 90s however were not as kind to him, whilst still having reasonably large box-office results the fans did no connect with the likes of Judge Dredd, Assassins & Daylight in the same way they had his previous work. The early 00s saw even less hits for Stallone & it looked like the great mans time was up to everybody except Sly himself, like a great fighter Sly bounced back with reboots of Rambo & Rocky which not only were enormous box-office smashes but were loved by the fans, Sly was back! Now we have the epic Expendables which has been another big hit for Sly & talks are already on for a follow up. Also in the pipeline we have another Rambo & a remake of the Charles Bronson classic Death Wish. At 64 it seems there is no stopping the Stallion & here is to hoping that he continues for another good few years yet.
So out of respect to the great man, I give you my top ten Sylvester Stallone Flicks. I’ve gave myself a limit of only two Rocky films. I love them all (minus rocky V of course,) and all could of contended for this list but I wanted to draw attention to a few other of his pictures that most probably are sitting in the sale-bins in DVD stores as we speak.
10: Tango & Cash [1989]
I was a big fan of this film when I was a child, I’d probably rank it higher but I’ve not seen it for a good ten years yet I remember so many of the scenes so clearly. Simple plot, Stallone & Kurt Russle are framed, thrown into prison & must escape. A typical action flick of it’s time, I need to pick this up on DVD again & give it a blast ASAP.
FilmFact: Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell both auditioned for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). There is even a reference to Jabba The Hutt in this movie.
09: Cobra [1986]
Such a ridiculously fun, Over the top piece of 80s action. Contains possibly the best Tag-line for a movie I’ve ever seen in ‘Crime is the disease. Meet the Cure’, tons of great one-liners from Sly such as ‘This is where the law stops and I start’ & Sly responds to a terrorist threatening to blow a supermarket up with ‘Go Ahead, I don’t shop here’. Cobra also has probably the best (or worst, however you look at it) cheesey 80’s soundtrack ever, just youtube cobra soundtrack, sit back & drown in the funky sax sounds. Did anybody ever actually like music like this?
FilmFact: Sylvester Stallone was signed to play the lead in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), he did a lot of work on the screenplay, turning it into an action extravaganza that the studio couldn’t afford. He eventually left Beverly Hills Cop and channeled his ideas for that project into this movie.
08: Nighthawks [1981]
In his first role playing a cop Stallone must stop an international terrorist played by one of Hollywood’s best bad guys, Rutger Hauer. Very underrated, dark film which despite coming out in ’81 feels much more like a 70’s picture with a similar feel to movies such as Dirty Harry & The Mechanic. also Stallone sports a sexy beard throughout.
FilmFact: Stallone describes the scene where he Hangs from the cable car as the most dangerous stunt he has performed in his entire career.
07: The Expendables [2010]
So The Expendables is finally here, the biggest collection of action-movie stars ever assembled. Jet Li, Dolph Lungren, Jason Statham, Steve Austin & Micky Rourke all star alongside Stallone with cameo’s from Bruce Willis & Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Finally we see Arnie & Sly share the screen together even if it is only for a few minutes. The Expendables really does deliver everything you could hope for from a modern action-flick & I’m so glad that Stallone has had success with a new idea rather than a reboot of his old ideas. Personally I’ve never been a big Statham fan but he stole the show in this film though Stallone still holds his own at the age of 64 (yeah, sixty-four!). There is bound to be a sequal due to it’s success, I just hope Sly can get even more stars on board next time around.
FilmFact: Stallone approached Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes & Steven Seagal for roles in this film but all three had to turn Sly down for different reasons.
06 Escape To Victory [1981]
Ever wanted to watch a dream-team of Pele, Bobby Moore, Ossie Ardiles, Mike Summerbee, Michael Caine with Sylvester Stallone in goal? Where here’s your chance. Sly & the gang are held up in a World War II camp where they are to take on an All-star Nazi side in a propaganda event which the prisoners will use as a means to escape. Escape To Victory feels like an remake of The Great Escape though of course not quite as good though is still a very good film. The closing twenty minutes are a little daft but they are very memorable, the Allied prisoners are being stuffed by the German’s at half time, when they return to their dressing room the tunnel has been dug for them to escape but the team decide to go back to the field to turn the match around & guess what, they turn it around & get in front but give away a penalty in the dieing seconds. If you’ve not seen the picture I think you can guess who comes off the hero here.
FilmFact: Sylvester Stallone received training from England’s World Cup winning goalkeeper, Gordon Banks. Initially, Stallone paid little attention to Banks’s advice as he didn’t think the training was necessary, and recklessly threw himself around on the first day of filming the match. Eventually, he hit the ground so hard that he dislocated a shoulder and broke one of his ribs, putting him out of action for several days. When he returned, Stallone paid much more attention to what Banks was telling him, but still sustained a number of minor injuries over the course of filming, including another broken rib. After production was finished, Stallone commented that the experience had been harder than fighting in the Rocky movies.
05 Lock Up [1989]
Another under appreciated Gem starring Stallone. Like Tango & Cash this is another prison film where Sly is banged up for not doing alot wrong though where Tango & Cash is often played for humour & often feels light-hearted Lock Up see’s Stallone put through the pain barrier pysically & emotionally. Donald Sutherland is superb playing the evil prison general who will stop at nothing to make Stallone’s life a complete hell.
Filmfact: Lock Up was directed by John Flynn who also directed one of Stevan Seagal’s finest movies Out For Justice & also directed one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite movies Rolling Thunder.
04 Cop Land [1997]
I can hear the WTF’s & ‘how can you rank this so high?’ coming at me right now but I don’t care. I’m a huge fan of Cop Land. Not only does it have a superb cast with people such as Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro & Robert Patrick but it also has one of Stallone’s best ever performances. Anyone who thinks Sly is all about the muscle’s & incapable of giving a good performance I urge to watch this film. ‘Cop Land’ is a safe haven for all of New York’s cops, far away from the crime & filth that they are used to working with on a daily basis. Stallone plays Freddy, Freddy always wanted to be in the big-time, in NYC but due to him being deaf in one ear has held him back so he is stuck in charge of Cop-Land. Stallone’s character is very fragile & he’s made to feel useless by the NYC cops. As Cop-Land goes on Freddy slowly becomes the main character in a tale of corruption & Murder & Stallone shines in his roll. I wish he had taken more parts like this where he could show off other sides to his talent, highly recommend this film, Sly gives one of his best & the film itself is a near classic.
FilmFact: Stallone gained 40 pounds to add realism to his portrayal of the police officer. He also was only paid SAG minimum wages. By the time that re-shoots were required, he had lost the weight again.
03 Rocky [1976]
So here is where Stallone made his name for himself. I don’t need to say much about this one, we’ve all seen it & we all love it. Rocky turns from zero to hero in 90 minutes, from having nothing to getting the girl & taking on the world champion. It’s the classic underdog story & Sly’s character is the lovable every-man that we can all see a little part of ourselves in which is probably why so many millions of people can identify with the series in the way that they do. Sure Taxi Driver deserved the Oscar that year & if you want a realistic & harder hitting portrait of a boxer watch Raging Bull but nothing can beat the over dramatic feel you get when watching a Rocky film. Alot of respect has to be given to Bill Conti who’s score is just as iconic as the film it’self. YO ADRIAN
FilmFact: Although Sylvester Stallone famously wrote the first draft of the script in 3 days, it went through nine sizable rewrites before it was purchased by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff. Originally, Stallone’s much darker script depicted Mickey as a bitter old racist, and the film ended with Rocky throwing the fight after realizing he did not want to be part of the professional boxing world.
02 First Blood [1982]
The story of a special forces soldier haunted by his time in Vietnam returning to an America which shows him little respect for the service he’s done for his country. A sheriff gives Rambo a hard time for no other reason than him not liking his look to the point where Stallone retaliates & gets himself arrested. Stallone breaks free & then First Blood becomes a bloody, action-packed thriller with literally hundreds of officers trying to hunt Rambo but they soon find out that Rambo is no originally soldier. First Blood still holds up as a great film, the titles of the follow up’s always make me giggle. So, the original is called First Blood. The follow up you’d think would be First Blood II right? No. They decided Rambo: First Blood Part II’ would be better. So you are thinking the third must be Rambo: First Blood Part III right? Wrong, they decided on just Rambo III. Then there was a reboot of the series in 2008 where even then they couldn’t decide what the fuck to call it, in some countries we had Rambo IV, others John Rambo & in others simply Rambo. I bet they wish they had just named the original Rambo now.
Filmfact: Sylvester Stallone hated the first cut of the film so much that he tried to buy the film back and destroy it. When he couldn’t do that, he suggested that the producers cut much of his part and let the rest of the characters tell the story. That cut the movie time in half and set a precedent for future action movies.
01 Rocky IV [1985]
So here it is, the first Stallone film I ever saw & to this day by far my favourite. Some people think that by Rocky IV the films had become too over the top, that the character of Rocky had run it’s course & should be hanging up his gloves but I love the fact that Rocky IV is by far the most over the top blast of the entire series. Just look what happens in IV, you have the death of Rocky’s friend & trainer Apollo Creed, Rocky & Adrian’s relationship looks like it could be falling apart, you have James fucking Brown singing Liviing in America. You have a talking robot that is in love with uncle Paulie, you have Rocky’s biggest & toughest opponent yet in the Steroid freak of Ivan Drago & then you have THEM training scenes in the USSR which are without a doubt the best training montage scenes in a movie ever.I get goosebumps just thinking about some of the shit that goes down in Rocky IV, then theres a cheesey 80’s soundtrack that could even match that of Cobra. Rocky IV has everything that made the III before so successful but turned up the hurting bombs X1000. Apparently over 8,000 people turned up to audition for the roll of Ivan Drago, I can’t ever imagine anyone other than Dolph Lundgren playing him, a sensational performance that unfortunately always shadowed over anything else he ever attempted in his Hollywood career.
FilmFact: When shooting the film, Sylvester Stallone decided that for the shooting of the fight, he and Dolph Lundgren should hit one another for real, so as to increase the intensity of the scene. After doing three takes of Rocky taking shots to ribs, Stallone felt a burning in his chest, but ignored it. Later that night, he had difficulty breathing and was taken to a nearby emergency room. It was discovered that his blood pressure was over 200, and he had to be flown on a low-altitude flight from Canada to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, where he remained in intensive care for eight days. What had happened was that Lungren had punched him so hard in the chest, Stallone’s heart had slammed up against his breastbone and began to swell, cutting off the blood supply and restricting the oxygen flow throughout the body.
Thanks for reading. What are your favourite Stallone movies? Do you prefer Arnie? Join the message board & let us know, all I have left to say in the words of the great man himself is…
You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish
Tags: Action Movies, Apollo Creed, Cobra, Cop Land, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Rambo, Rocky, Stallone, Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables, Yo Adrian
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