Sylvester Stallone

In all this time, this forum has had threads on Schwarzengger, Willis, Seagal, Van Damme and even Chuck Norris, but not Stallone. Why not? I like the guy a lot, and I'm sure there are others who have some love for the man.

I grew up with a lot of his films and the following are a few of my favourites...

Cliffhanger (1993)
Rocky series (1976-2006)
First Blood (1982)
Demolition Man (1993)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
Tango & Cash (1989)
The Specialist (1994)
Cobra (1986)

Anyone else got a few favourites or thoughts on the man?

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Sylvester Stallone is my hero. When it was my first turn to do Movie Theme of the Week here, I made Sylvester Stallone movies my theme.



The man is gorgeous and completely charismatic. His films are inspiring and strong and entertaining. Recently I rewatched Over the Top, which is a nice movie but deals with what I thought was a strange sport for Stallone -- arm wrestling.

I am still trying to get myself to watch all of his movies, though. Love the Rocky and Rambo films (except Rambo III, I find that one kinda boring.) Love Cobra a lot. Cliffhanger. Tango and Cash. Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!

Did not like Oscar.

A couple of his movies I have in my collection but I still need to get around to watching them. Like Paradise Alley, Nighthawks, Rhinestone and Lock Up.

Liked The Expendables; haven't seen the sequel, yet.

I like Rocky V and the new(er) Rambo movie.

Still need to see Cop Land. And F.I.S.T.

Need to get a copy of the porno he did.



Terrific actor. Anybody who doesn't like him is oxygen deprived.

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I dig his films. Never got into his Rambo series, but like almost everything else he does, even Judge Dredd....hahahaa.

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Tyler, I'm guessing that you got your love for all these '80s-ish action films and stars from your dad. Have any stories to tell about watching them for the first time?

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Not Oscar material but as one of only two bodybuilders to make it big as an action hero and not be a martial artist, he has accomplished a lot.
Also, all brawn and no cerebral he's not as evidenced by the Rocky and Rambo characters he created.
His movies that I really liked were Rocky I, First Blood and Rambo 5.

Actually, most of my love for these 80's action films comes from my mum. She's big on action, whereas my dad introduced to stuff from Tarantino and Scorsese, specifically Pulp Fiction and GoodFellas. My dad actually fell asleep during Cliffhanger when he and my mum saw it at a drive-in before I was born. I don't think he's actually ever seen it all the way through. He actually remarked to me the other day "I only actually started watching movies more when you came along," which I suppose is a good thing.

One of the best aspects of my childhood was finding a stash of movies taped off the TV that my parents recorded. There was a lot of stuff in there that cemented my love for action cinema, stuff like The Long Kiss Goodnight (which is still my mum's favourite movie, and one of mine as well), True Lies, Face/Off, Speed, Total Recall, Jurassic Park and many others I can't think of at the moment.

The first ever dvds I bought were all Schwarzenegger, stuff like Red Heat, Raw Deal, Predator, The Terminator, Conan, Commando and Eraser. Strangely, I didn't acquire copies of Terminator 2 and Total Recall until I was about 12, a long time after I had started my dvd collection. And to this day I have never seen The Running Man.

My mum always used to buy some great action movies that she knew I'd love, like The Rock, Con Air and Broken Arrow. So I guess I definitely have my mother to thank for introducing me into the amazing art of cinema.

I liked the first two Rocky movies and that one, I dont recall the name of it where Stallone was trapped with a bunch of other people in a New York subway tunnel explosion. I think they were among his best.

I thought about mentioning "your parents" instead of your "Dad". Tell your Mum I'm sorry about going for the cliche and not considering her good taste in movies.

I just watched Paradise Alley again, and boy, it's a weird movie. It starts with Sly crooning the theme song while he races a guy in slow motion jumping between five-story tenement houses. It's also got Sly wearing an earring (What are you, a pirate?) and having long hair to avoid being drafted during WWII, his brother (Armand Assante - film debut) as his sensitive soul who got a Purple Heart during the war and a giant of a younger brother (Lou Carnalito, I think) who's much brighter than people think. It's got some nice-looking women, some wacko villains, wrestling and a funny monkey. I kinda like it but it might show off too much of Stallone's offbeat humor for some people expecting an action epic.

Haha, no worries.

Bighuey, I believe the one you're thinking of Daylight. I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard several good things about it from my mum and even a few of my teachers.

Can't say I've ever really been a fan, but I do love Demolition Man. Such a fun movie. Also enjoyed Tango and Cash, though not as much.

Can't stand Rocky or Rambo. Also couldn't understand a darned thing he said in pretty much all of The Expendables.

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I think Demoliton Man is okay, but it feels extremely slow.

Perhaps my favourite Stallone Flick is one of his lesser known roles.

Nighthawks (1981) also starring Rutger Hauer, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner.



I think the crappy poster had a lot to do with it.



it looks like a thirdrate Sharkys machine wannabe. (the poster i mean).

The only reason i saw it in the theatres was in the dinky town i grew up in, going to the movies every weekend was just what we did. whatever was showing is what we saw, often without having seen a trailer beforehand.

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Nighthawks is still pretty solid. It's something akin to a French Connection movie which turns into a "trapped on a skyway" movie. It's superficial but still exciting.

One of the best action stars in history... one of the original too.

My first experiences of Sly were in Tango and Cash, Demolition Man, Daylight and Cliffhanger but I've become a stalwart fan over the years and have caught most of his back catalogue.

Rocky, First Blood, Lock Up, Assassins, Cobra are just a few of my faves but I like pretty much all of his movies, even Judge Dredd was fun in a cr*p kind of way.

The biggets surprise of his was Cop Land. Very underrated movie and Sly is playing against type and doing an extremely good job of it too. Very good movie.

He's also a brilliant director. Staying Alive, Paradise Alley, Rocky Balboa, Rambo, The Expendables... all well directed.

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Wow, it turns out we have a lot of diehard fans of Stallone on this site.

He had me at Lords of Flatbush

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Fist was a good one too. It was pretty much true to life about the Teamsters union.

Rocky Balboa is my least favorite of the Rocky movies. Something about it just doesn't work for me. I think it's the woman who plays "Little Marie." She rubs me wrong. I like the idea that Adrian has died... yet her replacement sucks. So, I think if Adrian had been alive, the movie would be better. I need to give it another watch. Hell, I feel like watching it now.

I prefer Balboa over the 3rd, 4th and 5th installments... they got too cartoony/comicbook and definitely too cheesey for my liking.
I enjoyed them, just not a patch on the original two. Balboa is a return to the realistic feel that the first two had... made it a better movie.

This is how I rated them in my thread:

Rocky- 95%

Rocky 2- 93%

Rocky 3- 75%

Rocky 4- 80%

Rocky 5- 50%

Rocky Balboa- 94%

Rocky IV might as well be a music video, but still I love its silliness over Rocky Balboa.