Top 5 Stallone Films (for you)

[Admiral James Kirk]

Rocky: One of the most inspiring films of all time. It's unfortunate that Sly didn't win the Best Screenplay Oscar.

Rocky III: Fun. Fun. FUN.

Rambo: One fuck of a hardcore action flick.

Over the Top: A great father/son tale.

Demolition Man: Just a great sci-fi action flick.

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ I liked Over the Top as well, but it's not in my top five.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I just wish I could posted my top ten.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

1. Rocky Balboa
2. Rocky
3. First Blood
4. Rocky II
5. Nighthawks

 

[Starkers]

Ooh I forgot Nighthawks! That might take fith spot from Dredd come to think about it...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

IMHO, First Blood was the only even remotely realistic film in the entire Rambo franchise. Subsequent films just turned into a jingoistic killfest, and I can't believe Stallone would have gone along with that. First Blood, OTOH, was about the mistreatment of veterans (spitting on them and calling them 'baby killers' and all that) and how they can be pushed to the breaking point by that abuse.

What do you mean you can't believe he would have gone along with it? He wrote pt 2 and part 3 and wrote & directed the fourth one. He didn't just go along with it, it's all his fault.

It just seems kind of disingenuous. He made the first film as a very real commentary on the (mis)treatment of war veterans. For him to go and do a complete 180 and do the subsequent films as mere shoot-em-ups, suggests - to me, anyway - that he did not do it entirely by choice. Perhaps the studio "suggested" that he make the future Rambo films that way in order to get butts in seats?

 

[Pingfah]

^ No argument from me on the fact that it was lamentable, but I think the 80s did that to him, he did exactly the same thing with the Rocky franchise. I just think he got swept up with being an action megastar.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I don't mind the change in the Rambo series. First Blood Part II is one of the great action movies of the 80s and Rambo 4 is IMO the best action movie of the last decade.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It just seems kind of disingenuous. He made the first film as a very real commentary on the (mis)treatment of war veterans. For him to go and do a complete 180 and do the subsequent films as mere shoot-em-ups, suggests - to me, anyway - that he did not do it entirely by choice. Perhaps the studio "suggested" that he make the future Rambo films that way in order to get butts in seats?

You are making an incorrect assumption. Stallone did not have any more creative control on that first film than any other lead actor would. It was based on a novel by David Morrell, and Stallone did not even write the screenplay.

The original book was much more realistic and not really about showing Rambo as an all out hero. Just about showing a returning veteran pushed too far. The ending is very different.

Sly and the director reportedly clashed a lot on the set about the tone of the movie. Once it was a huge success he was given almost full control of future sequels. It was at this point that he first wrote the script for a Rambo film with the second.

So Stallone was very very consistent with his view of John Rambo as a larger than life, almost mythic hero.

I suspect the only reason he did not take full control of the films at that time, actually directing II and III, was he was not sure if he could handle the work load. It is much more difficult to direct yourself in action sequences. Particularly when most of the films are made up of them. Compared with the Rocky films which were mostly multi-character dramas. With more scenes in which he did not actually appear.

 

[Kirby]

What, no love for Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot? - Yeah, that one sucked, but that movie was my first date with the woman who would eventually become my wife.

Here is my top 5 (minus SOMMWS)

Rocky
Rocky 2
First Blood
Cliffhanger
Demolition Man

I haven't seen Rocky Balboa or The Expendables yet.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

What, no love for Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot? - Yeah, that one sucked, but that movie was my first date with the woman who would eventually become my wife.

I would gather than it counts for you then. It perhaps isn't as bad as we say. I just don't remember it. I did love Oscar.

 

[Kirby]

What, no love for Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot? - Yeah, that one sucked, but that movie was my first date with the woman who would eventually become my wife.

It perhaps isn't as bad as we say.

No, it IS as bad as we say. We watched it again a few years ago, and while it had some humorous moments, overall it was pretty dreadful.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Have you tried Oscar?

Wait about twenty-five minutes, then the film really picks up steam!

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

You are making an incorrect assumption. Stallone did not have any more creative control on that first film than any other lead actor would. It was based on a novel by David Morrell, and Stallone did not even write the screenplay.

Not quite true. Sly had enough juice as a major star to finagle rewrites and since he was also a screenwriter he did those rewrites himself. The major purpose of those rewrites was to soften the Rambo character so he wasn't going around killing everybody in his path as the character did in the novel. Made sense to make him sympathetic. There's a scene in the novel and movie where he comes across a twelve year old boy with a hunting rifle. In the movie he grabs the rifle and tosses it away, scares the boy off. In the book he just stabs the boy to death. I'm pretty sure he would have lost the audience at that point.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

1. Rocky
2. F.I.S.T.
3. Paradise Alley
4. Copland
5. First Blood

 

[Harvey]

I've only seen two that are worth a damn--Rocky and Rocky Balboa, but there are many that I haven't seen.

Driven and D-Tox are total garbage, though. And Rambo (IV) isn't much better.