78 thoughts on “Sylvester Stallone Movies”

1. Over the years Stallone has accumulated a record slew of Razzie awards and nominations in multiple categories of movie-making: actor/supporting actor/director/screen writer with a slew of them being for his awful Rambo and Rocky performances and director/screenwriter contributions to those particular movies.

   That haul includes as well “Worst actor of the Decade” and “Worst Actor of the Century for 99.5% OF EVERYTHING HE EVER DID”. Sly has also secured 10 Stinkers Bad Movies and Actors awards/nominations with again his Rocky portrayal doing some of the damage.

   Full lists of Stallone’s Razzie and Stinkers Awards/noms are given on IMDB. but in Part 3 of this post I list his acting Razzies. Humphrey Bogart could be caustic at times about his own perception of the inconsistency of the Hollywood Oscars.

   Bogie named in particular Victor McLaglen as a performer who didn’t deserve his Oscar for 1936’s The Informer and a contemporary paraphrasing of Bogie’s comments about Victor at the time might well be “They’ve given an Oscar Best Actor nomination for the film Rocky to a guy who couldn’t act or box his way out of a wet paper bag!”

   “Well Bogie you know
   If you’re looking below
   It’s worse now than then!”

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2. Just added Steve’s Stallone video to the page. My thoughts on the video and Stallone found on his channel.

   “Good video. Seen most of these movies but get off to a horrible start with all of his direct to DVD movies…though I have seen and liked #47 D-Tox also called Eye See You. I do much better with the movies in the 30s…only missing #38 Paradise Alley. Seen all of the 20s favorite is easily #22 Tango and Cash…fun guilty pleasure movie. Seen all the ones ranked 19 to 11. Never liked #17 Victory…even with Michael Caine. #16 Expendables 2 is the best of that franchise…love the Last Supper poster. #15 Rocky 3 is my favorite Rocky movie..I like it even more than #1 Rocky 1. Seen the entire Top 10….so that is a tally count of 44 or 88% of these movies. Voted up and shared.”

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   1. Hi Bruce, your tally 44, mine 40, Flora 1 – Farewell My Lovely.

      Rocky III was probably the most enjoyable of the Rocky movies, but Rocky I is still regarded as the best written, acted and directed. It was eclipsed by Raging Bull a few years later but I enjoy Rocky more. They managed to get Jake LaMotta and Rocky Balboa in a ‘Grudge Match’ decades later but it wasn’t very good.

      Thanks for the vote, share and comment, always appreciated.

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      1. Hey Steve….Mr. T makes a great bad guy in part 3…..Rocky 1 is a great movie…..just I do not like re-watching it as much as Rocky 3. Those are the two Rocky movies I re-watch….the other 18 I never re-watch….lol. I thought Grudge Match was pretty good….the boxing action was weak…but I liked seeing DeNiro and Sly together. Good stuff.

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3. “A man who couldn’t act his way out of a wet paper bag is Victor McLaglen,” harshly opined Humphrey Bogart. I have often wondered what Bogie would have thought of Stallone. We shall never know but we do have the verdict of a person whose opinions are treated as gold dust on this site “Stallone is somewhat limited as an actor—-,” said that critic. He wished Sly well for the future but generally regarded him as a ‘one trick pony’. However it has to be admitted that the same critic did not think highly either of the actor who DID successfully play the screen Stanley.

   Best POSTERS entries 50-26 Stallone Video: 1/Escape Plan 2 2/D-Tox 3/Spy Kids 3 4/Paradise Alley 5/two for Bullet to the Head 6/two for Over the Top 7/foreign language one for Cobra 8/2nd one for Daylight 9/ Lords of the Flatbush.

   Best POSTERS entries 1-25 1/FIST 2/two for Rambo 3 3/Lock Up 4/2 for Expendables 5/foreign language one for Death Race 2000 6/Victory 7/two for Expendables 2 8/Nighthawks 9/Creed 2 10/two for Cliffhanger 11/Farewell my Lovely 12/Guardians of the Galaxy 2 13/entire set for First Blood 14/Rocky.

   A superb run of stills have been provided and my pick over the entire video are: 1/Rhinestone 2/Driven 3/Spy Kids 3 4/Judge Dredd 5/Cobra 6/the superb Ben Gazzara [Stallone should have taken the opportunity to secure some acting lessons from him] 7/with Arnie 8/with Sharon Stone 8/with DeNiro 9/Assassins 10/Rambo 3 11/Rocky IV 12/Tango and Cash 13/Demolition Man 14/Rocky Balboa 2006 15/Cliffhanger 16/Rocky 2.

   This is the first time I can remember rating two of your videos 99% back-to-back [I’ve just given Travolta a 99%] so you have obviously been a ‘good boy’ while I’ve been away! You and WH agree on 4 of Stallone’s Top 6 Best Reviewed movies.

   ADDITIONAL TRIVIA 1/Back to Mature. In the 1950s Britain’s lead film critic Margaret Hinxman of Photoplay magazine singled out 1958’s China Doll as the one movie in which Vic had given an “acting performance of any kind”. For me 1997’s Cop Land was that one film in Sly’s case though my 3 personal favourite Stallone films are Nighthawks, Assassins and Rocky 4 2/I have a book which lists its perception of the Greatest 100 icons of all time across the whole sporting & entertainment industries and several movie stars are listed including the ‘usual suspects’ of Archie Leach, Bogie, Brando, Gable but only 3 stars who could be said to be action icons are mentioned: Arnie, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Lee.

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia, much appreciated.

      Happy you enjoyed the picture gallery even if it wasn’t one of your favorites.

      I was a Stallone fan back in my video renting days but I wasn’t a fan of all his films, I didn’t like Staying Alive or Stop or My Mom Will Shoot and I didn’t even bother with Rhinestone. But I did enjoy the first 4 Rocky films and the Rambos.

      I suppose a true fan will watch everything and collect everything on their idol. I’ve mercifully never had to go thru that kind of manic fan worship, even with Elvis. Maybe Bruce Lee… but he only had four martial arts classics under his belt before he died so being a Bruce Lee completist in my teens wasn’t too hard.

      A bit of Sly trivia – At his birth, the doctor’s forceps accidentally severed a facial nerve. As a result the lower left side of his face was paralyzed, including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin, resulting in a droopy mouth and slurred speech.

      No 10 out of 10’s in Stallone’s filmography from my sources, there is one scoring 9 out of 10 – Rocky (1976).

      Five films scored 8 out of 10 including First Blood, Rocky II and Creed.

      Stallone on Arnold Schwarzenegger – “I see him every Saturday, at Café Roma in Beverly Hills. It’s funny because we used to be so competitive in the Eighties and now we’re the best buddies in the world.”

      Stallone on Rambo – “He’d murder Jason Bourne. I’m only kidding. Maybe the other guy…the one in The Transporter, Jason Statham.”

      “Yeah, I remember Nighthawks. Again, a film that didn’t find an audience, but I thought Rutger Hauer was incredible.”

      Stallone on his failed audition for a part in The Godfather – “I couldn’t even be an extra at the wedding, that’s how far down the food chain I was.”

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      1. HI STEVE

         Thanks for the feedback, additional trivia and explanations and quotes.

         I am glad to see that I am not the only one who wants to kill Jason!

         I’ll be in touch with you next about Mike Douglas. Meanwhile take care and have a good weekend.

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4. I have mentioned before that years ago Stallone announced that he was planning to play Stanley in a big-screen remake of 1951’s classic Streetcar, but Tennessee Williams publicly advised him against it, saying Brando’s 1951 cinematic performance was definitive and could not be duplicated, nor should the latter be attempted. The project was shelved but Sly sulked for a while over the Williams put-down. However I think that Tennessee went easy on Stallone because his advice to Sylvester should have been in my view “Never attempt any role in any movie EVER!” I do feel sorry for poor ole Rocky though because Sly has flogged him to death over the years, having him resurface possibly as many time as Fu Manchu.

   When I was growing up in the 1950s Victor Mature was our Stallone back then, with the Joel types of the day complaining that Vic had just two expressions: an exaggerated grin and a furrowed brow. Stallone would probably kill to have even those two expressions instead of a sulky demeanour, but Vic never seemed to take himself too seriously. When he retired he started a car sales business but he told an interviewer that he left it in the hands of his employees and appeared at the showroom about just once a year, varying the dates. “I put on the toupee, stick in the false teeth and mosey down there just to be seen. The chance of maybe seeing me there keeps ‘em coming in all year round!” he chortled.

   Also in the 1966 Peter Sellers film After the Fox Vic sent up his old image in a supporting role. He played a ham actor whose career was kept alive with hype and gimmicks form his agent. However it suits crime bosses to let Mature wins a prestigious acting award that greatly pleases him and at the end of the movie he is standing by the sea when his agent comes up to him to tell him about the latest gimmick he has planned for Vic to which the latter retorts “I don’t need a new gimmick from you. I’ve got one of my own – it’s called ACTING!” and he runs off up the beach rocking with self-congratulatory laughter. Stallone has obviously yet to catch on to that gimmick. No pretensions about Vic over doing Stanley; Samson, Hannibal and Demetrius were fine by HIM! However for my money he was a more natural performer than the rather stilted Stallone is.

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   1. Good information on Stallone, Sellers and Mature. I agree that Stallone and Mature have lots in common…from acting style to physical appearances. Guessing Sly has a video on Steve’s You Tube Channel…headed there now. Good stuff as always.

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5. Good to see Stallone’s page updated. I was a fan back in the 80s and 90s ‘the video years’. Yes I confess I watched Rambo on video many times back then, Rocky too. But Sly’s getting on a bit now and I’m not all that enthused when a film of his comes out, ditto Schwarzenegger. Our aging action heroes. Has anyone replaced them? Well there’s Dwayne Johnson. Have you done a page on the man formerly known as The Rock, Bruce? [cue Bruce growling]

   I have to admit I did smile, and maybe wiped a tear, when I saw Stallone turn up in Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2, I hope he has a bigger role to play in the next one. 🙂

   Bob mentioned Nighthawks, one of Stallone’s underrated action gems. I’m hoping to pick up the blu-ray edition soon, hopefully with the original soundtrack restored.

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   1. Hey Steve….actually besides Guardians of the Galaxy 2…there was very little changed on this page. At one point this was one of my most popular pages…it has really slowed down since the move to UMR.com. Actually this one and my Disney pages are the ones that got hurt the most by this most recent move.

      All of the 1980s action stars are now in their 60s and 70s….heck Chuck Norris is almost 80…(77)…..in some ways they are like the old west actors of the 1950s…Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. When we get even older we will be tell you people how awesome Predator, Die Hard and Rambo movies were back in the day.

      If he comes back to the Marvel Universe….I think his role will be much bigger…..I think the % of that happening are dwindling each and every day. I have not see Nighthawks in years…good movie indeed. 🙂

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