One of the biggest box office draws in the world from the 1970s through the early 1990s, actor, writer, director and producer Sylvester Stallone combined sheer physical brawn with a touch of vulnerability in two major movie franchises the Academy Award-winning Rocky (1976) and its five sequels, as well as the jingoistic, ultra-violent Rambo quartet (1981-2008). Frequently reviled by critics and pundits for his acting and movie choices, Stallone persevered through several major career eclipses, only to come back, much like Rocky Balboa, time and time again as the pop cultural icon that he most definitely was.
Born Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone in Hells Kitchen, NY on July 6, 1946, his first moments set the tone for a challenging life: an accident during his forceps delivery severed a nerve in his face, which resulted in his trademark slurred speech and drooping facial features. Stallones parents, Jacqueline Labofish who would later achieve pseudo-celebrity in the 1980s as a wrestling promoter and astrologer and Frank Stallone Sr. had a combative relationship, leading young Sly to spend several years in foster homes. He eventually returned to his family which included younger brother Frank in Maryland, but the marriage soon dissolved, leaving Stallone to relocate with his mother to her new husbands hometown of Philadelphia, PA. His time there was marked by frequent expulsions from schools and bouts with loneliness and anger. By the time he landed in a school for troubled youth, he was named Most Likely to End Up in the Electric Chair by his classmates. Sports and exercise provided his sole positive outlet.
Poor grades restricted Stallones choices for higher education, so he ended up spending a stint in beauty school before attending the American College in Switzerland, where drama courses gave him a new direction. He returned to the United States in 1967 and studied drama at the University of Miami, but departed for New York to find work just two years later and three credits shy of a degree. His speech impediment made it difficult for him to find substantial work, but his brawny physique ensured him of a certain type of role he was a randy telephone repairman in the bawdy off-Broadway play Score (1971) and appeared nude in a softcore grindhouse feature called Party at Kitty and Studs (1970), which was revived in the mid-70s after he rose to fame with Rocky. Minor parts in Hollywood features like Woody Allens Bananas (1971) and The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) eventually came his way, but these too were based entirely on his physical presence, and more often than not, he lost opportunities including a role in The Godfather (1972) for being too brawny. Frustrated with the lack of opportunity, Stallone headed for Los Angeles, where he intended to make his own way by writing scripts for himself.
His fortunes increased somewhat after the move. Roger Corman offered him his most substantial roles to date in Capone (1975), starring as murderous Depression Era gangster Frank Nitti, and Death Race 2000 (1975), in which he played a futuristic racecar driver with a chip on his shoulder. He also sold his first screenplay, a coming-of-age drama called The Lords of Flatbush (1974), in which he co-starred with fellow up-and-comers Henry Winkler, Perry King, and Armand Assante.
In 1975, he witnessed the epic boxing match between underdog Chuck The Bayonne Bleeder Wepner and heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Wepners determination in the face of his superior opponent struck a chord with Stallone, who went home and penned the script for a feature about a good-natured club fighter named Rocky Balboa who gets a shot at the heavyweight title. The script fell into the hands of producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, whose attention Stallone had caught with the script for another project titled Paradise Alley. Both producers wanted the film, but initially balked on Stallones request to play the title role. After some deliberation and script changes including a more upbeat ending both agreed that the films low budget could allow for a relative unknown to play the lead. The result was one of the most invigorating and popular features of the 1970s a rags-to-riches story enlivened by some of the most realistic boxing footage ever captured on film, as well as Stallones unexpectedly funny and tender turn as Rocky the Italian Stallion. The shot of Rocky charging triumphantly up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the strains of composer Bill Contis Gonna Fly Now score became in and of itself, one of the most iconic scenes in Hollywood history. Directed ably by John Avildsen, Rocky went on to gross over $117 million dollars and net three Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Stallone himself was nominated for two Oscars Actor and Screenplay and his Hollywood career was effectively launched quite famously at age 30.
Stallone made his directorial debut with Paradise Alley (1978), a period drama about three Hells Kitchen brothers Stallone, Assante and Kevin Conway who get involved with professional wrestling. He then penned and starred in F.I.S.T. (1978), a drama about a laborer who becomes involved in union organization. Neither proved as big a hit as Rocky though few films could, such was the cultural impact of part I of the Balboa saga so the inevitable sequel was set for 1979. Rocky II rematched Balboa with Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), the Muhammad Ali stand-in he battled in the first film. Not only did Stallone write this film; he also directed the picture, which, not surprisingly, earned a heavy payday from moviegoers proving almost as popular as the first. The film also established Stallones routine of returning to his best-loved characters after experiencing a bout of flops.
Stallone was a American POW in World War II who participates in a soccer match against his Nazi captors in John Hustons cult favorite Victory (1981), and donned a beard and glasses to play a cop on the trail of a terrorist (Rutger Hauer) for the underrated Nighthawks (1981) the latter of which suffered cuts at the hands of its studio and underperformed at the box office. But in 1982, he rose to the top of the box office yet again with a second frachise-in-the-making: First Blood, an action-packed drama about troubled Vietnam vet John Rambo, who tangles with a small town police force. The film, directed by Ted Kotcheff, dampened the dark tone and downbeat ending of David Morrells novel which saw Rambo commit suicide after his rampage giving Stallone one of his biggest hits since the Rocky films. It also (unintentionally) served as a touchstone for conservatives such as then-President Ronald Reagan, who admitted his fondness for the violent picture.
Stallone followed this with another huge hit, Rocky III (1982), which pitted the boxer against the brutal Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Though the latest sequel took Rocky even further from his humble roots, audiences still flocked to see the underdog story and the stellar boxing sequences. However, Stallone stumbled mightily with Staying Alive (1983), his sequel to Saturday Night Fever (1977). Despite a healthy box office take John Travoltas last for awhile Stallones turn as director, producer and writer of the overtly cheesy musical complete with a fur-clad Stallone street cameo and the casting of brother Frank as Travoltas competition for a ladys affections was lambasted by critics. Even more maligned was his next film, the ill-advised musical comedy Rhinestone, which saw Stallone singing with Dolly Parton. In the first of several bad career choices, Stallone reportedly turned down the starring roles in Beverly Hills Cop (1983) and Romancing the Stone (1984) to star in his major flop.
With two back-to-back disasters on his plate, Stallone retreated to familiar territory for his next projects. Rocky IV (1985) tapped heavily into the then-current flag-waving political rhetoric for his match between Balboa and a robotic Soviet fighter (Dolph Lundgren). Despite its not-so-subtle flash, the film was the highest grossing entry in the Rocky series then to date, earning some $127 million at the box office. The film also served as the launching point for Stallones relationship with Danish model and actress Brigitte Nielsen, who appeared as Lundgrens Russian love interest. After marrying Sasha Czack in 1974 and raising two sons Sage, who appeared as Rockys son Robert in Rocky IV and later became a filmmaker and exhibitor; Seargeoh, who was autistic Stallone filed for divorce and wed the over-the-top Nielsen. Their two-year relationship was covered to dizzying extremes until an abrupt and ugly divorce in 1987. Stallone also revived John Rambo for the ultra-violent Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which sent the vet back to Vietnam to rescue POWs. Critics blasted the picture for its conservative tone and staggering violence, but it was the second most popular film of the year and a massive hit worldwide. During this period, Stallone also served as executive producer on the TV-movie biopic Heart of a Champion: The Ray Mancini Story (1985) and advised the projects numerous boxing scenes. It was, indeed, his biggest year since his bicentennial breakout in 1976.
The year 1986 marked the beginning of Stallones long, cartoonish and critically reviled tenure as an action hero a status solidified by his participation in the overblown Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, which he co-founded with fellow defenders of cinematic liberty, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1991. Cobra (his second and final feature with Nielsen) was a tasteless and thick-skulled crime pic with Stallone as a taciturn cop hunting axe-wielding serial killers. It scored well among moviegoers, but Over The Top (1987), with Stallone as a competitive arm wrestler, and Tango and Cash (1989), with Stallone and Kurt Russell as odd-couple cops fighting drug dealers, yielded mediocre returns and much unintended laughter. He returned for a third time as John Rambo in Rambo III (1988), which dispatched the homicidal hero to Afghanistan to fight the occupying Soviet Army. The picture, which earned a place in the record books as the film with the most violent acts and on-screen deaths in history, performed poorly at American box offices, but earned massive returns worldwide.
A sea change was required for Stallones career in the late 1980s, but his next few projects only extended his losing streak. Lock Up (1988), with Stallone as a falsely accused prisoner victimized by a sadistic warden (Donald Sutherland), was an attempt to return to his underdog persona, but found few ticket buyers. Even the revival of Rocky Balboa in Rocky V (1990), with John G. Avildsen back in the directors chair and Stallone as screenwriter, couldnt muster a respectable profit. And a likable attempt at comedy with John Landis screwball comedy Oscar (1991) tanked miserably. The nadir of Stallones film career came just one year later with Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) a ghastly action comedy with a pistol-packing Estelle Getty as Stallones interfering mom. The Golden Rasberry Awards showered upon the film only solidified the notion that Stallones career was stuck in neutral, or fixed in a downward spiral.
But like so many times before, Stallone came back from behind with two major hits in 1993. Cliffhanger, by rising action director Renny Harlin, saw Stallone as a spooked mountain climber blackmailed into aiding criminals (led by an over-the-top John Lithgow) in recovering stolen treasury money. The film, which featured breathtaking scenery and stunt work, was a massive summer hit, and was soon followed by Demolition Man (1993), with Stallone as a 20th century cop awakened from a cryogenic prison to hunt super criminal Wesley Snipes. Filled with softball pokes at political correctness and Stallones own dinosaur status, the film also scored mightily in the fall of 1993.
Flush with his latest bout of success, Stallone embarked on a string of high-profile action projects, including The Specialist (1994), a glossy action thriller with Sharon Stone and James Woods; Assassins (1995) with Antonio Banderas; Judge Dredd (1995), a live action version of the popular British graphic novel 2000 AD; and Daylight (1996), a likable if busy disaster thriller. All save Dredd experienced anemic ticket sales, and each was picked over with increasing relish by Stallones growing legion of naysayers. In fact, Stallones paternity case with model Janice Dickinson, whom she had named as the father of her child, earned him more press than his films (Stallone was later cleared of the charge). A change of pace was clearly in need, and Stallone found it in Cop Land (1997), a gritty police drama from director James Mangold who would later score big with the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line (2005). For his role as a slow-moving, partially deaf suburban sheriff who confronts a police corruption scandal, Stallone gained considerable weight and gave one of his most soulful performances since Rocky. Critics responded with some of his best reviews to date, and the picture which pitted Stallone against such acting heavyweights as Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta performed respectably for an indie film. Stallone also took home the Best Actor Award from the Stockholm Film Festival.
In 1997, Stallone married Irish model Jennifer Flavin and settled into second fatherhood with three daughters (born in 1996, 1998, and 2002). At 51, Stallones film career was at a crossroads his greatest successes lay with two roles, both of which he was growing too old to play at least, according to industry pundits. His dream project, a biography of novelist and poet Edgar Allan Poe, was stagnant, and his standing among critics had improved only slightly after Cop Land. Nevertheless, Stallone soldiered on with a film career. He lent his voice to DreamWorks animated comedy Antz (1998), also featuring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, and Gene Hackman, which scored well despite the popularity of the similar A Bugs Life (1998) from Pixar. But offbeat choices like this were few and far between, and Stallone was soon back in the action trenches for a string of failures, including an ill-advised remake of Get Carter (2000) and the racing drama Driven (2001). By the beginning of the new millennium, Stallones films were not even receiving theatrical releases D-Tox (a.k.a. Eye See You; 2002), the mob thriller Avenging Angelo (2002) and Shade (2003) were shipped directly to cable and home video.
Stallone caught a break in 2005 courtesy of director Robert Rodriguez, who cast him as the mischievous villain The Toymaker in Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, which proved a monster hit among younger viewers. He also returned to television for the first time since the mid-1980s with two appearances on the show Las Vegas (NBC, 2005- ) and as the executive producer and co-host of The Contender (NBC/ESPN, 2005-07), a reality show about aspiring boxers. However, the expense of the series and middling ratings forced it off the air in 2005, but it returned in 2006 on the sports network ESPN. The show was marred by controversy when one of its contestants committed suicide during the first season. That same year, Stallone ventured into publishing as the editorial director of the mens magazine Sly and author of the book Sly Moves, which discussed his personal life and fitness routines.
The following year, Stallone revived the role that made him a star with Rocky Balboa (2006) a surprise to critics and audiences alike with its heartfelt storyline and winning performance by the 60-year-old Stallone, who further impressed viewers by exchanging real punches with professional boxer Antonio Tarver, who played his opponent. The picture went on to become Stallones biggest success since Cliffhanger and the sixth most successful boxing movie in film history (after the first four Rocky titles and 2005s Million Dollar Baby). Once again, Stallone had risen from the ashes of his career to settle as close to the top as he had been in years.
In 2007, Stallone garnered controversy for his conviction for smuggling growth hormones into Australia while promoting Rocky Balboa. He plead guilty to the charges and was fined nearly $10,000. That same year, Stallone went into production as writer, director, producer and star of Rambo (2008), the fourth entry in the violent film series. In interviews, he indicated that this might not be the last of the characters adventures. Stallone also began pre-production work on his long-gestating Poe bioflick as well as Notorious (2008), a look at the murders of hip-hop superstars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls from the perspective of a Los Angeles police detective (Stallone).
Copyright © Baseline 2009.