As a writer and a movie-lover, I’ve long admired Sylvester Stallone’s brilliant early effort as the writer, star, and visionary behind the first Rocky movie.
Back then, a still-poor Stallone famously held out against studio offers that would have cast a more well-known actor as the lead while lining his pockets with a huge payday. In the end, he got to make the movie he wanted; the result is a moody, realistic, and inspirational film.
In the decades since, Stallone has unapologetically rested on the laurels of his bold, early success. There was one scene, I admit, in the latest installment of Rocky that got to me. But that moment came well before the old fighter stepped into the ring and took his shirt off, where he quickly made Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds look like steroids taste-testers.
Still, I trudged again to the theater Saturday night (I have a friend who drags me to these types of films – I haven’t missed a new James Bond movie in a while). Rambo was a flailing, amoral, directionless, joyless turd of a movie. A turd floating down a muddy river in a stereotypically backwards Southeast Asia.
And the theater was packed, and the people cheered. They cheered for claymore mines, and for gruesome, graphic violence. Blood, bone, and gristle exploded over and over in cagey, high speed battle scenes, and the people cheered over mouthfuls of warmed-up frozen meat products like they were at a taping of the Jerry Springer show. The characters were one dimensional, and unsympathetic, and – worst of all for a pointless action film – unsexy.
Apparently you did not quite get all the deep undertones and nuances that this moving photoplay has to offer.
Sure, there is a measure of physical aggression that comes with every action movie, it is also a stirring tale of the bonds of friendship and the quest for human decency that transcends the mere hunt for filthy lucre.
Plus Sylvester Stallone is a thinking man with real culture. He most certainly understands that some of the more graphic assertions are a necessary exaggeration of the kind required to please demanding audiences. But you didn’t get all that.
Yes! Deep, deep undertones, and nuances. Like vaporizing Burmese soliders heads with .50 caliber automatic fire from point blank range.
I haven’t forgiven Sly yet for making “Cobra” or “Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.”
Ha. Yeah, I missed the undertones alright. Particularly the ones that must have been buried underneath the retarded dialogue between Rocky and the not-hot-enough missionary chick. “You can’t change what is!” “Not what is — what was!” “What was?! What was?!” Still, c’mon. Over the Top? Now that was deep.
“Crime is the disease, I’m the cure.”- Lt. Marion Cobretti
Does it get any more cerebral than that?
I left out Tango and Cash. They had to flush three time to get that turd down….
He should, however, be given credit for tackling the issue of the urban-taxi-driver-who-wants to be a country singer in Rhinestone….MASTERFUL!!
finally, in a time where there are no new ideas in film making and everything old is trotted back out as new, the genius of “Over The Top” can be appreciated. It’s a classic, and sure to not be reproduced again…ever.
I never bothered to see this movie. and very unlikely too. I think rambo set a poor example of vietnam vet’s as being immoral & crazy’
post traumatic stress syndrome, certainly exist’s. commonly thought to be a buy product of extensive combat…..
the combat action ribbon is issued for exchangeing small arm’s fire in direct contact with hostile troop’s. who are returning fire. known in vietnam as a ( firefight) faceing enemy fire requires’ a large degree of courage & discipline vietnam was a hell hole. leeches 100 degree+ plus heat snakes spider’s monsoon rain’s.booby trap’s rice paddies. where your feet became so wet the skin came off with your sock’s. known as ( trench foot) week’s spent in the jungle’s hunting north vietnamese base camp’s. the walking wounded had to stay’ with the unit because most of the men had been killed. where are the replacement’s ? your life depended on your buddies. the replacement’s trickle in. the very’ men who were sent to the rear who could not stand the rigor’s of combat. your buddies are rotting in the ( l z ) landing zone.there dead they feel nothing. choppers ( helicopters ) being shot down.must ( hump) out march to a better landing zone. ammo being airdropped. so tired can sleep standing up. machine gun so heavy’. c-ration’s are gone till air drop. night is coming must dig in. enemy is closeing throwing grenade’s,, probeing the line’s can not sleep. every nerve is tingling’ I did not ask for this war.but I’am here. and will persevere for my buddies & my country of which turned it’s back on us. rambo I don’t think I need.
vietnam vet,
Thanks, as always, for your comments. In your opinion, are returning veterans treated better today than they were during the vietnam era?
V V: nice recap of our own personal all expenses paid vacation in SEA. Just an aside, today celebrates the 40th anniversary of TET of ’68. That was a truly fun time. I remember that couple of days pretty well. We had calls for help from every direction. Looking at the history and the comments by the NVA leaders tell us what we knew on the ground, but the great leaders in the sky were clueless. The US forces brought the NVA/Cong to their knees in that week or two but the leadership (sic) forced us to back down and the press showed us as the losers.
Semper Fi and Gary Owen brother. Welcome home!
well matt.
here again our vet’s are returning in very’ small group’s. no victory parade’s etc. we have started another war with no clear cut objective’s. to sustain any so called victory. what I see is a major’ increase in ( ptsd) post traumatic stress syndrome.
40% percent in the national guard. which is a ridiculous figure. going over seas does not create this problem. contrary to some popular opinion’s we were not setting on our A,,,,,S’S. on some fortified base or hill!
we were actively seeking the enemy. be he hideing in the mountains or the tree lined rice paddies. we were not killing baby’s or innocent people. tet of 1968 we broke the back of the viet cong, and north vietnamese force’s. they came out of hideing with the intent of destroying u.s. forces. but were beaten badly. the troop’s in iraq,must be trained as soon as possible, and take matter’s in to there own hand’s.
they should be the main strike force. in any combat related strike’s.it took four years to prod the south vietnamese to make and effort on there own behalf and even then they could not be trusted to fight. when we pulled out the south was lost in less than 3 month’s. we can not tie our fighting forces’ down we must actively seek and destroy the enemy. to ask our troop’s to do anything, less is asking them to die. for no reason.we can not’ let this happen.
semper-fi