From the on-line edition of the Fairield Daily Republic [Fairfield-Suisun City, California]
Stallone still a heavyweight after 25 years
by Ted Sillanppa
From the moment the original “Rocky” movie ended with the lead character standing after 15 rounds just to prove “he weren’t another bum from the neighborhood” in south Philadelphia, Sylvester Stallone became the preeminent film star of the last 25 years.
Maybe Stallone vehicles like “Judge Dredd” and “Oscar” allowed Al Pacino or Tom Hanks to move their filmographies past Sly‘s body of work. Maybe, but not in our house. Once he told Apollo Creed that he “didn’t want no rematch,” and stood in the ring screaming for his homely girlfriend Adrian (Talia Shire), he became our guy.
Stallone wrote “Rocky” and had the stones, even though flat broke, to sell it only to a studio that would allow him to star as the down-and-out bum who gets in improbable chance to fight the heavyweight champion.
Stallone became Rocky Balboa.
Actors are always trying to play athletes, but Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig didn’t leave folks wondering if Coop could really play for the New York Yankees. Burt Reynolds didn’t get an NFL tryout after either “Semi-Tough” or “The Longest Yard.” People actually wondered if Stallone could hold his own against a real professional fighter, though. He looked that good.
OK, so we had a soft spot for the wee, little fella when we learned the celluloid heavyweight champion is 5-foot-7 and shorter than the shortest member of a family of vertically challenged males. His weakness for a beautiful woman was appreciated almost as much, no a lot more, than his interest in the arts.
We love Sly.
So no one here cares that the Philadelphia Eagles had to put franchise history in sad perspective by asking Stallone to show up before Monday’s game to play the role of Philadelphia sports hero and get the crowd going. We’re just happy he got back into the spotlight – at 57, pounding the heavy bag and working hard in the ring in an ABC “Monday Night Football” segment about pride, pain, pleasure and toughness.
Yes, we’d rush to see a sixth installment of the “Rocky” films and, oh, if Sly got into the ring at that height and that age to show us that not all movie tough guys are prima donnas like Tom Cruise, running for governor in California or watching punk’ish Ashton Kutcher date his ex-wife. Cruise, Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis would have to yield, permanently, to Stallone.
Yo! Adrian! He did it!