Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent in the above. It comes from OK magazine (issue 266, dated June 1, 2001) .Thanks Jazz for sharing!- Craig Zablo (June 21, 2001)
Author: Craig
“ROCKY” SPECIAL EDITION DVD REVIEW
Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes returns with yet another SZ NEWS item. The pics and text can be found in the June issue of TOTAL FILM.
ROCKY: SPECIAL EDITION
The Film: The only real knockout in the Rocky series has aged pretty well. Grittier and nastier (well, relatively) than the four sequels, the dingy look, solid performances and triumphantly teary ending make it easy to understand how this bagged itself nine Oscar nominations and three statuettes (including Best Film).
The extras: Audio commentary with cast and crew, video commentary with Sylvester Stallone, behind the scenes featurette with director John Alvidsen, tribute to Burgess Meredith, tribute to James Crabe, trailers.
The verdict: Not exactly championship material but still able to go the distance,
this is an enjoyable, well-assembled package. The video commentary
(basically a glorified interview with
Mr. Sly) is entertaining stuff, especially if you never realized just how
much of a shoestring affair making the film was (dodging
in and around Philadelphia
trying not to get nabbed by
the authorities, grabbing shots wherever they could ). Also
look out for John Alvidsen‘s
8 mm behind – the – scenes footage (an amusing peek at how the fight was assembled) and the genuinely touching tributes to Burgess Meredith and James Crabe. Completists will be glad to know that the Special Edition is also available as part of the Rocky Anthology box set, but, let’s face it, this is the only one worth owning.
Cerl Thomas
Film: ****
Disc: ****
During rehearsals Rocky director John Alvidsen shot cheap 8mm films of his stars prancing around the ring. He talks us through it on the Special Edition disc…
“When the time came to rehearse, what I wanted to rehearse more than anything was the fighting ‘cos I knew that the film wasn’t going to look good unless the fighting looked good. A couple of weeks before we started shooting I got Sylvester and Carl Weathers into the ring to see what it was going to look like. Well they got into the ring and one guy said: “I’m gonna do this” and the other guy said: “I’m gonna do that!” I realized that we weren’t gonna get anywhere.So I suggested to Sylvester: “Why don’t you go home and write this thing out? A left and a right, an uppercut, you fall down, he falls down. Whatever you want, write it out and bring it back and we’ll learn it like a ballet. It’ll be choreographed and we’ll do the same thing in the ring day after day until we really get it down. So when you do this, he does that and we put a big whack on the soundtrack and people will believe it.
So Sylvester liked the idea and the next day he came back with 32 pages of lefts and rights and that’s what we learned.”
Thanks, Jazz! – Craig Zablo (June 21, 2001)
“RAMBO IV” RUMOR RETURNS
Sly and Anthony The Last Pic
Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent in the following report: “The June 19, 2001 of the Enquirerhas a reportedly ” last photo” of ANTHONY QUINN and SLY on the set of “Avenging Angelo.”
Excerpt: ” I’m in a state of shock, ” STALLONE told the Enquirer in an exclusive interview. “His death scene is brilliant ! He was a wonderful talent and had a wonderful presence. I fell grateful for the chance to have worked with him. “
CO-STARS SLY STALLONEand ANTHONY QUINN are all smiles on the set of their movie “Avenging Angelo.”
Thanks to Jazz for the tip! – Craig Zablo
SLY: GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS
In Mike Walker’s ALL THE GOSSIP column in the June 12, 2001, issue of The National Enquirer, the following item appears:
GONE IN 60 SECONDS:ROCKY start for SLY STALLONE after he arrived in Italy to film “Avenging Angelo” – then roared off in a stranger’s car in a scene right out of “Driven“! The star exited a trattoria after a business lunch, spotted his leased car as a valet drove it up, hopped in – and BOOGIED!! Problem? The car, although identical, WASN’T HIS! The valet ran screaming after Sly, but he didn’t hear – and moments later, the REAL owners were screaming at the valet! Meanwhile, after driving a few blocks, Stallone said to himself, “YO! This car ain’t MINE!” He floored it back to the eatery and confronted an enraged Italian couple – whose mouths dropped open when they recognized the superstar car thief. They calmed quickly when Sly apologized – AND signed autographs!
– Craig Zablo (June 17, 2001)
SLY: TO DIRECT A DRIVEN SEQUEL?
In the Reel World column in the June 22, 2001 issue of Entertainment Weekly, the following item appears:
SLY NEWS: SYLVESTER STALLONE is pining to direct Driven 2 (we must have missed the avalanche of “popular demand” for that particular follow-up) but he says first he’d like to tackle “an ambitious project that deals with a historical event.” Maybe he’s up for a Rambo sequel after all… (Additional reporting by William Keck)
This is especially good news for all STALLONE fans: 1) That Sly is getting the itch to direct again (Think about HUNTER, Sly!) and 2) He is planning an ambitious project dealing with a historical event… could it be the mining disaster pic that Sly’s alluded to in the past?
- Craig Zablo (June 17, 2001)
POW: Sly Kiss
Our P.O.W. for this week comes to us from ERNEST “JAZZMAN” RESENDES.
– Craig Zablo (June 17, 2001)
Sly in Italy to Begin Filming “Avenging Angelo”
- On Monday, June 4, 2001, Sly Stallone was given a police escort for his arrival at the Chiesa dello Spasimo Church (Church of the throes of death) of Palermo, Sicily, for filming of his latest movie Avenging Angelo.
– Craig (June 17, 2001)
SLY’S CAR ON DISPLAY
On Father’s Day, Sly is set to join other celebs who will put their collectable cars on display for public viewing. The 4th annual Concours on Rodeo even is free to the public, is sponsored by Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge to benefit the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children. – Craig (June 17, 2001)
CRAIG’S MESSAGE
The StalloneZone was created in 1996. Since our inception, we have always posted updates at least once a week. We take great pride in that we have NEVER missed an update. Before going on vacation, I would always update TWO Galleries, and John “Big” Beatty would post our new POW as well as any “breaking” news.
This system had always worked flawlessly… until last week. While I was on vacation, my credit card company sent out new cards with new numbers. Unfortunately this happened during a billing cycle for the SZ, and to make matters worse, I have the SZ automatically paid on the same credit card. To complicate matters even more, I was on vacation in the “wilds” of North Carolina and had no easy internet access!
Needless to say, it was very frustrating to find out that the SZ was down. What was even more frustrating was the fact that had I been at home I could have resolved the matter with a single e-mail. After several phone calls I was able to get in contact with the server for the SZ. I was assured that the SZ would be back on-line within three hours. I contacted BigBeatty to let him know. He said he would get the POW up right away and send out an e-mail to all SZoners. Everything was right again, or so I thought.
Two days later I was able to get to a computer and I discovered that the SZ was still down. After several more phone calls I was assured that the problem was corrected. I contacted BigBeatty and he confirmed we were back in action. Whew!
Although we were able to get our POW up (and keep our record intact), we were very late in doing so. For that I want to apologize. From the e-mails and message board postings that I have received so far, it seems that most of you were aware of the problem (thanks, BigJ) and how we were working to correct it (thanks again, BigJ). We have several updates scheduled for this week. So, thanks again for your patience and kind words. I’ve said it before and will say it again (because it is so true): Sylvester Stallone has the best fans in the world!
– Craig Zablo (June 16, 2001)