Category: 2020

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Family, Jennifer Flavin-Stallone, Rocky 3

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Quentin Tarantino’s Top 5 Boxing Movies

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Honors, Rocky

Boxing Clever at the Boxing Scene recently posted Quentin Tarantino Breaks Down His Top 5 Boxing Movies.  The first one mentioned was Rocky and here is what Tarantino had to say…

“If we talk about boxing and cinema, the first thing that comes to mind is Rocky. By far the most successful boxing film in history. The story of the Italian-American boxer Rocky Balboa was written by and starred Sylvester Stallone, in the role that catapulted him to stardom.

“The history of cinema mixes the necessary ingredients to be liked by most of the public. The humble man who attains fame by pure heart, a love story behind the rise of relevance in a super emotional finale. And some action in a fight worthy of the great boxing evenings in boxing history.

“The film won 3 Oscars and was a huge box office success, as well as being the kickoff for its sequels.”

Tarantino rounded out his top five with Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, Cinderella Man and Raging Bull.  Click over and check out Tarantino’s thoughts on each film.  (If it was my list I would have found a spot for The Set-up! – Craig)

Ranking All Eight Movies in ‘Rocky’ Series

Craig / / 2020, Creed, Creed 2, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, Rocky Balboa

Peter Botte at the New York Post took on the task of Ranking All Eight Movies in ‘Rocky’ Series with his comments.  I thought it would be interesting to compare Botte’s rankings with mine.

Botte

Zablo
1. Rocky (1976) 1. Rocky (1976)
2. Creed (2015) 2. Rocky Balboa (2006)
3. Rocky II (1979) 3. Creed (2015)
4. Rocky III (1982) 4. Rocky III (1982)
5. Creed II (2018) 5. Creed II (2018)
6. Rocky Balboa (2006) 6. Rocky II (1979)
7. Rocky IV (1985) 7. Rocky IV (1985)
8. Rocky V (1990) 8. Rocky V (1990)

So, what do you think? (And for those of you following closely, my rankings have changed just a bit since the last time I did this!)

How About Behind-the-Scenes Facts from the “Rambo” Movies?

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, First Blood, Rambo, Rambo 2, Rambo 3, Rambo 4, Rambo 5

Ben Sherlock, at ScreenRant, posted They Drew First Blood: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Rambo Movies.   Before you click over, here are three of my favorite facts and my comments on each…

The Fifth Movie Had A Ton Of Unused Scripts.
…A script called Rambo 5: Savage Hunt was a horror movie in which Rambo led a Special Forces team into the Arctic Circle to track down a flesh-eating mutant creature.

…Another script called Rambo 5: Last Stand pitted Rambo against a band of meth dealers who were terrorizing a small town. There were also a few drafts about Rambo saving a kidnapped girl from a Mexican cartel before the final script was written.

(The Rambo 5: Savage Hunt script was based on James Byron Huggins’ Hunter novel.  While this would have made an interesting Rambo movie, it might have been too much of a genre change.  I hope that someday Sly will turn Hunter into the film it deserves.  Rambo 5: Last Stand sounds a lot like Arnold’s Last Stand movie. – Craig)

Dolph Lundgren Was Initially Cast As The Villain In First Blood Part II. The role of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Podovsky, the only villain in Rambo: First Blood Part II with any lines in English, was originally offered to Dolph Lundgren. Lundgren even accepted the part and signed a contract.

(I did not know this. – Craig)

…Burmese Freedom Fighters even adopted some dialogue from the movie to use as battle cries. In particular, they were known to say, “Live for nothing, or die for something.” When he heard about this, Sylvester Stallone said, “That, to me, is one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had in film.”

(And we thought people only quoted Rocky for inspiration!  – Craig)

First Blood: Differences Between the Book & Movie!

Craig / / 2020, First Blood

Phillip Etemesi at ScreenRant posted an article that should appeal to a lot of folks who check in here.  First Blood: 10 Differences Between The Movie & The Book takes a look at, well you read the title.  Here are three of my favorite differences and my comments on each…

Escape From Jail.
In the film, the deputy sheriff decides to beat him up… The officers keep on brutalizing him… one of them comes with a razor to shave hi(m), it triggers memories of his torture in a POW camp in Vietnam. He thus fights his way out of the station while still clothes… No one dies in the process.

In the book, Rambo is not abused. He is simply locked in a cell. When Teasle shows up to cut his hair, he begins to panic. And when the deputy comes with another straight razor, he loses his mind completely. He takes the razor and slices through the deputy’s abdomen before escaping while naked. He steals a motorcycle and manages to hide from the police for the night after a good samaritan offers him shelter.

(One of the reasons that First Blood was hard to get made as a movie is because Rambo in the book killed police officers and wasn’t as sympathetic or heroic as he ultimately became in the movie.   – Craig)

Guerilla Tactics
In the book…
Rambo in the novel doesn’t value the lives of law enforcement officers. He kills most of them together with their dogs before cornering Teasle and giving him a warning.
In the movie…
Rambo takes out the entire town’s police force by himself. Using guerilla tactics, he attacks one at a time until they are all wounded. It’s important to note that he only wounds the officers in the movie and doesn’t kill them.

(Again, the book made it harder for audiences to sympathize or empathize with Rambo.  Killing a dog in a movie is perhaps the ultimate downer.  – Craig)

Fleeing From The Cave
In Morell’s book,
Rambo keeps up with his murderous ways and goes on to kill plenty of the members of the state police who had been brought in after he decimated the local police. A couple of civilians and national guard members also ned up being casualties.
In the movie,
Rambo damages plenty of property in the town but doesn’t kill anyone.

(First Blood had been floating around Hollywood for years before Sly become attached.  No one prior was able to get a handle on the character. Under Sly, Rambo became more heroic, sympathetic and less of a killer… at least until Last Blood.   – Craig)

If you’ve read this far I encourage you to click over to get the full story!

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2020, Family, Honors, POW [Picture of the Week], Rocky, Samaritan, Unmade Films

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week: