Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

“Nighthawks” – Best Movie You Never Saw by Chris Bumbray

Chris Bumbray at JoBlo.com has put together a cool video overview of Nighthawks starring Sly Stallone, Rutgar Hauer and Billy Dee Williams.  It’s more than worth a look!

Here’s their intro and the video…

Welcome to The Best Movie You NEVER Saw, a column dedicated to examining films that have flown under the radar or gained traction throughout the years, earning them a place as a cult classic or underrated gem that was either before it’s time and/or has aged like a fine wine.

The history behind NIGHTHAWKS is compelling stuff. Originally conceived as a third FRENCH CONNECTION sequel, which would have pitted Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle up against a terrorist modeled on the infamous Carlos the Jackal, while also pairing him with a partner that producers hoped would be played by Richard Pryor, the project went kaput when Hackman decided he had enough of the role. The script made its way to Universal, where it was redeveloped into a project for Sylvester Stallone, then coming off the first two ROCKY movies, meaning he was a star, but not quite the icon he would become. In this episode we look at the movie’s reception, as well as it’s place in Stallone’s filmography.

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

James Mangold on the Making of “Cop Land”

Bilge Ebiri at Vulture recently interviewed James Mangold about his experience directing Cop Land for Miramax.  Mangold details the behind-the-scenes action to get the script sold and the film made.

It’s interesting to note that Cop Land went from being a script that didn’t sell to one of the hotest scripts on the market.  Companies wanted just the script, actors wanted to star in it and Mangold wasn’t about to sell it without him at the helm.

The amazing cast – Stallone, DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Michael Rappaport, Annabella Sciorra, Robert Patrick, and Janeane Garofalo – also may have actually overscaled the film.  Also, despite the amazing performance by Stallone, his Rocky/Rambo fans didn’t get what they were used to and non-Stallone fans thought it would be another typical Sly action film so they avoided it!

Check out what Mangold has to say in Behind the Fantasy of the 1997 Movie Cop Land.

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week: