On February 21, 2013, Express posted, Renny Harlin Tricked Sylvester Stallone into Facing his Fear of Heights for Cliffhanger. Harlin explains how he worked to get Sly to overcome his fear of heights for scenes in Cliffhanger.
Category: Cliffhanger
Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.
On February 1, 2013, WhatCulture! posted Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.
- According to WhatCulture! 5 that were Awesome: Rambo [First Blood and sequels], John Spartan [Demolition Man], Gabe Walker [Cliffhanger], Freddy Heflin [Cop Land], and Rocky Balboa [Rocky and sequels].
- Their Choices for Not-So-Awesome: Judge Dredd [same name], Ray Quick [The Specialist], Marion Cobretti [Cobra], Jack Carter [Get Carter], and Joe Bomoski [Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!].
To Awesome I would delete Spartan and Walker to make room for Jack Carter and Deke Dasilva [Nighthawks]. To Not-So-Awesome I would delete Carter and add Nick from Rhinestone. – Craig
Sly’s Top Ten Best Movies
On August 10, 2012, IGN posted their choices for Sly’s Top 10 Best Movies. Click on the link and let the debate begin. – Craig
LotofSly Autograph: Renny Harlin
That’s an autographed photo of Renny Harlin who directed Sly in Cliffhanger.
My pal, Alex surprised me with a package containing it and several other Stallone-related autographs that I’m going to post on the SZ over the coming weeks. Alex, as you’ve probably guessed is also known as LotofSly on the SZ message boards where he also serves as one of our moderators [and now has his own section Me &…]. Alex has met more celebrities than anyone else I know, and he somehow always manages to get photos with them. That’s in addition to being an all-around nice guy… and as nice as Alex is THAT has to be a full time job!
Top 10 Macho Movies of the 90’s
Krystal Clark over at Screen Cave posted her choices for The Top 10 Macho Movies that Ruled the 90’s. Sly scored one movie in the top ten. Here’s the list with the rationale for Sly’s film.
10. Cliffhanger: Is it cold in here, or is it just us? Forget New York and L.A., 1993′s Cliffhanger takes place in the Rocky Mountains! The film follows Sylvester Stallone as he battles the icy elements and a group of merciless thieves. Not only does Stallone do some impressive rock climbing but he does it in shorts and a tank top! Who cares if it’s 20 degrees below zero, he doesn’t have time to freeze.
09. The Rock
08. Hard to Kill
07. Desperado
06. Double Impact
05. True Lies
04. Con Air
03. Bad Boys
02. Speed
01. Die Hard with a Vengeance
Best Stallone Films
SFGate.com posted their choices for the Best Stallone Films along with the films that readers picked. You can see the choices above or here.
Renny Harlin Didn’t Want Sly for Cliffhanger
On August 21, 2011, Worst Previews posted an interesting article titled “Renny Harlin Never Wanted Sylvester Stallone for ‘Cliffhanger'”. Here are some tidbits…
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Renny Harlin: “[The studio] said to me, we want Sylvester Stallone to star in this movie. And I said, ‘no way.’ I don’t know who I was picturing for it, Kevin Costner or somebody, but they wanted him because they did ‘Rambo’ with him. This was at a point where he had just made ‘Oscar’ and ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,’ both disastrous comedies and his career was in the toilet. And I said, ‘no way, I don’t want him.’
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Renny Harlin: “So I have a private lunch with him, and he tells me how badly he wants to play this part. And he says, ‘I know I screwed up making those comedies, and I know people find me laughable now. But I really want to prove something, I want to do something real, I want to make this film.’ And I said, ‘I can’t name one director who has come out of a movie with you looking good. You always take over, and no one remembers who the director was. And that’s not what I’m looking for, I want this to be my movie, I want to hire someone who does a great job and works with me.’ And he says, ‘That’s exactly what I want. I promise if I do this movie, I will do exactly what you want me to do.”
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Renny Harlin: “We talked some more and I really took a liking to him. He was really smart, very charming. At the end of the lunch, I said, ‘Ok. If we have an understanding, I’m gonna tell you the first thing I’m gonna do. I’m gonna change the opening scene in the movie. Because in the opening scene, he’s a rescue worker, he’s very heroic. But if you’re playing the part, I want you to fail, and I want you to kill the girl.’ And he was like, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘I am gonna change the scene so that you fail, and you kill this girl in the opening scene.’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘Alright, you’re the director, if that’s what you want, let’s do it.’ I changed the whole opening scene so that he would fail.”
Congrats to Worst Previews for a well done piece!
Cliffhamger: One of the All Time Greatest
Cliffhanger: All Time Best
On January 31, 2011, Screenjunkies.com posted their list of The 10 Best Mountaineering Movies of All Time. Coming in at #1 was…
#1 “Cliffhanger” Sylvester Stallone is a professional mountaineer who ends his career after he drops an inexperienced climber off a climbing cable. But he’s back in business to protect the area from a bomb threat and save kidnapped victims at the same time.
Click on the link to see the full post.
“Cliffhanger” – One of the Best
On November 11, 2010, MMN.com posted a piece by Matt Hickman called: “Mountain Phew: 5 Pulse-Raising Movies that Involve Climbing Very Steep Hills.” “Cliffhanger” made the list at #3…
#3 “Cliffhanger” (1993) Sylvester Stallone saves the day when he foils a massive heist being carried out by a nefarious group of thieves — lead by John Lithgow, but of course — trying to get their hands on $100 million in uncirculated cash. Sound like a generic heist thriller? It kind of is. However, the film’s stunning, stunt-worthy, and Stallone-appropriate setting, the Rocky Mountains, made “Cliffhanger” a box office smash.
To see the classic “Cliffhanger” trailer as well as the other four choices, click here.