Category: First Blood

Mike Medavoy (with Josh Young) wrote You’re Only As Good As Your Next One.  Here are a few quotes (like the one above) about Sly.  

“I read the script for another Chartoff-Winkler project, Rocky… Rocky was a page-turner.  Though it was a boxing picture and the hero lost the fight, the story had an authenticity that made it stand out.  Bob explained to me that the unknown actor who had written the script had to play the lead.” – page 44

“Stallone turned out to be charming and forthright.” – pg.45

“Arthur, Bob, and Eric like the Rocky script, but they weren’t sure about making the movie.  The budget was $1.29 million, which was small, but money was money, and it was risky without a no-name actor in the lead… The first thing they suggested was casting James Caan as Rocky, but that was immediately rejected by Bob and Irwin.  Not only were they morally and contractually committed to Stallone, they were fervent in their belief in him.” – pg. 45

“…I arranged a screening of The Lords of Flatbush for the New York office so they could see Stallone on screen.  Arthur was pleased with Stallone’s acting – except that he thought Perry King , the blonde Californian who co-starred in The Lords of Flatbush was Stallone.” – pg. 45 

“Arthur also insisted we get some insurance by crossing the profits of the sure-fire winner New York, New York, with this commercially dicey boxing picture… In effect, if New York, New York was a hit and Rocky wasn’t, the losses from Rocky would come out of Chartoff-Winkler’s share of the profits.  The reverse also applied… ” – pg. 46

“The irony, of course, was that instead of New York, New York paying for Rocky, we ended up getting back most of the money we put into New York, New York out of Chartoff-Winkler’s Rocky profits.  New York, New York was a bomb while Rocky was a blockbuster.” – pg. 46

“The first (public) preview screening was held at the Baronet Theater on Broadway in New York. Again, the audience went wild. From the moment the screening let out Stallone was a star.” – pg. 49

“Not since Giant splashed James Dean on the scene had a new star sparked such excitement.” – pg. 50

“At one point during the promotional tour, Stallone’s manager called me from Chicago and asked for $150,000 advance from his client’s share of the inevitable profits. He said Stallone wanted to buy a house… By the time Stallone returned. the film was doing so well he had forgotten all about the $150,000. Now he was thinking mansion, which was easily within his reach.” – pg. 50

“It wasn’t long before Stallone’s share of the first Rocky brought him $4 million. For their faith in the material and the cast, Chartoff and Winkler soon became multimillionaires as well.” – pg. 50

“Rocky won the Academy Award for Best Picture… John Avildsen won Best Director and the editors also won. Stallone, who was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Screenplay, didn’t win a statue himself, but Bob and Irwin pulled him on stage when they accepted their Best Picture statues. The image of Stallone standing on stage, wearing a tux with a wide, seventies-style shirt collar folded over his lapel, basking the in the praise from the audience was the culmination of his transformation into an almost mythical figure…” – pg. 52

“We had barely moved into our offices when Gene Tunick, our head of distribution, walked into my office and told me about a twenty-minute promotional reel of footage for Sylvester Stallone’s new film. First Blood… we were blown away by the footage… We were all in agreement on distributing the film, so we bought the domestic rights for $8 million – a lot of money if you only have access to $50 million and haven’t seen the entire film.” – pg. 127

“First Blood was released in October 1982, and it was exactly the kind of box-office winner we needed to establish the new Orion… First Blood made everyone bullish on Orion.” – pg. 128

“Rambo: First Blood Part II went on to help launch TriStar Pictures as a public company in 1985, and the Rambo name became part of the American vernacular… Rambo III, made in 1988, was the most expensive film to date, costing some $58 million. It, too, was a hit.” – pg. 129

“Cliffhanger was a bigger risk financially… I liked the project and my gut told me that a suspenseful action film centering on the simple idea of man versus mountain with Stallone in the lead could find a wide audience, not unlike my feelings at Orion when we did First Blood… Stallone’s appeal in the foreign market in the action genre was time-tested… Cliffhanger, which was released in May 1993, turned out to be one of the biggest hits during my tenure…” – pg. 276

If you’re a movie fan, you’d probably enjoy the peak behind the scenes provided in Mike Medavoy’s book. – Craig