The third sequel to Rocky has gotten into politics, but there is no need for the critic to follow. Sufficient grounds for dismissal will be found, once again, in simple pugilistics. With his newfound defensive skills (see Part III) somehow mislaid, Rocky is again cast as the underdog against the …
A softened, popularized version of the Mean Streets topic: the hell-raising of Italian Catholic buddies in the New York boroughs. You can also see traces of Rocky in the awkward, inarticulate boy-girl romance, and in the Sylvester Stallone poster that hangs on the hero's wall alongside the best-selling posters of …
Lazy daydream by, or for, a subscriber to Soldier of Fortune magazine: an ex-CIA demolitions mercenary (personal code: no innocent bystanders hurt) hired by a fatal lady nursing a twenty-year vendetta against the Miami mob. Brief interruption by, or for, a reader of Playboy: a literally steamy wrestling match in …
Sylvester Stallone Career Revival Plan "D": As long as he's become a laughingstock, he may as well make comedies (wear a diaper, get interrupted in the shower by his mother, act embarrassed about his baby pictures). He's game, not especially deft. Frank Tidy's photography, though adding no levity, is weirdly …
Hand-me-down horse story about a Texas cow pony named "Sylvester Stallone" at an Olympic equestrian event in Lexington, Ky. There is always, of course, a new generation of horse lovers who didn't see National Velvet or else can't see around its datedness. Even the present generation, however, ought to have …
Buddy stuff. Yuppie cop and prole cop, Armani suits vs. blue jeans and T-shirt, etc. Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell each have a sense of style in the heat of the action, but the nattering wisecracks ("Where the hell did you learn to drive?" "Stevie Wonder!") keep dousing them with …