From the on-line edition of the
Fairield
Daily Republic [Fairfield-Suisun City, California]
Stallone
still a heavyweight after 25 years
by Ted Sillanppa
From the moment the original "Rocky" movie
ended with the lead character standing after 15 rounds just
to prove "he weren't another bum from the neighborhood"
in south Philadelphia, Sylvester Stallone became
the preeminent film star of the last 25 years.
Maybe Stallone vehicles
like "Judge Dredd" and "Oscar"
allowed Al Pacino or Tom Hanks to move their filmographies
past Sly's body of work. Maybe, but not in our house.
Once he told Apollo Creed that he "didn't want no
rematch," and stood in the ring screaming for his homely
girlfriend Adrian (Talia Shire), he became our
guy.
Stallone wrote "Rocky"
and had the stones, even though flat broke, to sell it only
to a studio that would allow him to star as the down-and-out
bum who gets in improbable chance to fight the heavyweight champion.
Stallone became Rocky
Balboa.
Actors are always trying to play
athletes, but Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig didn't
leave folks wondering if Coop could really play for the
New York Yankees. Burt Reynolds didn't get an
NFL tryout after either "Semi-Tough"
or "The Longest Yard." People actually wondered
if Stallone could hold his own against a real professional
fighter, though. He looked that good.
OK, so we had a soft spot for
the wee, little fella when we learned the celluloid heavyweight
champion is 5-foot-7 and shorter than the shortest member of
a family of vertically challenged males. His weakness for a
beautiful woman was appreciated almost as much, no a lot more,
than his interest in the arts.
We love Sly.
So no one here cares that the
Philadelphia Eagles had to put franchise history in sad
perspective by asking Stallone to show up before Monday's
game to play the role of Philadelphia sports hero and
get the crowd going. We're just happy he got back into the spotlight
- at 57, pounding the heavy bag and working hard in the ring
in an ABC "Monday Night Football" segment about
pride, pain, pleasure and toughness.
Yes, we'd rush to see a sixth
installment of the "Rocky" films and, oh, if
Sly got into the ring at that height and that age to
show us that not all movie tough guys are prima donnas like
Tom Cruise, running for governor in California
or watching punk'ish Ashton Kutcher date his ex-wife.
Cruise, Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis would
have to yield, permanently, to Stallone.
Yo! Adrian! He did it!
- Craig Zablo
