Paradise Alley (1978)

Saw this in 1978, aged 15, loved it then, love it now ( aged 55 ).... great sequences in this film, great to see early Stallone

Stallone thought he was Brando and Coppola on this one, a complete ego trip, he even sings the title song, horrendously I might add. Every goombah cliché is in here. The dialogue includes such beauties as "She's got a lovely set of yams" and characters have names like "Sticky," "Burp" and "Stitch." Wow is it bad. You have to be a die-hard Stallone fan to enjoy this self-indulgent tripe. Although it's nice to see a young Tom Waits, Anne Archer and Armande Assante, all too classy for this cornball crapola. Waits even contributes to the soundtrack, but the songs are not his crowning achievement. Despite what others are saying here, this is one flick the critics got right the first time around. Fresh off "Rocky," Stallone thought he could do anything, but he failed. If you like your meatballs lathered with a think layer of cheese, then by all means, take a peek. But the rest of you, yo! Get outta here!

I don't know what happened to Stallone after he made this movie. He showed so much talent in this movie that was never to be repeated. I keep seeing Cobra, what a joke. How can the same guy be in both movies? Did he get a head injury or something? My favorite part is when Victor drops the ice down the stairs. Very symbolic, sad in a way. He finally realized that he was wasting his time on the "straight" life. In all, a very enjoyable movie. I have seen this movie about 5 times, and I plan to watch it again when it comes on. The problem is that the people who control the programming want Rambo and Rocky. Good movies in their own way, but both lack the depth of Paradise Alley. OK, the first Rocky was pretty good. I wont discuss Cobra, it's not worth discussing. Watch this movie if you get a chance, it's worth your time..

I didn't quite know what to make of "Paradise Alley" when it first came out in 1978, and quite truthfully, I don't quite know what to make of it today. Back in the mid 1960's I became quite a fan of professional wrestling, oxymoron as that description is. So it was the wrestling theme that prompted me to see it during it's theatrical release. Coming off the success of "Rocky", it was as if Sylvester Stallone had to follow up that first hit with another self propelled film as writer, actor and director. The comparisons to "Rocky", inevitable as they are, should be a cautionary one though. The former was a true diamond in the rough honored as "Best Picture", while "Paradise" and it's characters have trouble defining themselves in post War 1946 Hell's Kitchen.It seems as if each of the Carboni Brothers undergoes a personality change during the story. Cosmo (Stallone) is the schemer who prompts Victor (Lee Cannalito) to become a wrestler by going up against and defeating the house champion Big Glory (Frank McRae). Brother Lenny (Armand Assante) is at first protective of Victor, but with the wrestler's success in the ring, the tables turn and Cosmo begins to question Lenny's ethics and handling of the purses. Lenny becomes the stereotype of a boxing manager, deflecting questions about his integrity and how he's handling Vic's money.For me, a couple of things didn't ring true historically for the film's 1940's setting. The characters of Annie (Anne Archer) and Bunchie (Joyce Ingalls) looked just a little bit too glamorous for the story's backdrop. As for the wrestling scenes, though well done and featuring some of the mid '70's top mat stars, they were based quite heavily on the actual wrestling style of the Seventies. You had your grappling moves defined by flips and throws, punctuated by a Ray Stevens maneuver as he catapults into a turnbuckle. However most mat action prior to the 1960's was anything but, with rare exception. Even the widely available 1960 championship bout between Buddy Rogers and Pat O'Connor featured a lot of stale and boring rest holds.Ironically, I just saw this film again on the cable Yes Network hosted by Yogi Berra in a format titled "Yogi and a Movie". Between scenes, the famed Yankee great would talk about his youth and watching pro wrestlers like Lou Thesz and Strangler Lewis. Story boards between acts mentioned a lot of trivia about the film that appears on the IMDb site for this movie, which leads me to believe that it could have been a reference point for the presentation.There are a number of reasons to check out "Paradise Alley", and not just to be a Stallone completist. The filming style, particularly some of the bar scenes with their red tint lends a certain uniqueness to the movie. Another is the voice of Sly Stallone singing "Too Close to Paradise" over the opening credits and the rooftop race against "Rat" (Paul Mace). The one scene though that will test your patience is Victor singing to his parakeet, it's probably the one scene in film history that had me wishing for fingernails on a chalkboard.