The Big Picture · Discussion · Hall of Fame

The Sylvester Stallone Hall of Fame With Bill Simmons

August 30, 2022/ 81 min/ Sean Fennessey · Bill Simmons

Sean Fennessey and Bill Simmons build a Sylvester Stallone Hall of Fame, sorting fifty-plus movies into green, yellow, and red before landing on a final ten.

61 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

Sly Stallone, in Broad Strokesthe eras, the zags, and the bets he placed on himself

Samaritan 2022

The new one, on Amazon Prime and the excuse for the episode. Both agree it's bad; Simmons compares it to Judge Dredd.

Judge Dredd 1995

His earlier run at a superhero movie. "Judge Dredd was bad and it is not in my hall of fame."

Driven 2001

A cool-crime-movie zag with Burt Reynolds and Kip Pardue that just failed. Simmons: they looked like Halloween masks of their own faces.

Get Carter 2000

Another attempted zag into a prestige crime picture. Didn't work.

Cop Land 1997

The zag that did work: an overweight, accented, ground-level New Jersey cop, playing against Robert De Niro.

Cliffhanger 1993

Simmons's pick for the best movie Stallone made in the '90s; a hit, though not Rambo-sized.

Rocky 1976

The original bet on himself: he wrote it and refused to hand the part to anyone else.

Rambo: First Blood Part II 1985

1985 is his apex: this and Rocky IV each made $300 million internationally, the biggest money in movies at the time.

Rocky IV 1985

The other half of his $600 million worldwide year.

Staying Alive 1983

Simmons was a "season ticket guy" for Stallone through Cop Land; he saw this one in theaters because Stallone directed it.

Tango & Cash 1989

Referenced as a recent Rewatchables pick, coincidentally airing the same week as this episode.

The Expendables 2010

The franchise that revived him in Hollywood, whether or not anyone loves the actual movies.

Rocky Balboa 2006

The comeback picture. Simmons admits he was too hard on it at the time; audiences were just happy to have the character back after Rocky V.

Rambo 2008

Part of a run of three straight comeback hits: Rocky Balboa, this, and The Expendables.

Creed III 2023

Due out next year; word at the time of the episode is Stallone isn't in it, which they tie to his public fight over Rocky's ownership.

The Ballotgreen, yellow, or red, walked chronologically through the filmography

The Party at Kitty and Stud's 1970

His soft-core start, later reissued as The Italian Stallion once Rocky made him famous. "This is obviously not in the Hall of Fame."

MASH 1970

One of several early films where he's basically an extra.

Bananas 1971

A Woody Allen film; another glorified-extra credit.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue 1975

Another bit part before he was anybody.

No Place to Hide 1973

Neither of them has seen it. "There's no way that's going."

The Lords of Flatbush 1974

His first real starring-ish role, a Happy Days-adjacent greaser movie. Not going in, though it's important to his career.

Capone 1975

He plays Frank Nitti opposite Ben Gazzara. "Okay movie, not a Hall of Famer."

Death Race 2000 1975

A Roger Corman Rollerball ripoff with Stallone in a supporting role. Not in.

F.I.S.T. 1978

A Jimmy Hoffa-style union-leader drama, rewritten by Stallone from Joe Eszterhas's original draft. Debated as an easy yellow but ultimately: "Fist can't make it."

Paradise Alley 1978

He wrote and directed this one too, playing Cosmo Carboni. "No good."

Rocky II 1979

In, mainly for the last 25 minutes, which Fennessey calls arguably the best stretch of the whole franchise.

Nighthawks 1981

A cop-hunts-a-terrorist thriller with Rutger Hauer's U.S. debut. Liked, not inducted.

Escape to Victory 1981

Also known just as Victory, with Pelé and Michael Caine. A John Huston-directed soccer movie with a legendary sequence and a slow build. Left as a yellow.

Rocky III 1982

Automatic green; called one of the most satisfying, no-minute-wasted movies he ever made.

First Blood 1982

Automatic green. Called the best-acted performance of his career, and a movie that holds up far better than its sequels suggest.

Rhinestone 1984

The Dolly Parton musical zag. Simmons's hot take: it's actually not bad, unlike Staying Alive. Not inducted.

A Cannon Films production with a death-cult villain and a chopped-down, incoherent cut. Debated hard against Over the Top for the last spot and wins it, since the Hall of Fame needs at least one full-Cannon, flying-too-close-to-the-sun Stallone entry.

Over the Top 1987

The arm-wrestling family movie, a sentimental favorite for Simmons. Loses the final debate to Cobra.

Rambo III 1988

A disappointment, arriving with no real geopolitical enemy left to fight. Not in.

Lock Up 1989

A prison movie with a famous football sequence. A hard yellow, but not enough cachet to make the cut.

Tango & Cash 1989

Yellow, discussed for the higher tier, but ultimately: "Is Tango & Cash better than Rocky II? No."

Rocky V 1990

Hard red. "Blow it up with a bunch of dog shit and send it to the sun."

Oscar 1991

A John Landis screwball comedy that Simmons calls one of the worst movies any famous star ever made. Not in.

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot 1992

Grouped with Rocky V and Oscar as the career-low stretch. Not in.

Demolition Man 1993

A sci-fi satire with Wesley Snipes and an early Sandra Bullock role, and arguably his funniest performance. A hard yellow, but not one of the final ten.

The Specialist 1994

A Sharon Stone vehicle remembered mostly for an infamous, oddly shot sex scene. Not in.

Assassins 1995

With Antonio Banderas at his post-Desperado peak. A good idea for a movie that never comes together. Not in.

Daylight 1996

A Speed-in-a-tunnel disaster movie. Left in as a yellow "out of respect," but not going in.

Cop Land 1997

Called an all-time scorching yellow that ultimately makes the cut, for showing he can hold his own in a dramatic ensemble with De Niro and Harvey Keitel.

D-Tox 2002

Also released as Eye See You, part of a three-year, five-movie dead stretch with Charles S. Dutton and Kris Kristofferson. Not discussed as a candidate.