{"id":3452,"date":"2024-08-28T17:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3452"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:21:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:21:42","slug":"over-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/28\/over-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Over the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Over the Top<\/strong> (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Menahem Golan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant and Sylvester Stallone\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Giorgio Moroder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Gurfinkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 13, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely, Rick Zumwalt, David Mendenhall, Chris McCarty, Terry Funk, Bruce Wray, Allan Graf.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $16M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sylvester Stallone received a reported salary of $12M to star in Over the Top<\/strong> as an arm-wrestling truck driver trying to reconnect with his estranged 12YO son. In other words, it\u2019s a cross between Rocky and Table for Five. A premise this silly could only come from producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although released by Warner Bros., Over the Top<\/strong> is a product of Cannon Films. It\u2019s out of character for the B-movie studio to spend so much money ($25M to be exact) on a movie, but with Stallone\u2019s name above the title, there\u2019s no way it could miss, right? Wrong! It bombed at the box office with a mere $16M gross. The reviews were less than kind as well. I, on the other hand, think it\u2019s GREAT! I liked it when I saw it opening night and still do. In fact, the passing of time has only made it better. Now I can look at it as huge chunk of 80s cinematic cheese replete with a rock-heavy soundtrack and a Giorgio Moroder score. What more could you want?<\/p>\n

\u00a0At the request of his dying estranged wife (Blakely, The Towering Inferno), Lincoln Hawk agrees to pick up their son Michael (Mendenhall, Space Raiders) from military school and drive him home to California. It\u2019s a good way for them to get to know each other. The kid is none too happy to see the father that walked out on them ten years earlier. He resents him for not being part of his life. The kid is an insufferable little brat, but Lincoln refuses to give up. Eventually, Michael lets his defenses down and a bond starts to grow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Driving a truck isn\u2019t Lincoln\u2019s only job; he also arm wrestles for money. In fact, he\u2019s on his way to the World Armwrestling Championship in Las Vegas where he will face off against his greatest rival Bull Hurley (Zumwalt, Penitentiary III). Speaking of adversaries, Lincoln must also contend with the boy\u2019s wealthy controlling grandfather (Loggia, Psycho II). He never liked Lincoln. He disapproved of him marrying his daughter and doesn\u2019t want him in Michael\u2019s life. His hatred goes so deep that he even hires goons to snatch the boy from Lincoln when his back is turned. He easily defeats the creeps and rescues his son. Come on, what did you expect? This is Sly we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Over the Top<\/strong> is aptly titled given some of the things that happen in it. When denied access to his son by Grandpa, Lincoln drives his semi through closed gates and right into the foyer of his mansion. At one point in the movie, Lincoln teaches his son to drive his truck. Apparently, the kid\u2019s a quick study because he has no problem when he drives himself to the airport in one of his grandfather\u2019s cars (after escaping from the mansion and several security guards). Even stranger is the fact that he didn\u2019t get pulled over the police. You\u2019d think they might stop a car being driven by a preteen. LOL! Only in the Cannon Universe, right?<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s not a single believable minute in Over the Top<\/strong>, but that\u2019s what\u2019s so cool about it. It\u2019s one of the main reasons why it\u2019s such a great bad movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At the same time, it\u2019s actually kind of exciting. Who\u2019d have thought that the sport of arm wrestling would lend itself so well to the cinematic treatment? In keeping with the tradition started by Rocky, Stallone\u2019s character is the underdog in the Vegas competition. Might he possibly defy the odds and make it to the finals? Will he suffer an injury that could potentially force him to drop out? Will he triumph over his adversaries? Directed by Golan, Over the Top<\/strong> is as predictable as night and day. Like the bouts in the Rocky movies, the matches in this movie are exciting. They\u2019re well shot and nicely choreographed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So what about Stallone\u2019s performance in Over the Top<\/strong>? Is it any good? We all know that he has a limited range. He plays his part, an arm-wrestling trucker, as well as can be expected. As a father trying to reconnect with his son, he does okay. He seems to making an effort in spite of the movie\u2019s inherent silliness. A character with a name like Lincoln Hawk (any relation to Hudson?) can only be so believable. All things considered, it\u2019s a decent performance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For years, people have dog-piled on Mendenhall for his performance as Mike Hawk. He won two Razzies (Worst Supporting Actor, Worst New Star) that year. It\u2019s true his character is a conceited, insufferable little brat who any right-minded person would love to smack repeatedly. When he cries, you just want him to threaten him with something to cry about if he doesn\u2019t stop. I always found Mendenhall himself annoying. However, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s all that bad in Over the Top<\/strong>. It\u2019s not that you come to like Michael, you just get used to him after a while. As the antagonist, Loggia sneers and glowers his way to camp heaven. His character is hateful alright. He stays within the realm of believability, never once tearing at the scenery.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll say this for Over the Top<\/strong>, the father-son storyline is sort of moving. You want them to be together especially after the inevitable tragedy occurs. Funny that a movie as silly as Over the Top<\/strong> accomplishes such a feat but it does. It\u2019s one of my favorite Cannon movies. I think Golan did a fine job with the dopey screenplay written by Stallone and Stirling Silliphant (The Poseidon Adventure). The soundtrack, which includes tunes by Sammy Hagar (\u201cWinner Takes It All\u201d), Eddie Money (\u201cI Will Be Strong\u201d), Asia (\u201cGypsy Soul\u201d), Kenny Loggins (\u201cMeet Me Half Way\u201d) and, of course, brother Frank Stallone (\u201cBad Night\u201d) is cool in a cheesy 80s way! For any Gen-Z kids who want to know what the 80s were like, Over the Top<\/strong> is a must-see. For bad movie aficionados, it\u2019s pure fun! The normals might want to sit this one out.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Over the Top (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Menahem Golan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant and Sylvester Stallone\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Giorgio Moroder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Gurfinkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 13, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely, Rick Zumwalt, David Mendenhall, Chris McCarty, Terry Funk, Bruce Wray, Allan Graf.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Over-the-Top-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5189,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions\/5189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}