Just A Slyce

The Rocky Statue Is Back In Philly!

2006-09-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

FINALLY the Rocky statue is back at the Philadelphia Library & out of storage! It's about time! WHO DOESN'T run up those famous steps just like Rocky in the movie?!? It's the #1 tourist attraction along with the Liberty Bell.
WE LOVE YA, ROCK!

Enjoy the limelight! You deserve it, Sly!

Photo Game

2006-08-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

Match the phrases with the photos.

- Beso! -

- I need a haircut & my shirt is too loud! -

- One, two, tree,... -

- Somebody drew tigers on my arms -

- Mmmm! Sweaty cologne! -

- You are all weaklings! No one lifts more than me! -

- I'm gettin' writer's cramp! -

- Chilled -

I'll Be Back

2006-08-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hey People!
I haven't been blogging for almost a month now.
Lots going on in life.
I'll be back tho with more pics & info on my favorite Sly-Guy!!

Sly Pics

2006-07-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

A Sly BucketStamp

2006-06-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

The ladies should enjoy this one!
http://w19.photobucket.com/widgets/dynamicflash.php?featuretype=bucketstamp&featurename=Sly&pa=/b188/DTrent/Sly/

View a BucketStrip of Sly

2006-06-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

http://w19.photobucket.com/widgets/dynamicflash.php?featuretype=bucketstrip&featurename=DTrent&pa=/b188/DTrent/Sly/

There are 10 Sly pics on this BucketStrip. I'll make more later if this one turns out good...

The Cliffhanger Edge

2006-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

GOING OVER THE EDGE WITH SYLVESTER
STALLONE

by Dirck Halstead
Note: Click the web addresses to view photos!

Besides dogging the President of The United States for all these years, one sideline that I have enjoyed is working as a "special" stills photographer in the motion picture industry.
What is known in the business as a "unit" photographer is someone hired by the studio to be on the set from "call" to "wrap" every day, during the entire production. A "special" is an outside photographer brought onto a set for the purpose of creating photographs to be used in publicity and advertising. Specials are brought on for a limited time (measured in days or a few weeks) to lend their particular skills to interpreting a specific visual message. Often, the special's work is used for the "one sheets" or posters that advertise the film. Among the best-known specials are photographers Douglas Kirkland, Greg Gorman, and Annie Leibowitz.
Sometimes these photographers work at the direction of an art director, but often they are given free rein to do their work.

Several years ago, I received a call from Tony Seininger, one of Hollywood's favorite art directors. He called about hiring hire me to work on a picture for Tri Star. It was "Cliffhanger," starring Sylvester Stallone.
The main photography was to be done on location, in the Italian Alps. They would serve as "stand-ins" for the Rockies, where the story was supposed to take place. Filming was to be done in early March, when the mountains were still covered with heavy snow.

Tony sent me a pencil comp of the scene that interested him for the poster. It showed a figure, intended to be Stallone, coming around the side of a cliff. He was holding a huge gun in his hand (never mind the fact that he never used one in the movie).
On the plane en route to Venice, I looked at the drawing and thought...how hard can this be? It's just a guy coming around a rock!
My first day on location I scouted the site--a plateau roughly a quarter of a mile long and several hundred yards wide. It was about 3,000 feet above the valley floor and could only be reached by a cable gondola. The temperature was in the teens, with light blowing snow. It quickly became apparent to me that there was no "rock" in site--just lots of snow. During my week there, all filming was scheduled to take place on this plateau.
After explaining what I needed to do, one of the mountain safety guides (assisting the production company) said, "no problem, just come over here." He led me to the edge of the plateau and told me to look down.

At this point, I have to tell you, I am no mountain climber, nor am I one with any surge to push the limits at great heights. I have never been able to figure out why sky divers feel the need to jump out of a perfectly good airplane in flight.
Laying on my stomach, I gingerly inched my way to the edge and looked down. The guide said, "see that little outcropping 100 feet below? Well, if you will climb down there, maybe we can talk Sly into climbing down there too."
I looked at the outcropping. It was a small area, roughly four feet wide and separated from the plateau by a distance of about six feet. Surely, I would have to sprout wings to get to it.
"Not to worry," assured the guide. "We can put a harness on you, and help you down the side, and when you get even with the outcropping, you can just swing over." "SWING OVER?" I blurted in disbelief. Tarzan I'm not, and besides those trees in the jungle were only a few feet tall...not 3,500 feet straight down!
The guide shook his head, and left me alone to ponder the situation, which I did for the next hour. No matter how hard I looked around the top of that plateau, there was no rock!
Finally, I asked the guide if he could make absolutely sure I wouldn't fall. He replied with confidence, "No sweat." Well, we all know photographers will do ANYTHING to get the picture, so a few minutes later, there I was, crawling over the side. It was like going over the side of a tower at the World Trade Center!
Yikes! This was my introduction to rock climbing, at 3,500 feet with no net. The top of the cliff, as is often the case, extended out over the side. So, for the first ten feet, it was necessary to climb down the overhang, at roughly a 30 degree angle to the cliff face. When I looked down, there was NOTHING under my feet. Any illusions I had that they would lower me down, quickly vanished. This was fingernail dig-in time!
Very cautiously, with the help of the guide, I managed to make it down the 100 feet until I was level with the top of the outcropping.
The moment of truth had arrived.
The guide yelled for me to do exactly what he did. Then, pushing himself away into space, he swung across the top of the outcropping. HE MISSED!...HERE HE COMES BACK!...WHOP! right into the side of the cliff. I yelled to him, "I thought you said this was easy!" Muttering, he said something about not giving himself enough slack. On the next try, he was successful. He then called to me, "Come on over!" Clenching my teeth and cursing under my breath, I pushed away and MADE IT!

For the next half hour, I just sat on top of that little piece of rock, afraid to even stand up...but the late afternoon shadows were beginning to fall, and I realized that I would have to do something soon. The guide swung back to the cliff face, and for the next few minutes pretended to be Stallone, inching around the side of the cliff. I shot tests with my Bronica, and sent them back up to the top of the plateau where my assistant ran them over to Sly.
Another half hour went by. It was now getting dark, and snow was beginning to fall. The wind picked up, and cut through my parka like tiny knives. About that time, I heard a bellow from 100 feet overhead...
"YO!!! YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND !!" http://www.tv1.com.au/content/groovymovies/characters/movie_cliffhanger.jpg
I looked up at Sly, only to see him turn and walk away.
Guess that means I'm not going to get my shot today, I mumbled to myself as I managed to swing back, and climb to the top of the plateau.
Arriving on the set the next morning, I saw Sly pacing back and forth at the edge of the plateau. Suddenly I realized-- I've got him!
At lunch break, I knocked on the side of his tent, and showed the Polaroid again. It truly was a spectacular shot. The guide was big in the frame, with that 3,500 foot drop behind him.
Pushing my luck, I told Sly..."You know what's so great about this shot is that not only is it going to be one of the best advertising shots ever made for a film, but it can only happen if you are willing to risk it...no double this time, it will be you hanging out there for real."
He bellowed, "GET OUT OF MY TENT!" But I just knew there was no way Sylvester Stallone was going to let some wiseass photographer show him up.
Sure enough, later that afternoon, I watched Sly stalk over to the safety people and ask the same question I had asked the day before..."Are you sure this is safe?"
After a less than certain-looking guide, seeing his future in show business disappear before him, nodded in the affirmative, Sly barked, "Well let's get it over with!" http://i.tnt.tv/v5cache/TNT/Images/cliffhanger_assta.gif
While I slipped back over the side, displaying my newly found yet tentative confidence, Sly buckled himself into his harness. Before the now terrified director, Reny Harlin, could get to him, Sly too, was over the edge.
Harlin, along with Sly's personal trainer, started screaming..."SLY, ARE YOU NUTS?? THIS ISN'T EVEN THE MOVIE, AND YOU'RE DOING IT FOR A STILL!!"

With his guide by his side, Sly managed to make it most of the way down the cliff, but in his path, another outcropping meant that he would have to push out from the cliff face himself. I was ten feet away, atop my little rock, and I could hear that he was having problems. I yelled to him..."Hey Sly! Would Neil Leifer do this for you?" I was referring to our mutual friend who had photographed Stallone on several films.

Sly stuck his head around the side of the cliff, to see me balancing on one foot, cameras around my neck, pretending to be some sort of daredevil. I must have been quite a sight...well, he just broke up.
Pulling himself into position, snow swirling around him and clad only in a shirt, Sly patiently posed for the next 20 minutes on the side of that cliff.
As the sun went down over the mountain, we clambered back to the top. A jubilant Sly Stallone and I high-fived each other...we got the picture!

POSTSCRIPT:
The next morning Sly's trainer, Tony, came up to me on the set. He said, "I have to thank you." He explained that Sly had gone through a series of movies that had not performed well. It seemed that because of this, during the first weeks of filming Cliffhanger, Sly just hadn't had the macho bravado he normally demonstrated. "Last night, going over that cliff was all he could talk about," Tony said, "You know what...MY SLY IS BACK!"
I would like to say that there is a happy ending to this story, but it turns out that this photo session probably cost Tri Star a lot of money. Sly had become so pumped over this short but daring adventure that he insisted on rewriting and refilming almost all the shots he had done before. This time, however, he would be on the cliff, not his double. The shots of Sly hanging on the side of the cliff at the opening of the movie are real.

http://hugues.blogs.com/commvat/images/cliffhanger_1.jpg
Unfortunately, when Tri Star tested Cliffhanger, prior to its release, their research data showed that people liked the movie, but because of previous pictures he had made, they weren't sure they wanted to see Sylvester Stallone.
As a result, in the original ads, they dropped Sly's image from the "above the line" advertising, and used a silhouette of an anonymous figure leaping into space. http://www.kinopremiery.cz/film_dat/2739/cliffhanger_ver1.jpg

But I know, and Sly knows, and now you know, what we accomplished that day in the Italian Alps.

http://cgi.zdnet.de/teleschau/i/200531/200531_156464_3_012.jpg

Sly FilmLoop

2006-06-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.filmloop.com/x?cO7rnVhQEYNytKAchBrn4kGlGG9p2Oso

Enjoy, Sly Fans! ^
(Just disregard the ads for non-Sly stuff.)
I'll be experimenting with somemore later on...

I Envy You!!

2006-05-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Michiko Yamamoto, I envy you!!

Being Obsessed

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is madness! Utter madness!
Obsessed, haunted, fixed upon, infatuated, beside myself & preoccupied!
Weighing on my mind, I lose my head because he turn's my head!
This persistent preoccupation is sheer delusion!
I am DONE!

What Is It About Sly?!??

2006-04-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

So WHAT is it about SLY?!??
Why do women love him?
Why do men wanna BE him?
Why is he so famous?
Why is he so RICH?
Is he really talented?
Can he really act, write, produce and direct?
What do YOU think??

Stallone - Cigar Aficionado (Interview)

2006-03-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

STALLONE - Cigar Aficionado

(In excerpts taken from Cigar Aficionado of April 1998, this outspoken actor talks about Hollywood, stardom & cigars.!)

(*Photos are from various years.)

After years of muscling his way across the screen, Sylvester Stallone seeks a different label: Serious Actor.

Sly said after viewing his Sept. 27, 1997 TV appearance for the first time: “I did Saturday Night Live because it will do more to change my image than anything else. Millions of people watch this show. They’ll think of me differently.” Changing his public image is one of Stallone’s top priorities. He no longer simply wants to be seen as Rambo, or remembered for his multiple Rocky movies. His decision to take on the part of the 40-pounds overweight Freddy Heflin in CopLand wasn’t about playing a character. It was a carefully chosen role aimed at transforming his image. He wants to shed the constraints of the sculpted, physical action heroes. Instead, he want so return to his roots as a serious actor. In truth, his CopLand performance echoed his first major role in Rocky, the career-launching low-budget movie that turned Stallone’s name into Hollywood gold.
Stallone doesn’t regret the way Rocky took over his life. In fact, it’s his favorite role. It doesn’t hurt that it also gave him extraordinary wealth and freedom and a place in cinematic history for the successful marketing of the sequel genre.
Regret is probably too strong a word for his assessment of some of the movies he has made since 1980. But there are some titles on the list that he’s on record as despising in one form or another: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Judge Dredd, Assassins, Daylight and even RockyV.
What seems evident is that Stallone has reached a point in his life where he is scrutinizing almost everything about his past, not just his choices of moves but his personal life as well. Call it mid-life course correction, or just the onset of a more mature wisdom. On “Larry King – Live”, for instance, Stallone recently said that he’d “made tremendous mistakes in my private life where I’m trying to rectify things.”
In his Miami mansion, a glittering array of rooms filled with almost-over-the-top baroque treasures and priceless paintings, Stallone is quick to show off one tiny person who is helping mend the past: Sophia Rose, his 18-month old daughter. Jennifer Flavin, whom Stallone married last May in London, is also ever-present, being mom and lady of the manor, making sure everything is running right. Even the house, however, isn’t safe from the scrutiny of what is right or not right about his life. The Miami digs went on the market last fall for $27 million. Stallone isn’t saying where they’ll move, but he admits to wanting more time in LA, while keeping a home “somewhere on the East Coast”, probably somewhere less visible than Miami, but with plenty of golf courses to serve his obsession with the little white ball.
Stallone knows he will never be able to totally abandon the fighting-against-the-odds character of Rocky…He sees himself as a professional…but in the end he yearns for a place in cinematic lore beyond Rocky and Rambo.
The desire is honest. You can hear it in his words and see it in his eyes. In his den, a dark, wood-paneled room filled with leather-bound books, leather chairs and rare Bedouin rifles hanging high on the walls, there is a small, homespun knit pillow inscribed with what truly must be Stallone’s words to live by: “He lived life on his own terms. He fought his wars. He lost a few. But he never quit.”

Sly On Cigars:
“I smoked cigarettes for many years, probably from the time I was about 12 years old. I remember up until the time I was doing Rocky, I had a cigarette when I was in the ring. That’s how bad the addiction was. Finally, I said, “This is only going to bring an early death.” Yet I have always been drawn to the idea of an oral fixation, and also feeling somewhat more relaxed with something smoking in my hand.
I was doing the movie F.I.S.T. and it seemed that the character should appropriately be smoking a cigar. So I started, in 1977…It was very odd, but as soon as I had a cigar in my hand, it would catapult me much faster into the character’s sensibility than without the cigar…It makes a cigar an unusual tool. A cigar does that because we’ve grown up seeing cigars as having a connotation of power or prestige…A guy who smokes a cigar seems to be a very confident human being. After that point, I went back to cigarettes once or twice and then I quit totally. Cleaned out my lungs for 3 years and then went back to smoking cigars intelligently, for lack of a better term, from a connoisseur’s point of view.
I’ve primarily smoked in my private life. Quite often, early on, people were shocked if I was smoking a cigarette. I actually had people come up and blatantly chastise me on the stet about smoking a cigarette. A cigar, however, was held in some kind of civil abeyance and people wouldn’t do that. Right away there was less of a stigma.
I feel sometimes that smoking is, believe it or not, more of a private affair. It’s something that I look forward to, that I covet. Therefore, I will purposely deny myself several cigars during the day so that I look forward to that evening cigar with greater relish. I could never continually smoke – I could but I wouldn’t be as excited about that expectation at the end of the day or while playing golf. I know when I play golf – golf for me is equated with cigars – I look forward to smoking. Going to the golf course, I know I’m going to light up there. The smoke isn’t going to bother anyone and I can have a good old time…I think image has a lot to do with cigars.
A modernizing look defeats the heritage of a cigar. I think of a cigar as old. I think it is one of those things like a fine wine that has moved on into the modern era but the beauty of it is ancient. I hate to see the modernization of the cigar…I’m a traditionalist…A good cigar is a magic carpet ride. It really transports you to another realm of consciousness where, when a cigar is good and the conversation is good, you are now into a heightened sense of awareness. You are as close as can get to an altered state without drugs as possible, I believe. I believe that a good cigar, a glass of wine and a good conversation is as close to euphoria as you can get in a legal sense…The perfect smoking experience is to smoke outside on a windless evening. I think the way the smoke dances on the air is also very appealing to me. I hate for it to blow on the wind out of my lips and it’s gone.
When you have another fellow who is involved with the cigar as much as you are, then it’s wonderful, kind of like the old peace pipe syndrome or whatever. You seem to be bound almost philosophically and you tend to be much more simpatico with that person. Not as argumentative for some reason…There’s nothing more frustrating than having a guest over who asks for a cigar since I’m smoking one. You naturally bring out a rare one because you want to impress him. They take 3 or 4 drags, but the first time it goes out, they put it in the ashtray and never lift it again. Let’s just say this is equivalent to pulling my tooth out with a tractor or removing my kidney through my nose. It is that painful. I can’t take my eyes off the cigar in the ashtray for the rest of the evening.”

Sly on Golf:
“I was curious about the game. I wasn’t excited at first…Having played polo for years I thought I’d just try to burst the myth – what could warrant hours and hours of television each week? Who’s watching this? I didn’t know one golfer. So I went out there and I proceeded to make a fool of myself the first 2 days. I bent the hozzle on a 3-wood and a 5-wood, which is pretty hard to do. I was atrocious…I was literally digging elephant graves. A family of 5 could live in one of my divots. That’s how bad I was. What happened was I became captivated by my ineptness, my inability to function properly. I was outraged by the way my body rebelled and refused to cooperate. I said, “I feed you, I clothe you, I bathe you and I ask you to do one thing – hit this stupid white sphere, and you betray me over and over!” So it came to me doing battle – me against me.
I couldn’t understand it. I thought I’d done sports eminently more complex: polo, downhill skiing and boxing – not even close. There is no more precise sport in the world. And I think that is the fascination…Golf is completely psychological…I’ve played with the finest pros in the world and I’ve played with people who seriously should have their arms amputated. They are that dangerous. I mean, how do you hit a driver and the ball goes behind you? Horrifying! I mean, truly dangerous. You want to lay flat on the ground every time they hit.
I have no tolerance for people who make a living, a very good living, in a multitude of professions and then come out on the course and absolutely have the audacity to believe they are going to bring this course to its knees…So that bothers me and I tend to never play with them again. I’d rather play alone because the most beautiful part of the game is I don’t do this for a living…We’re doing it for nothing. We get to go home and go back to our well-paying job. So what is there to be angry about? Why should there be temper tantrums? This is a perfect time where I think people have an opportunity to learn control. Don’t give in to it. Who doesn’t want to go crazy and smash the club? But it’s a poor carpenter who blames his tools, that’s all I can say.
My putter ended up on the set. You’re sitting there between takes practicing your hip release. I thought, “I can’t do this,” because it’s not something you just turn off. I mean, an extraordinary shot on the course can leave you in a euphoric state for hours and course. And just the opposite is true, too. I thought, “You cant be hitting them in the net for an hour and a half and then turn off the golf head and do a dramatic scene.” This is not what you do for a living, fool!...We’ve only got so much of a reservoir of creative energy and I better not apply it to the game of golf. I have to pay the rent with the other profession.”

Sly on his Life:
“I had been diagnosed with attention span deficit, so it was quite difficult for me to remain focused. I tended to be much more drawn to the arts. I enjoyed painting and drawing a lot more than dealing with absolutes such as geometry and whatever.
I had never picked up a ball until I was 16 years old, and then I went out for the football team. I was resoundingly smashed to the ground and left for dead. I was literally eating grass for weeks on end. No one wanted to play with me because I was that inept. So I would walk around day in and day out, tossing the ball to myself up and down until finally I made the team. And the 2nd year I was the captain of the team. And so from that point I was very attracted to athletics. I began delving into weights and I don’t know what it was, but I just felt as if my idols at that time tended to be rater outgoing physical specimens…I focused on the physical aspects of my life.
I waited until I was 45 to learn to ski…In college, I was preparing myself to go into the Army. I was going to go into Vietnam, and after Vietnam I was going to work as an equestrian because I had been drawn to horses and had an ability in that area. Then someone asked me to audition for Death of a Salesman, a college play. So I went there and auditioned and got the part. The play went on and the director happened to be a Harvard graduate and he said, “You ought to think about this as a profession,” and I said, “Forget it,” and he said, “Yeah, really, consider it!” So lo and behold I took off for Miami, the University of Miami, and I joined the Ring Theatre, where I was not exactly encouraged to continue anything other than to pick up a saw and hammer and chisel and work in theatre – behind the curtain, not in front of it. They said, “You’re too physical, your voice is too deep, your mouth has a snarly look.” I went home completely paranoid. I didn’t want to go home and look at myself. I was the Elephant Boy. What happened? Came here feeling good and I’m leaving as the Quasimodo of the South Beach. I couldn’t believe it.
So I was about 3 credits short but I picked up and went to New York to pursue my happiness…The curriculum of most schools in the US was developed in 1870. If they just taught classes in coping – just called “Coping”, starting in the first grade, how to cope with life – you would find a lot more people prepared for what they are going to have to face after they leave school.
I tend not to experience life like I used to because I am in a vacuum, and I’m always being scrutinized. Before that, life seemed to move along a lot slower. I could go into stores and be anonymous. I wasn’t given any privileges. I was not considered and judged by mere virtue of being a celebrity. If someone thought, “That’s a stupid statement”, they’d say it. That was a much more realistic lifestyle and one that moved along much, much slower. But it also had greater impact because that is what I took with me into the future. So I’m pretty happy that things turned out the way they did because it did not come easy. Not for me. I was not one of those people who come into town and a couple of weeks later get a soap opera, another soap opera and then a couple of commercials…I had somewhat mastered the art of being poor. I had made poverty an art form. I had really figured it out.”

Sly on Changing his Image:
“I don’t despise the people I’ve worked with or the studios. I despise myself for not applying what I know is the best of my abilities. I just felt as though I accepted certain half-baked concepts and went with them. If you accept a job, quite often you are not supposed to make waves. And in making waves quite often you are trying to make the project better. But this is where egos clash. Egos are titanic in proportion and quite often you are labeled with the reputation of being difficult. Being difficult to me is someone who does not want to come out of their trailer, or who is a drunk. But someone who is very consumed with making a better product is not being difficult, he is being exploratory, he is being investigative. He is not doing this for money. It would be very easy for him to take the money and run. So there is a balance. I had been involved in other projects and I had gotten a terrible reputation. Many people did not want to work with me. So I thought in the future I would just accept the position and go with it; and I’m not proud of it. CopLand was my first time working in unison with a director and producer that gave me pleasurable results. I thought I was going to play the Ray Liotta part, which is much more, the big, live, infectiously energetic outsider. I liked that idea. No, they said, we want you to be the fat, slow, dim-witted, hearing-impaired sheriff. And I said, “Thank you. Exactly what I’ve been looking for. A sexy role. Thank you.” But once I got into it I thought, “This is fascinating.” I really enjoy those kinds of parts. Like when I did Saturday Night Live, to be able even for 4 or 5 minutes at a time to move from character to character – that fascinates me. Quite often actors are chastised for stretching. They are chastised for not stretching and then they are rebuffed for stretching, like: Why don’t you go back to what you do?”
You can’t shed it. All you can do is have people be willing to suspend their expectations for a little while and accept you in another role. But deep down that is who you are to them. So you’ll never achieve the purity of losing yourself in different characters. You know the strongest impression is the primary impression. Our first blast at something usually is the most lasting. You have to be real careful how you present yourself. Having done multiple sequels, the die has been cast. All I can hope for is to look for the versatility aspect of a career, but certainly not one that’s going to make people forget where I came from. And I don’t think I really want to, because I’m not ashamed by any means.
You know, people never really understood Rambo…He was never anti-government, he worked on his own, received no financial gains and was always in the business of extracting prisoners at the cost of his own life. I did not understand the criticism. His was much more of a martyr position than one of being proactive; he was never proactive. He was happy to stay in the jungle. If you noticed, every time they came to him. But that is not the way it was interpreted.
Because Rambo was such a physical character, it’s tough for us to think he’s vulnerable by any means. Still, the first Rambo film, I’m very proud of. The second one went into a whole other exploratory area.
I would love to do films in the adventure genre. I think the public is recoiling from too much special effects and gimmickry…I voiced that before…I would love to do smart adventure-action films. That is definitely something that I think is in keeping with someone my age…I am not driven monetarily at all.
I would have loved to have done The Lion in Winter. I would like to have done Beckett. I would like to have done Streetcar. I would like to have done American Buffalo. And probably A View from the Bridge. I would love to play a villain. I think the villain is the catalyst for making the hero what he is. So I’ve been looking for a clever villain or what we call a man who is a smart-ass. An arrogant man who has to receive his comeuppance in the end. Perhaps like Michael Douglas’s character in Wall Street, which was a wonderful character. That would have been a wonderful role.”

Sly on his Best Films:
“Rocky will always be my sentimental favorite. I enjoyed very much Paradise Alley. That character to me was fluid and felt very comfortable & it was unrelenting. In other words, I didn’t try to pull any punches. I didn’t try to be manipulative and say, “At this point, I’m going to be vulnerable so the audience likes me.” I just went full throttle. So I liked that very much. I’d have to say First Blood I enjoyed a great deal. There were parts of the character in Cliffhanger, the physical part; the verbal part left me cold. I enjoyed the visual challenge of that; it was tremendous. And then CopLand.

Sly on his Personal Life:
“I love the house (in Miami) but now that we have Sophia Rose, there are so many levels and such an abundance of water I’m in a constant state of paranoia. And it’s not really a child-friendly house. It’s done in an artistiv fashion. And there’s nothing for a child to do except stand in the corner with baseball gloves on both hands. And I don’t want to do that. I also feel I’ve been here for 4 years, and thought I like it I don’t feel that I’m bound here by an overwhelming sense of community, so I’d like to now spend more time in California. I feel a bit isolated here.
The Gianni Versace murder in 1997 in South Beach had a great deal of impact on whether I stay here or go. I also think it was completely avoidable. And I think that local politics and the news media did not serve justice by (creating a) “Slygate” and putting out stories about my buoys in the bay on the front page and pictures of (my security gate) for two and a half weeks. They knew for 2 months that a murderer had been loose in South Miami, without ever putting his picture on the Internet, on the screen, on the front page of the newspaper. My gate was more important. I believe that if they had done those other things then he would have been picked up, because Miami Beach is a very small world and he wasn’t hiding. I’m very regretful about it.
I feel now that with my celebrity, because I’ve been at this for quite a while, that I have a responsibility. I don’t think that me being reclusive is using the gift that has been bestowed on me in the best way. I am now functioning much more for charities. I’m much more vocal with fund-raisers and other aspects. I’m helping to alleviate problems (in ways) that can best serve the public.
The death of Burgess Meredith & Versace has changed the way I look at life. I used to wake up quite often confused and dazed and a bit angered and putulant. Now, I’ll lay in bed an extra 15 minutes going over all the wonderful assets of my life: good health, beaugfiful family, this and that and the fact that I’m given another day to pursue a goal, another day to venture forth. Not a day to wait until I die. Another day to beat death. To get one more thing done before time claims me. So when I turned 50, you start to realize, my God, I’m a third of the way gone. (Laughter) But I try to fight all the sense of anger or competitiveness or envy or any of the kind of natural things that creep into the minds of anyone in a competitive field which is probably everybody, whether you’re in the janitorial field or the space program. You’re always competing and that brings out the best and the worst in people. So I try to focus…Now I’m really taking aims at targets instead of flocking the world with arrows and hoping something sticks. Now I’m much more focused and investigative.
I think there’s no question that I’ve been a bit self-centered in living my life in the last 15 years. Now, there is this lead curtain lifted from in front of my eyes with the marriage and the birth of the child and I feel much more focused.”

Sly on Being a Perfectionist:
“I’ve become more of a perfectionist and more of a workaholic. I hadn’t been. That’s the big problem. No perfection. I was like a joyaholic.
I think that one’s reputation cannot be buffed enough. It shows that you are making an effort and therefore providing an example that we’re never going to rest on our laurels…I don’t want to rest on my laurels because that means I’ve given up…I’m not doing that. I think that life is a constant uphill grind but if you have accepted that in a competitive way, it is fun. If you accept it as drudgery, it can be a nightmare.
I don’t really know how to manage the art of eternal leisure. I wouldn’t know what to do. Ok, today, we do nothing. Ok folks. Line up and think of something to do. Nothing? Ok. That’s it. Today will be a nothing day. I don’t know how to do that. But some people – and perhaps it’s a gift – they can empty out all thoughts, all sense of competitiveness. All sense of lack of accomplishment. And play 3 rounds of golf a day and feel good about it. I tip my hat. It’s not an easy thing to do. Maybe their goal in life is to do nothing. And they achieved it.
Unfortunately, some of us are strapped with this nagging fear of not doing enough. I don’t know which is worse. They sleep great. I sleep a little worse than Bela Lagosi in Dracula. I’m up all night. I might as well have a part-tme job as a vampire because I keep the same hours. It’s horrible. It’s like being guilty of something. And I don’t know what I’m guilty of. It’s a constant rumble. Brain chatter, I call it. There’s a random word, it’s bouncing off in garbled, lost language, sentences. And I say stop. Come on. And it just doesn’t go away. And I think it all started in ’75. Once I was put under a spotlight I never slept sound again.”

Sly on Remembering Him:
“I think I’d like to be remembered as someone who beat the odds through just plain determination. That I was just dogmatic about the whole thing, that I persevered. Because I think that being somewhat of a pest to life, constantly plaguing and pursuing, will bring results; if nothing else your voice will be heard because you have become such a pain. “Anything to get rid of him.” It’s that kind of thing. It’s like that wonderful movie Rudy. You think of that 5’3 guy. And I met him. He’s the only person to be carried off the field at Notre Dame. And took a beating. Only because he was a pest in a positive sense. He pestered life until it gave in.”

Brace Yourself!

2006-03-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

"Are You Willing To Take The Hit?!"

2006-03-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

The OFFICIAL ROCKY6 Teaser Dialog

“What is it you said to the kid?
- ‘The world ain’t all sunshine & rainbows.’
It’s a very rough mean place and
No matter how tough you think you are
It’ll always bring ya to your knees
And keep you there – permenantly – if ya let it.
You or nobody ain’t gonna hit as hard as life
But it ain’t about how hard ya hit
It’s about how hard ya can GET hit
And keep movin’ forward,
How much you can take
And keep movin’ forward.
If ya know what you’re worth,
Go out & get what you’re worth
But ya gotta be willin’ to take the HIT!”

- Special note of thanx to slycenter & sophie (thestallonedome.tk) for the banners!
If creators want them removed, please email me - No problem!

GO FOR IT!

2006-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

by Joey B. Ellis,
Tynetta Hare
for ROCKYV

To be or not to be though – that’s the question
Are you gonna stop or keep on rockin’
Farther, faster, quicker than the next man
To be the best is the Master Plan
Go with all ya got, give it your best shot
Don’t even think about tryin’ to stop
Keep reachin’, pushin’, hopin’ for perfection
Make up your direction
Don’t ever stop for a moment, prove ya want it
If ya got it, flaunt it and get up on it
Go for yours, not for a minute but all the time
You better do it cause I’m goin’ for mine!

(Go for it!)
Heart & fire! (Go for it!)
I see it in your eyes. (Go, go, go! Go for it!)
Heart & fire!
You’ve got to go for the feeling!

It’s time for the rhyme of the bold & the gifted
Listen closely & you’ll get lifted
Higher than you ever been before
Get more than you bargained for, for sure!
Life can be a trip full of trouble
But you gotta stand up & fight back double
Don’t let nothin’ hold ya back
Yo, when life says STOP, you say go, go
Go preacher, goin’, teachin’ on
What’s that I’m preachin’ & I’m teachin’
To each & everyone of ya’ll, flowin’
Get yourself together, keep movin’
Don’t let nothin’ stop you from flowin’
Go for whatcha want, don’t hold back
Cuz I know ya got the knack
To go farther than you’ve ever been before
I’m goin’ for mine so go for yours!

(Go, go, go!)
Heart & fire!
I see it in your eyes. (Go for it! Go, go, go!)
Heart & fire!
You got to go for the feelin’!

Note: Out of Philly comes MC Breeze aka Joey B. Ellis with Tynetta Hare, pictured with Sage & Sly Stallone.

THERE'S NO EASY WAY OUT (video)

2006-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

THERE'S NO EASY WAY OUT -

Thanx, Frankie!
Nice choice of photos!

CONTENDING WITH SLY'S ROCKY (video)

2006-03-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

CONTENDING WITH SLY'S ROCKY -

If this doesn't inspire people, I don't know what will!
All that sweat, all that pain, all that strength, all that heart & fire!!
GO FOR IT, ROCK!

(I know it's from The Contender but it works for ROCKY6!)

Thanx, Creator!
I love it!!

SLY WATER COMING!!!

2006-02-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

This March, get ready for a "sly new product" to hit the shelves!
SLY WATER!

Yes, Sly Stallone will be marketing this sparkling new liquid from Mount Rainier's 10,000 yr old Carbon Glacier on the mountain's north face.
"I believe it is simply the best on the planet", Sly says.

Last year, revenue was around $4 million, said Glacia Nova consultant Larry Spangler, who inked the deal with Stallone. Spangler, not one to dream small, believes Stallone's celebrity power will take Glacia Nova to new heights.

After watching Stallone talk about fitness on an episode of "Imus in the Morning," Spangler became convinced that Stallone was his man. Stallone already had his name on vitamins and exercise equipment.

"A light bulb went off in my head," Spangler said. "That's the guy for the water because he gets to middle America."

After a phone call to Stallone, Spangler traveled to the movie star's 44,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home. It took just a two-hour business meeting, in which Stallone was wearing shorts, for the agreement to take shape. Stallone was sold on the brand because of the quality of glacial water, Spangler said.

Stallone did not receive an upfront payment but he is a partner in the venture and will receive an undisclosed share of revenue.

The upscale brand will sell for about $2.50 per 20-ounce bottle. Spangler envisions the product competing with other high-end bottled waters such as Fuji, and believes people will pay that much for pure glacial water.

This year, as Glacia Nova is still getting Sly Water operations up and running, the company will offer only 6 million cases for sale. Sly Water will not likely be offered in grocery stores, but will be sold in restaurants, hotels, and on the Web site for the initial launch.

"Why go against all that cheap water in the grocery stores?" Spangler said. "I'd like to see it marketed through Starbucks or another high-end store."

Shaped like a long-stemmed beer bottle with a blue and yellow color combination (one of Sly's favorite color combinations, Spangler said), the bottle is made of nitrogen-infused hard plastic. Stallone wants a product that even basketball star Shaquille O'Neal can't crunch with his hand, Spangler said.

Though the water has yet to be made available to the public, the company shipped 20 cases to the Seattle Seahawks, Spangler said. The Sorrento Hotel in Seattle also has Sly Water. Spangler plans to ink "major deals" in Germany and Seattle in the near future related to Sly Water, and is working on having the New York Yankees drink the water.

- Bottoms Up, Sly Fans!

The Measure Of A Man

2006-02-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

These battered hands are all you own
This broken heart just turned to stone
Go hang your glory on the wall
There comes a time when castles fall
And all that's left is shifting in the sand

You're out of time, you're out of place
Look at your face - That's the measure of a man

This coat that fits you like a glove
These dirty streets you learned to love
So welcome back my long lost friend
You've been to hell and back again
God alone knows how you crossed that span

Back on the beat, back to the start
Trust in your heart - That's the measure of a man

It's the fire in the eyes, the lines on the hand
It's the things you understand
Permanent ties from which you once ran
That's the measure of a man

You've come full circle, now you're home
Without the gold, without the chrome
And this is where you've always been
You had to lose so you could win
And rise above your troubles while you can

Now you can love, now you can lose
Now you can choose - That's the measure of a man.

- From ROCKYV
- Lyrics sung by Elton John

Sly Rocky

2006-02-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well, he's aging but he's still fine! The man just keeps on punchin'!
With all the hoopla over ROCKY6 that just wrapped, everyone's mind is gonna be on RAMBO4 next! Yep, another RAMBO! Some wanna see it, some don't and still yet some don't care! The same with ROCKY. But ya gotta admit, EVERYONE world wide knows who Rocky is & what that film was about! EVERYONE can recite a few lines from it - whether the original, II, III, 4 or V!
YO! How many can YOU remember??

ON THE SLY - 1995

2006-02-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

ON THE SLY by Stephen Rebello
MOVIELINE MAGAZINE Oct. 1995

1. No whistling around Sly.
His father used to whistle just before he’d beat the living mess out of him.
2. Don’t mention his hair or check out his hairline.
He’s got plenty of hair but he’s freaking because he thinks he’s losing it.
3. He can be sensitive about height so try slouching a little when you’re
around him.

I figured that if I were going to be warned off any topic, it would be Sly’s recent broken engagement to this year’s model, Angie Everheart. Or the outrageous salary he’s due to collect on future projects despite (lukewarm) boxoffice for The Specialist & the outfight nonperformance of Judge Dredd. Or the rumors about his having had more plastic surgery than Cher. Or to his alleged use of steroids.

When I show up on the set of Assassins, no one knows exactly where Stallone is. “Try the golf course”, a crew member cracks. While people go looking for the missing star, I content myself with sitting beside Richard Donner as he directs co-star Antonio Banderas, who plays a young contract killer out to unseat the aging master of the trade played by Stallone.

Stallone remains among the missing, so the director makes his cast & crew available to talk behind Sly’s back. Co-star Julianne Moore says, “It’s excruciating to watch him sometimes, because he’ll do something in a scene, then go, ‘No, no, no!’ He’ll want to do it again (& again). He’s very hard on himself.” (A cinematographer) says Stallone “has certain bad points in his face & he knows it. He knows exactly where the lights should be. In fact, he knows everything about moviemaking.”

Enthuses Antonio Banderas, “We were working together in a scene in a car for 9 days. When things are that tight, there can be problems. With him, nothing. Probably everything I’ve seen him in except for the 1st Rocky is based on muscle. But here, he’s introverted, full of pain, & he’s very believable. I tell him, ‘You’re doing great’ & he is.

Stallone has been found. Just before I make my way to the trailer, which is situated for maximum comfort close to the water, someone gives me a last bit of advice: “Sly thinks Antonio’s great – but, like the relationship of the 2 guys in the movie, this time Sly’s really working on his acting chops because Antonio’s a young, gorgeous actor who could run off with the movie.”
Stallone greets me in his Arctic-cooled trailer, bronzed & rippled despite pushing 50, garbed in a black Planet Hollywood T-shirt, gym shorts & tennis. The trailer is actually smaller than those I’ve seen lesser stars in. He looks up, shark-eyed, from whatever it is he’s watching on a video monitor, 7 offers me a seat & an iced drink.

Stallone is the 1st actor I’ve ever interviewed whose mother I’ve interviewed first. – “Oh, yeah, she’s a love expert,” Stallone says with sarcasm, adding, “Is that why she married a jockey once?”
Is it for real that, as papers recently reported, his mother is bankrupt, but won’t ask her son for a handout? “My mother has nothing to worry about for the rest of her life,” Stallone insists. “She is an unguided missile, truly an eccentric, & for some reason lots of eccentric people have this need to look as though they are bag people.” Stallone warms to the topic of his mom’s weirdness.

Given his well-publicized relationship woes, has Stallone ever felt that having such – a mother – might have skewed his view toward women? “I’ve always liked mocking things. I like mocking myself. She will burst anyone’s bubble, not in a malicious sense, but just to get a rise. So will I…”

So how did she let Stallone in on the facts of life? “From early on, I’ve always been extremely attracted to the opposite sex & was extremely aggressive in that way. When she figured that out, she sat me down & she didn’t pull any punches. I was aghast at how graphic she got. She skipped right over the birds & the bees…” (My first experience) I was about 12”, he recalls, “which, back then, was rather advanced. My friends didn’t learn anything about anything until they were 14 to 16…My 1st time was with a beautiful person who I was completely immobilized by. Her name was Ingrid, a wonderful person because she had no personality at all. She inherited all these lovely physical attributes with no mental stimulus whatsoever. Flypaper was more interesting to hang out with. Social graces & the ability to communicate weren’t very high on my list back then.”

He sighs so deeply at the memory that it’s obvious something went (wrong) with his dream girl. “She sent me crashing to earth”, he says. “The day after she & I got together, she was off with Joey Bambatts, then kept going to Eddie Mannuno, then to …..she worked her way thru the whole school. I was just a key on her giant xylophone of love. And, you know what? Nothing’s changed…The interaction is still the same..."
After many rumored affairs, & one very public one with Susan Anton, he divorced his wife of 10 years, Sasha, in 1985. The same year, he married Danish-born model-actress Brigitte Nielsen.

Three years later, on the heels of Nielsen, and very spiked heels they were, too, came a daisy chain of serial steadies that included Alana Hamilton Stewart, Corneilia Guest, Vanna White, model Dena Goodmanson & actess Joanna Pacula.
Then there was that long-term, on-again, off-again thing with model Jennifer Flavin, which was interrupted by a fling with ‘70’s model Janice Dickinson. Her successor was model Angie Everhart, but when Stallone & Everhart broke off their engagement this past June, Flavin was back again. No wonder intimates familiar with Stallone’s amatory attention span call his present love Flavin-of-the-Month.

“I’ve had my share of scorching by the flames of love”, he observes… “Each time, though, you become a little bit wiser. With love, you’re bound to get hurt, but, in the end, intelligence and a good sense of self-preservation will prevail. With me, there hasn’t been any irreparable damage. People read this stuff about my love life & it’s like, ‘Oh, he did a dumb thing again.’ But as you know, love makes you do incredibly inane things. You’re not a rational person when you’re in love. It’s a temporary form of insanity, but that’s the beauty of it.”

Even by Hollywood standards, Stallone’s love affairs seem to flare up & burn out in short order. “In show business, we live in a high-pressure, high-paced, all-accelerated world,” he asserts, “where in 6 months, you’re in a different part of the world, with different people, different everything. Relationships come & go at a much more alarming rate than would be normal in a job situation where you deal with the same people for 25 years.

But isn’t dating models & wanna-be actresses asking for it?... “In my world, that’s who you deal with 99% of the time. Models are wonderful but I feel bad for them because I feel a lot of them have been wounded. They’ve been deprived of a normal life. Their priorities are distorted very early & when modeling begins to fade, they are left in limbo, like Rambo. They’ve been used for a certain purpose, then discarded. You can’t expect to be able to say to someone who has been on the road, on a runway, ;pampered, under ultimate scrutiny, then dumped, ‘Ok, now get a job at JC Penney’s or in a fast-food chain.’ What do they do? Where do they go?” To Sly’s house, maybe?

Anyway, while we’re talking dolls & their brief burst of physical glory, what’s with Stallone & plastic surgery? What about the rumor that the studio forced him to cut an entire plastic surgery subplot he had written into the script of RockyIII to help “explain” the drastic change in his appearance since the last Rocky? “I haven’t had any cosmetic surgery,” Stallone insists. “The problem was I had lost so much weight that that I looked dramatically different from RockyII…I wore rubber pieces, appliances, in 3 different places in the 1st Rocky. I took them off, that’s all. The only thing I ever had done is, see, my mouth leans on one side because I had a forceps accident at birth. There is a cut here because these muscles had to be pulled up. But they go, ‘You had a face lift, & I say, ‘What? I ran out of money & couldn’t do the other side? Or they gave me a half-price deal?’ I think you should never have cosmetic surgery. If you have a face that has become your blueprint for the world & you change that, you are no longer that person. You are now a mask. If you wanted to fool with your look a little bit, but not change the essence – whatever gives you tranquility & doesn’t hurt anyone else, do it.”

(And the penile implant rumor? Stallone tracked it down to a Canadian newspaper.) “I called the editor & said, ‘Tell you what I’m going to do. We’re gonna have an x-ray done & you’ll see that there’s nothing in there…& you’re gonna be out of business. ‘ He goes, ‘We had a doctor from New Jersey…’ who went on record, but I checked it out & the guy’s a veterinarian. I sued them to the point where they couldn’t pay any legal bills & they were shut down.”
(So what about Sly & Angie Everhart?) The announcement of their engagement was “very, very premature, to start off with. I went, ‘Oh, my God, how do we reverse this?’ Rather than say, ‘Stop the presses,’ & have everyone truly embarrassed, I went, ‘Ok, let’s ride it out.’ I knew that having the announcement out there, if a breakup were to occur, would make it take on a more serious tone than if it were just a minor dalliance. I’m not opposed to long-term relationships. I keep all those avenues open. The promise, great expectations, that’s terrific. When I’m in love, I’m energetic, feverish…I feel very, very light. I tend to hover.”

To hear Stallone tell it now, he & Everhart did not hover all that long. “But with Jennifer Flavin, see?” he says, referring to the woman who is back in his life. “This is a good spirit. This is a good soul. And she has proven herself time & again to be someone of impeccable credentials in every way. “

How does Stallone regulate his (love) life? One hears that comely young working girls & models have been slipping in & out of Seattle with alarming frequency since the actor blew into town. “Oh, right, they’re lining up now in the lobby, they’re taking numbers to go to my room, like at the bakery,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I wish I’d known that, because they sure don’t make it up to my room. They must have gone to someone else’s room. Up here? Never been one. Not one. If I’m lying, I’m dying…People give us too much credit…We like to mingle, we are social creatures, but we are not orgy-bound every night. Believe me, the reality is far less exciting, but there’s no way the papers are going to say that Stallone was home at night eating French toast this weekend.”

At this, Stallone takes a stroll around the trailer, laughing, saying, “Don’t mind my flipping around here, but I suffer from a malady called ‘attention span deficit’ & I just have to move around.”

(Stallone was supposed to star in Robert Evans’ The Cotton Club but because of Sly’s dislike of him, he declined. He called the guy “pathetic” for showing him lewd pictures of Angie Everhart when she was 18.) “I realized he was demented, but he blames me, I guess, for having had to go out & get someone else to star in his movie.” …He also nearly did Waterworld.

What a roller coaster Stallone’s career has been. As he readily admits. “It was a disaster when I tried taking my career on a whole different road…” Cliffhanger & Demolition Man saved him from years of career bottom-fishing in such stuff as Rhinestone, Stop!..., Oscar, & Over the Top. “I had started to hate the business, but then said, ‘It’s not the business. It’s me.’ My confidence weakened. I reached out desperately, thinking, ‘Change your image,’ only to work under disastrous circumstances with people who didn’t have a clue about what I was or even what was funny. I knew that if it continued, I would have been embittered…But, on the sets of these movies, I couldn’t open my mouth because I had gotten a reputation for being very movie set dominant. I bit my lip and watched my career go down & down & down to the point where I had lost all hope.”

“I took it out in art, painting 100 of the angriest, blackest paintings that are like fingerprints of my soul,” asserts Stallone, who owns a mighty art collection. “Luckily, I had my painting & exercise, which for me, is like going to a psychiatrist. Exercise is truly a narcotic.”

(Acting?) “For some odd reason, the audience identifies with me when I react physically rather than a verbal one-on-one…Action films are a physical challenge…Acting is a great pleasure, but I just don’t think, as I become more & more mature, it’s going to be as vital to me. I find myself trying to regain a bit of that fire down below by writing screenplays…I’m gearing up to direct again, because I think that’s where my strong suit lies. If Judge Dredd does well internationally, I wouldn’t mind trying a sequel.”

Results of Dining On a ROCKY Set

2006-02-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a great experience dining on the ROCKY6 movie set in Philly, PA! We got there at a really good time (almost 5:00)becuz only about 3 tables were occupied so having no res. was NOT a problem. Really nice hostess, that Maria! She gave me & my daughter THE perfect corner table so it was easy eyeing the door for a possible Sly-sighting! But to no avail - no Sly! But we took plenty of pics of the ROCKY photo props! Met fellow StalloneZoner, Joe Czack, which was a pleasant treat & had a nice time. As the people started to pour in, it was time to say goodbye & make our way out for some more pics in front of the ADRIAN sign. And dontcha know that a few blocks away, we passed Gino's & Pat's, two famous cheesesteak places where, in ROCKY Gazzo's talkin' to him & tellin' him he's in training so no smoking! Remember that?
I'll be getting the pics developed soon. Wish I could scan them for you all but...no scanner.

- See you on the Sly!

ROCKYV Trivia & Video ("I DIDN'T HEAR NO BELL!")

2006-01-31T13:02:00.000-08:00

1. The young actor who plays Rocky, Jr. is Sage Stallone, Sly's 14-year-old son. The two worked together six years later on the action film Daylight.

2. The actors who play Tommy Gunn and Union Cane are both real boxers.

3. The reporters in the movie were actually played by real reporters from various Philadelphia newspapers and TV stations.

4. The famous red, white and blue boxing trunks first worn by Apollo Creed in his fight with Rocky in the first film make their fifth and final appearance in Rocky V.

5. The golden glove necklace featured so prominently in this film was first seen in Rocky III, then again throughout Rocky IV. As a promotional gimmick, replicas of the necklace were distributed to moviegoers at the Hollywood premiere of Rocky V at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. (You can see it around Rocky's neck here in this photo and in the above photo with Tommy Morrison.)

6. The character George Washington Duke is based on real life boxing promoter Don King. The unlikable character even uses King's signature catchphrase: "Only in America".

7. In this movie we learn that Rocky's real name is Robert. This revelation is made when Rocky, Jr. is asked his name he says, "Robert".

ROCKY4 Trivia

2006-01-31T12:46:00.000-08:00

ROCKY4

1. Some of the fight scenes between Rocky and Drago where real as director Stallone wanted the action to look as authentic as possible. As a result, Dolph Lundgren accidentally broke three of Sly's ribs.

2. When Rocky tells the Russian crowd "That's better than 20 million people killing each other", the ring announcer translates it as "Ehta luch'e chem dvadtsat millionov dollarov", which means "That's better than 20 million dollars".

3. Sylvester Stallone was engaged to Brigitte Nielsen, the Swedish actress who portrays Drago's wife, at the time of production. They married one month after the film's premiere.

4. During filming of the training scenes in Russia (actually shot in Wyoming), Stallone began complaining of chest pains after having gone through the exercise where he pulls the sledge of rocks into the air. A doctor's examination revealed that he'd damaged his heart. Production was shut down for two months in an effort to prevent a possible heart attack.

5. Rocky IV was Carl Weather's fourth and final appearance in the series as Apollo Creed.

6. Rocky IV is the only sequel in which Burgess Meredith does not appear.

ROCKYIII Trivia

2006-01-31T12:39:00.000-08:00

RockyIII -

1. The title "Rocky III" is actually displayed on screen three separate times at the start of the film. It first scrolls onto the screen from right to left, then is spelled out in fireworks and finally appears in simple text at the bottom right of the screen, several minutes later during the opening credits.

2. In addition to continuing his role as a singer, this time as the 'headliner' in Rocky's palatial gym, Frank Stallone (Sly's brother) also plays one of the fighters in the boxing montage at the beginning of the film.

3. The rematch between Rocky and Clubber Lang is the only fight in the Rocky series that does not go a full 15 rounds. It lasts only 3 rounds.

4. Sylvester Stallone's first wife Sasha was the blonde groupie who asked for and got a kiss from Rocky during his public training session for his first fight with Clubber Lang.

5. Before the final fight with Clubber Lang, the crowd scenes contain the picture boards of Rocky and Apollo in the background, clearly the same crowd footage used in Rocky II.

6. In 1982, an official Rocky Pinball Machine was produced and hit arcades across the country. Although a similar pinball machine appears at the beginning of Rocky III (the game that Paulie smashes with his liquor bottle), this particular machine was never mass-produced but was merely a prop created for the film. It sported a specially made backglass created just for the movie. Read more about it in the memorabilia section.

7. Rocky III was the first sequel in which Rocky is seen wearing his famous golden glove necklace. It was later explained in Rocky V that the tiny boxing glove was once one of Rocky Marciano's cuff links.

8. The shooting of the boxing/wrestling match between Rocky and Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan) took a total of ten days to complete.

9. The ring in which Thunderlips and Rocky fight includes the modifications used in professional wrestling, such as half-inch padding under the canvas and shock absorbers under the plywood, as well as the slightly loosened ropes used in wrestling.

10. Hulk Hogan was fired from the WWF for taking the role of Thunderlips.

11. Three bronze Rocky statues (each standing at nearly nine feet tall) were created for this film, one of which holds a place of honor at the entrance of the First Union Spectrum in Philadelphia. A duplicate statue was recently up for auction on eBay. Check out the Rocky Statue's History.

12. Heavyweight boxer Ernie Shavers was considered for the role of Clubber Lang. This was because Sly thought that he was good enough to fight a real boxer, instead of an actor. But in a practice fight Shavers, taking it easy on the star, broke two of Stallone's ribs in less than three rounds, so he was immediately dropped from consideration for the role.

13. Rocky (1976) and Rocky II (1979) are both set in 1976, and the events in Rocky III are said to take place three years later, making it 1979. But the newspaper depicting the wrestling match with Rocky and Thunderlips gives a date of 1982. - (That's Hollywood!)

ROCKYII Trivia

2006-01-31T12:34:00.000-08:00

ROCKYII -

1. Sylvester Stallone seriously injured a pectoral muscle during his intensive training for Rocky II.

2. When Rocky is seen training, he is sparring with a smaller and quicker fighter. The sparring partner is played by real life Champion Roberto Duran.

3. This movie is notable for being the first of three Rocky films that Stallone would not only write and star in, but direct as well.

4. During the "Beast Aftershave" commercial filming scene, the clapperboard reads "Director: John Pleshette", the real name of the actor playing the director.

ROCKY Trivia

2006-01-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

ROCKY

1. Though it is common knowledge that he was nominated as Best Actor, Sylvester Stallone also received an Oscar nomination for writing this film.

2. It was advertised before filming that all spectators who would fill in for ringside audience members at the Los Angeles Sports Arena would be treated to a free chicken dinner and could watch the shooting of the Creed/Balboa fight. Four thousand people showed up at suppertime.

3. The lead singer in the neighborhood band is played by Frank Stallone, Sly's younger brother. He's also the fellow who steps out of the shadows when Rocky tells him, "Get a job, you bum!"

4. Burt Young did his homework for Paulie's drunk scene - he studied real drunks to capture their movements and foggy thought processing.

5. Stallone insisted that the scene where he admits his fears and doubts to Adrian the night before the fight be filmed, even though production was running far behind and producers wanted to skip it. He had one take for that scene, and was so nervous about flubbing the only scene he thought was important that he got himself drunk to do it.

6. Adrian's hesitation to kiss Rocky in his apartment after their date together wasn't originally scripted that way; Talia Shire was suffering from the flu during filming, and she was afraid of getting Sylvester Stallone sick. What resulted, ironically, was a better acted scene than was originally anticipated. (The above photo is NOT the original "Rocky & Adrian's 1st Kiss" scene but you get the picture)

Sly caught Talia's case of the flu, then went on to shoot Rocky's training scenes in Mickey's Gym with a fever.

7. Along with Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire and Burt Young - Tony Burton, Rocky's trainer in ROCKY4, is the only other actor who has appeared in all five sequels.

8. The gold and maroon colored robe that Rocky wears before entering the ring wasn't intended to be amusingly oversized. Stallone ordered a normal one from the wardrobe department but was issued with robe that, as he says, "was built for Godzilla." They turned the problem around and were able to use it as a comedic moment before the drama of the big fight.

9. Linda Kilian, formerly a designer with Gigette/Saybury in New York City, designed the pink robe that Talia Shire wears in the scene where she is seen unwrapping the gauze from Stallone's hands. It is believed that this robe was a piece from Shire's personal wardrobe, as were the majority of Adrian's ensembles.

10. The pet shop where Adrian works was, and still is, a real pet shop in Philadelphia. Check out the Fast Facts section to get its address.

11. The man who rings the bell during the Creed/Balboa fight is Sylvester Stallone's father, Frank.

12. The black-and-white photographs stuck under Rocky's mirror are Stallone's own personal photos - including the portrait of his parents. Most of these pictures can be seen in his "Rocky Scrapbook".

13. Joe Spinell, seen here as "Gazzo", really did have asthma. During this scene, he pulled the inhaler out like as if it was written in the script & used it without missing a beat! It was so naturally done that it was left in the movie.

14. A different ending was originally filmed for this movie. In the original ending, Rocky walked out of the ring and met Adrian in the tunnel to the stadium. They walked down the tunnel, hand in hand, and the last shot was from behind of Rocky and Adrian walking down the tunnel (this image was later used as the poster shot). Test audiences said the end was too depressing and it was re-shot with Adrian's now classic run to the ring while Rocky screams her name.

2006-01-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

AND NOW HE'S A NEW, DYNAMIC STAR
By Roger Ebert
December 19, 1977

Sylvester Stallone sits on a hotel sofa with his feet up on the coffee table. He wears expensive blue jeans, the kind you buy in Beverly Hills. His muscles bulge beneath a T-shirt that says, simply and inexplicably, "Valentine." He has a tough, sensual face, a mane of black hair and the best hooded eyes since Robert Mitchum. Two years ago, he observes, his acting career was "intellectually, emotionally and financially defunct."

Now he talks about how it's going to feel to be a star. He's a star because of Rocky, the screenplay he peddled to Hollywood studios while living in a one-room apartment on next to nothing a week. He was offered big money if he'd sell the story and let someone else star in it - but, no, he thought he ought to be the star himself. He held out long enough and United Artists finally let him do it, and the movie's one of the year's surprise hits.Stallone is not surprised.

"The people like it who let their emotions be their guide," he says. "Of course, if you go in intellectually, you hate it. But if you let yourself go with it, something happens about 40 minutes into the movie. You say to yourself, hey, this isn't going to be the colossal downer of all time. You find out Rocky's not just a fighter on the way down, he's a pliable, vulnerable person. And the movie isn't just about fighting it's about heart and love. And then you throw yourself into it emotionally. Maybe that's why I made it about boxing. Everybody knows what it's like to punch, and be punched, and everybody knows what it's like to fall in love."Rocky is about a mob enforcer and punk prizefighter from Philadelphia who gets a lucky crack at the heavyweight title and knows it may be his one shot at amounting to something in life.

The story could be Stallone's. After years of getting nowhere as an actor in New York, he went to Hollywood and got nowherethere. He had roles in Capone and Death Race 2000, and a nice scene%2

RockyV - Original Ending

2006-01-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

ROCKY V Original Ending Screenplay By : Sylvester Stallone

You may have heard Sylvester Stallone actually considered killing off his cinematic alterEgo in Rocky V but was persuaded by United Artists management to let the hero live.You can’t kill off a cherished figure, Stallone was told. But after taking an exclusive peak at Stallone’s Original script , dated July 24, 1989, one can only conclude that the actor-writer was right.

But get a load of the original ending, which was never filmed. Rocky, suffering from too many shots in the head during his boxing career has collapsed inAdrian’s arms after one last fight in the streets of Philadelphia.
A POLICEMAN SPEAKS: ’’The ambulance is a minute away-’’ADRIAN: When you get to the hospital, you’ll be all right.’’ROCKY: ’’My hands are cold.’’ADRIAN (she takes his hands) : Ill warm them; What ever you want.’’ROCKY: I don’t want the kid to see me like this.’’ADRIAN: ’’He won’t.’’ROCKY: ’’Adrian,you’re the only thing I ever loved. I only want us to be happy, Y’know?’’ADRIAN (pregnant with a girl): ’’I know. When you get better we’ll go away for a rest and get ready for the baby,’’ROCKY: I can’t wait to see my daughter. It’s gonna be great..’’

But,then according to the script: ’Rocky’s hand slackens in Adrian’s grip and his body slips into motionless repose. His eyes close, leaving his face sublimely peaceful.’’ADRIAN: ’’ Rocky?? Rocky?? Oh God, don’t go, Rocky. Please, Oh God don’t take him! I love you’, don’t leave me!" An ambulance arrives and paramedics force their way through the crowd.
PARAMEDIC: ’’We’re ready, Mrs.Balboa. We’lltake him now.’’ADRIAN (softly): You’ll never take him.’’

The scene fades and dissolves through the image of Adrian cradling Rocky’s head and fades in on the museum steps: Adrian stands beside the massive bronze statue of Rocky: Below her is a large gathering of press and friends.
’’ADRIAN: ’’Rocky Balboa passed away early this morning, and with my husband went a man who proved you don’t have to be born great to achieve greatness. From his humble beginnings, he became a symbol for many that life doesn't make the man, the man makes the life. As long as there are people willing to meet challenges of life and not surrender until their dreams become realities, the world will always have their Rocky’s . (she looks at the statue) "I’ll always love you.’’

Stallone's script concludes with this instruction: the camera pans up to the powerful statue and after a moment it dissolves into the same spot where years before an unknown fighter danced jubilantly and raised his hands in his victory over life. The scene freezes-on Rocky’s leap of triumph...

(Blogger Note: I am SO glad Rocky wasn't killed off in this 5th installment!
I don't know why this one wasn't liked as much as the others either. To me, it got back to the "roots" of the real Rocky character like in the 1st one.
He needs to live on no matter WHAT he does - like owning a restaurant called ADRIAN'S & not boxing anymore until..........ROCKY6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

You Would Be My Baby by Vanessa Wms.

2006-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

If I had a secret recipe
You would be my baby
If I had the perfect fantasy
You would be my baby
If the world was mine to redesign
Then suddenly you would find that
You'd be my baby
If I wrote you poems that made you cry
Would you be my baby?
If I sang the sweetest lullybye
Would you be my baby?
If I promised you the moon and stars
With heaven waiting in my arms
Would you be my baby?

But if I only had true love to offer you
Would that be enough to make you want me, too?

I would kiss and tuck you in each night
If you would be my baby
Then I'd watch you sleep and hold you tight
If you would be my baby
I would make you mine for rich or poor
And never need to ask for more
If you'd be my baby

If I had a chance at real romance
If I could choose my circumstance
Then you'd be my baby.

Excitement!

2006-01-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

I'm blogging for a minute & then I'm hittin' the sack. It's Saturday night & it's late...

You all better go on over to stallonezone.com to see more pics & get more info about Sly than you ever thought you'd even wanna know about! I visit there every time I'm online & it just causes so much excitement! Zoners post there about Sly's past, present, future, friends, family, post pics & articles and so on & so on & so on..

His life is an open-book, it seems!
(I, for one, would like to read more!)

(My obsessive-side is showing again!!)

CopLand

2006-01-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

Someone mentioned CopLand in their comments so I thought I'd post some pics & thoughts about this OTHER Sly film.

(This is normal Sly weight, taken after filming was done & extra weight was lost.) You gotta give him credit for puttin' on the pounds to play Sheriff Freddie Heflin, the deaf-in-one-ear man of the law who pines away for the wife of a cheatin' fellow officer. (She's a dead-ringer for Talia Shire - Yo! Adrian!!)

So how did he become deaf? Saved said girl from drowning years ago. What Freddie would like more than anything is to work in NYC, across the river from where he is in Jersey but because of his handicap it's no-dice.

(Sly directing traffic while 40 lbs. overweight. NOT a pretty sight!)

When Freddie uncovers a HUGE corruption ring that runs all the way into the city of NY, he's caught in a dilemma. Should he spill it to I.A. (DeNiro) & have all the cops who live in this little 'safe' place in Jersey - like a CopLand - run outta town? Or should he keep quiet & let it go on while he sizzles with mounds of info on every cop he knows? What he decides (with the help of coke-sniffin' Ray Liotta) is the movies' climax.

Sly's back down to normal weight here. The director wanted to re-shoot some scenes & it was already too late for "Freddie" to look heavy again. Sly couldn't 'weight' to get rid of the flab after the film was done! I think doing this film was a wise career move for Sly. He was paid scale for it just to have the privilege of working with DeNiro, Liotta & Keitel in an ensemble cast. It works! Go see the edited version...

"Obsessive"

2006-01-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ok - The obsessiveness of the obsession is getting to be a bit much now.
It's quite the daily thing. I gotta get my daily dose! The object of my obsession is obviously not for real but for "REEL"!
My husband doesn't understand it & is just starting to see the obsessiveness work its way into daily life around here! ARRRRRRRGH!! What to do!!!!???

I gotta get another hobby, ya know?

%$&(*_)#(+_%$)&*$^&*)#_@&@^!%$%#*#$()*_$#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

F.I.S.T.

2005-12-29T13:33:00.000-08:00

Don't miss the hard-hitting story of the
Federation of Inter-State Truckers, aka F.I.S.T.

F.I.S.T. - DVD
Running Time: 145 Min.Rated PG
Sylvester Stallone stars in this hard-hitting, boldly ambitious drama that powerfully reveals a significant slice of American history. As union leader Johnny Kovak, Stallone's performance confirmed his stature as one of Hollywood's hottest stars. Closely paralleling history, the film follows the rise and fall of Kovak, from his beginnings as an idealistic blue-collar worker to his final position as head of one of the country's most powerful unions: the Federation of Inter-State Truckers. But there are no unscarred heroes in this world. To achieve his dream of justice for the working man, Kovak must accept the muscle of organized crime. Ultimately, F.I.S.T. is a story of idealism corrupted and betrayed. Oscar® winner Rod Steiger (1967 Best Actor, In the Heat of the Night), Peter Boyle and Brian Dennehy are featured in the fine supporting cast. Directed by Norman Jewison, with Laszlo Kovac's darkly moody cinematography and a heroic score by Rocky composer Bill Conti, F.I.S.T. is "a particularly American kind of epic" (Vincent Canby, The New York Times).

The Lords Of Flatbush

2005-12-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

This was a nice find on the web. Don't miss it!

Lords Of Flatbush - DVD
Running Time: 84 Min. Rated PG.
Before Rocky was a knock-out, before "the Fonz" was TV's "Leader of the Pack", two unknown actors named Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler starred in their first major screen roles. Soon they'd rule the box office and the airwaves, but before they were kings, they were THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH! Clad in blue jeans, black leather jackets and bad attitudes, Stanley (Stallone), Butchey (Winkler), Chico (Perry King) and Wimpy (Paul Mace) are a 1950's Brooklyn "gang" of four cool, sexy rebels. Despite their tough appearance, these boys just want to have fun, but reality, a.k.a. adulthood, rears its ugly head when Stanley's steady informs him they have to get married, and blue-coller Chico falls for a beautiful blonde (Susan Blakely) from the right side of the tracks. A high-octane cruise down memory lane, THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH is "immensely appealing, often hilarious, surprisingly touching and superbly acted." (The Hollywood Reporter)

Knocked Out!

2005-12-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

I was in love the moment that I saw you

You got me knocked out, turn me inside out
It's you that makes my heart beat
You got me knocked out, baby there's no doubt
You swept me off of my feet.

(Caught blow-by-blow, love T.K.O!)

(Just goofin' - I always loved this song by Paula Abdul!)

Isn't It Pathetic?

2005-12-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

Day by day goes by & somehow, thru daily happenings, I attribute SOMETHING in life to the silver screen. If it ain't ROCKY it's some other character I might admire. Isn't it pathetic how we become attached to people up on the silver screen?!? Sometimes I can sit & write out screenplays & dialogue for hours. Other times I can sit through a film & critique those same things to try & make it better.

Scrapbooks, Blogs, Photobucket, Google - I guess I'm pathetically hooked! It all started as a child...Mom LOVED the silver screen & passed that love off to me as I did to my own daughter. Maybe that's another reason why she's chosen to continue doing something in the industry - modeling, commercials, etc. She's not AS into film as I am but she can name actors most people her age never even heard of! (She's 21!) I think I'm proud of that...

I think that's enough blogging for today.

And Still MORE ROCKY!

2005-12-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

Is Rocky past his prime? Can he go another round?
Or will he hear the final bell? We'll all have to find out when ROCKY6 hits the screens in 2006! For now, let's see who's still standin' in the stills -

MORE ROCKY & TEASER TRAILER VIDEO FOR #6!

2005-12-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

There's ROCKY I thru V with #6 on the way in 2006!
Another ROCKY! Can you believe it? Those who are fans are waiting patiently & reading up on everything they can about the man who's lookin' fine for 59!
Rocky's back in the ring & so many of us will be there in spirit if not literally to cheer him on once again!

Thanx, myfan!
LOVE it! Brings back some fond memories & readies us for the 6th installment of the ROCKY legend!

ROCKY

2005-12-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

In the beginning there was a man who was all heart & fire whose only wish was to go the distance & win the woman he loved. He did both & the world went wild cheering for The Italian Stallion, ROCKY BALBOA..."ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY!"

My favorite Sly character is Rocky. Why?

He's tough but innocent & I love the language! Classic Rocky lines?

"YO ADRIAN!! I DID IT!!"

"Friends do cuz they WANNA do!!"

"Is this a face you can trust or what? They oughta put this face on a stamp, huh? Whaddya think?"
(You know, they really did, too!)

"All I wanna do is go the distance. When that bell rings & I'm still standin', I'll know for the first time in my life that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

Just A Slyce Of Info

2005-12-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

The name on the 'net is Slyce
in honor of my "obsession", Sly Stallone.
As you peek thru my website here you are going to see LOTS of Sly info & photos for your viewing pleasure. Eventually, there will be other famous people added but for now it's Just A Slyce -

Feedback comments & fellow "Sly Obsessors" welcomed!!