Over the Top
Encyclopedia
Over the Top is a 1987
action
drama film
starring Sylvester Stallone
. It was produced and directed by Menahem Golan
, and its screenplay was written by Stirling Silliphant
and Stallone. The original music score was composed by Giorgio Moroder
. The main character, played by Stallone, is a long-haul truck driver who tries to win back his alienated son while becoming a champion arm wrestler
. The film has been panned by many critics.
so that the two of them can get to know each other; Hawk had left them 10 years earlier. His controlling grandfather Jason Cutler, a wealthy man who hates Hawk and disapproved of his daughter's relationship with him, believes that Hawk has no right to be in his grandson's life. Mike is very distrusting and bitter towards Hawk initially and treats him with contempt at every turn.
Over the course of a trip from Colorado
to California
, Mike comes to trust Hawk until learning about his mother's death. Feeling he would have been there with her if not for Hawk, he leaves for his grandfather's estate. An attempt to retrieve Mike ends with Hawk being arrested for trespassing. While in jail Mike visits him, and while he forgives Hawk, he tells him that its best that he remain with his grandfather because he feels like he has a home with him.
After his release, Hawk leaves to compete in the World Arm Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas
. His hope is to win the grand prize of $100,000 and an expensive new custom semi-truck and thus start his own trucking company. Hawk is a clear underdog, having a size disadvantage over just about every other participant, including an old rival of Hawk's, Bull Hurley, who is the odds on favorite. When he arrives, he sells his truck for $7000 and places a bet on himself for every cent of the money he earned. Meanwhile, Mike finds all the letters that Hawk had sent over the years and realizes that his grandfather has been hiding the truth about his father. Cutler did everything possible to drive his parents apart and had been intercepting and hiding the regular letters Hawk had written to him.
Cutler meets with Hawk and tells him that he's always been a loser and offers Hawk a way out: a brand new semi and $500,000 on the condition that he turn over custody of Mike and stay out of their lives, but Hawk refuses and leaves. Mike, stunned by his grandfather's deceptions, goes to Las Vegas and finds Hawk. Apologizing for misjudging him, Mike gives Hawk the emotional support he needs to compete and he emerges from the contest victorious over Hurley in the finals. As father and son celebrate their world championship win, Cutler (who had followed Mike to the competition) looks on in silence and with grudging respect for all he sacrificed to get Mike back. A triumphant Hawk and Mike take their new truck and hefty earnings and start their own business as planned.
in Claremont, California
during the early summer of 1986. The Kirkeby mansion at 750 Bel Air Road, Los Angeles (also the home of the Clampett family on the CBS comedy "The Beverly Hillbillies") was used to portray the Cutler estate.
Sylvester Stallone was paid $12 million to star in Over The Top.
David Mendenhall won two Razzies, for worst supporting actor and new star. Multi-time world arm wrestling champion and future professional wrestler Scott Norton
also makes an appearance.
. The World Journal Film Reviewer Frank Ochieng Stated "Stallone, for whatever inexplicable reason, continues to pile on the dramatic dribble in yet another pointless movie mishap".
The film received three nominations at the 8th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1988, with David Mendenhall
winning 2 for both Worst Supporting Actor and Worst New Star while Sylvester Stallone
was nominated for Worst Actor.
Despite this, some ratings have been positive with reviewer Luke Y. Thompson stating that "The world does need at least one film about professional arm-wrestling" and various people praising Stallone's performance in a Dramatical Role as opposed to the action films he usually stars in.
album
was released in 1987 to coincide with the release of the movie. It contains music from Frank Stallone
, Kenny Loggins
(who performs the film's central theme, "Meet Me Half Way"), Eddie Money
, and Sammy Hagar
. John Wetton
, lead singer of the rock group Asia
, sang "Winner Takes It All" for the movie, but after performing the song, it was felt that his voice wasn't "mean" enough, so the song was offered to Hagar, whose version, featuring a bass guitar solo from Hagar's then-bandmate
Edward Van Halen, ended up being the one on the soundtrack.
The track listing is:
Stallone appears in the video for "Winner Takes It All," wrestling Hagar at the end of the video. Hagar says in his video commentary on the DVD The Long Road to Cabo that he wasn't crazy about the song. Hagar says that Stallone gave him his black cap at the end of the shoot, both signed it, and the cap went to charity, fetching around $10k.
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
. It was produced and directed by Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan is an Israeli director and producer. He has produced movies for such stars as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and was known for a period as a producer of comic book-style movies like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV:...
, and its screenplay was written by Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and was educated at the University of Southern California...
and Stallone. The original music score was composed by Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
. The main character, played by Stallone, is a long-haul truck driver who tries to win back his alienated son while becoming a champion arm wrestler
Arm wrestling
Arm wrestling is a sport with two participants. Each participant places one arm on a surface with their elbows bent and touching the surface, and they grip each other's hand...
. The film has been panned by many critics.
Plot
Lincoln Hawk is a struggling trucker who arm wrestles on the side to make extra cash while trying to rebuild his life. Hawk's estranged wife Christina, who is very ill, asks that Hawk pick up their son Michael from military schoolMilitary academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
so that the two of them can get to know each other; Hawk had left them 10 years earlier. His controlling grandfather Jason Cutler, a wealthy man who hates Hawk and disapproved of his daughter's relationship with him, believes that Hawk has no right to be in his grandson's life. Mike is very distrusting and bitter towards Hawk initially and treats him with contempt at every turn.
Over the course of a trip from Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Mike comes to trust Hawk until learning about his mother's death. Feeling he would have been there with her if not for Hawk, he leaves for his grandfather's estate. An attempt to retrieve Mike ends with Hawk being arrested for trespassing. While in jail Mike visits him, and while he forgives Hawk, he tells him that its best that he remain with his grandfather because he feels like he has a home with him.
After his release, Hawk leaves to compete in the World Arm Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. His hope is to win the grand prize of $100,000 and an expensive new custom semi-truck and thus start his own trucking company. Hawk is a clear underdog, having a size disadvantage over just about every other participant, including an old rival of Hawk's, Bull Hurley, who is the odds on favorite. When he arrives, he sells his truck for $7000 and places a bet on himself for every cent of the money he earned. Meanwhile, Mike finds all the letters that Hawk had sent over the years and realizes that his grandfather has been hiding the truth about his father. Cutler did everything possible to drive his parents apart and had been intercepting and hiding the regular letters Hawk had written to him.
Cutler meets with Hawk and tells him that he's always been a loser and offers Hawk a way out: a brand new semi and $500,000 on the condition that he turn over custody of Mike and stay out of their lives, but Hawk refuses and leaves. Mike, stunned by his grandfather's deceptions, goes to Las Vegas and finds Hawk. Apologizing for misjudging him, Mike gives Hawk the emotional support he needs to compete and he emerges from the contest victorious over Hurley in the finals. As father and son celebrate their world championship win, Cutler (who had followed Mike to the competition) looks on in silence and with grudging respect for all he sacrificed to get Mike back. A triumphant Hawk and Mike take their new truck and hefty earnings and start their own business as planned.
Production
The military academy scenes, portrayed as being in Colorado, were filmed at Pomona CollegePomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
during the early summer of 1986. The Kirkeby mansion at 750 Bel Air Road, Los Angeles (also the home of the Clampett family on the CBS comedy "The Beverly Hillbillies") was used to portray the Cutler estate.
Sylvester Stallone was paid $12 million to star in Over The Top.
Cast
- Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
- Lincoln Hawk(s) - Robert LoggiaRobert LoggiaRobert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
- Jason Cutler - Susan BlakelySusan BlakelySusan Blakely is an American film actress who has mainly played supporting roles.-Early life:Blakely was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1948. She is the daughter of Weezie, a former art teacher, and Colonel Lawrence Blakely, a career Army officer. Her first career break came while she was living...
- Christina Cutler-Hawk(s) - Rick ZumwaltRick ZumwaltRichard Lee Zumwalt, Jr. was a professional world champion arm-wrestler and actor. He is well known for playing the character of Bob 'Bull' Hurley in the 1987 Sylvester Stallone movie, Over the Top....
- Bob "Bull" Hurley - David MendenhallDavid MendenhallDavid Mendenhall is an American actor and former child actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the films Space Raiders, Over the Top, The Transformers: The Movie and They Still Call Me Bruce.-Biography:...
- Michael Cutler/Michael Hawk(s) - Chris McCarty - Tim Salanger
- Terry FunkTerry FunkTerrence "Terry" Funk is an American professional wrestler and actor known chiefly for the hardcore wrestling style he adopted in the latter part of his career that inspired many younger wrestlers, including Mick Foley...
- Ruker - Bruce Way - John Grizzly
- Jimmy KeeganJimmy KeeganJimmy Keegan is a drummer. He has played with artists such as Santana, as the drummer on the song "Primavera" on Santana's hit album Supernatural and with John Waite, and is the current drummer for the Progressive rock band Spock's Beard, having replaced original drummer Nick D'Virgilio in November...
- Richie - Greg 'Magic' Schwartz - Smasher
- Allan Graf - Collins
- John BradenJohn BradenJohn Braden was a writer, producer, and director of motion pictures and television programs, as well as a public advocate against drugs in the movie industry....
- Col. Davis - Randy Raney - Mad Dog Madison
- Paolo Casella - Carl Adams
- Brian WebbBrian WebbBrian Webb is a graphic designer and director of Webb & Webb Design Limited.Brian Webb initially trained as a technical illustrator at Liverpool College of Art but quickly discovered words as well as pictures and moved on to Canterbury with the intention of working in television...
- The Baby - Jack WrightJack WrightJack Wright was the hero of a popular series of Victorian science fiction dime novels and story papers written by Luis Senarens, the so-called "American Jules Verne". A few stories are also credited to Francis W. Doughty...
- Big Bill Larson - Sam Scarber - Harry Bosco
- Michael FoxMichael Fox (American actor)Michael Fox was an American character actor who was in numerous movies and television roles. Some of his most famous recurring roles were as various autopsy physicians in Perry Mason, as Coroner George McLeod in Burke's Law, as Amos Fedders in Falcon Crest and as Saul Feinberg in The Bold and the...
- Jim Olson
David Mendenhall won two Razzies, for worst supporting actor and new star. Multi-time world arm wrestling champion and future professional wrestler Scott Norton
Scott Norton
Scott Michael Norton is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.-Before wrestling:...
also makes an appearance.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 36% "Rotten" approval rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. The World Journal Film Reviewer Frank Ochieng Stated "Stallone, for whatever inexplicable reason, continues to pile on the dramatic dribble in yet another pointless movie mishap".
The film received three nominations at the 8th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1988, with David Mendenhall
David Mendenhall
David Mendenhall is an American actor and former child actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the films Space Raiders, Over the Top, The Transformers: The Movie and They Still Call Me Bruce.-Biography:...
winning 2 for both Worst Supporting Actor and Worst New Star while Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
was nominated for Worst Actor.
Despite this, some ratings have been positive with reviewer Luke Y. Thompson stating that "The world does need at least one film about professional arm-wrestling" and various people praising Stallone's performance in a Dramatical Role as opposed to the action films he usually stars in.
Soundtrack
A soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
was released in 1987 to coincide with the release of the movie. It contains music from Frank Stallone
Frank Stallone
Frank P. Stallone, Jr. is an American actor, singer/guitarist and Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated songwriter. He has appeared in many Hollywood films and television. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.-Early life:...
, Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
(who performs the film's central theme, "Meet Me Half Way"), Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Eddie Money is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums...
, and Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
. John Wetton
John Wetton
John Kenneth Wetton is an English bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, singer and songwriter. He was born in Willington, Derbyshire, and grew up in Bournemouth. He has been a professional musician since the late 1960s...
, lead singer of the rock group Asia
Asia (band)
Asia are an English rock group formed in 1981. The band was labelled a supergroup as it included former members of several veteran progressive rock bands, namely John Wetton , Geoff Downes , Steve Howe and Carl Palmer Asia are an English rock group formed in 1981. The band was labelled a...
, sang "Winner Takes It All" for the movie, but after performing the song, it was felt that his voice wasn't "mean" enough, so the song was offered to Hagar, whose version, featuring a bass guitar solo from Hagar's then-bandmate
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
Edward Van Halen, ended up being the one on the soundtrack.
The track listing is:
- "Winner Takes It All" - Sammy Hagar
- "In This Country" - Robin ZanderRobin ZanderRobin Wayne Zander is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick.-Early life:Zander was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, the fourth of five children; he has two older brothers, and older and younger sisters....
- "Take It Higher" - Larry Greene
- "All I Need Is You" - Big Trouble
- "Bad Nite" - Frank Stallone
- "Meet Me Half Way" - Kenny Loggins
- "Gypsy Soul" - Asia
- "The Fight (Instrumental)" - Giorgio MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
- "Mind Over Matter" - Larry Greene
- "I Will Be Strong" - Eddie Money
Stallone appears in the video for "Winner Takes It All," wrestling Hagar at the end of the video. Hagar says in his video commentary on the DVD The Long Road to Cabo that he wasn't crazy about the song. Hagar says that Stallone gave him his black cap at the end of the shoot, both signed it, and the cap went to charity, fetching around $10k.