Over the Top
All actors and roles (10)
All team (39)
Short description
Lincoln Hawk is a long-haul trucker who has been apart from his son Michael for years. Asked by his ex-wife, who is seriously ill, he agrees to collect the boy from a Virginia military academy and drive him to Denver. Michael resents the father he barely knows, and his wealthy grandfather Jason Cutler is determined to keep the boy away from Lincoln. The trip becomes a chance for the two to build a relationship, while Lincoln also pursues a comeback in professional armwrestling, aiming for the prize money at a championship in Las Vegas.
The film stars Sylvester Stallone as Lincoln, with Robert Loggia as Cutler, Susan Blakely as Christina, David Mendenhall as Michael, Rick Zumwalt as rival armwrestler Bob "Bull" Hurley, and Chris McCarty among the credited cast of 24. It was directed by Menahem Golan, whose earlier films include Diamonds, The Apple, Enter the Ninja and The Delta Force; this was the fifth film he directed, and he also produced it with Yoram Globus through their companies. Stirling Silliphant and Stallone wrote the screenplay, and the film runs 94 minutes.
Released in February 1987, Over the Top cost about 25 million dollars and returned roughly 16 million worldwide, a commercial disappointment. Audiences rate it modestly: 5.9 out of 10 on IMDb from about 65,000 votes, and 6.5 out of 10 on TMDB from just under 2,000 votes. A critics' rating of 4.7 out of 10 from 31 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The prototype for Sylvester Stallone's character was arm wrestler John Brzenk.
- As soon as the future film project was approved, a wrestling tournament 'Over The Top' was organized, as depicted in the film. Preparation (including qualifying competitions) began in Beverly Hills in August 1985, continued throughout North America, Europe, Israel and Japan. The final took place on July 26, 1986, at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas – it was an 18-hour wrestling marathon. The film features real wrestlers and footage shot during the final – with the exception of scenes with Sylvester Stallone, whose fights with opponents were filmed the day after the final. The film was shot in the same location as the final, and the extras in these scenes are wrestling fans who attended the final.
- Rick Zumwalt (1951-2003) received $10,000 for shaving his head for the filming. He liked the new look so much that he never grew his hair back.
- Many years later, Sylvester Stallone explained why he agreed to star in this film. “Menachem Golan (1929-2014) kept increasing my fee until I finally thought, ‘Oh well, nobody will watch this anyway.’”
- Rick Zumwalt was the third person chosen to play the opponent for Sylvester Stallone's character. Initially, the choice fell on Cleve Dean (but he looked so massive compared to Stallone that their fight would have seemed implausible), then on Ox Baker (1934-2014), and only then on Zumwalt.
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