Paradise Alley (1978)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Saw this in 1978, aged 15, loved it then, love it now ( aged 55 ).... great sequences in this film, great to see early Stallone

Just found this film today and saw it for the first time huge Stallone fan and as i expected it the movie was awesome both sad and funny. I liked Cosmo (Stallone) but i think he tried to get advantage of others in order to make money but as the film reaches it's big finale this is were he realises Family is more important than all the money of the world also Armand Assante's role was pretty good also the younger brother who is the fighter was also pretty good on his role. Terry Funk WWE Legend also has a small role here and he is pretty cool. The film is directed by Sylvester Stallone and it reminds me a lot of Rocky but instead of Boxing there is Wrestling in it. If you love Stallone movies you definitely need to see this!!!

1940's. Hell's Kitchen. Shrewd, fast-talking, and ambitious con man Cosmo Carboni (well played by Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote, directed, and even sings the theme song!) encourages his good-natured, dim-witted, but strong-as-an-ox younger brother Victor (a solid and engaging performance by amiable big lug Lee Canalito) to participate in wrestling matches in order to win enough money to get out of their impoverished neighborhood. Stallone blends sentiment and seaminess into a tasty offbeat mix that manages to find just the right balance of grit, humor, warmth, and pathos. Better still, Stallone presents a vivid and flavorsome evocation of the period setting along with a beautifully lurid underworld milieu that's both captivating and appealing in equal measure. Armand Assante does strong work as Cosmo's cynical and crippled war veteran sibling Lenny. Frank McRae likewise shines with his touching turn as faded and battered washed-up brawler Big Glory. Moreover, there's a delightful array of colorful low-life secondary characters: Kevin Conway as slimy crime kingpin Stitch, Joe Spinell as flashy wrestling ring emcee Burp, and Terry Funk as fearsome brute Frankie the Thumper. This movie further benefits from the charming presence of three attractive ladies: Anne Archer as sassy'n'sultry redhead dance hall gal Annie, Aimee Eccles as the sweet Susan Chow, and Joyce Ingalls as classy dame Bunchie. Laszlo Kovacs' glittery cinematography provides a striking garish look. Bill Conti's spare harmonic score does the trick, too. A nicely quirky little winner.

**SPOILERS** Not to be confused with the 1962 Hugo Haas autobiographical masterpiece of the same name "Paradise Alley" is in fact, like the Haas film, a labor of love by it's writer director star as well as the person who sings, or mumbles, the films tidal song "Too close to Paradise" actor Sylvester "Sly" Stallone.In fact Stallone, playing Casmo Carboni, downplays his role in order to give his two brothers in the movie Lenny, Armard Assante, and Victor aka wrestler Kid Salami, Lee Canalito, not only more exposure but more likable parts then himself. Cosmo at first is nothing but a neighbor, in post WWII crime ridden Hells Kitchen, con-artist to whom doing an honest days work is against his religion. Later when Cosmo gets involved with local hoodlum Stich Mohan, Kevin Conway, that he uses his kind hearted and sweet, if not a bit slow, brother Victor as his meal ticket out of Hells Kitchen that things start to go sour. Not just for Cosmo and Victor but his, what looks like, older brother WWII disabled veteran Lenny. Using Victor as a battering ram to make a mint in the local wrestling circles Cosmo has "Vic" precipitate in no less then 41 matches in as many days winning all of them and making a bundle for Cosmo & Lenny.As the movie goes to it's inevitable conclusion Victor battles Stich's #1 leg-breaker Frankie the Thumper, played by wrestling legend Terry Funk, in a no holds barred no time limit match at the Paradise Alley sports arena. The biggest surprise in the match between Victor and Frankie isn't who ends up winning but what Stich has been keeping secret from everyone, but his haberdasher, in just what kind of undies he's comfortable with! And it's isn't "Fruit of the Loom".The interesting parts of the movie "Paradise Alley" have more to do with Lenny and Cosmo then with their heroic and good natured brother Victor. It seems that Cosmo had picked up Lenny's girlfriend Annie, Ann Archer, on the rebound after Lenny broke up with her. Being crippled Lenny didn't want Annie to feel sorry for him and just let her go. It's later after Cosmo got very friendly with Annie that Lenny soon realized his mistake, that in fact Annie loved him despite his affliction, that he wanted her back! All this got Lenny's brother Cosmo, who all this time thought that Annie was in love with him, a bit hot under the collar.This rivalry for Annies affections also spilled over into what both Cosmo and Lenny thought what was best for their big, six foot six and 250 pound, brother Victor. Cosmo who got Victor into the wrestling business in the first place now want's Victor to quit before he gets his brains scrambled. Lenny who at first was against Victor being a professional wrestler, he had a job as an ice delivery man, is now so gong-ho in Victor career that as long as the money, and Victor's string of victories, keep coming in he doesn't care if his big brother ends up being a vegetable!***SPOILER ALERT*** There's a very sad, and in a way funny, sequence between Cosmo and washed up wrestler Big Glory, Frank McRea, towards the end of the film. Getting themselves juiced up, on wine, Cosmo and Big Gory end up spending Christmas Eve wrecking half of Hell's Kitcher, with Victor's ice truck, ending up smashing into and through Stich's bar's front window. Talking things over about life and death at the near deserted city piers Big Glory, as if he's joking, tells Cosmo that he's leaving this world happy and them, before Cosmo could do anything to stop him, jumps into the river! It turns out that even in this effort the luckless Big Glory had things go against him. But sadly enough that didn't stop the more then determined ex-wrestler and professional football player from eventually doing himself in.It was this sad and shocking event that finally convinced Cosmo that the path that he and Lenny choose for Victor would lead him to the same place, the bottom of the Hudson River, that it lead Big Glory to. And it was that what had the two brothers, Cosmo & Lenny, have Victor go for it, for the last time, in battling it out with Frankie for his last and biggest payday. Luckily for them and with the fact that he was born on the 22nd of the month, a vital part in the strategy in how he fought Frankie, Victor didn't disappoint his brothers as well as those who bet on him.