F.I.S.T. (1978)

Let's be realistic.

just watch it!

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

A rebellious Cleveland warehouse worker rises through the ranks of a trucking industry union to become union president but his organized crime links cause his eventual downfall. F.I.S.T proves that Sylvester Stallone can act he is no punching bag in this film and as much as i love the Rocky films i think this came out in a time when people didn't care about Stallone the actor except Stallone the boxer and was left inside a box with the forgotten flicks. The perfomances in this movie are incredible Stallone and Steiger shine as a whole, the story is inspiring and terrific, the direction incredible and Bill Conti's score fits well with the tone of the film plus the ending was shocking. (A+)

This is a movie about worker's right against owners. This is a movie about slaves protesting their utter humiliation against owners, whose abominations know no end. This is a movie about power-society.What is the solution against people who think it's all-right that they have everything while others have nothing? What is the solution against people who look at you as if you were vermin, since there is no other way they could look at you when they think it is quite OK that they have everything and you nothing? The Nazi's looked at the unfortunate Jews (the rich ones were in USA and did not have a record of outdoing themselves for their racial brothers - look at "Amen" by Costa-Gavras) as vermin and as long as they could look at their brothers human beings that way, they had no trouble to exterminate them. Some realized their mistake and killed themselves afterward.Will the owners realize their mistake? Don't count on it, as this movie shows! Violence give rise to counter-violence if you cannot activate a whole population as in Venezuela or Gandhi's India. Yes, if the owners will have the whole population rise against them, they may, paradoxically, survive! If they just get a sufficient large minority against them, they will have the French Revolution and will maybe not survive. I guess they haven't thought of that one - or maybe they have, if you consider recent developments.There's no difference in what you take with you when you leave this world abut a giant difference in what you leave behind.

F.I.S.T. Is not your normal Stallone movie. In this early one he actually get's a chance to ACT and create a role that is not even remotely like Rocky Balboa The Story is simple enough Johnny Kovack is a dock worker in the middle of the depression and he is a disgruntled worker who does not like being used or being taken advantage of. When Kovack leads a worker staged revolt on the warehouse dock he meets the Big boss and lays the conditions down that they want met. Kovack and the boys lose their job however the local union federation of interstate truckers F.I.S.T. is interested in hiring Kovack. HE it seems has a gift of Gab and he's a strong leader they hire him as a union organizer and Kovack begins organizing the Truckers all around the state. However Kovack creates a strike at one of the toughest businesses in Cleveland and Tragedy happens. Kovack angered and grief stricken turns to the mob to get a little extra push to secure good contracts and break companies that want to strike break or break unions. Kovack accepts the mobs help in return he gives them little favours. And that's the story more or less The story starts in 1938 and ends roughly around 1959-60 with the racketeering investigation by the senate. Rod Steiger portrays a crusading senater out to clean up the labour movement and burn the mobs out and Johnny Kovack the charismatic and powerful leader and president of F.I.S.T. is his next target. The movie is a grand and Epic film the kind we wish were made more today but are not. Stallone has clearly his best role as the Jimmy Hoffa influenced Johnny Kovack. The movie didn't really go anywhere when it was released and it fed the rumors that Stallone was only really able to act if the movie was a Rocky film later to be just Rocky and Rambo films but here Stallone burns very brightly as a good but not great actor taking his first steps in a movie that should have done much better and a role that should always be long remembered as one of his greatest roles even more then Rambo. This is a movie that shows us there are no unscarred heroes just scarred men fighting to survive in a world that does not care about them.

I remember seeing this film in 1979 in London at the Leicester Square Odeon (then a major cinema).After seeing all the then "Rocky" films, Stallone was a huge star in the U.K. "Paradise Alley", was a favourite of mine - being and still am a big wrestling fan, but F.I.S.T offered a refreshing departure from Stallone's "fighting" persona.In this he came across as a real and serious actor, and I would say that this movie was the highlight of his career. It's a great pity that it hasn't, as far as I know, been shown on UK TV channels as yet, because those who think it's fashionable to knock Stallone in 2007 haven't been treated to this film.F.I.S.T is one his finest and should be voted as such.