Over the Top (1987)

"I drive trucks, break arms, and arm wrestle. It's what I love to do, it's what I do best."

It's a given fact that arm wrasslin' is one of the manliest things you can do. It's true. Make a list of macho things that a tough dude can do with his life; bar brawlin', drinkin', truck drivin', arm wrasslin'. See? It fits right in there. It may be manly, but it is a strange sport to pick for an action film. At least with say, boxing, there is plenty of room within that ring to display intense fighting and nerve shredding drama; but you don't get the same level of gladiatorial majesty with two guys standing at a table holding hands. Cannon Group had the habit of making some very strange decisions in those days, which worked out great for fans of silly cinema. Not so much for Cannon, sadly.

Over the Top concerns our hang dog hero, Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone; First Blood, Rocky, Tango and Cash), a cross country truck driver and professional arm wrestler. He is taking time out from lifting weights whilst driving to go pick up his son, Mike (David Mendenhall; Transformers: The Movie), who is graduating from military school. Life is never that easy, though. Lincoln has never actually spoken to his boy, as he left his family years ago. Mikes mother is seriously ill and due to have a life saving operation, so Lincoln decides it is now a good time to step up to being a father. 

It turns out that in his absence, Mike has been raised to be a bit of a brat. He has an immediate disliking for Lincoln, and has been brought up by his grandfather, the super rich and devious Cutler (Robert Loggia; Armed and Dangerous, Prizzi's Honor, Big ) to believe that his natural father is a no-good bum. He isn't too far wrong, I guess. The two spend the their time fighting for awhile, but slowly Mike starts to learn that everything he has been told isn't necessarily true. He also gets introduced to the world of back room arm wrestling, as he witnesses Lincoln go 'over the top' on a few big sweaty, hairy guys. He also gets into his own match, and learns a few valuable life lessons along the way.

Unfortunately for Lincoln, Cutler is determined to put an end to this rekindled relationship. He sends some goons to kidnap Mike back, which doesn't work out too well. When our duo finally make it to the hospital for the mothers operation, they are too late. She died on the table. Mike is distraught and blames his father for delaying him, denying him one last moment with his mom. He runs off back to the safety of Cutler, and after a silly but satisfying attempt by Lincoln to rescue him, Cutler leaves our hero with a choice: face jail time or forget he ever had a son. All Lincoln has now is the arm wrestling tournament in Las Vegas as his one hope for redemption. Will he be able to beat the big baldy muscled guy? Will Mike finally come around to loving him? Will he win that big shiny red truck? He might be able to do it, but first he needs to go over the top...

I'll make no bones about it; Over the Top isn't a particularly good film. It's slow moving, and aimed squarely at a PG audience, which sits uncomfortably with the majority of Stallones fan base. There are rarely any surprises in the film; everything works out exactly as you expect it, especially the climax. The action scenes are very few and far between; we get the odd car chase here, a bit of truck action there. These moments themselves are short and to the point. As previously mentioned, there isn't much visually that interesting about arm wrestling anyway; it really doesn't film that well. Despite these overriding problems, the film does have a few things going for it.

Stallone generally brings something interesting to the majority of the drama roles he takes on, even in action films. He has a working class hero vibe about him, and it doesn't take much for him to look like he has been hurt a lot in his life. He carries plenty of sadness and a sense of nobility that is evident in many of his big films, such as Rocky and First Blood. This trait is what makes Stallone quite unique among the 80's muscle bound hero gang; Arnie or Segal could never have pulled it off. He brings this level of emotion to Lincoln Hawk, despite the silliness of the material, and it's the better film for it. He isn't a flawless character, he did abandon his wife and baby to disappear on the road. Stallone handles the regret well, and it is a driving force of the film. His relationship with Mike slowly develops as he deflects the constant criticism from his son, and the two work out well in the 'mismatched buddy' sense. David Mendelhall has to also carry a huge amount of emotional weight; and though he isn't always quite up to it, he does a fairly admirable job. 

Robert Loggia does his usual, which is a good thing. We understand that even though he is the 'bad guy' in the traditional sense, he really only wants to make sure his grandson is taken care of. It's a pity we don't get a proper final moment between Lincoln and Cutler though; it feels sadly unresolved in this aspect. Scattered throughout the film are a few other recognisable faces, for those who go looking. Wrestling legend Terry Funk pops up as Cutlers bodyguard, but sadly doesn't get to do much beyond getting kicked through a window. He probably wasn't happy with that. Real life strong man Rick Zumwalt plays the ultimate arm wrestling champion that Lincoln must face down, Bob 'Bull' Hurley. Zumwalt also had several world titles in his own career, so he probably wasn't happy about Stallone kicking his ass, either. Special note should be made of the character, Grizzly, who eats a cigar and washes it down with a tin of motor oil. Told you arm wrasslin' is mans stuff.

Directed by Menahem Golan (The Delta Force, Enter the Ninja), the film looks good, and the action is done about as well as it could be. Once again, it suffers from the low age rating and attempt to make a family action drama, but these are the decisions that were made and there ain't nothing we can do about it. There is some fun little details in it though, especially around the arm wrestling scenes. It's these kind of details that they went to town on in the very entertaining macho flick, Road House. If only this had been an R rated film.The score is made up with liberal use of, 'Meet me Half Way' by Kenny Loggins, which hammers home the relationship between Lincoln and Mike, over, and OVER, again. We also get the infectious 'Winner Takes it All', by Sammy Hagar.

Sadly the film won't appeal to too many adults coming new to it. It didn't set the box office on fire when it came out, but I remember seeing it regularly on TV as a kid. Even then I found it a bit weak; just not enough action and maybe too much drama for me. Watching it now I can see that it is a missed opportunity, by playing it safe they left nobody particularly satisfied. Would some arm snapping, explosions and decapitations make it a better film? Probably. There is some fun to be had, and the climax is effective enough. As it is though, it is certainly far from the worst thing Stallone ever did.  Check it out if you need to bridge the gap from Cobra to Rambo III.