clive-richards63
Saw this in 1978, aged 15, loved it then, love it now ( aged 55 ).... great sequences in this film, great to see early Stallone
adonis98-743-186503
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!!!
wes-connors
In 1946 New York City, poverty-stricken Sylvester Stallone (as Cosmo Carboni) survives by scheming and panhandling. Faring a little better at work are Mr. Stallone's brothers, disabled undertaker Armand Assante (as Lenny) and muscular iceman Lee Canalito (as Victor). To make more money for the brothers, Stallone arranges an arm-wrestling contest to win a monkey from gangster boss Kevin Conway (as Stitch). Stallone figures the monkey will attract bigger handouts on the street. This eventually leads the brothers into the wrestling business. As star, writer and director, Stallone is clearly full of himself in "Paradise Alley". He even sings the song "Too Close to Paradise" over the opening and closing credits. It was not a hit. With less Stallone, the film might have stood a chance.**** Paradise Alley (9/22/78) Sylvester Stallone ~ Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Lee Canalito, Kevin Conway
slightlymad22
Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to to one of his most under rated movies. After rewriting the script to 'F.I.S.T' Sly went the full hog, and wrote, acted, directed and sings (Yes sings!! AndI think the style of music suits his voice well) the opening title track. Plot In A Paragraph: The film tells the story of the three brothers Cosmo (Stallone) Lenny (Armand Assante) and Victor (Lee Canalito) in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the 1940s who become involved in professional wrestling.The tag line for this movie read "Three brothers... One had the brains, one had the muscle and one had the suit. Together they had a million dollar dream."Sly isn't "the muscle" you would expect him to play here, but the con-man brother "The brains" and I think he does a decent job as the fast talking Cosmo, Assante is very impressive in his first movie role, and Canalito (whilst not the most gifted actor) has a real charm to him, as the sweet natured, but tough as nails Victor, who dreams of leaving Hells Kitchen and living on a houseboat with his girlfriend. Kevin Conway and Frank McRae both of who starred with Stallone in 'F.I.S.T' appear here, as does Joe Spinell, who had a role opposite Stallone in 'Rocky'. Sly seems to be trying to add a bit of everything at his first attempt at directing, Action, drama, love, laughs and an underdog story. It's almost as if he was worried he may not get another chance to direct again, and wanted to try his hand at everything. He probably got his shot at directing this movie, for the same reasons a lot of actors get a shot at directing. They are hot property. But for some reason (like with his previous movie the brilliant F.I.S.T) audiences stayed away from this. I would recommend anyone to check it out!! As a side note: He actually wrote this before 'Rocky' and tried to sell it to producers for years, to no avail. Once 'Rocky' became a smash hit, producers were willing to look at the script, and Universal Pictures green-lighted the production.
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