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!!!

In a review of 1984's Rhinestone I claimed that it was roughly the point where Sylvester Stallone's career started to become derailed. Yet having watched Paradise Alley, I realise I was wrong.It's astonishing just how rapidly the actorly ego and lack of people to tell him "no" emerged. Stallone's first two post-Rocky movies featured him in America's past. F.I.S.T (7/10) had him play a 1930s union man, backed by the superlative Rod Steiger and directed by the man behind In The Heat of the Night. Spending nearly two hours watching Stallone as a union rep is an odd choice right on the back of the commercial hit Rocky - kind of like following up Raging Bull with a pseudo-biopic of Arthur Scargill - but it's a decent film, generally well made. Yet somehow that same year someone had convinced Stallone that not only could he direct, but he could also sing as well. Groaning the forgettable title tune, he delivers a childlike depiction of 1940s slum life in Paradise Alley, an overearnest tale that produces laughs only when none are intended. Both his 1978 films feature an arm wrestling match, nine years before he'd make an entire film around the sport in guilty pleasure Over The Top. But just take a look at the depictions of said arm wrestling matches in both '78 vehicles... Norman Jewison's is the one that's not making you cry with unintentional laughter.Stallone isn't an awful director, but there's no reason why he should have discarded the original Rocky director for four of the sequels. (In fairness, when John G. Avildsen was brought back, then Rocky V was a famous misfire). But in just one month he moved from shooting a film under the watchful eye of the man behind The Thomas Crown Affair to shooting a movie under the watchful eye of the man behind Staying Alive and The Expendables. The difference is hugely pronounced, as F.I.S.T has a relatively controlled and purposeful performance from Stallone, while Paradise Alley has him wholly believing he's being charming and likable (a la Balboa), instead of just obnoxious and tiresome. The character he plays in Paradise Alley is as likable a character as Stallone is good at singing. Ultimately the entire movie comes off as a vanity project, and far from a good one: the difference between the two films could not be more marked.

Apparently this movie was not beloved by critics like the original Rocky, and I had personally never heard of it. I just happened to catch it on television once and decided to watch it and while I am not the biggest wrestling fan this movie kept my interest. Wrestling is more of a side note anyways, it plays an important part in the movie, but the main focus is on these three brothers and that is what makes it enjoyable to watch, the last wrestling match in fact detracts from the movie as it was less entertaining than seeing the interplay between the brothers as they try to make their lives better. Like I said nothing all that great, but it held my attention while it was on and you get some spots from actual wrestlers Ted Debiase and Terry Funk, there may have been others, but they were the only ones I noticed, but like I said not the biggest fan of wrestling. If they could have substituted street brawling or something in its place it may have worked better as a movie, but as it is it is okay.

This is one of the worst movies ever made. Stallone wrote it and stars in it, and made himself the talky character-actor character, and his acting is horrific. He tries to be the likes of Burt Young in ROCKY, and misses... oh how he misses. Some problems with the movie. Armand Assante begins as his nice older brother while Stallone is a jerk; then, after a collage of scenes, Assante becomes a cross between Michael Corleone and Mickey from ROCKY, and Darth Vadar. He becomes a sinister and evil man, and it makes no sense whatsoever. The plot, as little as it is, involves Stallone getting his other brother, a really big good looking guy who resembles a giant Marlon Brando (in his prime). But as a viewer I could care less about any of the characters. Oh, and if you really want a laugh, the main song, that appears during a horrific credit scene involving a rooftop race, is sung by Sly himself, sounding like Elvis imitating Frankenstein's monster. Another problem I had with this movie is the same problem I had with the main characters in SWING SHIFT and NEW YORK, NEW YORK, that is, all involves a guy who stays home and doesn't fight in the war. Now, for a Vietnam era movie this isn't bad; it happens all the time. But when it involved World War 2, it just doesn't cut it, and that character isn't likable... not to me. This movie is horrible. It's like a cartoon. Speaking of... the great character actor Kevin Conway (who played three different roles in FUNHOUSE by Tobe Hopper) plays a bar owner thug who talks like Bugs Bunny. I think he's trying for a Cagney, but fails. A lot of good actors fail in this bomb: Anne Archer, who seems like she's imitating an old corny movie on purpose; Frank McCrea, who, for no reason, jumps into a river and kills himself; and the great late cult actor Joe Spinell (the mob guy in ROCKY) as an evil, yet still goofy, wrestling promoter. This film tries to involve wrestling like ROCKY did boxing... and fails. Oh boy how it fails... on all counts... 3,2,1...