‘Sly’ documentary review: A whistle-stop tour of Sylvester Stallone’s greatest success and the price he paid to achieve it

Though saying nothing new, this straight-as-an-arrow depiction of Sly’s life from tough childhood in Hell’s Kitchen to stratospheric success, coasts along like the dream come true it is

Hot on the heels of Arnold, the three-part documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger, comes this film on Sylvester Stallone proving the famous rivalry of the ‘80s between the two action stars might not be done yet. Or it could be just a matter of timing.

There is nothing new you could learn through this documentary that you would not have known through a cursory reading of Wikipedia. Sly is still a fun watch, as it is nice to listen to Stallone’s nuggets of wisdom from the school of hard knocks.

The film starts with Stallone moving house and a couple of tapes pop up in the packing. He plays one of the tapes which is a recording of a New York Times interview which he did after the phenomenal success of Rocky. Stallone goes back to Hell’s Kitchen where he was born and speaks of his dysfunctional childhood where his parents Frank and Jackie were too busy to look after him and his elder brother, Frank.

The two boys spent time in movie theatres and young Sly was entranced. Insisting his life is like an Arthur Miller play, Stallone says watching Steve Reeves as Hercules changed his life. He had a role model and a goal. It is interesting that it was Hercules (with Reg Park) who gave Schwarzenegger his goal as well; both men had troubled relationships with their authoritarian fathers.

After deciding to become an actor, Sly landed in New York City (the family had moved out looking for better prospects) on the day of Woodstock in 1969. After bit parts, off, off Broadway, Stallone moved to Hollywood and that is where the great adventure began. Lords of Flatbush (1974) saw Stallone as one of the greasers, Stanley and in filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s words, “The first sense of Stallone’s voice before Rocky.”

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Stallone’s killer idea of “writing his frustrations” created Rocky (1976), a love story where as Adrian’s (Talia Shire) boyfriend, Rocky Balboa, happens to be a boxer. There is the well-documented story of how Stallone was unwilling to sell his script unless he was cast in the lead, the story behind the sequels and the struggle to present something new each time. There is also Stallone talking of the perils and disappointments of success.