OVER THE TOP  (1987)  Dir. Menahem Golan

Some movies are just made to fail. But sometimes, some are just awesome for the sake of being awesome, that you cannot fathom why you like it at all. Over the Top is such a film. It defies explanation. You either dig it, or you don’t. Perhaps this is a characteristic of many Sylvester Stallone films. But count this in the plus category for me.

Enter the Ninja and Delta Force director Menahem Golan gives us this film, partially written by Stallone himself about a struggling trucker who’s trying to rebuild his life by making amends with his son who he left behind years earlier. Upon their first meeting, his son doesn’t think too highly of him until he enters the nation-wide arm wrestling competition in Las Vegas. Chasing after them is the boy’s grandfather (Robert Loggia) who demands he has custody of him after the death of his mother. The extent of the rift between Lincoln Hawk and the grandfather is hinted at several times, but never explained.

This film was released well into what I call the “superhero era” of Stallone’s flicks. Rocky IV itself is more of a superhero movie, a far departure from the tone and feel of the original Rocky movie. And also, this film feels like the eighties. Perhaps this is aided by the fact that you have Sammy Hagar, Eddie Money, Kenny Loggins and Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander , but mostly because of the musical influence of 80’s mainstay composer Giorgio Moroder.

The film at times can seem overly dramatic, as if it cannot fully decide what it wants to be. You have to dredge through much dramatic sludge before getting to some action, save for an arm wrestle or two at a truck stop. Another thing that is incredibly hard to deal with is Michael Cutler (David Mendenhall)’s character. He’s incredibly prissy and annoying and cries at the drop of a hat. Didn’t the dude just go to military school? I have a hard time believing an audience would root for him at all, even when he realizes that he needs his dad in his life and goes to great lengths to get to him. We as the audience sit back and go, “yeah, yeah, get back to the arm wrestling matches!” Also missing are the over the top (pardon the pun) outrageous lines characteristic of eighties flicks, to endlessly quote with your friends. This movie sticks to the meat of the story and doesn’t give us much in the way of stuffing or potatoes. Good or bad.

It is a very predictable movie and tries to stand up the flair of Stallone’s other films of the time. It does decently, but not excellently. Not in a cheesy or elegant way. It just exists. You either accept it or not. What sells the film for me is Stallone himself. He is sincere and soulful as a ‘father who messed up pretty bad’ and just wants his kid back. He’s hard not to like, despite the fact that at times you want to slap the little snot of a son he has. Also, the arm wrestling montage just works, especially if you are a fan of the 80’s action era. Memorable background and bit characters abound in these scenes and make it worth the price of admission alone. I’d watch a film about Mad Dog Madison or Harry Bosco!  And it doesn’t go out of its way to give dialog to minute things that it can just show instead. Like when Loggia decides that Hawk should have his son, a simple nod suffices. No extended dialog with heart spilling and crying needed.

Overall, I kind of dig this one.  I’m not saying it deserves a Criterion edition, but still is worth a watch.

GRADE: 3.5 Frank Stallone songs out of 5.

For more from the author ADAM TALLEY, including a look at his independent comic book work, visithttp://www.idiothead.com

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