Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987)

Cannon Pictures bet the farm on Over the Top, and it lost. The story of a trucker named Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) reuniting with his estranged son Michael (David Mendenhall, who acts as if he were an android learning to be human) through a road trip and a series of arm wrestling bouts is one of the weakest concepts imaginable. Moreover, it feels as if the entire film were made up of leftover ideas strung together by someone having access to a spare Semi rig.

Over the Top was an ego-fueled disaster. Directed by Menahem Golan (who also produced with his cousin and partner Yoram Globus) and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, there was undoubtedly no voice of reason behind the scenes to tell the main players that their ideas were weak. The film only comes close to working during its act which is shot faux-documentary style. The B-roll interviews with the arm wrestling contestants brings some much needed emotion to the proceedings and allows Stallone to show his underrated and underutilized chops. This section also provides the explanation to why Lincoln Hawk always turns his hat around before his bouts, making for one of the most quotable lines of the 1980s, had anyone besides teenage boys amped up on Sly’s turns in the Rambo and Rocky franchises seen this hot mess. — Mike White

Tags: Over the Top, Sylvester Stallone, Rambo, Rocky, Lincoln Hawk, Menahem Golan