The ‘Missteps’ That Made Sylvester Stallone

‘The Steps’By Sylvester StalloneWilliam Morrow, 304 PagesIn September 1997 Sylvester Stallone hosted “Saturday Night Live.” By that point in his career, he had reached the pinnacle of Hollywood fame. He had arisen from the dustbin of a broken childhood home to achieve Oscar-winning glory. He was one of the top action stars in the world, a lean avatar of masculine power blasting righteous vengeance through pop culture morality plays. A screen titan who commanded $20 million a film.So, naturally, the SNL writers put together a sketch to ridicule him. In the iconic sequence, which goes viral every few years, Stallone plays himself happening upon the scene of a car crash. He tries to comfort the critically injured driver — played by the great Norm MacDonald — who is crying out in pain. The agony only gets worse as the driver name-checks disastrous movies Mr. Stallone had recently starred in: “Cobra.” “Over the Top.” “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.” Make it stop!Norm MacDonald and Sylvester Stallone on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ September 27 1997. Instagram The recent publication of Mr. Stallone’s autobiography, “The Steps,” has turned worthwhile and deserved attention to his triumph in making 1976’s “Rocky.” It’s the underdog story that still inspires a generation of writers, actors and filmmakers and is even the subject of a new film, “I Play Rocky,” directed by Peter Farrelly, whose previous credits include “Green Book.”Yet for every “Rocky,” there is a “Rocky V.” For every “Rambo: First Blood Part II” there is a “Rambo III.” For every “Cliffhanger” there is a “Daylight.”And when you look at Mr. Stallone’s film oeuvre, it’s his missteps that say so much about his legacy. It is as if Mr. Stallone must first fall from grace before he can summon the determination to pursue greatness. That once there’s nothing left to risk, there’s no one who can stop him. That only when missteps leave him stranded can he take the steps to overcome defeat.Even “Cop Land,” the film Mr. Stallone starred in, which opened a month before his SNL appearance, was in retrospect a misstep. “Cop Land,” directed by James Mangold, is a very good film about police corruption in New Jersey and the number of steps a man can take to ignore his moral code before he’s irredeemable.The film is stacked with acting heavyweights — Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, John Spencer. Mr. Stallone took a pay cut to play the role of Sheriff Freddy Heflin, the pivot point of the story whose late reawakening of conscience transforms him into the film’s hero. It’s a meaty character part that the audience might expect a William H. Macy or John Goodman or even Mr. DeNiro to occupy. Yet there is Mr. Stallone, his body recrafted with fat rolls and costumed in a beige uniform with shiny shoes and white socks.Unfortunately, the script meant Mr. Stallone was playing a mostly meek, reactive role that allowed the other men to act him off the screen. He’s good — not great. And in an inexplicable casting and directing decision, Annabella Sciorra in the film looks almost identical to Talia Shire, fatally undermining the big emotional scene where her character and Freddie connect over long-lost devotion and buried love.Sylvester Stallone filming ‘Cop Land’ with Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta in New York City on July 22, 1996. Photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald/Sygma via Getty Images“Cop Land” did decently at the box office and got reasonable critical praise. But it failed to cement Mr. Stallone as a serious actor worthy of more nuanced dramatic roles. In fact, Mr. Stallone said in 2019, “’Cop Land’ actually worked in reverse.”“It was pretty good critically, but the fact that it didn’t do a lot of box office again fomented the opinion that I had my moment and was going the way of the dodo bird and the Tasmanian tiger,” he told Variety.So it was back to the one-dimensional action roles, sliding down the Hollywood food chain for almost a decade. “Driven.” “Eye See You.” “Get Carter.” Please get the man an audience!Just like those bombed-out days of 1975 where he was selling his dog to pay the rent and writing an underdog story from his heart, the bottom of the barrel was the place where Sly Stallone found his foothold. “Failure turned out to be the best thing because it made me pivot,” Mr. Stallone told the AARP last year.Fifteen years after “Rocky V” played like a joke and bombed in theaters, the Italian Stallion made the ultimate comeback — and with him, Mr. Stallone.After the first “Rocky,” 2006’s sequel “Rocky Balboa” is Mr. Stallone’s greatest achievement. “Rocky Balboa” opens with Rocky just barely getting by — Adrian is dead, he’s estranged from their son and managing a restaurant where he’s little more than a celebrity doorman. Yes, life could be a whole lot worse, but Rocky is still moldering toward his grave. It’s only when he gets an unexpected opportunity to take on a champion in an exhibition bout in which he’s woefully overmatched that Rocky discover his zest for living — and his purpose.If it sounds a lot like the first movie, well it is, but there is enough character development and Philadelphia street grit to sell every emotional moment as raw and authentic. When the strings of the training montage echo through a darkened theater, when Rocky Balboa swings for his name and his reputation because that’s all he has left, he and Mr. Stallone connect with the audience in a way few characters and actors can. He takes punishment and perseveres. He doesn’t go down without getting back up. The bell rings. One more round. Go the distance. I was literally yelling in my seat.Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin, pictured in St. Tropez on August 10 1995. Photo by James Andanson/Sygma via Getty ImagesSylvester Stallone’s greatest achievements occurred when he had nothing left — no safety net, no treasure, no fortune, and nothing to lose. It’s a lesson for us all. I do not wish on Mr. Stallone any ill fortune so that any fall of his will repeat again. But it was spectacular when it did. Sometimes the missteps count just as much as the steps.

The ‘Missteps’ That Made Sylvester Stallone

The ‘Missteps’ That Made Sylvester Stallone

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